"Naomi?"
"The one who came down to the water in the terrycloth robe. I could go
for that one," Jack said.
"She's inhibited," I told him. "It took her half the afternoon to make
up her mind about getting her clothes off. You should have seen her
before, when she tried to go swimming in a bikini."
"What happened?"
"Elinor Richards nabbed her and gave her that robe. She would have
started a riot here in that bikini."
Meehan leaned back, smiling lazily. "I could go for that one," he said
again. And the way he said it told me that he was plenty interested.
Remember what I said about men wanting a challenge? I guess Jack wanted
to tackle the challenge of this maidenly but sexy-looking brunette. I
couldn't say I blamed him.
We went inside. I told him about the Bonnie incident, and about the
pow-wow up at the Richards cabin. Then the gong sounded, and we started
up front toward the mess hall.
Bonnie was not at dinner. Neither were the Richardses or Joanie, at
first. They came in about fifteen minutes late, looking solemn, and sat
down without saying anything to me. At the end of the meal, as I was
walking out, Dr. Richards gestured to me and waved me into a vacant
seat next to him.