The Beach

∨ The Beach ∧

40

Re-Entry

A hundred or so metres from the shore, Jed cut the engine so we could paddle the rest of the way in. The idea was to look like day-trippers but we needn’t have bothered. The stretch of beach we landed on was empty apart from a few beat-up old beach huts, and they looked like no one had stayed in them for quite a while.

We jumped out and waded to the sand, dragging the boat by the outrigger. ‘Are we going to leave the boat here?’ I asked when we were clear of the water.

‘No, we’ll have to hide it.’ Jed pointed to the tree-line. ‘Maybe up there. Go and check it out. Make sure this area is as empty as it seems.’

‘OK.’

I started jogging up the beach, then slowed to a walk almost immediately. My sense of balance still thought I was at sea and I was swaying drunkenly from side to side. It passed quickly, but for a couple of minutes I actually had to concentrate to keep from falling over.

Not far from where we’d landed I found two palms that were far enough apart to let the outrigger through and close enough together to look inconspicuous. Between them was a bush with a large canopy which would cover the boat completely, especially with the help of a few well-placed branches, and the nearest of the ramshackle beach huts was a good fifty metres away.

‘Here seems fine,’ I called to Jed.

‘Right. Give us a hand then.’

Everything would have been much easier if there’d been a third person to help us. With the weight of the engine it took both of us to lift the stern – we had to keep the propeller up to stop it from getting damaged – so the front end kept sliding away from us. It was hard enough on the sand, but getting it over the small grass verge was a nightmare. We had to shunt it in short back-breaking bursts, none of which seemed to take us more than a foot.

‘Bloody hell,’ I panted, after the boat had swivelled away from the tree-line for the twentieth time. ‘Is it always this hard?’

‘Is what always this hard?’

‘Rice Running.’

‘Of course,’ Jed replied, smoothing the sweat out of his beard. A stream of oily drops ran down his wrist and dripped off his elbow. ‘Why do you think nobody wants to do it?’

Eventually we managed to manoeuvre the boat between the trees and under the bush. After we’d knocked up some camouflage, there was no way anyone would have spotted it unless they were going out of their way to look. We were even worried that we’d have trouble finding it again ourselves, so we marked the spot by pushing a forked stick into the sand.

We were completely exhausted, but there were two consolations. One was that it would be easier getting the boat back to the water, because it would be downhill and the ocean made for a bigger target than the space between two palm trees. The other was that we could treat ourselves to a big meal as soon as we got to Hat Rin.

We set off in high spirits, discussing which soft drinks we were going to order and whether Sprite had the edge on Coke. Jed noticed the couple first, but we were already a fair distance from the boat so we didn’t worry too much. As we passed them I looked straight at their faces, not for any reason except to be ready with a smile if they said hello.

They didn’t. They kept their eyes pointed at the ground, and by their expressions I could see they were putting the same concentration into walking as I had earlier.

‘Did you see them?’ I said when they were out of earshot. ‘Wasted by lunch-time.’

‘Liquid lunch.’

‘Powdered lunch.’

Jed nodded, then hawked up and spat on the sand. ‘Fucking Freaks.’

♦

An hour later we were walking past rows of busy beach huts and weaving between sunbathers and Frisbee games. I was surprised that people weren’t taking more notice of us. Everyone looked so strange to me that I couldn’t believe I didn’t look equally strange to them.

‘Let’s eat,’ said Jed, when we were about halfway down Hat Rin, so we walked into the nearest café and sat down. Jed looked over the menu while I continued to marvel at our surroundings. The concrete under my toes felt particularly weird, and the plastic chair I was sitting on. It was just a standard chair – the same kind I used to have at school, curved seat with a hole in the back, V-shaped metal legs – but I found it bizarrely uncomfortable. I couldn’t work out the right way to sit on it. Either I was slithering down or I was perched on the edge, both of which were useless.

‘How the hell do you do this?’ I muttered.

Jed looked up from the menu.

‘I can’t seem to sit…’

He started laughing. ‘Does your head in, doesn’t it? All this.’

‘It sure does.’

‘What about your reflection?’

‘…How do you mean?’

‘When was the last time you saw your reflection?’

I shrugged. There was a make-up mirror near the shower hut which the men used for shaving, but it only showed a tiny area of your face at any one time. Apart from that, I hadn’t seen myself for over four weeks.

‘There’s a sink and a mirror over there. Go and have a look. You’ll get a real shock.’

I frowned, suddenly worried. ‘Why? Has something happened to my face?’

‘No. Just go and have a look. You’ll see.’

Shock was right. The person who gazed back at me over the sink was a stranger. My skin was darker than I’d imagined it could possibly get, my black hair had been sun-bleached almost brown and matted into curls, and my teeth were so white they seemed to jump out of my face. I also looked old – twenty-six or twenty-seven – and there were some freckles on my nose. The freckles were a particular shock. I never get freckles.

I stared at my reflection for five minutes at least, transfixed. I could have stared for an hour if Jed hadn’t called me back to order some food.

‘What did you think?’ he asked, as I wandered back to the table, grinning like an idiot.

‘Really weird. Why don’t you have a look too? It’s great.’

‘No…I haven’t seen myself for six months now. I’m saving up to completely freak myself out.’

‘Six months!’

‘Uh-huh. Maybe more.’ He tossed me the menu. ‘Come on. What’ll it be? I’m starving.’

I glanced down the enormous list, pausing on banana pancakes but thinking the better of it.

‘I believe I’d like a couple of cheeseburgers.’

‘Cheeseburgers. Anything else?’

‘Uh…OK. Spicy chicken noodles too. We ‘re in Thailand, after all.’

Jed stood up, glancing over his shoulder towards the sunbathers on the beach. ‘I’ll take your word for it,’ he said dryly, then went to place our order.

♦

While we waited for our food we watched TV. There was a video at the far end of the café and it was playing Schindler’s List. Schindler was on a horse watching the ghettos being emptied, and he’d noticed a little girl in a red coat.

‘How about that coat?’ Jed asked, sipping his Coke.

I sipped my Sprite. ‘What about it?’

‘Do you reckon they painted it on the film with a brush?’

‘On each frame? Like animation?’

‘Yeah.’

‘No way. They would have done it with a computer, like Jurassic Park.’

‘Oh…’ Jed drained the bottle and smacked his lips. ‘It’s the real thing.’

I frowned. ‘Schindler’s List?’

‘No, you twerp. Coke.’

The food must have taken ages because by the time it arrived, Schindler was looking at the red coat again. If you’ve seen the film you’ll know that’s an hour after he first sees it, if not more. Luckily, I discovered that the café had an old Space Invaders machine, so for me the waiting wasn’t so bad.