第2章 Talking Before the Sea[第1頁/共9頁]

“Who gave this to you?”

“We'll put the gear in the boat and then get some.”

“I like the beer in cans best.”

“I can remember it,”the old man said.“ I'll waken you in time.”

“Martin.The owner.”

The door of the house where the boy lived was unlocked and he opened it and walked in quietly with his bare feet.The boy was asleep on a cot in the first room and the old man could see him clearly with the light that came in from the dying moon.He took hold of one foot gently and held it until the boy woke and turned and looked at him.The old man nodded and the boy took his trousers from the chair by the bed and, sitting on the bed,pulled them on.

“I don't know,”the boy said.“All I know is that young boys sleep late and hard.”

“Age is my alarm clock,”the old man said.“ Why do old men wake so early?Is it to have one longer day?”

“They have other men on the team.”

“Do you want coffee?”the boy asked.

They had coffee from condensed milk cans at an early morning place that served fishermen.

The boy had brought them in a two-decker metal container from the Terrace.The two sets of knives and forks and spoons were in his pocket with a paper-napkin wrapped around each set.