Suntan?

 

Chapter 11

SUNTAN?

 

The hotel had the use of a nearby beach for the guests who preferred to feel they were in more natural surroundings with the sea and the sand, instead of being beside a swimming pool smelling of chlorine in a cultivated garden with lawn, flowers and bushes, and of course palm trees strategically placed as if they were sentinels.

As could be expected of the regular visitors who were stretched out around the swimming pool every day, none of them liked the idea of having grains of sand in between their toes or in their sandwiches. For some reason it seemed to them that the smell of suntan oil and the sea was too harsh for them. Much less refined than the smell of chlorine.

One day Mavis and Sonila dared to go to the beach, being bored with the same faces with the same smiles and conversations. They found themselves among a group of sun worshippers. In order not to trip over a body cooking beneath a pitiless sun they had to step carefully. For the most demanding there were rows of sun loungers right down by the sea itself. The others were stretched out on towels or lilos. They were all there with one objective �" a suntan!

“Where would you rather be right next to the sea or further back?” asked Sonila.

Mavis looked around and seeing a wide enough space for the two of them, pointed it out to Sonila, “Over there, nearer the water. These people must be the ones who only have dinner in the hotel.”

“Why do you say that?”

“The tans they’ve got aren’t acquired by coming down here an hour a day. These are the result of dedicating many hours.”

“Would you like to be so tanned?” Sonila asked.

“Yes, why not? I know who would like it.”

“How do you know?”

“I’m married to him, aren’t I?

“And that’s the reason you know whether or not he would like you all suntanned?”

“You know Gus’s tastes, don’t you?” asked Sonila.

“Take a look at her over there, the one on the green towel,” Mavis said, without answering..

“Have you come here to gossip or to sunbathe?”

“Both things. Look at her.”

“She isn’t wearing anything, she is completely naked. What a scandal! I’m pleased Gus isn’t here. I’d feel so embarrassed.”

“What an idiot you are! That woman’s a show girl and doesn’t want bikini marks on her body.”

“Do you think she dances in a club?” Sonila asked.

“Sure. Well if you don’t feel like talking any more, I’m going to sunbathe.”

Sonila followed Mavis’s example and settled down to sunbathe. The problem was that Sonila changed from being a pale golden tone to beach red. Mavis simply got darker and darker. They missed lunch in the hotel and they stayed in the sun, like two lizards, until very late. The show girl got up, picked up her things, and left.

Mavis said, “That’s all right. We have cooked these bodies enough for today.”

“I see myself a bit red, Mavis.”

“That’s nothing. You shower, cover your body in after-sun, and tomorrow you’ll have a colour to be envied.”

 

Gus’s and Don’s reactions were different. 

“I’m not going out in public with a lobster. Tonight we’ll dine in our room. How did  it occur to you to go down to the beach?” Gus declared.

“For a change. Tomorrow we’re going again. So I’ll get darker.”

“You aren’t dark, you’re red.”

“I’ve put on after-sun so that tomorrow I’ll have a more golden colour.”

“Is that what you smell of. Do I have to sleep with you? I’d rather spend the night in the bath.”

“Don’t you dare, or I’ll turn the cold shower on you. There was a very suntanned woman on the beach. Do you think I can get very dark?”

“Only in your dreams. And why this sudden interest in sunbathing?”

“Mavis and I are fed up with seeing the same people on the same sun loungers with the same drinks.”

“What’s the matter? Aren’t there any young men who want to flirt with two mature women?”

“That’s not it, Gus. The beach is more like being on holiday and nobody looks at the model of the swimsuit you’re wearing. The majority wear practically nothing.”

“Remind me that I must go down to the beach with you and Mavis.”

“I’m going to bed, the sea air has done me good, and besides it has relaxed me.”

“D’you mind if I go out with Don?”

“Of course not. I hope you have a good time.”

“I hope so, too,” Gus said blowing Sonila a kiss.

 

“Come here. Show me your suntan,” Don said to Mavis, who was spinning round following her husband’s orders.

“It’s good for the first day, isn’t it? Tomorrow Sonila and I are going back down.”

“Seeing you like that has made me change my mind about going out with Gus. I’d rather spend the evening with you. I’m going to ring Gus to tell him that tonight I’m not going out,” Don said, ringing Gus’s room number.

“Hello. Is that you, Don?  Are you ready? Tonight we’re going to have a great time.”

“You are going to have a great time. Me no. Or maybe I am. I’m going to stay with Mavis.”

“Are you kidding me! After having got hold of two birds like Mati and Crisi, how can you do this to me?”

“I’m sorry, Don, but tonight is for Mavis. Another time perhaps. Have a good time!”

“What am I going to do with two women?” Gus asked his reflection in the mirror, and then started to laugh.

 

Day after day, without missing one, Mavis and Sonila went down to the beach. Mavis got darker a darker, while the red of Sonila gradually disappeared and left her with a golden hue. Don couldn’t believe his luck with Mavis and he no longer went out with Gus, preferring instead to stay with his wife. Mavis had already forgotten about things and it seemed her only interest was Don.

On the other hand, Gus was exhausted by going out with the two girls. Sonila was splendid with so much rest, while her husband never rested.

 

That situation couldn’t go on forever, and one morning Don insisted on Gus going down to the beach. Mavis’s husband knew the uncontrolled life Gus was leading, and wanted to help him to get into shape. Immediately after breakfast, the quartet left the hotel for the beach.

There were very few people there at that time of the day. The showgirl wasn’t present. The stench of rotting fish and fruit, seaweed, and plastic bottles attacked their noses. Down by the sea there were piles of rubbish the whole length of the beach. Mavis began to cry. The others soon realized the cause. Countless fish just like the one Mavis had caught were lying there �" dead.

“The hotel sewage must be emptied near here,” said Don. “I’m going to take Mavis somewhere else.”

“Don, d’you think that this could be the real reason why fish aren’t eaten on the island?” asked Gus.

“I don’t know. I’m going to see the manager to tell him what I think. Coming?”