24. Bed
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‘THE BEACH CLOSES AT SUNDOWN. LEAVE THE BEACH IMMEDIATELY,’ a patrol officer said over a loudspeaker from his tiny buggy. I had not heard him over the crashing of the waves and the sound of Tony’s performative, throaty breathing in my ears. ‘THE PENALTIES FOR TRESPASSING AFTER DARK RANGE FROM FINES TO PRISON TIME. YOU WILL BE PROSECUTED TO THE FULLEST EXTENT OF THE LAW. I REPEAT: YOU WILL FACE PROSECUTION.’
‘ALRIGHT, SIR!’ Tony shouted, hopping to his feet. He offered me a hand up off the sand. ‘What a power hungry little man!’
Satisfied by the sight of our moonlit silhouettes leaving the premises back to the lamplit boardwalk, the patrol buggy sped away. It stopped again in the far distance, the little red light atop the buggy flashing like
