"Must have pulled a muscle," he muttered.
"In that case I wouldn't think of taking your money," I told him.
"I don't believe I've seen you around before," he said. "You've got to have a card to swim here, you know.'
"Well, I don't have one. So I suppose I had better go."
"Of all the cheap tricks," the girl said. "I think I'll go too. Wait for me."
I waited for her while she went to get dressed. I put on my trousers over my swimming trunks, put on my shirt and shoes and sat on a bench and waited. When she came out we started for the exit. Ken came hurrying toward us.
"I thought I was taking you home," he said, his face red with anger.
She didn't bother to reply and he put his hand on her arm. I told him to let go and he let go. Then he swung around and hit me on the jaw with all his might. I grabbed his arm with one hand and his throat with the other and threw him into the middle of the pool.
Things were going better than I expected. As we walked along, she seemed quite interested in me. I told her my name and she told me that she was Beth Copperd, the daughter of a professor at the university. I pretended that I had not known those things.