Page 88 of On The Beach

In the end, Ray ended up arresting five of us. Four men andme.

"Causing trouble over a lizard?" Ray admonished me while he put me in cuffs. "I expected better from you."

"I was just”—I pointed feebly with my handcuffed hands at my napping lizard, who had missed the entire fiasco—"encouraging my racer."

"And who do you think you are? The lizard whisperer?" Floral Shirt, who had been the first to get handcuffed, ground out.

"No, I'm the doctor of drunk lizard coaching." Then I turned to Ray. I squinted up at him, my pride in tatters but my defiance blazing. "I was…cheering on the underdog, Officer. Encouraging him, like,scientifically. It's motivationalscience."

He sighed, clearly tired of my antics, and muttered something into his radio. "Alright, everyone. I'd say it's time you sobered up somewhere else."

Floral Shirt, his companions, and I became friends. We were spread across two cells—they were in the boys' jail, and I was in the girls' jail.

I dozed off somewhere between singingIs This Loveand dancing toKokomo.

When I woke, I was on the bench of the dim jail cell, staring at the cracked wall opposite, the fog of alcohol slowly lifting and giving way to a dull headache. The weight of the failure, the endless disappointments, settled on my shoulders like lead.

"Hey, Babycakes." Mick stood outside the cell waving at the locks as if he were checking into a five-star resort.

"I guess you're gonna be a guest of the city as well," Ray remarked caustically as he opened the cell. "Welcome."

"Jenkins," he greeted him smoothly once the Chief had shut us in together. "Always a pleasure."

Ray muttered something under his breath, his disdain sharp enough to cut glass.

Mick turned to me, his eyes soft, a hint of a smile playing on his lips.

"You know," he began, sitting beside me on the bench, "we're making quite a habit of spending a night in jail."

I let out a miserable groan, leaning my head back against the wall. "He caught me…nudging a lizard, Mick." I covered my face with my hands, embarrassment settling in.

"She cheated," Floral Shirt from the adjoining cell yelled.

"Everyone cheats in lizard racing," Mick waved it away. "Rico gives his gecko speed. Did ya know that?"

I cringed at that. "Drugging a lizard?"

"And then she pushed me," another guy from the boys' cell called out.

"And she stomped on my hand," a third guy complained.

"It was an accident," I cried out.

"Shut the fuck up, Delphi, and get some sleep, yeah?" Mick cupped my cheek.

"I'm so embarrassed," I groaned. "Why did you come here?"

"Because I figured you could use the company." He nudged me gently with his shoulder, his tone shifting from playful to sincere.

"The first set of data is…." I rested my head on Mick's shoulder.

He stroked my hair. "I'm happy to see that you're drinking and getting into trouble. It's healthy."

"What?" I sat up and glared at him.

"In Cambridge, you'd be in your lab, pouring over everything and second-guessing yourself."

That was true. How many times had my colleagues and superiors not said, "Belle, you've got to find a better way to deal with failure. Because if this keeps up, it's going to eat you alive."

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