Gelignite

Gelignite Read Free Page A

Book: Gelignite Read Free
Author: William Marshall
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said on the radio —at a distance nodding into a telephone struck Feiffer as ludicrous (he wondered if he did it himself)—and then the driver came to the edge of the sand.
    O'Yee said, 'It was an arm,' and Feiffer nodded.
    Auden said, 'A leg and chest!' He bent down with his bag.
    Feiffer asked O'Yee quietly, 'Are you all right, Christopher?' 'Yes.'
    'They're propeller wounds. It looks like the four of them were caught up in a ship's propeller somewhere out at sea.' He said, 'Macarthur says they were already dead, so they must have drowned.' He looked down at the water, but there was nothing there.
    Sun called, 'More!' He called to Feiffer, 'An arm!' He reached inside his shirt for his packet of plastic bags.
    'Sir—!' the driver's voice called out.
    Feiffer shouted back, 'Yes?'
    'The Water Police report they've stopped a junk full of illegal immigrants!' He called out again, 'Illegal immigrants! The Captain says four of them died and he threw the bodies overboard!'
    At the water's edge Spencer said, 'Good old Water Police.'
    Feiffer shouted back, 'How did they die?'
    'What?'
    'How did they die ?'
    'They suffocated! The Captain says it was an accident! The Water Police say you can leave it—they'll pick up what-ever's left later! They say it isn't that important now!'
    'OK!'
    'They say leave it now—!'
    'Right!'
    'No!' O'Yee said.
    Feiffer said, 'What was that?'
    O'Yee said, 'There's still some missing.'
    'What? Bodies?'
    O'Yee looked down at the water. He heard the crowd humming. He thought, "My father would have—" He said, ' Bits !'
    Spencer said suddenly, 'I've found the head!' His tone changed. He said, 'Oh . . . God!' He leaned forward in the water to pick it up the way Auden had done.
    Feiffer said, 'That's four.'
    O'Yee said, "There's still some missing.' 
    'What?'
    'I don't know! I haven't been keeping bloody score!' He glanced back at the crowd. They had been keeping score and they knew there was still some missing. He said, 'Something! There's still some missing!' He shouted out to Macarthur at his ambulance, 'What's missing?' 
    'What?' Macarthur shouted back. 
    'Missing! What's still missing?'
    Macarthur glanced back into bis ambulance. 'A leg!' He shrugged. He shouted back, 'It's just a leg! Don't worry about it!' He shouted to them all as one. 'You can come in now!' 
    O'Yee said to Feiffer, 'There's a leg missing!' 
    'Does that matter?' 
    'Doesn't it?'
    Feiffer looked across the cove. The current was changing with the beginning of the morning tide. He said, "The tide's starting to turn. It'll be too late anyway in fifteen minutes.' He said, 'We've done pretty well, considering, and if the Water Police are certain it isn't a murder investigation—' 
    'It's because they're bloody Chinese, isn't it!' 
    'What the hell are you talking about?' 
    'If they were bloody Europeans you'd think it mattered!' 
    Feiffer said, 'I'm not even going to answer that one.' He said with concern in his voice, 'I don't know what's gotten into you, Christopher. I know this has been a bloody awful job, but you've seen worse—'
    Macarthur called out, 'You can leave it now! I'm taking the ambulance in!' He went to the cab of the ambulance and roused the driver to shut the back doors. 
    O'Yee said, 'I just think we should find all of it, that's all.' 
    'There isn't the time. We could be here for the rest of the week.' He called to Auden and Spencer, 'OK, you can go in now—!' Feiffer looked over to Sun and Lee. 'You can go now. Off you go.' 
    Sun and Lee hesitated. They looked at O'Yee.
    'Go on,' Feiffer said.
    Sun and Lee looked at the crowd.
    Feiffer said, 'That's an order!'
    Sun said, 'Yes, sir.' He glanced at Lee and made a motion of resignation with his head. He and Lee waded past with Auden and Spencer.
    Feiffer said to O'Yee, 'And you too.'
    On the beach the ambulance passed through the crowd and out of sight. 
    O'Yee said, 'I think we should stay and find the leg.'
    'No.'
    'I think we should.'
    'Why?'
    'I—I

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