He was only partly successful in expelling all the water and had to try a second time, leaning back, holding the top of the face mask to press it against his forehead while blowing hard. This time he managed to expel most of it. Through eyes that were watering he saw PO Walker give him a clap and he sighed with relief.
‘Now act as though it was all just a boring chore,’ he told himself, aware that Muriel would be watching. He turned to her and grinned, then pointed to her pressure gauge and did a check, thus taking both their minds off his efforts. Then he nodded and turned to watch Blake flood his mask. Blake did it without any apparent effort, causing Andrew mild jealousy. Shona on the other hand made a real drama of it, blowing half a dozen times to clear the water out. She appeared to be on the edge of panic but PO Walker calmed her and she managed it at last.
Through all of this Andrew was still trying to get himself under control, blinking and telling himself to calm down. He knew he was alright but the sound of water snuffling in his breathing equipment was no comfort either. As soon as he could Andrew looked around fearfully, to check that no monster of the deep had come sliding up while he could not see. None had but he remained anxious.
The test of using another diver’s alternate air source was much less of a problem. Andrew was confident he could swim up. Just in case, he fingered the valve that inflated his BCD, telling himself that, if worst came to worst, he could just inflate and go up. He even toyed with the quick release on his weight belt. However when the test came he did it easily. Apart from getting a couple of signals in the wrong order he was able to exchange his regulator for Muriel’s alternate. That put them very close together and he looked, as instructed, straight into her eyes. ‘Is she laughing at me?’ he wondered. Her eyes certainly seemed to be twinkling.
During all this they had remained kneeling on the bottom, held down by their weight belts. Even so he and Muriel had bumped against each other a lot. Most of the time her knee was touching his and he suspected she was doing it deliberately. However it had no effect in stimulating him. He was too scared for that and really just wanted to get the exercise over and get out of the water.
Thus he was very relieved when PO Walker signalled to surface. They did this in pairs, practising an ascent using their buddy’s alternate air source. In this case it was Muriel using his. They rose easily and broke apart at the surface. Andrew quickly inflated his BCD and then lay back with a huge sigh of relief. Only after a few minutes did he remember to look around for sharks.
The dive had lasted nearly half an hour and Andrew found it a real relief when Sub Lt Sheldon indicated they should swim ashore. In the shallows they removed fins and face masks, Andrew being chided for pushing his up onto his forehead.
“That is the sign of a diver in trouble,” Sub Lt Sheldon reminded. Blushing at his mistake Andrew hastily pulled the face mask right off.
They then walked up the beach. Andrew found this a real effort, weighed down as he was by weight belt and SCUBA gear. Glances at his companions showed they were all finding it a strain as well, which was some comfort. He was surprised at how tired and weak he felt, as he considered himself to be fit.
Once under the trees they helped each other off with tanks and BCDs and then loaded all the diving equipment into the van and ute. Wet suits were peeled off and they then picked up their clothes and followed Muriel up to the house. This time they went in through the garage door. Inside was not only space to park two cars (a gleaming silver ‘Mercedes’, and a lovely maroon ‘Jaguar’- ‘his and hers’, Muriel explained), but also for a laundry, workshop and downstairs bathroom and toilet. A passageway led off under the house to other rooms.
“We can all have a shower to wash off the salt,” Muriel said.
“What? All together?” quipped Blake.
“Oh poo to you!” Muriel said with a laugh. “You and Shona can if you like.”
That got Andrew’s imagination racing. He had a vivid flashback to the previous January when he had been joined in the shower by Letitia after he had tried to find the drowned boy. It was the first time in his life he had been alone with a naked girl and it had been a glimpse of heaven which gave him hot memories. For a few seconds he remembered sliding his hands over Letitia’s lovely smooth skin, and of fondling her ample breasts while she had held him. They had come so close to having sex that Andrew trembled with emotion every time he thought about it. He was sure that only the interruption by others had stopped them and that troubled him badly. This was because he liked to think he had good self-control. It was also one of his beliefs that sex was a very special and intimate thing that should only be done with a person during a state of mutual love. He did not want to openly admit that he was of the opinion that sex should only be between people who were married but he knew that idea lurked deep in his sense of morality.
Thus it troubled, yet excited him, when he found his thoughts straying to contemplate having a shower with Muriel, of his hands sliding over those lovely breasts, of her....
‘Stop it!’ he told himself, aware that he was torturing himself, and was worried lest he expose himself to be a weakling and a hypocrite. To push these thoughts out of his mind he stood and talked boats with PO Walker while the others took turns at having a shower.
Carmen got a bit anxious about how long Shona was taking and asked Muriel, “Won’t we use up all the water?”
Andrew pictured the relatively dry bush on the surrounding hillside and also wondered.
Muriel shook her head. “No, there is a little dam up the creek,” she replied. “We swim in it sometimes. There is plenty of water.”
Andrew wasn’t sure which creek, as he could not remember seeing one, but he was reassured and quite happily took his turn in the shower. As he stripped off to rinse himself he had more thoughts of Letitia, Muriel and of sex. He examined himself and was satisfied he was quite normal but the thoughts and touch got him stiffening up so he hurried his shower, quickly dried and dressed in dry clothes, then went up to the patio via an internal stair well.
On arrival on the patio Andrew found Carmen talking to Old Mr Murchison. Andrew seated himself and at once inquired of the old man how he was. On being assured he felt fine- ‘as fit as a flea’- Andrew said, “I’m sorry for upsetting you sir.”
Old Mr Murchison smiled and shook his head. “That’s alright boy. You weren’t to know. It was a long time ago. Tell me, how old are you?”
“Fourteen sir,” Andrew replied.
Old Mr Murchison nodded and pursed his lips, then said, “I’d say you will be the spitting image of your grandad when you are a bit older. Now that I know who you are I can really see the resemblance.”
“It must have been a bit of a shock,” Andrew replied.
“Yes, a sort of ‘ghost from the past’ thing,” Old Mr Murchison replied. “So tell me about your family. I haven’t seen any of them for twenty years at least.”
Andrew and Carmen proceeded to describe how their father, Cuthbert Collins, ran a tourist business, while their mother owned a small but very trendy ‘boutique’. It was while trying to explain the family history that Andrew realised just how little he actually did know about his own family background. He resolved to remedy that by talking to his parents as soon as he got home.
However such thoughts were thrust from his mind by the more immediate problem of what to say to Muriel as they said farewell. She and her family were staying over at the house so he would not see her until the following Saturday at cadets. ‘Unless I can organise something for Friday night,’ he thought.
As they all said goodbyes and made their way down to the lawn Andrew paused and met Muriel’s eye. He was sure now he was really in love and he badly wanted to see her again. “Can we meet again?” he asked.
“I’d love to,” Muriel replied. “What did you have in mind?”
“Oh....er... maybe the movies on Friday night or something?” Andrew suggested.