Skinny-Dipping at Monster Lake (10 page)

The community storm shelter was in the basement of the fire department. Dad waited for us outside the back door, where the parking lot was. He gave Mrs. Baum a big hug, kissed Mom on the cheek, and ruffled my hair.

“This thing will probably blow over, like most of 'em do. It
is
a big storm system, though. Lots of straight wind and some hail. I just feel safer with you here. Come on.”

Quite a few people were already downstairs. There were about eight old couples. A number of the firefighters' families were there and some other people with kids. Only about twenty chairs lined the walls. Mom found an empty one for Mrs. Baum, then sat on the floor next to her, talking about grown-up stuff, like bills and the cost of living and all that junk.

Impatient and bored, I shifted nervously from one foot to the other. I was just getting ready to ask if I could go upstairs to see what Dad was doing, when someone tapped me on the shoulder.

“Kent? Kent Morgan? Is that you? I haven't seen you since the picnic last year.”

It was Krissi Korbin.

I blinked. Then blinked again. What her dad had told my dad . . . well, it wasn't quite true. She hadn't changed a little. She'd changed a
lot.

She
was
cute.

Mom introduced her to Mrs. Baum, and Krissi sat on the floor next to them. For some strange reason, Krissi and Mrs. Baum seemed to hit it off from the very first. The three of them talked and visited and laughed. After a while, I got to feeling really left out.

I guess Mrs. Baum finally noticed. She glanced up and smiled at me.

“Oh, Kent. I almost forgot. Remember I told you the other night that I'd fix some chocolate chip cookies?” She reached to the floor beside her and picked up the paper sack. “Here you go. I think there's enough to share with your mom and this beautiful young lady, too.”

I thought Pepper Hamilton's mother made the best chocolate chip cookies in the country.

Wrong.

When it came to cookies, Emma Baum had the Hamiltons beat all to pieces.

We all visited and munched on the wonderful
cookies. Mom excused herself when she spotted the people who had just bought the house from her. Then Krissi and Mrs. Baum got to visiting. Then they started whispering to each other. Every now and then they would glance at me, giggle, and whisper some more.

It made me feel really self-conscious and uncomfortable. So I went upstairs to see what Dad and the other firefighters were doing.

It was around ten thirty when the storms passed. Most of the bad ones went to the north of us. Dad's shift wasn't over until eleven, so Mom and I got Mrs. Baum and headed home. There were lots of small limbs and stuff on the roads, but other than that I couldn't see much damage.

As we drove, I really wanted to ask Mrs. Baum what she and Krissi had been talking about when they kept looking at me and giggling. I just didn't have the nerve. But when we got to her house . . .

“Kent,” Mom said, turning the engine off. “Walk Emma to the door and make sure everything's okay in the house.” She reached over and opened the glove compartment. “I'll take a quick walk around the outside and see if there's any storm damage.”

Together, Mrs. Baum and I peeked in each of the rooms. In the kitchen she made me take six
more chocolate chip cookies, then she walked with me back to the front door.

“What were you and Krissi giggling about?” I blurted out.

Mrs. Baum smiled. I couldn't help notice the little twinkle in her eye. “You.”

I felt the heat rush to my cheeks. I was just going to ask her what they were saying about me when Mom stepped onto the porch.

“Things are fine out here, Emma. You need anything else before we head home?”

“Nope. Doing fine, Elizabeth. Thanks for picking me up. Kent, I'll talk to you again sometime,” she added with a wink.

I wanted to know—
now.
But I guess she could tell I didn't want to talk about it in front of Mom.

As soon as we got home, I went to check on Duke. He galloped up from the pasture and shoved his nose in the food bucket that I brought him. I took a quick look at the barn and pen. Sure that everything was all right, I headed back to the house.

I waited for Dad in the garage. While I was standing there, I glanced down at my scuba tank. I felt the smile tug at my ears.

Pink two-piece bathing suit.

I could hardly wait for underwater rescue classes to start next week.

