Dad shook his head slowly. “He just panicked. I jumped in after him and the moment I grabbed him and started swimming back to shore he started thrashing in the water and fighting.”
I stiffened. “What?”
“I guess he either realized he was in danger or he was afraid he’d be in trouble. But the water’s not too deep by the dock, so I was able to swim him back to shore and get him in the house.”
“Yeah, that’s probably it. He just got scared,” I said. I remembered him sinking down into the water yesterday, and how he started fighting when I grabbed him. Now it made sense.
I looked back towards the living room. “Can I go see him?”
Mom said, “You can check on him, but don’t wake him up.”
I turned to leave, but Dad spoke again. “Joey... I’m sorry we blamed you for this. It was just what made sense at the time.”
I felt guilty that they didn’t know about the day before. “That’s okay. I get it, I guess.” Mom got up and hugged me.
“We’re just happy Benji’s all right, and we’re happy you’re safe, too. Okay, Joey?”
“Yeah, I know.” I hugged Mom back real quick and then pulled away. “I wanted to rest a little before lunch.”
“Okay. We’ll probably eat in an hour. I just need a little bit to collect myself first.”
I went back into the living room and towards the short little hallway in back. Angela piped up. “Are you grounded?”
“You wish,” I muttered in a deep voice, and turned the corner.
At the end of the hallway, I opened the door a little and peeked into the bedroom. Benji was on the bottom bunk bed, all spread out under a blanket. This was twice he had almost drowned, and it didn’t make any sense. He wasn’t a great swimmer, but he could doggy paddle.
I took off my shoes and socks and climbed onto the bed next to Benji, and pulled the covers over me, too. I had to scoot him over a little, and he took a deep breath and rolled over and threw his arm and leg over me and snuggled close in his sleep.
That usually pissed me off. But I was happy to have him next to me right now. I put my arm around him and kissed his head, then put my chin on top of his head as I lay on the pillow. I could feel his breath against my neck where my shirt didn’t cover, hot and moist. I hoped he wouldn’t drool on me in his sleep.
I tried not to think about the incident out on the lake. If he had jumped in the water just before I came back, then that means it happened at the same time as... whatever it was that happened out there.
I felt queasy. I didn’t like that thought at all, but I wasn’t sure why. It was awfully strange for a coincidence. But what else could it be?
I decided not to think about it. Instead, I closed my eyes and focused on Benji’s breathing. Before I knew it, I’d fallen asleep.
Mom gently shook my shoulder about 45 minutes later and woke me up, smiling. She had a cardboard disposable camera in one hand and I groaned. “I’m sorry to wake you, honey, you two looked so sweet together, but lunch is going to be ready. Can you get your brother up and dressed?”
My chest was wet where Benji had drooled on me, and when I moved my head, my cheek was covered in sweat from where his forehead was pressed against it. It felt cold as I stretched. “Yeah, Mom. Jeez, I’m too old for pictures.”
“Some day you’ll be glad to have the memories,” she said, as she left the room.
I groaned again. The last thing I needed was embarrassing pictures of me sleeping. Anyway, it didn’t really matter right now. I gently shook Benji awake. He stretched out and then wrapped himself around me.
“I’m sorry I made you angry, Joey,” he said. “I missed you.”
I sighed. He could be so annoying but I didn’t want him to feel bad. “It’s fine. But why did you try to come after me? There’s no way you could swim all the way out to the middle of the lake. Even I couldn’t do that.”
“I heard you calling me.”
“I never called you.”
“No, the mermaids did. And they said I could be with you.”
I stiffened again. “Benj, we’ve talked about this. There’s no such thing as mermaids.”
He made a little whining noise and buried his face against me. “I heard them,” he said. I sighed and patted his back.
“Okay, okay. Fine. But don’t do what they tell you. You can’t swim that far.”
He grunted angrily and curled up into a ball.
“Look, Mom said we have to get up to eat lunch. Let’s get you dressed, okay?”
