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“Waiting Sea”-Continued from page xoldest because he didn't want to go to Viet Nam... She wasright. He couldn't call the boy yellow for not wanting to faceenemy fire if he couldn't face a little water.He stared down at the sea and glass-bottom boat. Hisstomach knotted, but it wasn't as bad as he had anticipated. Heseemed to step outside and watch his legs carry him along thopier. Madeline chattered at him and the boys. They allanswered her, but he could not recall what anybody said.Half an hour out. "Seasick?" his younger boy asked. "Ithought you were a sailor, Dad."He nodded. His stomach was grinding and churning. Thiswas different, somehow. Maybe because the boat was sosmall. He tried to ignore it, to get into Madeleine's game, toshare his knowledge of the deep.He had to give it up. He closed his eyes and leaned on thegunwale, concentrated on retaining his breakfast. The waterwhispered past, occasionally licking his fingers.He was half asleep, one arm extended. A wavetop caughthis hand, nearly wrenched: his arm away, 'Shawn! Shawn!Come to us, Shawn!"The voices! Still there! Cue here. They had him.He jumped up, yelling, and staggered as the boat climbeda wave. Arms flailing, he went over the side.He was under for just a few seconds. Looking upward,clawing his way toward the sun, a scream locked in his throatby the pressure of the sea. The fire up there.... The burningtanker.... Better to stay down here with them.... His floatationjacket drove him to the surface.“Shawn. Stay, Shawn." Their fingers tugged at his clothing.He was back aboard the boat in seconds, sobbing. Far, faraway, Madelaine was telling the boys what had happened in'43. He wanted to yell at her to shut up. But she couldn't tell itall. She didn't know it all. Did she?"It wasn't your fault, Shawn, Don't you understand that? Itwasn't your fault. There was no way your ship could haveescaped.”He wished he could believe it. Whining, he surged up,pushed her away, threw himself over the side again.Eager murmurs. Grasping hands. "Shawn, You've come.At last, Shawn. At last."Yelling and panic above. Salt water in his mouth. Thepeople in the boat were quicker, stronger, and trickier than thesea. They pulled him out again. For a moment he thought hewas tumbling into that ill-remembered motor whaleboat."Come back, Shawn. Shawn?"521980No wife now. Madelaine had died in an encounter with adrunk driver. She would have left by now anyway, he figured.The younger boy was gone, too. Killed by a mortar bomboutside Khe Sahn. The older boy was in retail sales.Appliances. A college education down the tubes. There weregrandchildren. He didn't see them often. There was too muchbitterness still."Come on down to Florida," the guys said. “We're takingthe company plane. We'll go after the big ones off the outerkeys. Remember that marlin Wally hooked last year? Thatbaby has cousins just waiting to jump in the boat."He had nothing else to do over Christmas, and, somehow,the sea didn't seem scary anymore. He agreed to go.So there he was, somewhere over the Gulf Coast, staringdown at the sharp shadings of color in the shallows,marveling at the clarity of the water. Search as he might, hecould find no fear in himself, though there was somethingthere that might have been resignation.The sea rose to greet them. The plane shivered as itsLanding gear locked down. "Going to refuel." Wally called back."Won't take long."The runway ran straight toward the Gulf. He watched theconcrete come up, wondering if the plane would overshoot. Butthe tires touched and squealed almost before his imaginationcould slip into gear.The others wanted to eat while they were down. He wasn'thungry. He walked to the edge of the beach and watched thecombers roll in from Mexico. He stood there, the breezeteasing the remnants of his hair, listening.He couldn't hear the voices. Not a hint, not a whisper. Justthe sound of warm tropic waters lazily washing the sand.It was over. Somehow, he had whipped it. He pokedaround inside, just to make sure, going deep, prodding the oldsore spots. There was no pain, no guilt. While he wasn'twatching, he had done what Gladys and Madelaine haddemanded a thousand times. He had grown up. Somehow, hehad accepted the truth. There was nothing he could have donethat night. The ship's number had been up, and that was that.That was that. One boat had sunk three ships with its firstspread. None had had achance.He shivered again. So long ago. Two thirds of a lifetime. Ina different world. A forgotten age. Most of the people now alivehadn't been born,"Shawn, Hey, Shawn!"He jumped, then lifted a hand to let the guys know he hadheard. He looked out onto the Gulf, a grin .stretching hiswrinkled face, "I don't know if you're real or not, but, dammit, Iknow I've beaten you." As he walked toward the plane, hewondered how much he had put together retroactively. A mandying of burns and exposure couldn' t help going a little goofy.He really shouldn't have survived.#"Holy shit!" Wally yelled in his ear. "Jesus! You guys, get uphere! Shawn's got one, look at the size of this bastard."The marlin came up and stood on its tail at the on thewavetops. It fell back with a slap audible aboard the boat."He's going down. He's sounding," one of the guys said.“Watch your line, Shawn. Give him some slack.""He's not." Wally insisted. "He's going to run in on us.Reel it in, Shawn. Reel it in. Keep the tension on it. Makehim work."He'd never done this before. He didn't know what he wasdoing. He hadn't had a line in the water since the war, whenthey had fished for sharks off the fantail. He offered the rod to“Waiting Sea”-Continued on page 53
