"Nayler, Ray - The Honor System" - читать интересную книгу автора (Nayler Ray)

THE HONOR SYSTEM
By
Ray Nayler

They had to stop at a gas station in town to ask where the place was. Sam stayed in the car while the attendant gave Ellie directions.

It was out on the edge of town, past a couple of used car lots. A faded sign half-overgrown by a tree said "Jackson Well Springs. Camping. Pool. Hot Tubs. Massage."

They pulled into the gravel drive, past tent-sites on either side. There were fires lighted, although the sun was nowhere near setting. They drove past the main campsites and a row of broken-down cottages that ended in a public bathroom. Beyond the bathroom were several vacant low-end tent sites, just circles mown in the tall weeds. Sam smiled at Ellie. He'd fallen asleep for a while, and the side of his face was pressure-marked by a sweater he'd balled up against the window as a pillow.

"Let's pitch the tent here. It's private. Nobody'll be walking by. And nobody can hear us . . ." he trailed off suggestively.

Ellie felt the color rise in her cheeks. She stopped the car at the furthest site. Sam lugged the gear from the trunk and began setting up the tent in the mown circle. The long muscles in his forearms stood out as he shoved the tent-stakes into the ground. Insects buzzed in the hot grass. His sweat-damp v-neck T-shirt clung to the lean plates of his chest.

Ellie had never wanted anyone the way she wanted Sam. She could feel need stab into her when he held her in the dark -- and when she watched him.

He lifted his head and stared back at her.

"What?"

"I can't believe it's been only three months. Does it feel like more to you? I feel so comfortable. So right."

He came over to her, took her wrists in his hands. "I feel it too."

His touch gave off jolts of electricity that traced along her skin. She pushed him away, gently.

"I'll go sign us in."

"The office is closed."

"They said to leave the money in the drop-box, if we showed up late."

On the way to the office, Ellie passed another campsite off from the others. There was a fire going, and a thirtyish man strumming on a guitar beside it. Behind the tent's screen window she glimpsed a little girl looking out at her.

The girl looked trapped. A chill crawled over Ellie. Who was the man? Her Father? A stranger? How would anyone know the difference? This was a good place to hide-out in the open, yet secluded. Not suspicious. The little girl waved. Ellie waved back. Stupid. She always jumped to the worst possible thing. It was a trait that had led to her mother's nervous breakdown.

At the office she deposited $15 and a registration form in the mail-slot. The hallway to the pool was open. A sign notified her that it was $2 for guests to swim. She went down the hallway to the back of the main building. There was an overweight, Midwestern-looking couple in the shallow end. A bearded man drifted in the deep side.

She and Sam could swim tonight. The pool looked pleasant, although a little cloudy, and sulfur-smelling from the mineral springs that heated it. The $2 would have to be paid on the honor system, like everything else.

On her way back, she noticed that the tent's window was zipped shut. The man's guitar lay on the grass by the extinguished fire. A horrible thought clawed into her.

Sam had finished with the tent. He was sitting at a picnic table, sketching her in charcoal. She made a wide circle and came up behind him, surprising him with arms around his chest.

"Who's that ugly thing you're drawing?"

"Some girl I used to go around with."

"I love you, Sam."