CHAPTER FOUR

John looked up at Chet's laughing outburst, and snarled at him. Then he glanced over at the figure of Hal, standing behind him, just off to the left. Okay, so the guy had strong legs, so what? Could he tread water for a half-hour like Johnny could? Chet sure couldn't, so he'd be better off stuffing a sock in his big mouth, John thought, only slightly bitterly.

"Hmph. Chicken body. Chet's had enough beer to marinate a chicken body!" John muttered, barely under his breath. As if on cue, an icy cold blast of water suddenly sprayed on John's back and snapped him out of his preoccupation. "Yaaaaagh!" he shrieked, spinning around, "that's cold! What the...?"

Hal spun around as well to see where the water was coming from and quickly ran over to the boxwood hedge that lined two sides of the patio. "Quint! Quint! Hey, stop!"

Just as quickly as the water appeared, it was shut off and disappeared. A man around the age of thirty, wearing a grey short-sleeve shirt and blue uniform pants came through a white, wrought-iron archway, wiping his wet hands on his thighs.

"Hal? What's going on? What's wrong?"

"Quint, Mr. Kelly has guests today, you'll have to wait to water the grounds until later. Didn't anyone tell you?"

"No, nobody told me, Hal." He turned to Johnny, "I'm very sorry, sir. I was unaware there were guests today. The hose sort of malfunctioned; I apologize."

"Oh...hey, that's no big deal," John chuckled, "it's not like I wasn't going to get wet anyway." He approached the gardener and offered a hand. "John Gage," he said. "I'm an LA County fireman-paramedic. Nice to meet you."

"Quint. Quint Pulaski. I'm the grounds-keeper here. Nice to meet you, too."

John stood there with a frozen smile on his face, still absently shaking the man's hand. "Quint? Pulaski?" he wondered. "You gotta be kidding me!"

Quint looked quizzically at Johnny and tugged a little to get Gage to release his hand.

"Uh...John? Something wrong?"

"Hm? Oh, uh, no...no..." John sputtered, finally letting go. "It's just...your name...it's, well, uh, never mind. It just reminds me of something, I'm sorry."

"Yeah, okay, um, anyway, I apologize again for the water. I just dug up a small avocado tree back here that died. Took me a while to chop through all those roots, but I got it out of there. I was just getting ready to water the replacement tree I planted and the hose kind of got away from me."

"It's okay, really," John told him. "You're quite a grounds-keeper, though, you know that? This place is amazing!"

Pulaski smiled with pride. "Thanks, it's a lot of work, but I enjoy it. I actually have five different jobs here at the Kelly estate. I'm the gardener, the maintenance man, the mechanic, the landscaper and sometimes I'm even the pool-guy."

"Wow, pretty useful, I'd say," Chet said, walking up and joining the conversation. "Wanna join the party, Quint? I gave Hal the day off, why don't you grab a beer and enjoy the day, too?"

Quint looked over at Hal and now understood why the butler was not in his usual work attire. "Well. You know, I might just do that. Thank you, sir."

"Uh-uh," Chet replied, "No 'sir', just Chet. Save the 'sir' for my uncle. See you in a few."

Quint nodded and smiled, and went to return all the tools to the grounds-building before getting changed. John looked over at Chet.

"You know...that was awright, Chet. I bet those guys haven't had a day off in a while."

"Yeah, well, they work hard, too." Chet looked down at his feet for a moment. "Anyway, I need another beer. You guys want one?"

"No thanks, Chet, not yet. I'm going in the pool first," Hal told them, "maybe later." Now that the water problem had been satisfactorily dealt with, he ambled off to the diving board once more.

"Nah, I'm good too," Johnny replied. "Besides, I haven't been in the pool yet, either." He cast a curious look at Chet as he turned away. "Say, uh, Chet, have you been using that tanning lotion all day?"

"Yeah, why?"

"I think you're getting a little pink there, on the back. Maybe you better find something else to use or cover up for a while," John suggested.

"Are you kidding? I won't get a chance to spend this much time in the sun relaxing for who knows how long! I need to get my tan today, Gage, and that stuff is turbo-charged! I'll just put a little more on." Chet stalked back to the cabana where the others sat, insulted that John would even suggest covering up on such a perfect day.

"Yeah, you go put more on...moron," Johnny grumbled to himself, "you'll see I wasn't kidding when you're fire-engine red tomorrow!"

Hal, meanwhile, stood at the end of the diving board, stretching out. He shook his arms loose and touched his toes.

Johnny scoffed and mumbled, "Oh, just dive already, we don't need a show..."

Hal then took a few practice bounces, squatting down then standing to see how flexible the board was. He took in a deep breath and bounced once, then twice, and finally made a truly impressive, almost splash-less entrance into the glittering water. He swam underwater to the shallow end, came up for just a second to take a breath, then flipped back and swam back effortlessly to the deep end. Underwater, he looked like a dolphin- smooth and fast.

Johnny had to admit, it was impressive. When he emerged from the water, Hal swam over to the ladder that hung on the side and climbed out. He stood there for a moment and shook the water from his long-ish hair, and tiny rivulets ran down his face. Johnny tossed Hal a towel.

"Nice dive, Hal. You do a lot of it?"

"Nah, not anymore," Hal responded. "My parents had a pool and I learned how to dive a long time ago, but I don't get the chance to much anymore. You dive?"

"Me?" Johnny asked, with a hand splayed across his chest for emphasis, "Sure! I dive all the time; part of my job is knowing how to do water rescues!"

"Cool," nodded Hal as he headed toward the others, "think I'll go grab a beer."

Less than thrilled that Hal didn't seem as interested in his story as John had been in Hal's, Gage approached the diving board, ready for his turn. He stood at the edge of the board, trying to recall how Hal had done it. He bounced a few times, stretched his arms and legs, did a few squats and shook his arms. Nobody was watching...except Chet. Johnny bounced once...twice...then sprang up like a frog and right as his feet left the board he heard Chet shout.

"Go get 'em, chicken legs!"