Chandler got out. The policeman slammed the door behind him, ripping
rubber off his tires with the speed of his U-turn and acceleration back
toward Honolulu. He did not look at Chandler.
Chandler stood staring off after him, in bright warm sunlight with a
reek of hibiscus and rotting palms in his nostril. It was very quiet
there, except for a soft scratchy sound of footsteps on gravel. As
Chandler turned to face the man who was coming toward him, he realized
he had learned one fact from the policeman after all. The cop was
scared clear through.
Chandler said, "Hello," to the man who was approaching.
He too wore a uniform, but not that of the Honolulu city police. It
was like U.S. Army suntans, but without insignia. Behind him were
half a dozen others in the same dress, smoking, chatting, leaning
against whatever was handy. The barricades themselves were impressively
thorough. Barbed wire ran down the beach and out into the ocean; on the
other side of the road, barbed wire ran clear out of sight along the
middle of a side road. The gate itself was bracketed with machine-gun
emplacements.
The guard waited until he was close to Chandler before speaking. "What
do you want?" he asked without greeting. Chandler shrugged. "All right,
just wait here," said the guard, and began to walk away again.
"Wait a minute! What am I waiting for?" The guard shook his head
without stopping or turning. He did not seem very interested, and he
certainly was not helpful.
Chandler put down the copy of _The Prophet_ which he had carried so
far and sat on the ground, but again he had no long time to wait. One
of the guards came toward him, with the purposeful movements Chandler
had learned to recognize. Without speaking the guard dug into a pocket.
Chandler jumped up instinctively, but it was only a set of car keys.
As Chandler took them the look in the guard's eyes showed the quick
release of tension that meant he was free again; and in that same
moment Chandler's own body was occupied once more.
He reached down and picked up the book. Quickly, but a little clumsily,
his fingers selected a key, and his legs carried him toward a little
French car parked just the other side of the barrier.
* * * * *
Chandler was learning at last the skills of allowing his body to have
its own way. He couldn't help it in any event, so he was consciously
disciplining himself to withdraw his attention from his muscles and
senses. It involved queerly vertiginous problems. A hundred times a
minute there was some unexpected body sway or movement of the hand,
and his lagging, imprisoned mind would wrench at its unresponsive
nerves to put out the elbow that would brace him or to catch itself
with a step. He had learned to ignore these things. The mind that
inhabited his body had ways not his own of maintaining balance and
reaching an objective, but they were equally sure.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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