August (The Year of The Change Book 2) (13 page)

With a flick of my wrist I tossed another peel in and laughed. “It’s an acquired taste. I like it.” I liked everything this year. Would I still like it next year? I guess I’d find out.

“And I thought I would eat anything.” He shook his head.

After I shoved the last slice in my mouth, I reached for another orange. Instinctively, I looked to Sue to make sure it was okay. She’d been watching, like usual, and shook her head. She took out apples and brought them to us. I put the orange back and dug into the bag she offered.

Richard reached into their ice chest and took out two bottles of water and handed me one.

“Thanks.”

“No prob.” He looked to Emma. “How much longer till the food is ready?”

“At least thirty more minutes.” She put more chicken on.

He nudged my foot. “How about if we go show those guy how to play football?”

My head jerked up. He was looking off at the game that was still in progress.

“Uh … I’d best not.” What was he thinking? Hadn’t he seen enough weirdness around me and football games?

Richard looked at me. “Ah, come on, let’s go have some fun. Thirty minutes is plenty of time to get in a couple of touchdowns with these amateurs.”

I couldn’t believe he was serious. After what happened to poor Zach and my disappearing act, you would think he understood something was wrong with me. Thirty minutes was more than enough time for The Change to cause all kinds of trouble.

He got up and motioned for me to join him. The real problem here was that I actually wanted to go, but I would cause nothing but trouble with all those boys.

With a forced smile I shook my head. “You go ahead. I really should spend some time with Destiny.” He obviously wanted to go so I didn’t understand why he was so hesitant to leave. “Really, you should go. Take Tim and Eddy, they’d love it.”

Out of the corner of my eye I noticed Emma nod.

Richard smiled. “Well, okay, but if you change your mind come and join us. Guys never mind when a pretty girl wants to play.” He took off without a backward glance.

Well, that left me out. I wasn’t pretty. But it was nice of Richard all the same.

I liked football. Donny had taught me how to be a quarterback so he could be the receiver. With a lot of practice, I had a pretty good arm. I wouldn’t get a chance to use it this year. Maybe Richard would help get my throwing arm in shape next year. Next year he would be off to college. Sigh.

On the way to join Destiny, I swiped another apple and grabbed my beach towel. The thought of what Donny would say about me just sitting in the sun had my head shaking. Actually, I didn’t think I’d mention this when I emailed him tonight. Reluctantly I spread my towel beside my best friend.

“Come to get some sun, Sylv?”

“Nope, came to be with you.” I felt her heat before I noticed her red glow. “Just in time, too. You’re burnt.” I picked up my towel, shook it out and laid it over her.

“Hey, what are you doing?” She shoved the towel off.

“Destiny, you have to get out of the sun, now.” I laid the towel back over her.

“It’s not that bad, I never burn.” She rolled to her side pulling the towel off.

I grabbed her hand and yanked her up. “It’s going to be very bad if you don’t get into the shade.” She teetered. “I bet you’re dehydrated too.”

After I deposited a very ticked Destiny on the picnic table in the shade, Cara and Emma converged and fussed over her. Emma pulled a large tube of aloe gel out of their ice chest and they spread it all over her while she chugged a bottle of water.

“I don’t understand. I don’t burn.” She drank more water.

Cara snorted. “You do now. As we age, our skin changes.”

“I’m not
that
old.” She sputtered.

Emma moved Destiny’s hair out of the way so she could reach her neck. “We change every day and we have to be on guard for those changes and not take any chances.” Emma looked at me and smiled. “It is a good thing Sylvia was paying attention. Thank you, Sylvia.”

I mumbled. “You’re welcome.” I really hadn’t been paying attention. I felt her burn before I saw it. I couldn’t explain that it was a little trick I’d had since I was about eight. Since The Change, it had grown. This was something that even Emma wouldn’t understand. I looked over at Sue, who gave me the
be careful what you say
look. She needn’t have worried. I wouldn’t have said anything. It was better that way.

Cara made her daughter put on a long-sleeved blouse and stay in the shade.

Destiny pouted. “But how is anyone going to see my suit if I’m wearing this awful thing?” She tugged at her imposed covering.

“Everyone has seen it.” Cara went back to flipping skewered chicken.

“Not up close and now that Richard’s playing football I can go over and really show it off.”

Cara rolled her eyes. “You’re not going over where there’s no shade.” She pointed to a folding chair.

