Reaching the raft he held to its platform. "Made it," he said. "This water doesn't seem so cold once you're in it."

"It's always cold," Larry said. Offering his hand he pulled Kelly up beside

him.

Kelly pushed back the wet hair from his eyes and brushed the water from his face. "Thanks," he said. He sat beside Larry, letting his feet dangle in the

water.

"This reminds me of a little beach on Vieques, Puerto Rico," Kelly said. "Those trees up on the hill and the moon on the water-we had to sneak out of camp but we went swimming almost every night."

"I like it here," Larry said. "Found it by accident, really. I was hiking with my dog about three years ago. Since then I've come out here almost every week." He was looking at the little waves kicked up by his feet. "This old raft has soaked up a lot of my tears, I guess," he added.

Kelly leaned back on his elbows. "Sort of a secret hiding place, huh," he said. "Mine was the top of an oil derrick. Up there a breeze was always blowing; quiet I felt as though I were detached from the whole world, that nothing could hurt me up there." He laughed softly; that easy, natural laugh that never failed to thrill Larry. "I used to dream all the wild hero-worship dreams you can imagine," Kelly continued. "Did you see the Walter Mitty movie with. Danny Kaye?" Larry said no. "Well, Walter Mitty was the typically shy and colorless clerk who could lose himself in day dreams. Oh, he had some glorious times, he did. He would be a much-decorated fighter pilot hero; then the captain of a storm-wracked sailing ship, or maybe a race car driver." Kelly paused. Larry hadn't moved; he was still staring into the black water. "Do you ever have dreams like that, Larry?"

"Sure, who hasn't." Larry was quiet for a minute. Then, "But what good is it to dream about anything? Nothing you really want comes true.”

"Maybe not everything, but surely something has turned out the way you wanted it?"

Larry turned to face Kelly. "Sure, something has come true-one of the craziest dreams I ever had has partly come true." He stopped talking for a moment, afraid of the tightness in his throat. "But the rest of it is still as far away as that moon up there!"

"Is it anything I could help you with, Larry?" Kelly asked.

Larry got to his feet. "Maybe, if you really want to," he said. He turned and walked quickly across the raft. Surprised, Kelly watched him dive into the water; then lowered himself over the side. He waited beside the raft until Larry's head broke the surface a few yards away.

Clearing the water from his eyes. Larry pulled away from Kelly with even rapid strokes. Keeping his eyes on a tall pine tree, he guided himself across the lake. Trying to control his thoughts, Larry silently cursed Kelly; cursed him for his self-control, his good looks, his friends, his his everything. But he especially cursed his blindness. "Nothing went wrong," he thought. "It's just me. He just doesn't like me!"

He noted that the pine tree seemed much nearer. "Wonder if I can make it back," he thought, "not that it makes much difference." But suddenly the realization that Kelly might try to follow terrified Larry. The sharp pain of fear tore through him; turning quickly, he called out, "Kelly!" "Kelly!"

Almost immediately he felt Kelly's arm go across his back, turning him sharply. Then the weakness that follows fright left him limp.

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