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In addition to its movie-star residents, the Seventeen Mile Drive was famous for its sea mammals and birds. It was not at all unusual to spot sea otters and harbor seals, and sometimes the head and tusks of a fat elephant seal could be seen bobbing among the floating islands of kelp. On truly magical days, the barnacle-encrusted backs of migrating humpback whale pods passed within camera range of the shore. Unfortunately, this morning the surf was roughpounding the rocks and kicking spray high into the airand the tourists outnumbered the sea creatures ten to one. For her trouble, Kyna returned a few minutes later with water rings around the cuffs of her jeans and beads of saltwater glistening like diamond dust in her hair. |
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"Darn," she muttered. "Not even one otter." |
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Seeing how disappointed she was, Cyrus got down on one knee beside a shallow depression the ocean had carved out of the rocks. Rolling up his right sleeve, he plunged his arm into the frigid water. |
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"What are you doing?" Kyna laughed. "You're going to ruin your shirt." |
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He came up with a bright orange starfish that he had pried from the side of the tide pool. Turning the lethargic creature upside down, he pointed to the multitude of tiny tube feet on the underside, explaining to Kyna how the creature fed by extruding its stomach and digesting its dinner outside its body. |
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"Wait! Wait!" She removed the lens cap from the camera. "Hold it upno, not like that! Tilt it a little . . . more." |
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Cyrus good-naturedly played second banana to Kyna's Margaret Bourke-White imitation, and after she had finished the roll of film, he carefully replaced the indignant echinoderm. |
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When he stood up, Kyna threw her arms around his neck. |
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"I don't care what everybody else says," she whispered as she ran her tongue around the outside of his ear. "I think you're wonderful." |
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They remounted their bicycles and pushed on toward Carmel. On the way, they passed a pair of scuba divers trudging |
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