caught the streetcar to go to the public beach down at the harbor. Once there, I

dove into the channel. There were lots of young people. In the water I ran into

Marie Cardona, a former typist in our office whom I'd had a thing for at the

time. She did too, I think. But she'd left soon afterwards and we didn't have

the time. I helped her onto a Hoat and as I did, I brushed against her breasts.

I was still in the water when she was already lying flat on her stomach on the

float. She turned toward me. Her hair was in her eyes and she was laughing. I

hoisted myself up next to her. It was nice, and, sort of joking around, I let my

head fall back and rest on her stomach. She didn't say anything so I left it

there. I had the whole sky in my eyes and it was blue and gold. On the back of

my neck I could feel Marie's heart beating softly. We lay on the Boat for a long

time, half asleep. When the sun got too hot, she dove off and I followed. I

caught up with her, put my arm around her waist, and we swam together. She

laughed the whole time. On the dock, while we were drying ourselves off, she

said, ''I'm darker than you." I asked her if she wanted to go to the movies that

evening. She laughed again and told me there was a Fernandel movie she'd like to

see. Once we were dressed, she seemed very surprised to see I was wearing a

black tie and she asked me if I was in mourn­ ing. I told her Maman had died.

She wanted to know how long ago, so I said, "Yesterday." She gave a little start

but didn't say anything. I felt like telling her it wasn't my fault, but I

stopped myself because I re­ membered that I'd already said that to my boss. It

didn't mean anything. Besides, you always feel a little guilty. By that evening

Marie had forgotten all about it. The movie was funny in parts, but otherwise it

was just too stupid. She had her leg pressed against mine. I was fondling her

breasts. Toward the end of the show, I gave her a kiss, but not a good one. She