Destiny grabbed the chair and dragged it into the deep shadows where she could sulk. I didn’t mind keeping her company because I knew she wouldn’t stay that way for long. Besides, my stomach wanted to stay close to the food, hoping to be first in line.

Fishing for a Reason

I could’ve done it, and Destiny wanted to, but instead, Dad sent sweet little Tam to face the lion’s den. She skipped over and told the boys it was time for lunch. She looked so cute in her red and white cotton blouse that hung to her knees, over her suit. I hoped I was as strong as Gram said I would be after The Change. I will have to help my dad beat the boys off who soon would buzz around. Tam had always been pretty, but each day she got closer to beautiful.

“This is unfair.” Destiny kicked the log next to her chair, harder and her steady rhythm sped up as Tam got closer to the football players. It didn’t help her mood any when all the boys stopped playing and crowded around my little sister.

The biggest boy looked college age, but not as big as Destiny’s brother. He picked Tam up and threw her to Richard, who tossed her back. The boy then tossed her to another boy, who tossed her to Richard. Each time she caught air, I sucked in a breath until she was safely in someone’s arms. I hoped Sue didn’t watch, but couldn’t drag my eyes away from the spectacle to check.

Tam’s giggles could be heard above the male laughter. Richard tucked her in one arm and broke through the crowd and dashed toward us, Eddy and Tim right behind him.

Richard reached the picnic table and held Tam above his head. “Touchdown!” He winked at Eddy and Tim. “Should I spike the ball?”

“No!” Tam clung to one of his arms.

He lowered her to eye level. “But you’re supposed to spike the ball when you get a touchdown,” he teased.

“No!” She giggled even though she tried to act afraid.

“Then what should I do with the football?” The edge of his lip curled.

“You should put the football gently on the ground.” She pointed down.

“Are you sure? Spiking would be much more fun.”

“I’m very sure.” My little sister nodded, so seriously.

“Okay.” He raised her above his head again. Her shriek turned to giggles as he exaggeratedly lowered her slowly to the dirt by the ice chest. When he let go, he did the victory dance and she giggled even harder.

Destiny’s lower lip stuck out further. “I should’ve been the football.”

I choked back a laugh. I certainly wasn’t going to tell her she was too big for those boys to throw around. Richard could’ve thrown her, but … well … I’m just glad it wasn’t me making her unhappy.

The feeding frenzy that followed the guys’ return was akin to anything you’ve ever seen on the Discovery channel during Shark Week. Of course, none of the guys had anything on me. Richard is an amateur, comparatively, although I did try not to be obvious. Sue kept rolling her eyes, but no one said anything. Hopefully, it wasn’t just because they were too polite to mention it.

After lunch, the guys went down to see if the other group – also known as trouble waiting to happen - was up for more football.

Dad watched them walk away. “You know, if I go with them I should be able to keep all those boys away from here. So, I should go play football.”

Sue looked at him dubiously. “Yeah, you’d better go hold back the male tide.”

He grinned. “If you insist.” He kissed her cheek before he trotted off.

A dozen yards down the water line, in the other direction, was a clump of trees that hung out over the water. It would put us even farther from the boys and there would be shade for Destiny. I dragged her with me so I wouldn’t be alone while I sat in the water.

Because of her sunburn, Destiny couldn’t swim to the island now, even if she wanted to. I could only hope Richard wouldn’t be too tired when he came back from the game. If he was tired, I could let him rest first. Hopefully, he would be up for another swim to the island before it got too late and we had to leave.

Destiny flopped to the sandy shade, still pouting.

“Come on, let’s go sit in the water.”

She shook her head. “Nah, I’ll stay here. I’m not a water person.”

My jaw dropped. "I do not understand why anyone would wear a bathing suit if they weren’t going to get it wet." I pulled her to her feet and down to the water.

Destiny grinned. "The suit is simply for show. I don't have anything to prove by swimming the channel."

I shook my head. "I have a lot of work ahead of me, don't I?"

She laughed. "Yes, but I'm willing to be there every step of the way to guide you in the right direction."

I hit some water at her. "I didn't mean it that way."

Laughing she tried to dodge the droplets. "Okay, no more splashing."

"Okay."

We settled in the shallow water so Destiny could better see the guys. She happily chatted on about how cute they were and which ones she wanted to meet. There were two guys Richard’s age, or older. I couldn’t tell from there. The others looked to be sophomores, or younger. She wasn’t interested in the younger ones.