I threw the covers off of us and sat up. He stretched out again. He was wearing Ninja Turtle undies, and I assumed those were probably a fresh pair, so I threw some shorts and a t-shirt at him. He grunted as they landed on him and thrashed around to knock them off, breaking into giggles. “Get dressed,” I said, and pulled off my shirt. I wiped his slobber off my collar bone and face with a dry part of the shirt, an then threw it in the corner of my room before I looked for a fresh one. I put that on and then I went over to help Benji, who had got his shorts on but was struggling with the t-shirt.
I picked him up. “Time for lunch, okay Benji? No talking about mermaids.” Then I carried him to the kitchen and put him down. This time we had bologna and cheese sandwiches, and a little bit of the leftover egg salad from yesterday on the side. I rolled my eyes as Rudy and Angela complained about the lettuce and tomatoes on their sandwiches. I was so glad I was way more mature than that. Mom had put extra mustard on mine, just the way I like it. I made sure to thank her for it.
After lunch, Dad said it’d be a good idea if we went hiking. I wasn’t so sure I wanted to go back on the lake again right away, so I didn’t complain. I helped Benji put on and tie his sneakers, and the whole family went.
I’d been up that trail in past years, of course, but it was nice to walk away from the lake and then up into the mountains. Technically we were already in the mountains, of course, but we went up and my brothers and sisters were busy pointing out squirrels and I was just absentmindedly keeping an eye on them while Mom and Dad hiked behind me, probably doing the same. Of course, they didn’t have to keep an eye on me, because I was twelve and could take care of myself. But I knew that they probably would anyway, because parents are always worrying about things.
We got up to the summit of a foothill and sat down to eat. Mom had brought summer sausage and some cheese in his backpack and Dad had brought a cooler bag with some cans of soda, and he cut off hunks of sausage and cheese for us all to share while we looked back down on the lake. I couldn’t even see the cabin from here because of all the trees, but the lake lay below, blue and still. I could see the island, and it just looked boring and brown, but I knew that to me it was still exciting. My own little place I could go to and be on my own.
After we had eaten, we walked down the trail where it was in a little valley between where we ate and the next foothill behind it, where there was a little stream running past. Then we stopped to let the littler kids play in the water. I was worried about that, with the way Benji had been acting, but the water was only ankle deep even for him. Benji and Angela stripped to their undies and splashed around, and Rudy took off his shirt, but I was too old for that and besides, I was still wearing my swim trunks from that morning. Plus, I was happier to just take off my shoes and put my feet in the water.
kept a close eye on Benji, who was splashing around happily and laying in the stream, and didn’t seem to be doing anything strange. Mom had to make him and Rudy stop splashing Angela, and then they just splashed each other until they were both soaked.
After a half hour of that, Dad called them out of the water and Mom stripped them and dried them off while Dad wrung out their wet clothes. Benji and Angela got dressed again without underwear, but it didn’t do Rudy much good because he had gotten his shorts all wet anyway.
When we got back, Mom made me watch my brothers and sister while they played outside until dinner. I wanted to help, so after a little while Dad went out to pla
y with them instead and I got to come inside and wash up and help make dinner.
I loved that because I liked cooking and working the oven and seeing how all the ingredients came together and transformed into the final meal. Mom always said she was proud of me and that maybe someday I’d become a famous chef. I didn’t know about that. I just liked learning how to do it and spending time with her. Dad could cook, too, but usually we did other things together.
After dinner, we were all pretty tired from hiking, so Mom got Benji and Rudy in the tub together and then Angela took her bath, and then I got to drain the tub and bathe in fresh water. Mom and Dad said they’d clean up later once the hot water heater filled up again.
It was nice to have privacy in the bathtub. It gave me a little peace and quiet to myself.
After I got out and got dressed in pajamas, we set up Monopoly and started playing. I always liked Risk more, but Benji didn’t have the patience for it. Before long, it was time to go to sleep.
That was the thing about being on vacation in the mountains. There was no TV reception, so you had to entertain yourself, and when it got dark, you might as well just go to bed. But I knew we would have a campfire outside some night before we left.
