Lucifer's Hammer - Larry Niven [60]
"I'll bet it is," Harvey said. He glanced at Maureen, and saw she was grinning again. "I'll bet there's nothing she can't do," Harvey muttered. Maureen nodded. They scrambled up the sides of their dry wash when it ended in a thicket of chaparral. The ranch was visible again, still a long way down, and the hillside was steep enough that if you fell, you'd roll a long way and probably break something. Harvey looked back and watched Alice for a second, then stopped worrying about her and the horse. He concentrated on getting himself down.
"You ride alone up here a lot?" Maureen asked.
"Sure," Alice said.
"Doesn't anybody worry about you?" Harvey asked.
"Oh, I know the way pretty good," Alice told him. "Got lost a couple of times, but Tommy knows how to get home."
"Pretty good horse," Maureen said.
"Sure. He's mine."
Harvey looked to be sure. A stallion, not a gelding. He waited for Maureen to catch up to him. Masculine pride had kept him trying to lead the way, although it was obvious that they ought to leave that to Alice. "Must be nice to live where the only thing to worry about is getting lost—and the horse takes care of that," he told Maureen. "She doesn't even know what I'm talking about. And last week a girl her age, about eleven, was raped in the Hollywood Hills not more than half a mile from my house."
"One of Dad's secretaries was raped in the Capitol last year," Maureen said. "Isn't civilization wonderful?"
"I wish my boy could grow up out here," Harvey said. "Only, what would I do? Farm?" He laughed at himself. Then the way was too steep for talking.
There was a dirt road at the bottom of the steep hillside. They were still a long way from the ranch, but it was easier now. Alice somehow got onto the horse; Harvey was watching the whole time, but he didn't see how she managed it. One second she was standing next to the animal, her head lower than its back, and the next moment she was astride. She clucked and they galloped off. The illusion that she was somehow a part of the beast was even stronger: She moved in perfect rhythm with it, her long blonde hair flowing behind.
"She's going to be one real beauty when she grows up," Harvey said. "Is it the air here? This whole valley's magic."
"I feel that way sometimes too," Maureen told him.
The sun was low when they got back to the stone ranch house. "Little late, but want to catch a swim?" Maureen asked.
"Sure. Why not? Only I didn't bring a suit."
"Oh, there's something around." Maureen vanished into the house and came back with trunks. "You can change in there." She pointed to a bathroom.
Harvey got into the trunks. When he came out, she was already changed. Her one-piece suit was a shiny white material. She had a robe over one arm. She winked at him and dashed off, leaving Harvey to follow. The path led by a pomegranate grove and down to a sandy beach by a bubbling stream. Maureen grinned at him, then plunged quickly into the water. Harvey followed.
"Ye gods!" he shouted. "That's ice water"
She splashed water onto his dry chest and hair. "Come on, it won't hurt you."
He waded grimly out into the stream. The water was swift, out away from the banks, and the bottom was rocky. He had trouble keeping his feet, but he followed her upstream to a narrow gap between two boulders. The water plunged out swiftly there, threatening to dump both of them. It was just chest-deep for Harvey. "That cools you off fast," he said.
They paddled around in the pool, watching small trout dart near the surface. Harvey looked for larger fish, but they were keeping out of sight. The stream looked perfect for trout, deep pools below small rushing falls. The banks were overhung with trees except for two places where they'd been cleared, obviously by someone who liked fly fishing and had opened the banks out for his back cast.
"I think I'm turning blue," Maureen shouted finally. "You finished?"
"Tell the truth, I was done ten minutes ago."
They climbed out onto another of the enormous white boulders, the contours smoothed by floodwaters. The