“Waiting Sea”-Continued from page 53someone more experienced."This is your baby, Shawn, “ Wally said, "We're not going totake it from you."He began to taste the excitement: that drove the others,that sense of a test of endurance and will against somethingstrong and wild.... One instant of flashback, flame goutingagainst the night when the first torpedo hit the tanker. Man.There was an opponent to test your limits. The boats tried tocatch the fat-bellied freighters and tankers. The destroyerstried to catch the boats. Losers slept forever in the deep."Shawn! Don't daydream, man! Give me that rod if you'regoing to...."He told Wally he had it under control. Now he wanted to doit himself. His victory would be complete when he brought thatbig bastard alongside. He would have beaten the sea once andfor all.“What's that?” one of the guys asked.“Looks like a shark.""That's all we need. Somebody get the rifle."He heard the bolt slam a cartridge home. Sweat rolled intohis eyes. He asked somebody to do something. He couldn'ttake his hands off the rod. Willy mopped his face with ahandkerchief. "Hang in there, Shawn. He's weakening.""There it is."More sweat rolled into his eyes.Bam!Missed him.”"Shit, too. Right through his fin."“Master gunfighter. Like hell. That slug hit fifty feet the otherside of him. Give me that thing." The bolt workedagain,“What's the matter, Shawn?"He shook his head. He couldn't tell Wally he had seenthe shark's fin from the corner of a watery eye and imagined itto be a hand with webbing between its fingersbeckoning.No time to get silly. He had to remember he hadit whipped."Somebody better help him," one of the guyssaid. “He don't look so good."He gritted his teeth and refused to Let loose ofthe rod. This one was his, ail his. It wasn't much, but,by damn, this was going to be the victory of his life.Something clicked. He seemed to have beendoing this forever: He played the monster perfectly,with total concentration. The voice of the rifle wasbarely audible as the others took turns sniping at theshark. Their excitement came from another galaxy."Go, Shawn." "You got him, fellow." “Hang in there,Shawn. It won't be long now. He's ready to give up.""Shawn. Shawn." Those voices. They wereback. Those old voices. He Laughed at them. Heknew them now.Tension on his line. Keep that tension on his line.The marlin was barely fighting now. Coming in.Closer and closer."Hey, Wally. Shawn really don't look good.""Leave him alone, will you? There you go, Shawn. He'sdone now. He'll do whatever you want. Bring him on in.Somebody get the gaff.”Right up next to the hull now. He laughed and toldsomebody to take the rod. He pried his stiff body out of thechair and .staggered to the rail. Looked down,Obsidian water, rolling along the side. Black, bottomlesseyes staring out of the luminescence. "Shawn. Come to us,Shawn."He laughed,"Give him the gaff."He took the gaff and leaned over the side....The laughter left him. The creature looked back withhollow eyes, and it was no marlin. It had webbed hands. "No!Damn it, no!" He raised the gaff like a throwing spear."Shawn? What the hell is the matter?"Something slammed against his chest. No. It was inside.There had been smaller blows while he was fighting the fish --- or whatever it was. This one hurt. Oh, it hurt.Shouts. Hands grabbing as he dropped the gaff. Hestaggered. Somehow, despite them, he slipped forward andtipped right over the rail. The thing on his hook grinned,The yelling faded away, away, far away, even before he hitand the happy laughter surrounded him.Brine filled his mouth. The bright surface dwindled.Champagne-bubbly chuckling filled his ears. He struggled, butthe agony in his chest left him without strength to fight. Thegentle hands drew him down, down."Shawn, Shawn. You've come. We've been waiting solong." Their caresses and kisses roamed over him. Thewrinkly light of the surface receded ever farther away. “Wewaited so long, Shawn.”But not long in the life of the eternally waiting sea.The darkness came and took him, and even the happylaughter faded.Art : John Sies53
Page 3: Committee:Chair - Steve NorrisCo-Ch
Page 7 and 8: Things You Need To Know...part 2sur
Page 9 and 10: “Tucker”-Continued from page 8w
Page 12 and 13: G.O.H. - BARBARA HAMBLYMy co-author
Page 14 and 15: MEDIA G.O.H. - LANI TUPUMulti-talen
Page 16 and 17: MASQUERADE G.O.H - LIZ COVEYLiz Cov
Page 18 and 19: FILK G.O.H - BARRY & SALLY CHILDS-H
Page 20: I was born in Tulsa, Oklahoma, ands
Page 24: Besides our Guests of Honor, we als
Page 28 and 29: “Pros”-Continued from page 27wr
Page 30 and 31: Please Note: The Convention Center
Page 32 and 33: “Pros”-Continued from page 29Si
Page 34 and 35: “Pros”- Continued from page 33R
Page 36 and 37: “Pros”- Continued from page 35H
Page 38: “Pros”- Continued from page 37H
Page 41 and 42: “Attractions”-Continued from pa
Page 47 and 48: “Shouting”-Continued from page
Page 49 and 50: “Shouting”-Continued from page
Page 51: “Waiting Sea”-Continued from pa
Page 56: THE LONG LIST OFWORLD SCIENCE FICTI
Page 61 and 62: History of St. Louis Conventionsrep
Page 63 and 64: “St. Louis Cons”-Continued from
Page 65 and 66: Business Meeting or Worldcon Commit
Page 67 and 68: 4.5.1: The name and address informa

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