SIXTHE LIFEGUARDS did their best. And the first department re-suscitator expert arrived, and he and the machine did their best. Then a doctor came and pronounced Bob Crossway dead.
I had known it from the beginning, and the time passed like standing by an open grave waiting for somebody to throw in the first shovelful. It helped me understand Steve Gage’s shouting at Ava to hurry Brad away from the scene.
Steve stuck it out to the bitter end. A thin, sandy-haired man tanned to the color of an Indian, arms folded across the chest of his half-suit of rubber armor. He had a waterproof watch banded onto his wrist. He didn’t look at it once. I noticed that. According to my watch, we were there an hour and nineteen minutes.
Finally, though, he came over to me. “You have a car?” he asked. “Min
