Page 113 - Just Deserts

The Sirocco Lites 26K Run for the Money

Caltrop regarded him through piercing blue eyes. From the waist
up he looked like a surfer: muscular torso and arms, sunburned skin,
long blond hair pulled back in a ponytail.
“Yeah, lots of things. This is a nice place, Mr. Holden. Thanks for
inviting me.”
“You’re welcome. I don’t think I’ve ever seen you around Isla
View before, and I know most of the permanent residents.”
“Oh, I live up the coast a few miles with some friends—near the
old CCC reclamation camp.”
Holden changed his tone; this was not a voter he had to worry
about. “Right. I’ve driven past it a thousand times.”
A waiter arrived, pencil poised above order pad. Holden quickly
chose a mélange of ingredients he hoped would materialize as a
familiar dish, and Caltrop ordered a double cheeseburger and fries.
The afternoon sun broke through the marine fog layer, necessitating
an adjustment of the table’s umbrella by the waiter before he left with
the order.
The councilman got down to business immediately, rather than
fish for a mutually intelligible topic of conversation. “So, Mr. Caltrop:
do you run—I mean, uh, participate—in the Isla View marathon
every year?”
“Well, I’ve been in it four years in a row. Wouldn’t miss it for the
world, actually. Gives me a focus for my training. Good to have a
goal, isn’t it?”
Holden had also been a regular attendee at the race—as an official,
of course, not a runner. He found an image in his mind of the two
dozen or so wheelchair racers who started the course well before the
runners, joggers and walkers who got the most attention. The
stripped-down wheelchairs with cambered wheels and riders in
aviator goggles and leather vests whizzed past the reserved section
like compact rolling bats out of hell, a black vision of hypertrophied
necks and shoulders, bizarre tattoos and facial hair.
“Goal? Ah, yes, indeed. Well, that’s what we’re here to talk about,
really. A mutual goal: keeping our little tourist attraction alive and
well. You must be aware, although you do not live within the city
limits, that Isla View is facing the cancellation of the marathon. I

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