L
ast night I went to sleep with peaceful visions of Krissi Korbin swimming around in her pink two-piece bathing suit.

I guess that's why the next morning came as such a shock.

I wiggled and squirmed a while, then finally sat up on the edge of my bed. As soon as I got my eyes opened and stopped yawning long enough to see, I glanced out the window. There were limbs and trash all over the side yard. I threw on some clothes and trotted outside to see if Duke was okay. I spotted him munching grass in the pasture and swishing at flies with his tail. My horse was fine, but two sheets of tin had been ripped from the roof of his shed. Next to the corral, a big tree limb had snapped and landed on the fence. I could see where the wood was all white and shiny. Frowning, I remembered feeding him the night before and not seeing anything wrong.

Were you so busy thinking about Krissi that you
didn't even notice the barn was messed up? You didn't see the broken fence?

Before I could even answer myself, I shook my head. There was no way I could have missed that.

When I walked around the other side of the house, I saw a couple of trees that had fallen over, up by the road.

Mom and Dad were drinking their coffee when I flew through the back door. I guess my eyes were wide and my mouth was gaping open, because Dad answered before I even had a chance to ask.

“Another line of storm rolled through, just before daylight.”

“A second storm? I didn't hear a thing,” I confessed.

“Wasn't much thunder or lightning—just wind.”

“Lots of wind,” Mom added.

Dad took a sip of his coffee. “Planned to spend my day off fishing. From the looks of things, probably take most of the day to get it cleaned up around here.” He shrugged and took another sip from his cup. “Well, maybe I can get a little fishing in with you boys tonight. You wouldn't mind if I spent a few minutes at your campout, would you?”

I shook my head. “I'm sure it would be fine with
the guys. Might even see if Mr. Aikman wants to come, too.”

“Be good for you to spend some time with your son,” Mom said. “You might even—” Suddenly she broke off. She blinked a couple of times, then her eyes got kind of big. “Oh, my gosh. The dinner and wedding shower for Samantha Hamilton is supposed to be tonight. They were going to have it outside in their garden.”

Dad blinked back at her. “That's right! Carl and Pepper have been working on a gazebo. You better go and call. See if they had as much damage over on the Point as we did. If they need our help, we can always clean up around here tomorrow.”

While Mom was on the phone, Dad and I went to check the shingles on the roof. It wasn't long before she came out to join us.

“They had wind damage. Their gazebo is all right, but the yard's a total mess.”

“Is there anything we can do to help?” Dad asked. Mom shook her head and explained that Pepper's folks decided, even with the whole neighborhood pitching in, they couldn't get it cleaned up and ready by tonight. So she called their preacher to see if they could use the church banquet room. Mom was supposed to check back around noon to see if they needed any help.

We spent the rest of the day picking up limbs that were scattered all over the yard and pasture. Dad went to town and got some tin to fix Duke's barn and three boards for the corral fence.

When he got back he found his chain saw in the garage, and I helped him cut the trees off the fence up by the road and get the big limb off Duke's corral. Even cut into small logs, the green wood was heavy and hard to lift. We put the big stuff in the back of his truck, then drove down to add that to the pile Mom and I had made in one of the small ravines. We didn't eat lunch until four that afternoon. After that we rested a few minutes and went to put the new tin on Duke's roof.

• • •

I was almost near worn out by the time Ted and Mr. Aikman showed up. While our dads talked, Ted and I went after my fishing stuff.

“No shad gizzards or cut bait,” Ted told me as we walked back to where our dads were. “The bait shop was out. Didn't have time to go shoot some with my bow and arrow, because we spent the whole day picking up tree limbs and replacing some tin on the hay barn. Dad got two extra cartons of worms. Figured you, Jordan, and I could go a little early and catch some perch for cut bait.”

“Does Pepper get to come?” I asked.

“Think so.” Ted nodded. “The shower's just a grown-up party. Yesterday he told me that he'd go fishing with us. But . . . that was before the storm and the mess it made out of their yard.”

