by Karen Day
“It’s not that brilliant,” Ian grumbled.
We were quiet and then a voice behind us said, “What are you doing?”
We jumped. It was so dark that I could barely make out Allison’s face.
“Shush!” Ian said.
“Please,” she said. “You act like you’re five. Lucy, I’m surprised at you.”
“We’re just playing a game,” I said.
“Then again, I barely ever see you without your posse.” She chuckled. “Ian, did you know Lucy and I are friends? She’s an artist and I’m gonna teach her some tricks. Let’s go, Lucy.”
Go? I wanted to stay.
“Just do a blitz,” Ian said.
“What is this, capture the flag?” Allison asked.
“Kind of,” I said. “We have to free everyone without Becca seeing us.”
“If you do a blitz, you’ll all get caught,” Allison said. “Split up and distract her while one of you frees everyone.”
“That’s what Lucy said,” Charlie replied.
“Shut up,” Ian said.
“This isn’t fun anymore!” Becca yelled.
“I’ll be the decoy.” Ian ran behind us, along the road and into the woods.
The moon was a giant white circle in the sky. Mosquitoes buzzed in my ears. Fireflies flashed, then disappeared.
“This is boring. I’m out of here.” Allison sighed and walked into the dark.
Charlie and I were quiet, watching, waiting. He slapped at a mosquito again. “You’re friends with Allison?”
I stared into the dark, to make sure she was gone. “Kind of.”
“Oh. Don’t you think she’s a jerk to Ian?”
“Maybe he deserves it.”
“Really?”
I didn’t want to argue. Of course he’d stick up for Ian. Allison was nice to me.
“I see you!” Becca yelled, and took off across the field.
Charlie and I ran around the bush, yelling, “Everybody’s free!” It worked!
After Mrs. Dennis picked up Lauren, we played one last game. I ran around the Big House and climbed my tree. Ian and Charlie rounded the corner and stopped under a spotlight.
“Let’s hide in there.” Charlie pointed to the shed. Ian opened the door and looked in. I dropped to a lower branch. If I told them the shed was off limits, they’d know my hiding space. “What’s in there?”
Ian reached into the shed, then straightened, hiding his arm behind his back. He whipped his arm out and pointed something at Charlie. “Give me your money!”
“Don’t shoot!” Charlie raised his arms, then fell to the ground, clutching his chest, groaning, laughing. Ian stood over him, pointing a drill at his chest.
“Here I come!” Peter yelled from the other side of the Big House.
Charlie scrambled up and Ian tossed the drill back into the shed and slammed the door. They dove behind my tree. We heard footsteps. Bucky.
“Lucy?” His voice was shaking. I started down but Ian pulled Bucky behind the tree, before Peter ran by. Then I jumped.
“I fell.” Bucky showed me his bloody elbow. “I wanna go home.”
“Okay, I’ll fix it.” We walked back to the cottage. Dad, the PT and the Ramseys were on the porch. Superior waited for me by the door.
“What happened?” Dad frowned, looking at Bucky’s elbow.
“I fell,” Bucky whimpered.
“I’ll take care of it.” I led Bucky through the porch to the kitchen. He sat on the counter and I washed his elbow. The cut wasn’t very deep.
“I got caught a lot tonight,” Bucky said. “Peter’s cousins were too fast.”
“Yeah, and you almost lost your elbow.”
He giggled. “Ian hid me behind the tree.”
“I know.” I put on two bandages.
“Yesterday when he was at the Steeles’, he got my gun out of the hedges.”
I lifted my eyes. “Why was he at the Steeles’?”
Bucky jumped down. “I dunno. He was talking to Mrs. Steele.”
What could he possibly have to say to her?
“I like him now,” Bucky said.
“Just because he did a nice thing?”
“Two nice things,” Bucky said.
Superior whined to go outside, so we both went to the yard.
Millions of stars covered the sky and the moonlight bounced off the water like tiny white Christmas tree lights.
Sometimes what seems to be one thing turns out to be another, the PT had said. Charlie’s being here was better than I had imagined. And Ian was nice to Bucky. Maybe it was just me who Ian didn’t like.
“Lucy!” Bucky called from the porch. Superior and I went inside. Three large drawings were spread across the table. Each showed a building. One had a pool on one side, tennis courts on the other. The second had two stories, balconies on each side. The third looked a lot like the Big House.
“John Richards came up with these options for the Big House,” Dad said.
“I want the pool,” Bucky said. “Then I can jump off the roof into the pool!”
“No one’s going to do that.” Mr. Ramsey laughed. “You picked the most expensive one. Tearing down the Big House, starting over. Yikes.”
