The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar and Six More Read Free Page A

owns the turtle?"

    "We do," the manager said. "The hotel has bought it."

    "Then do me a favour ," the father said.
"Let me buy it from you."

    The manager looked at the father, but said nothing.

    "You don't know my son," the father said, speaking quietly.
"He'll go crazy if it's taken up to the hotel and slaughtered. He'll
become hysterical."

    "Just pull him away," the manager said. "And be quick about
it."

    "He loves animals," the father said. "He really loves them. He
communicates with them."

    The crowd was silent, trying to hear what was being
said. Nobody moved away. They stood as though hypnotized.

    "If we let it go," the manager said, "they'll only catch it
again."

    "Perhaps they will," the father said. "But those things can
swim."

    "I know they can swim," the manager said. "They'll catch him all
the same. This is a valuable item, you must realize that. The shell alone is
worth a lot of money."

    "I don't care about the cost," the father said. "Don't worry
about that. I want to buy it."

    The boy was still kneeling in the sand beside the turtle, caressing its head.

    The manager took a handkerchief from his breast pocket and started wiping his
fingers. He was not keen to let the turtle go. He probably had the dinner menu
already planned. On the other hand, he didn't want another gruesome accident on
his private beach this season. Mr Wasserman and the
coconut, he told himself, had been quite enough for one year, thank you very
much.

    The father said, "I would deem it a great personal favour , Mr Edwards, if you would let me buy it. And I promise
you won't regret it. I'll make quite sure of that."

    The manager's eyebrows went up just a fraction of an inch. He had got the
point. He was being offered a bribe. That was a different matter. For a few
seconds he went on wiping his hands with the handkerchief. Then he shrugged his
shoulders and said, "Well. I suppose if it will make your boy feel any
better. . ."

    "Thank you," the father said.

    "Oh. thank you!" the mother cried.
"Thank you so very much!"

    "Willy," the manager said, beckoning to the fisherman.

    The fisherman came forward. He looked thoroughly confused. "I never seen
anything like this before in my whole life," he said. "This old
turtle was the fiercest I ever caught! He fought like a devil when we brought
him in! It took all six of us to land him! That boy's crazy!"

    "Yes, I know," the manager said. "But now I want you to let him
go."

    "Let him go!" the fisherman cried, aghast. "You mustn't ever let
this one go, Mr Edwards! He's broke the record! He's
the biggest turtle ever been caught on this island! Easy the biggest! And what about our money?"

    "You'll get your money."

    "I got the other five to pay off as well," the fisherman said,
pointing down the beach.

    About a hundred yards down, on the water's edge, five black-skinned almost
naked men were standing beside a second boat. "All six of us are in on
this, equal shares," the fisherman went on. "I can't let him go till
we got the money."

    "I guarantee you'll get it," the manager said. "Isn't that good
enough for you?"

    "I'll underwrite that guarantee," the father of the boy said,
stepping forward. "And there'll be an extra bonus for all six of the
fishermen just as long as you let him go at once. I mean immediately, this
instant."

    The fisherman looked at the father. Then he looked at the manager.
"Okay," he said. "If that's the way you want it."

    "There's one condition," the father said. "Before you get your
money, you must promise you won't go straight out and try to catch him again.
Not this evening, anyway. Is that understood?"

    "Sure," the fisherman said. "That's a deal." He turned and
ran down the beach, calling to the other five fishermen. He shouted something
to them that we couldn't hear, and in a minute or two, all six of them came
back together. Five of them were carrying long thick wooden poles.

    The boy was still kneeling beside the turtle's head. "David," the
father said