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Her teeth were chattering uncontrollably, making such a noise in her
head that she couldn't think, couldn't understand what was happening,
except that she must be paralyzed, because she couldn't moveAnd
yet
she was moving, in sickening swings and surging lifts and terrible,
terrible falling, fallingOh God, don't let me die! I
want to live"Scarlett!" The sound of her name was louder than the
clacking of her teeth and it penetrated to her consciousness
"Scarlett!" She knew that voice, it was Rhett's voiceAnd that was
Rhett's arm around her, holding herBut where was he? She couldn't
see anything through the water that kept hitting her face, glazing and
stinging her eyesShe opened her mouth to answer and at once it
was
filled with waterScarlett craned her head up as hard as she could
and blew the water from her mouthIf only her teeth would be still!
"Rhett," she tried to say His voice was very closeShe diamond gucci watch black was
beginning
to make some kind of sense of things"Rhett," she said again"Now
listen carefully, my darling, listen harder than you've ever listened
in your lifeWe've got one chance, and we're going to take itThe
sloop is right here; I'm holding on to the rudder
We've got to get under it and use it for protectionThat means we've
got to go under the water and come up under the hull of the boatDo
you understand?" Everything in her cried out, No! If she went under
the water she'd drownIt was pulling her already, dragging at her
If she went under, she'd never come up! Panic seized herShe
couldn't breatheShe wanted to hold on to Rhett, and she wanted to
scream and scream and scream- Stop itAnd
the
voice was her ownYou've got to live through this, and you'll never
do it if you act like a gibbering idiot
"Wh-wh-what sh-should I d-d-d-do?" Damn this chattering"I'm
going
to countAt 'three' take a deep breath and close your eyesAre you chanel handbags ready?" He
didn't wait for her to answer, but began at once to shout "One Scarlett inhaled in jerky spurtsThen she was pulled down,
down, and water filled her nose and ears and eyes and consciousness
In seconds, it was overShe gulped air gratefully
"I've been holding your arms, Scarlett, so you wouldn't grab me and
drown us both Rhett moved his grip to her waistThe freedom felt
wonderfulIf only her hands weren't so coldShe began to rub them
together"That's the way," said Rhett"Keep your circulation
goingTake hold of this cleatI must leave you for a
few minutesI'm going to duck back
up and cut away the fouled lines and the mast before they pull the
boat
underI'm going to cut the laces on your boots, too, ScarlettDon't
kick when you feel something grab your footThose
heavy
skirts and petticoats will have to go, too It seemed like foreverScarlett used the time to
assess her surroundingsThings weren't too bad-if she cheap gucci handbags could ignore
the coldThe overturned sloop made a roof over her head, so that the
rain was not hitting herFor some reason the water was calmer, too
She couldn't see it; the inside of the hull was totally dark; but she
knew it was soAlthough the boat was rising and falling with the
surge of the waves in the same dizzying rhythm, the surface of the
sheltered water was almost flat, no choppy little waves to break
against her faceShe felt Rhett's touch on her left footGood! I'm
not really paralyzedScarlett took a deep breath for the first time
since the storm hitHow strange her feet feltShe'd had no idea how
heavy and constricting boots wereOh! The hand at her waist was
strangefeelingShe could sense the sawing motion of the knifeThen
suddenly a tremendous weight slid down her legs and her shoulders
bobbed up out of the waterShe cried out in surpriseThe sound of
her cry reverberated in the hollow space beneath the wooden discount tiffany's necklace hullIt
was so loud that she almost lost her handhold from the shock of it
Then Rhett burst through the waterHe was very close to her"How
do
you feel?" he askedIt sounded as if he was shouting"Shhh," said
Scarlett
"How do you feel?" he asked quietly"Frozen nearly to death, if you
really want to know
"The water's cold, but not that coldIf we were in the North
Atlantic-"
"Rhett Butler, if you tell me one of your blockade-running
adventure stories, I'll-I'll drown you!" His laughter filled the air
around them and it seemed somehow to make it warmerBut Scarlett
was
still furious"How you can laugh at a time like this is beyond me
It's not funny to be dangling in freezing water in the middle of a
terrible storm
"When things are at their worst, Scarlett, the only thing to do is find
something to laugh aboutand it stops your
teeth chattering from fear 310 She was too exasperated to speak
The worst of it was that he was chanel ice cube handbag right |
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