The Disillusionists cont'd...

This was the scene where the Cowboy is first struck by man's inhumanity to man. They waited and then waited some more. May and Alexis abandoned the shoot to go for a swim at a small lake they had seen along the way. "All the good light is gone anyway."

Jay and Gunther followed a few minutes later. Mike was no longer talking. They could still fit in a swim before it got too dark and ran after the girls like it was recess. G needed to rinse off the sea salt from earlier. He was developing a rash. Mike claimed he had to stay and watch the equipment.

Back in the camper, Mike sat and brooded at the kitchen table. Once or twice he got up and wandered out to the road to see if they were on their way back. He wasn't sure if he could trust them all together in one place. He decided to lock up the camper and join in. He might even go for a swim. At the lake he followed the noise of the others, creeping up on them simply to watch. He was, after all, a film-maker.

Standing naked on the shore, they were planning a race to a rock on the far side of the lake. The winner would have all their food and drink served to them at dinner that night. They looked modest and giggly.

"Ready, set..." Jay waited, "Go!"

They hit the water clean, slicing the surface and pushing through the green soupy water and popped back up to the surface for breath. Then, thrashing like maniacs, they raced for the far shore. Jay seemed to be opening up a lead and stopped at one point to slow May down. G looked a little tired from his ocean dunking. Alexis was keeping her head above water well... Mike turned around without waiting for the final result. Jay held on to the rock while for the others caught up. He had done a little competative swimming in high school. He caught a glimpse of Mike folding back into the bush like an Armani Sasquatch. There might be trouble in negativeland.

The race over, the others splashed around for a while and then swam back to their clothes.

"Is it ever warm!" Alexis could not remember the last time she swam in a lake.

Gunther climbed out of the water ahead of the others.

"Oh my god!" yelled May.

"Ew."

"What?" said Gunther, covering his genitals.

"Your back! You've got a big purple bruise coming out of your crack!"

"What have you been doing?" mocked Jay.

It must have been when he was slammed against the bottom near the tide pool. "Jesus," He strained to get a better look. "I hit a rock in the water this morning."