“We’re going to tear down the Big House?” I asked.
“We’re just talking about ideas,” Dad said.
“These designs must’ve taken him forever,” Mrs. Ramsey said.
“The guy has lots of energy,” Dad said.
“Why can’t we just fix it?” I asked. The PT stared at me but I didn’t look at her.
“We’ll try,” Dad said. “No one wants to see the Big House go.”
The PT was still looking at me, so I ran up the stairs. Big mouths. Big docks. A new Big House?
I pulled the box from under my bed and counted my money. If I didn’t spend any of it, I’d have enough for the kayak. I put the box back and lay in the dark, listening. After the Ramseys left, Dad and the PT were quiet.
In the moonlight I saw something on my desk. The PT’s rubbing alcohol.
Finally I heard her drive away. Now I could sleep.
fter camp on Monday I walked by Ian’s house. The windows and doors were closed. Why live on the ocean if you couldn’t smell or hear it?
I didn’t know why I was here. Maybe Mrs. Richards would invite me in. Maybe I’d tell Mr. Richards that we had to do everything we could to keep the Big House. “Okay, Superior, let’s go knock on the door.” But I didn’t move.
“Lucy!” Mrs. Richards walked around the corner. We stood looking at the house. “I imagine everyone thinks it’s huge.”
“Oh …” I didn’t want to tell her.
“It’s okay,” she said. “Would you like to come in and have some iced tea? Allison went to work and Ian started sailing camp today.”
I nodded and followed her through the front door. The kitchen was spread out across the back of the house. One wall was covered with framed photographs. Ian. Allison. Ian and Allison. The four of them.
“It’s a bit much,” Mrs. Richards said. “The double ovens. The microwaves.”
“Nice pictures.”
“This one is my mom. She’s about twenty-five, I think. She died when I was young.”
I stared at her. I didn’t know anyone else who had lost her mom.
“Ian told me your mom died, too,” she said. “Do you have many photos of her?”
“Some.”
She poured iced tea as I got on a stool. Superior stretched out at my feet. “Do you like sugar cookies? Gingerbread?”
I didn’t care about cookies. Please ask me another question about my mom, I thought. I blurted, “I was six when my mom died.”
“I was twelve.”
My age. We faced each other across the counter.
Mrs. Richards was serious. “Did you go to your mom’s funeral?” I leaned toward her, nodding. “Oh, that’s so good. So, so good.”
“But I don’t remember it, except the party afterward. Peo
ple came over with food. I kept wandering around, watching everyone. These women were laughing.”
“And you wondered, ‘How can they enjoy themselves when my mom is gone?’ ”
Exactly. The women had stood against the fireplace, holding paper plates filled with tiny sandwiches. Triangles. They were smiling, until they saw me.
Mrs. Richards sighed. “At least you got to go. My father thought it was no place for children. My younger sister and I had to stay home. I was twelve! Can you imagine that? One day not long after my mom died, I came home from school and my father had packed all of my mom’s things and shipped them off to her sister in Virginia.” Mrs. Richards shook her head. “I never saw any of them again.”
If Dad had done this, I wouldn’t have the quilt Jenny had made from Mom’s things. “Weren’t you mad?”
“Sad, mostly. I think about her every day.”
I dropped my eyes. I didn’t think about my mom every day. At the same time, I had this feeling that I was always thinking about her.
We were quiet. But my heart raced and my skin tingled and every inch of me was awake, paying attention. “How did she die?”
“Car accident. I was in school and the principal got me out of class. I knew, before he told me, that something had happened to my mom. Isn’t that odd? I just knew.”
I’d known, too. But how could that be? When Mom died, I’d been at a birthday party with balloons tied to the fence and a big blue slide.
“How did your mom die?” Mrs. Richards asked.
“Glioblastoma, stage four.”
She raised her eyebrows.
“It’s an astrocytoma,” I said. “A malignant brain tumor.”
The door opened, and Allison rushed in. “Where’s my cell phone?”
Mrs. Richards sat up straight. “I haven’t seen it.”
Allison didn’t look at me as she opened and shut drawers.
“I’m going to be late for work.” She turned to her mom. “Why aren’t you helping me? You never, ever help me!”
Mrs. Richards stood, clasping her hands. “Okay, where did you have it last?”
“If I knew that, I’d know where it is!” Allison yelled.
I slid off the stool. I thought I’d better look, too.
Mr. Richards opened the door. “We were all the way there when she realized she didn’t have her phone. Now I’m going to be late picking up Ian from camp.”
Mrs. Richards said, “Ian’s phone is still broken. He won’t know what happened. And I don’t want him waiting, all alone.”
“I’ll try the camp office.” