Page 16 of On The Beach

They lazily rose, and we walked together to thetrack.

Maybe calling it atrackwas an exaggeration. What we had was a little setup with pebbles, branches, and some makeshift tunnels that looked like they'd been borrowed from an old plumbing job, which they had.

People were making bets and the bookie, Pablo, was taking money and making notes without missing a beat.

"You playin',man?" he asked in fake island accent. Pablo was originally from New Jersey but had embraced dreadlocks and a Bob Marley attitude.

"Sure, put me down for twenty on Baby Blue Eyes." I handed him the money.

Belle arched an eyebrow at me. "You're actually serious?"

"Of course," Cato declared. "Lizard races are sacred in Reef Harbor."

"Yeah," Franco agreed. "Put me down for ten for Green Geiko." He then turned to me. "Can you spot me, man? I got no cash."

Franconeverhad cash, neither on him nor in the bank. But he knew I was good for it. I had more money than I could use in a couple of lifetimes.

"You're not betting?" Belle asked Cato.

"I don't bet," he said enigmatically.

The locals gathered around, waited with bated breath, the air buzzing with the weird, contagious excitement that came with a Reef Harbor lizard race. I pointed out a scrappy green gecko in lane two, stretching like a tiny prizefighter getting ready to defend his title. "That's my Baby Blue Eyes."

"The yellow guy, that's mine," Franco informed Belle.

"But he's called Green Geiko?" she wondered.

"Well, it's not like Baby Blue Eyes actually has blue eyes, ya know?" Franco replied.

"This is…real?" Belle was still baffled. She was also tucked into my side, not drunk but this side of tipsy and in a goodmood but still within her senses. I wanted to keep her this way so Icouldfuck her tonight. She'd be gone the day after tomorrow—and I'd never see her again so I needed to get her out from under my skin by getting inside her before she disappeared on me.

The thought of her leaving the island didn't sit well with me but I ignored that feeling. I was damn good at denial. One could say I had a PhD in it!

"Real and dead serious." I narrowed my eyes dramatically to convey howseriousI was. "These guys are the underdog athletes of the animal kingdom. Short, wild bursts of speed—blink, and you'll miss it."

She rolled her eyes at me, but I caught the spark of curiosity, flickering beneath her half-smirk.

Just as Pablo gave a hearty blast on the whistle, the lizards sprang from their starting line like tiny, scaly rockets, each one darting toward the finish. It was chaos. The crowd erupted into a frenzied roar as people yelled out bets and cheers, the little geckos tearing over pebbles, scuttling under makeshift arches, and slithering through the PVC pipe tunnels like they were seasoned Olympians.

I glanced over to find Belle leaning in, her fists clenched, eyes fixed on the track. It only took her a few seconds to start shouting along with the rest of us.

"That's yours?" she screamed, pointing to Baby Blue Eyes, the feisty little green guy in lane two who was known for his last-minute sprints.

"Yeah."

"I like that one." She'd locked eyes on Speedy, the underdog with a stubby tail in lane four, hollering his name like she was at a championship match.

"He doesn't win nothin'," Cato told her.

"C'mon, Speedy! You've got this!" she cried out, not paying much attention to Cato, her voice lost in thecacophony of locals slapping backs and spilling beer, all hollering for their chosen lizard.

Franco, three beers deep, waved a crumpled betting slip in the air. He was yelling so loudly that he was nearly in tears.

"Let's go, Green Geiko!" he roared, pumping his fist as the little yellow racer stumbled over a pebble only to recover with a burst of speed.

Cato, cool as ever with a cigarette hanging from his lips, was leaning over the rail like he was above all of us, which, frankly, he was.

"Go, go, go, Speedy! Move your bloomin' ass!" Belle hollered.

---