The Secrets of Lake Road - Karen Katchur Page 0,27

a few slices of bread next to him. He was using dough balls, sticking them on the end of the hook, the perfect bait to catch sunnies. She had done the same thing so many times, she couldn’t keep count. All the kids fished for sunnies at some point during their time at the lake. Of course, you tossed the small fish back as soon as they were caught. They were too small to eat, and she was certain they wouldn’t taste good if you could.

She sat next to him. Several fish had gathered around his hook, sneaking pieces of bread before darting away. A half dozen ducks were making their way across the water looking for handouts. Underwater recovery loaded their watercraft, preparing for another sweep.

“Do you think Heil will ever give the horse’s bit back to me?” Adam asked.

“I doubt it,” she said, and tossed a few bread crumbs to the ducks.

“Yeah, I didn’t think so.” He rolled another dough ball and stuck it on the end of the hook. “Can I ask you something?”

“Sure.”

“Do you believe in the lake legend?”

She had never really thought hard about it. It was one of those things you heard, and being a kid, you accepted without question that it was true. “I believe in it,” she said. “Do you?”

“Yeah,” he said. “You know what I think?” His voice was serious. “I think you have to be a kid to believe in stuff like legends.”

Caroline smiled, thinking he was right. She picked up the water jug. “Do you want to come to the well with me?”

* * *

They walked single file with Caroline in the lead, ducking under low branches and jumping across muddy patches where the lake water receded. They walked a good stretch in the woods following along the lake’s shoreline, until they came to a private beach and stopped.

“Should we go around?” Adam asked.

Caroline looked at the cabin not twenty yards away. It looked dark and quiet. “Let’s cut across. I don’t think anyone’s home.”

They jogged across, kicking up sand onto the backs of their legs. They were halfway to the other side when someone yelled out a window, “What do you think you’re doing?”

“Run!” Caroline shouted. She dashed to the next patch of woods and didn’t stop until she was under the cover of trees.

Adam caught up to her, huffing and puffing. His cheeks were flushed. The excitement and exertion caused them both to burst out laughing. “Holy moly,” he said. “That scared the crap out of me.”

“Me too,” she said, thinking if Megan had been with her, they would’ve gotten caught. Megan was terrible at anything physical, especially running. “Come on.”

They continued to follow the meandering path around the lake, passing several more cabins with private beaches. Each time they stopped, counted to three, and darted across. No one caught them. No one yelled for them to keep out. Only once were the cabin owners outside, and they had to walk around rather than cut across the property. Caroline had to admit, she was having fun, the first bit of fun she had had since the summer had started.

It wasn’t lost on her that she was enjoying hanging out with a ten-year-old boy more than any of the times she had spent with Megan the last few days. She wondered again if there was something wrong with her. She would be turning thirteen in the fall. Surely, other thirteen-year-old girls preferred doing the kinds of things Megan liked to do. She doubted any of them wanted to run through the woods, attempt trespassing, play silly games with a boy Adam’s age. Maybe this was what her mother saw when she looked at her—an oddball for a daughter, one who enjoyed sports, received poor grades, and dressed like a boy.

It was true. Caroline didn’t fit in at school. Even the girls on her softball team weren’t exactly friends. They were big girls, tough girls, and more times than not, they were surprised when she threw someone out at first base or caught a line drive, although they shouldn’t have been.

She was a good ballplayer.

She wore the dirt stains on the knees of her uniform with pride. She took raspberries on her thigh sliding into home plate. And still the other girls teased her, laughed at her skinny arms and legs, her lanky build, all the while hiding behind chuckles.

After an hour, she and Adam reached the well. Some of the anger she felt toward her mother peeled away