matter how generous and forgiving they were, Belinda
always took advantage.
I got into my car and headed for the beach road
I knew they had taken. There was one area on the east
end that the school kids always favored, even before
my day. Sure enough, as I started down the road, I
saw cars were still parked there. This was going to be
an all-nighter.
I found a space and parked and then plodded
over the sandy beach toward one of the bonfires. I
heard laughter to my right and radio music caught in
the wind. It whipped at my hair a
nd spit some sand
into my face. The ocean roared in on a line of
whitecaps.
I saw couples wrapped in blankets around the
fire, but none of the girls was Belinda. They gazed up
at me curiously. Some even had bottles of whiskey
and wine.
I continued toward the next bonfire, my anger
boiling over like a pan of hot milk. Once again, I did
not see Belinda, but I did recognize Marcia Gleason
and Arnold Miller. Arnold nearly jumped out of his
blanket when he saw me bearing down on them. "Where's my sister?" I demanded.
"Belinda?" he said stupidly, sitting up slowly. I
could see Marcia was topless under the blanket. "No, my other ten sisters. Of course, Belinda.
Where is she?"
"I'm not sure . ."
"Someone is going to get into a lot of trouble if
I don't find her within the next minute," I threatened.