"Sure did." Roy swings over to the ladder and begins to climb to the top of the trestle. He has laid his shirt and jeans on the tracks. Hips sway from side to side as he climbs. Pale undershorts shine.
"What did you think about that?" Burke asked, water beaded on his shoulders.
He expects Nathan to answer. Nathan swallows. "It's pretty high."
Burke snorts. "It's high all right. I bet you won't do it" "I bet I won't either."
For a portion of the trestle's passage over the river, the rails and ties run on a gravel embankment and gray gravel fills the spaces between the ties. Over the center of the span, however, the rail is supported on beams of steel, and between the cross ties is air. Nathan steps onto these cross ties, where Burke and Randy wait. The feeling of falling is already in Nathan's gut, as if he were plunging toward the river. He can see the dark river surface far below the ties. Trying to show as little of his fear as possible, he steps bravely, glancing down only at moments when he cannot control his panic.
"I'm with you, Nathan, I ain't jumping off the top part either," Randy says. His skin is colored like sand and freckles trace the curves of his nose and strong cheeks. Randy is plump, with a roll of white fat at his midsection. He towels Burke's back dry. "I got no need to break my neck."
"Well, I do," calls Roy from above, and Nathan stares upward dizzily, wishing for something to hold.
Roy steps forward into space, kicking his legs as if to keep his upright stance through the air; he falls into the river, fast as that. Surfacing, he flings water from his hair and laughs, looking up at Nathan.
At the same moment Burke steps toward Nathan and grips Nathan's shoulders in his hands. On Burke's face is a wicked grin, and at the center of his eyes is a blade of ice that frightens Nathan, even the first time he sees it. He grips Nathan's shoulders so tight they hurt. "Hey Nathan, we're glad you came out here to the river."
"Let him alone, Burke," Roy calls from the river. He has begun a slow swim to shore. "He can't swim."
"Well maybe he'll learn if I throw him in right now"
"Don't bother him, Burke. I mean it."
"I ain't bothering him. Am I, Nathan? Huh? Say something."
He shakes Nathan violently. The hands on Nathan's shoulders burn as Burke lifts Nathan from the trestle and suspends him over the water. Nathan fights panic, holds perfectly still in Burke's grip. Strong fingers gouge his arms. From the center of the trestle Randy stops moving and watches. Burke grins and shakes Nathan again, more gently. "Are you man enough to jump from here? Or do you want me to throw you?"
"I don't want you to throw me."
"Then you going to jump?"
Nathan holds perfectly still and looks Burke directly in the eye. The act of assertion calms him. He is strangely peaceful and feels no fear, even at the prospect of the fall. Something meets between them. He focuses on Burke's arms and shivering chest. Burke is big for his age, and his stomach is ridged and hairy. A feeling of harsh strength pours out of him, different from Roy Nathan looks into this, into Burke's face, and says, "I want you to put me down."
Burke laughs and seems perplexed. Roy stands on the riverbank, watching. Burke releases Nathan. He backs away, leaving Nathan at the edge of the trestle. Nathan hovers unsteadily, glimpsing, below, his own face slipping beneath the dark water. As if the moment has divided, as if he has both fallen and not fallen. Shivering, he steps back to the center of the trestle.
Far toward the trees in the darkness Roy climbs up the riverbank to the neat line of cross ties. Everything dissolves into nightfall. Starlings are singing, and frogs on trees are smelling the dusk and croaking in choirs. Roy trots down the railroad track, stepping from tie to tie.
Burke meets him face to face. "I didn't throw him in the river. I should have."
"You better be glad you didn't."
"Oh hell, I'd have gone down and got him before he drownded."
Roy studies Nathan over Burke's shoulder. Nathan shakes his head emphatically.
Burke says, "That was a pretty nice dive, buddy" "Yes, it was," Randy agrees. "You was pumping them legs."
"What did you think?" Roy asks Nathan.
"It looked like something was chasing you all the way down."
Roy laughs a little and Randy joins him.
The sun hangs low, soon to be swallowed by the line of trees at the horizon. Randy and Burke dive from the trestle again, the low part, and Roy and Nathan sit on the rail and watch them swim. A peaceful charge crosses the space between them, and they are aware of each other with special sight. Below, Burke is pretending to drown Randy, who pushes back with fury. The game goes too far and Randy nearly fights with Burke as they leave the river. But even this commotion fails to alter the stillness between Nathan and Roy. Roy says, "I like this place."
"I do too."
A soft splash echoes from someplace down river. The gray of dusk swarms. "I wish I could swim."
"I'll teach you. In the pond at home. It's easy"