Later, I had just drifted to sleep when I felt someone climbing up the ladder to the top bunk. I waited to see who it was, then closed my eyes again when I realized it was Benji.
“Get down, this is my bed.”
“I want to sleep with you.”
“You’re too little. You’ll roll off the bed in your sleep and break your neck.”
“Please? I promise I won’t roll off the bed in my sleep.”
I sighed. “Ugh, fine. Come on.” I lifted up the blanket and Benji climbed over the ladder and crawled in next to me. He snuggled in close. “Now go to sleep.”
“Joey?”
“It’s past your bedtime. Go to sleep.”
“Do you think the mermaids are lonely?”
I froze for a second. Yelling at him would only wake up Rudy and Angela and get me in trouble.
“No. They have each other. And they’re not real.”
“I heard them in the bathtub.”
“Benji, if there were mermaids in the bathtub, Rudy or Angela or Mom would have noticed.”
“No, they weren’t in the bathtub. I heard them. Not with words. I just knew they were there. In the drain, far away. They said they miss us.”
“Will Mom remember that if I ask her?”
“No, she didn’t hear them. They didn’t use words. I just knew it in my head.”
“That’s called imagination, Benji. Go to sleep.”
“I’m telling the truth, Joey! They want us to visit them!” He propped himself up on one arm as he said this and raised his voice. I shushed him. I did not need to get in trouble for either mermaids or the life jacket thing.
“Okay, okay, calm down, jeez. Benji, you’re the only one who can hear them.”
“That’s because they past the island. They said no one can hear them unless they are close.”
“Then why could you hear them in the tub? Or on the dock?”
“Because they touched me. When I fell in the water. Now they can talk to me when I’m near water.”
I had to admit, he certainly had a vivid imagination. But it was going to get us both in trouble. “Don’t listen to them. You don’t belong in the water. They can make mermaid friends. We’ll watch The Little Mermaid when we get home, okay? That’s better than real ones. Now go to sleep before you wake people up.”
I pulled him to me and he wrapped his arms around me. I was too busy worrying about how to watch a girly movie like The Little Mermaid to worry about him drooling on me in his sleep. Maybe I could get Angela to watch it with him and sneak off once Ariel started singing about forks.
The next day after breakfast, Dad came out with Benji, Rudy, and me and we played catch while Mom read by the cabin. Angela played with her Barbies closer to Mom, so she kept out of our way. She wasn’t bad at catch, but if she wasn’t in the mood then she was more trouble than she was worth.
After we played for a bit, Dad got tired and wanted to go inside for a bit. Benji went with him and I kept playing catch with Rudy. Once Dad and Benji were out of hearing distance, I walked over to Rudy.
“Hey, has Benji been acting strange to you?”
“He’s obsessed with mermaids, I guess,” Rudy said. “He talked about them all through our bath last night. Mom thought it was cute or whatever.”
“What did he say about them?”
“I dunno. Something about them living in the lake and having a big kingdom down there and wanting visitors all the time. He sounded like he was listening to Angela too much.”
I was relieved at that. “Has Angela been telling him stories about mermaids?”
“Why else would he be on about them all the time?”
I frowned. I’d have to ask Angela now, and I didn’t want to keep bringing up mermaids when Benji was, too. I never wanted to hear about mermaids again.
“If you wanted to hear about mermaids so much, you should’ve taken a bath with us. Then Benji could’ve told you all about them.”
“We wouldn’t all fit in the tub together. Besides, I’m too old to take baths with you guys.”
“We’re all boys. We change in front of each other all the time.”
“Yeah, but Mom washes Benji and I don’t want her to look at my thing.”
Rudy shrugged. “I don’t care if Mom sees me. She’s just Mom.”
“That’s because you’ve got nothing to look at,” I said.
“Shut up!” Rudy said, and threw the softball at me, but he missed because he was angry.
I was really pissed. He should’ve known better than to throw a softball, those things still hurt when they hit you. “Stupid!” I tried to shove him but he started running and dodging me between trees.
