Read Kissing the Beehive for Free Online

first. It was about ten o'clock in the morning. Hot day.
    Really hot day. There was this spot by the water where we always went. A couple of hundred yards away from the train station. We laid out our towels and stripped down to our swim-suits.
    "We were all revved up for the party to start. There was a new girl in town, Geraldine Fortuso, who had the greatest body we'd ever seen. She also had a mustache, but nobody's perfect. All the guys were vying for her and we knew she was coming. Joe and I stood at the edge of the water looking at the boats and talking about the divine Fortuso's figure.
    "A speedboat went by and sent waves rolling into shore. I don't know who saw it first. It's funny because it's such an important detail, but I honestly don't remember. _Whoever_ did, said,
    'What the fuck's that?' The waves had made this big, white, diaphanous thing out in the water about forty feet rise and fall like a gigantic jellyfish. Both of us stepped forward to get a better look but I went too far and slipped off the edge into the water.
    "Joe said, 'You see that? Go out and see what it is. Maybe it's a parachute.'
    Cass sat forward and said in the same doubting voice I had used that day, "_Parachute_?"
    I shrugged. "It looked like one. Either a little parachute or the biggest damned jellyfish you ever saw. You know how fearless kids are until they learn life has big jaws. Without a thought that it might be something bad or dangerous, I waded right out and then started swimming for whatever it was."
    "When did you see it was a body?"
    "Not till I was only about five feet away. The water reflected the sunlight, and the color was a surprisingly light green so you couldn't make anything out till you were really close.
    "She was floating on her stomach and wearing a man's shirt. It had been unbuttoned and that's why it looked so wide and filled out. I'm thinking back a long time now, but as I remember, first Page 16

    I realized it was a shirt, then that it was _on_ something. That's what I thought -- it was on some _thing_ and not someone.
    "I was calm, Cass. That's the amazing thing. If it happened today I'm sure I'd be a lot more scared or surprised. Maybe it's because when you're young, you still think things _should_
    happen to you. So since you're waiting for the adventures to begin, if you discover a dead body, it's just like a
    James Bond film. And that's only right because that's where you belong."
    "James Bond is dorky."
    "He wasn't then. He was the coolest dude on earth.
    "So, now that I understand it's a shirt, and something's _inside_ it, I let out a whoop that would have stopped a train. Joe started yelling from the shore but I barely heard him. I paddled over and just as I did, a big wave from a passing boat turned the body over. I saw her face. Even though she was just beneath the water, I saw every feature of her face clearly. Her eyes were open but there was something white and cloudlike floating across her mouth."
    "God, Dad, weren't you scared at all?"
    "No, that's the amazing thing. I was fascinated. Maybe it's just the different courage you have as a kid. I was only curious; I wanted to see everything. My parents thought I'd be traumatized by the experience, but it didn't touch me. It took a few seconds for it to sink in, and when it did, I called to Joe to get the police 'cause it was a body. He took off like a shot.
    I just paddled around wondering what to do next. I kept looking at her and thinking, she's dead.
    That girl is dead. But what I most vividly remember is how close to the surface she was; like if she'd only lifted her head a few inches she could have breathed again and been okay. Strange, huh? You know what the reality is, but part of your brain is still thinking crazy things.
    "I took hold of her arm; she was in rigor mortis by then and very stiff.
    I started in toward shore, pulling her next to me. It took a few minutes of awkward struggling but I finally got her in. I stepped onto the little