Winter of the World

They swam in the cold Atlantic, ate hot dogs for lunch, took photos of each other with Woody’s camera, and studied the swimsuits until the sun began to go down. As they were leaving, picking their way through the crowd, Woody saw Joanne Rouzrokh.

He did not need to look twice. She was like no other girl on the beach, nor indeed in Delaware. There was no mistaking those high cheekbones, that scimitar nose, the luxuriant dark hair, the skin the colour and smoothness of café au lait.

Without hesitation he walked straight towards her.

She looked absolutely sensational. Her black one-piece swimsuit had spaghetti straps that revealed the elegant bones of her shoulders. It was cut straight across her upper thighs, showing almost all of her long, brown legs.

He could hardly believe that he had once taken this fabulous woman in his arms and smooched her like there was no tomorrow.

She looked up at him, shading her eyes from the sun. ‘Woody Dewar! I didn’t know you were in Washington.’

That was all the invitation he needed. He knelt on the sand beside her. Just being this close made him breathe harder. ‘Hello, Joanne.’ He glanced briefly at the plump brown-eyed girl beside her. ‘Where’s your husband?’

She burst out laughing. ‘Whatever made you think I was married?’

He was flustered. ‘I came to your apartment for a party, a couple of summers back.’

‘You did?’

Joanne’s companion said: ‘I remember. I asked you your name, but you didn’t answer.’

Woody had no memory of her at all. ‘I’m sorry I was so impolite,’ he said. ‘I’m Woody Dewar, and this is my brother Chuck.’

The brown-eyed girl shook hands with both of them and said: ‘I’m Diana Taverner.’ Chuck sat beside her on the sand, which seemed to please her: Chuck was good-looking, much more handsome than Woody.

Woody went on: ‘Anyway, I went into the kitchen, looking for you, and a man called Bexforth Ross introduced himself to me as your fiancé. I assumed you’d be married by now. Is it an extraordinarily long engagement?’

‘Don’t be silly,’ she said with a touch of irritation, and he remembered that she did not respond well to teasing. ‘Bexforth told people we were engaged, because he was practically living at our apartment.’

Woody was startled. Did that mean that Bexforth had been sleeping there? With Joanne? It was not uncommon, of course, but few girls admitted it.

‘He was the one who talked about marriage,’ she went on. ‘I never agreed to it.’

So she was single. Woody could not have been happier if he had won the lottery.

There might be a boyfriend, he warned himself. He would have to find out. But anyway, a boyfriend was not the same as a husband.

‘I was at a meeting with Bexforth a few days back,’ Woody said. ‘He’s a great man in the State Department.’

‘He’ll go far, and he’ll find a woman more suitable than I to be the wife of a great man in the State Department.’

It seemed from her tone that she did not have warm feelings towards her former lover. Woody found that he was pleased about that, although he could not have said why.

He reclined on his elbow. The sand was hot. If she had a serious boyfriend, she would find a reason to mention him before too long, he felt sure. He said: ‘Speaking of the State Department, are you still working there?’

‘Yes. I’m assistant to the Undersecretary for Europe.’

‘Exciting.’

‘Right now it is.’

Woody was looking at the line where her swimsuit crossed her thighs, and thinking that no matter how little a girl was wearing, a man was always thinking about the parts of her that were hidden. He began to get an erection, and rolled on to his front to conceal it.

Joanne saw the direction of his gaze and said: ‘You like my swimsuit?’ She was always frank. It was one of the many things he found attractive about her.

He decided to be equally candid. ‘I like you, Joanne. I always did.’

She laughed. ‘Don’t beat about the bush, Woody – come right out with it!’

All around them, people were packing up. Diane said: ‘We’d better get going.’

‘We were just leaving,’ Woody said. ‘Shall we travel together?’

This was the moment for her to give him the polite brush-off. She could easily say Oh, no, thanks, you guys go on ahead. But instead she said: ‘Sure, why not?’

The girls pulled dresses over their swimsuits and threw their stuff into a couple of bags, and they all walked up the beach.

The train was crowded with trippers like them, sunburned and hungry and thirsty. Woody bought four Cokes at the station and produced them as the train pulled out. Joanne said: ‘You once bought me a Coke on a hot day in Buffalo, do you remember?’

‘On that demonstration. Of course I remember.’

‘We were just kids.’

‘Buying Cokes is a technique I use with beautiful women.’

She laughed. ‘Is it successful?’

‘It has never got me a single smooch.’

She raised her bottle in a toast. ‘Well, keep trying.’

He thought that was encouraging, so he said: ‘When we get back to the city, do you want to get a hamburger, or something, and maybe see a movie?’