The Back of the Turtle Read Online Free Page A

and went forth.
    No salvage.
    Wham-wham!
    There are rules. If you want to play on Sonny’s beach, that’s okay. If you want to die on Sonny’s beach, that’s okay, also.
    Play. Die.
    Okay. Okay.
    But pretending to die on the beach is not okay. It’s against the rules. And what has happened to the old guy’s clothes? Why is he naked? Has someone else taken Sonny’s salvage? That wouldn’t be fair. That wouldn’t be right.
    The pouch with the hammer and the wire cutters and the multi-head screwdriver jig-jig-jiggles against his thigh. Salvage is mine, Sonny reminds himself. I will be paid.
    Sonny looks at the sky and the ocean. It’s another beach day. Another day of ocean smells and ocean noises. Another day at the Ocean Star Motel. With the blue neon star that goes blink, blink, blink all day and all night.
    Follow the Star.
    That’s the motel’s motto.
    Follow the Star.
    Maybe today will be a good day. Maybe someone will stop by the motel and rent a room. Maybe today will be the way it used to be, with honeymooners and families and long-haul truckers and sports stars all flocking to town to see the turtles.
    Before the turtles left.
    Before That One Bad Day.
    A famous actor stopped by the motel once and told Sonny a funny story about a duck who went into a pharmacy looking for grapes. “Got any grapes?” That’s what the duck said. “Got any grapes?”
    The Ocean Star Motel. Twenty-four rooms. Cable television. Video rentals. Free Internet.
    The Ocean Star Motel. Pool. Ice-making machine. Laundromat. Vibrating beds.
    The EverFresh vending machine.
    Sonny stands on the patio in front of the EverFresh vending machine and considers the day. Maybe the ocean has brought new salvage ashore. That’s what Sonny likes about the ocean.
    Salvage.
    I have looked to the water, whence cometh my salvage. Verily, I say, my salvage is at hand. Sonny didn’t think these sayings up by himself. They all come from Dad, and Dad has had him repeat them over and over.
    In the beginning was the salvage.
    THE man hasn’t moved. Sonny considers going down to the beach, in case the man is really dying and is in need of encouragement. Maybe Sonny could tap him on the head with his hammer, just to get his attention.
    If the man is dead, Sonny could take a picture with his digital camera and sell the story to a newspaper in Vancouver.
    “Body found on beach by Sonny.”
    Wham-wham, hammer-hammer!
    Sonny shields his face with his hand and squints hard. The man on the beach is moving his toes. So much for the picture. So much for the story. So much for the salvage.
    Sonny has a thought. He’s had it before, but it’s a good thought and worth thinking more than once. Maybe he should go back to school. Better yet, maybe he should sign up for cable. The deluxe package with the movie channels, the technical training programs, and the nature shows.
    Sonny is trying to decide between going back to school and signing up for cable, when he hears something sharp and quick,lonely and far away. Sonny isn’t at all sure what the sound is. At first he thinks it might be the raven that used to sit on the motel sign and yell death threats across the parking lot.
    Throw rocks at that bird, Dad used to tell Sonny. Aim for the beak. No point in being subtle.
    In the distance, on the far side of the bay, Sonny can see the warm vapours hanging above the hot springs. Perhaps someone has wandered into the wrong pool. Perhaps that was what he heard.
    Sonny rests his hand on the head of the hammer and waits. But the sound doesn’t come a second time.

4
    GABRIEL LAY ON THE BEACH AND SLOWLY WIGGLED HIS TOES. Now the sun was out. The inconsistent, unreliable, derelict sun. Back from its morning holiday. Where was it when he needed it? Where was it when he was on the rocks?
    And what of the people he had pulled out of the ocean? Who were they? Where had they come from? Where had they gone? Had he really sung them out of the depths?
    Ridiculous, of course. He