Boy in the Water [antikvár]

PrologueLike a black island on a turquoise sea, the dark shape floated on the surface of the water, lit from beneath by a string of underwater spotlights evenly spaced along the twenty-five yards of the swimming pool. They gave off the only light apart from the glow of a red exit sign above the door. The shape at first looked like a barrel or log. It took a moment to realize that it was a body: a boy, naked except for a pair of white Jockey shorts. He was small for his age and quite slender. Perhaps he was thirteen - an eighth grader. Only the boy's torso and the back of his head rose above the surface; his arms and legs hung down toward the black lines that ran the length of the pool's bottom. His elbows were bent and his fingers were curved and relaxed, as if he had been holding something but had just let it go. The underwater lights made the air shimmer above the water and formed rippling shadows on the green cinder-block walls and tile ceiling.Something small with pointed ears and a bedraggled tail stepped gingerly across the boy's back, tentatively lifting and shaking one paw after another as it moved along the boy's shoulder blades. It mewed and the sound echoed throughout the pool area. When the creature turned and its full silhouette became visible against the turquoise, one could see it was a kitten stranded on this dark island, stepping lightly from one part of the boy's back to another, seeking the highest spot, while its