The Most Beautiful Place On God's Earth

17 Dangerous friends

Killer had doubts similar to Pat's. He whispered in Martin's ear:

"Don't hit me too hard or Nicky will get scared."

"You really know nothing about women," Martin said. "What do you think they'd rather have, a sissy or a fighter with a few scratches?"

Tom and Beard chose the rough way, when the drummer asked Tom about the rules of the fight, and Tom answered:

"None, or are you a girl?"

"Stop bragging," Beard replied.

"Make me stop if you can," said Tom, pounding his fist on the drummer's temple.

Beard followed Phil's example and fought Tom fiercely. "Damn, a drummer has a lot of power," thought Tom, but he was happy that he had chosen the right opponent because he didn't like fighting against someone who wasn't able to defend himself. However, Beard knew nothing about wrestling, so he had to give up before losing consciousness when Tom choked him.

"If I hit you the third time, act as if I had knocked you out," Martin whispered to Killer. "Only open your eyes when Nicky is there."

"You can't hit me three times," Killer grinned. "Don't forget, I'm from the ghetto."

Of course Martin could. He hit Killer twice on the chin which made him collapse. Then Martin pulled him up and hissed at him:

"Defend yourself, your girlfriend is watching."

Killer felt anger rise in him. He hit Martin in a rather uncoordinated manner, who deliberately let his guard down and took a few hits. Then Martin grabbed him and headbutted him three times.

"Unfair," Killer gasped as he dropped onto the sand. Martin shook his head:

"Not unfair, just hard. Fight back."

Martin switched to wrestling, and Killer kept up well, but after a moment's inattentiveness, Martin slammed his right hand into his head and Killer was done. Though not quite, because as Nicky leaned over him in concern, he said:

"I'm sorry - I had to fight with him. He provoked me."

As predicted by Martin, Killer received the most loving care.

Martin rummaged in his pocket, which now also contained his passport, which Peter had given back to him. He fetched some condoms and waited for an opportune moment to give them to Killer, who he thought completely unprepared for what might happen the following night.

He handed Killer the valuable pharmacy items and said:

"Take these. You'll need them tonight."

"Oh thanks man," replied Killer. "What are these?"

Martin memorized his English vocabulary but noticed that he hadn't learnt the really important things in school. That was as true of his English classes as it was of Killer's biology classes. Killer had vaguely heard that 'these things' could be used to prevent a woman from getting too big too quickly, but he had never laid hands on one.

Martin saw only one solution. He put a condom in his swimming trunks and said:

"Let's go swimming."

"And what do I do with these things?"

"Put them away for tonight."

Killer stowed the condoms and followed Martin into the water. He wondered what Martin was up to.

Tom had watched Killer and Martin. He nudged Sophia and explained to her what Martin seemed to be planning. They watched the two boys swim far out, who then paddled close to each other in the water.