We floated out to a little deeper water, and it came to our shoulders when we sat. All went well and we were laughing at the youngest of the boys as they attempted to tackle Richard. It reminded me of a bunch of puppies trying to take down a St. Bernard.

Destiny got a strange look on her face and stood up. “There’s something in the water!” She stifled a scream and jumped, looking at the disturbed muddy water trying to make out what had rubbed up against her.

“It’s probably just a fish.” I tried to sound disinterested.

Even though I believed it was probably just a fish, I stood anyway. Horror movies flashed in my head. Have you ever noticed it was always the calm, smart one that gets eaten because she didn’t believe they were in danger? The theme from Jaws played in the back of my head.

Destiny jump-danced all the way to shore. I followed and tried not to look like I was scared. Because I wasn’t scared…much.

A few yards away a couple of guys walked by. “What’s the matter?”

Uh-oh. “It was just a fish and it startled her.” Where’d they come from?

The two guys grinned and headed for the water to get a look. I backed out of their way and stayed downwind. They slowly waded out, watching for the fish. The tall one pointed at the water. The shorter one leaned over, cupped his hands and followed something with his eyes. With a quick fell movement he scooped down and flung something to shore.

An eighteen-inch lake trout landed at Destiny’s feet and she let out a bloodcurdling scream and tried to jump into my arms. The flailing fish startled me, almost as much as Destiny’s scream. We both fell on our backsides. The guys laughed as they retrieved the squirming fish.

Destiny’s shriek alerted Dad and Richard, who came running, ready to save us. Unfortunately, the entire football team came running as well. The tall guy introduced himself as Marv and was helping us up when the Calvary arrived. Richard shoved Marv out of the way and stood in front of us, clenching his fists.

“Hey, man, don’t get excited. We weren’t after your girlfriend.”

Richard looked the guys over as Dad helped us up. They didn’t look affected. Richard relaxed. The football team arrived and shot daggers at the other fish guy.

The short one raised the trout. “Hey, if you want the fish take it. We didn’t think the girls wanted it since it scared them out of the water.”

“I was not scared out of the water by a fish.” It was all those horror movies I watched without my parent’s permission that did the trick.

Dad was puzzled. “Why did you scream?” He looked at me.

I was not afraid of the slimy fish and raised my hands in front of me, not about to confess to screaming like a girl. “It wasn’t me.” I only scream at horror shows.

Dad looked at Destiny.

She pointed at the short guy. “He threw that
thing
at me.”

My father frowned at the guy.

“I didn’t throw it
at
her, I threw it to shore.”

Marv cupped his hands and made a swinging motion. “He was hand fishing.”

A look of understanding swept through the crowd and they all laughed. Destiny and I didn’t see anything amusing about it. The short one demonstrated his fishing technique. Everyone calmed down and looked over the beautiful, slimy fish.

That is, all was calm until the wind gusted through the still air trapped in the trees.

Dad grabbed Destiny and me and hurried us back to the picnic area. “Run interference, would ya?” Dad yelled to Richard over his shoulder.

Destiny didn’t understand what was going on and protested. All she could see was that she had her chance to meet the guys and my dad was ruining it for her. “But Mr. Kennin, I’d rather stay.”

Dad didn’t slow down.

I hazarded a look back just as Richard tossed a couple of the smaller ones in the water. He was talking to the rest, trying to get their attention away from us.

Weird event number five. Great.

Dad deposited us at the picnic table and breathed heavily. When he got his heart under control, he ran back to help Richard with the boys. There was a lawn chair behind a tree so I sat and watched. Dad and Richard eventually persuaded the male horde to go back to their picnic area. I hoped they all would go swimming in the brisk water. That might snap them out of being affected.

My heroes returned. Richard carried the fish that started it all. He walked up and ceremoniously laid the trout on the table before Destiny.

“Roger wanted you to have the fish…”

Destiny scrunched up her face. “Ew.”

“And his baby.”

“Ewww!”

“I told him you were too young.”

“Oh, good.” She scooted a few inches down the bench.

“But don’t worry, I told him to look you up in five to ten years and you would be ready.”

“Oh, Richard, you didn’t!!” She swung, but he dodged easily.

He laughed. “Of course not. I told him if he didn’t leave I’d rip his arms off.” Everyone laughed.

He was wonderful. I was sure Destiny didn’t always appreciate his humor, but I hoped she appreciated him. I know I did.