• • •

It was almost dark by the time everyone got there and we had our camp set up. Chet and Daniel brought a tarp to put under the tents and sleeping bags. The ground was still pretty damp from the rain the night before. While they did that, the rest of us found some semidry wood for the fire. Pepper was the last to get there.

He pulled his horse to a stop, right between the tents. Shaking his head, he leaned forward and rested his forearm on the saddle horn.

“You have no idea how happy I am to be here.” He sighed. “It's like totally crazy around my house. Everybody's running in circles and goin' nuts. I'm just glad to get out of there. I wish Samantha had eloped instead of going through all this shower stuff.”

He twisted around in the saddle, reaching for something behind him. I kind of leaned to the side so I could see what he was after. There were two bags of charcoal, strapped across the back of the cantle like saddlebags. He lifted them off and turned around.

“Figured all the firewood was damp from the
rain last night. Brought some charcoal and lighter fluid. Don't want to starve to death. Where do I put Salty?” he asked, patting his horse on the neck.

“Foster, Zane, and Daniel put their horses at Kent's house,” Jordan answered. “There's still room in with Mac.”

We got the fire started and waited for Pepper to come back. As soon as he sat down, I nodded.

Ted jumped to his feet. “Let's go bait the bank poles.”

Jordan and I got up, too. “We'll go with you.”

At the very same time, all three of us unsnapped, then unzipped our pants. When I nodded, we spun around so our backs were to the rest of the guys and dropped our jeans.

Boos and hisses came from around the campfire.

“That's not fair!” I recognized Foster's voice.

“Yeah,” Zane called out. “You guys got on your bathing trunks!”

More boos and hisses filled the air.

Laughing, we turned back to face them.

“You didn't think we were going skinny-dipping again, did you?” Ted chuckled. “How dumb can you be?”

I laughed. “After that catfish attacked me, there's no way I'm getting in the water without
something
on.”

That's when I noticed the sly grin on Daniel's face. He nudged Chet in the ribs with his elbow. Both of them stood up. Pepper got to his feet, too.

“Now!” Chet called.

All the other guys unsnapped, unzipped, and spun around to drop their drawers.

Only they had their bathing trunks on, too.

All Jordan, Ted, and I could do was stand there with our mouths gaping open.

Finally we laughed, shook our heads, and laughed some more.

• • •

I have to admit, the water felt extra good that evening. I'd spent the whole day working in the heat, helping drag off all those limbs and logs. The lake was cool and relaxing—especially with a bathing suit on.

The three of us worked our way down the line of bank poles. We put worms on the first hook, minnows on the next, and the cut bait that Jordan, Ted, and I had caught on the third. Then we started over again. That way we could keep track of what the catfish were biting on.

At the next to the last pole I stopped.

A weird feeling crept over me—made my muscles tight. Made it hard for me to breathe. I didn't know why. It was kind of like my knees just
locked up and I couldn't take another step.

Something was wrong—but for the life of me, I didn't know what it was. Whatever . . . the feeling froze me dead in my tracks.

T
ed and Jordan were almost to the last pole when they noticed I wasn't with them. They turned. Ted motioned for me to come on. When I still didn't move, they sloshed back.

“What is it, Kent?” Ted frowned. “What's wrong?”

All I could do was stand, chest deep in the water, and shake my head.

“Did something happen?” Jordan asked. “Did you see something?”

Staring toward Mrs. Baum's place, a chill raced up my spine. It started right at my tailbone, scampered up my back, and spread across my shoulders. I rubbed at the little bumps that popped up on my arms.

“Something's just not right,” I managed finally. “But . . . but . . . I'm not sure . . . I don't know what.”

Both of my friends looked around—all nervous and jumpy—then turned back to me.

“Is this where you first saw the Lake Monster the other night, Kent?” Ted asked.

I shook my head. “No, it was back there,” I said, jabbing my thumb over my right shoulder. “Back where the creek comes in.”

They scooted closer to each other and yanked their heads around as if looking for something.

“Perhaps this was where you
last
saw the aberration,” Jordan suggested.