I was faster than him but he could change direction quicker so with his head start and turning around trees I couldn’t catch him. I did try to grab the trunks and let that swing me through the turns, but it made my hands hurt.
“You’d better run! I’m going to get something to drink.” It was better if he thought I let him get away. If he thought he really outran me, then he’d be gloating about it the rest of the trip.
I went inside the cabin. Dad and Benji were doing a puzzle in the living room, and I left them alone. I washed my hands, then got two glasses of lemonade and brought one outside to where Angela was. I sipped mine a little on the way. It was nice and cold, but Mom never put enough sugar in it.
“Hey, I brought you some lemonade in case you were hot.”
“Thanks, Joey!” she reached up and took a glass from me, then took a drink. “It’s nice and cold! Would Jordan like some?” She held up one of her Barbie dolls in her other hand, I guess that one was Jordan. I rolled my eyes, but luckily she wasn’t looking at me and didn’t see.
“Angela, have you been telling Benji lots of stories about mermaids?” I said.
She crinkled her nose. “Mermaids? No. Why?”
I frowned again this time. “Not at all? He’s been going on and on about them. He talked about them in the bath last night.”
“I didn’t take a bath with him. He’s too old.”
I didn’t want to have that conversation over again. “I know that. He was talking about them before, too. What I meant was, did you tell him about mermaids before our vacation or while we’ve been here.”
“No, but I love The Little Mermaid. I want to watch it when we get home now.”
She started singing “Part of Your World,” so I told her to enjoy her lemonade and went back into the cabin so I didn’t have to listen to it. When I got to the kitchen, I gulped down the lemonade and put the glass in the sink. I went back outside and told Mom I was going to paddle around in the canoe, and went out to the dock.
Once I was sitting in the canoe, my stomach felt funny. I knew I shouldn’t have drank the ice-cold l
emonade so fast. I started out toward the island, but the closer I got, the worse I started to feel. The feeling settled in my stomach, but it felt more like there was something bad around the island. I didn’t go around to the back side, I stayed on the same side as the dock. But when I got close to land, I felt like the island was hiding something bad. I tried to ignore it—I knew there was nothing on the island but mud and grass. But when I got close enough that the canoe could touch the bottom of the lake, I felt so uneasy that I just couldn’t make myself get out.
I stared at the mud for a minute, and then I pushed off with the oar and rowed back. Once I was halfway back to the dock, I felt better. It didn’t make any sense at all, but I was happy to tie up the canoe again and be on dry land.
During lunch, I told Dad about it.
“Well, sometimes our minds just have a way of knowing things,” he said. “There was probably a snake on the island and you just didn’t realize you saw it.”
I nodded, but I wasn’t sure what I thought about that. But I dropped the subject there, because I didn’t want him worried about me going to the island or canoeing by myself.
After lunch, Mom was mad at me because I’d gotten sunburned. I didn’t remember to put sun block on before I went out on the water and apparently my face looked red. She made me put sun block lotion before I could do anything else. My face did sting a little.
In the afternoon, we all went canoeing, and I was happy to stick with my family. I had Benji and Rudy in my canoe and Mom, Dad, and Angela were in the other one. We didn’t row out to the island or very far at all. Instead we just followed along a couple hundred feet from the shore and went back and forth a bit. I was worried that Benji would go on about mermaids, but he didn’t seem to be worried about them for once. I made sure he stayed in the canoe for sure.
Once we had rowed along down the beach and back, we tied our canoes up at the dock and got out of the sun. I was looking forward to later tonight when we’d have a campfire and roast hot dogs and marshmallows.
I wanted to play Risk, but Dad didn’t want to play and I couldn’t play with just Rudy because the game’s no fun with only two people. Benji said he’d play, so we set everything up and then he got bored after 10 minutes and I had to put the game away again. I wished I had my Game Boy, but we weren’t allowed to bring them on the trip because Dad said that we could play them anytime and the point of going on a trip was to spend time together, not have our faces buried in a game.
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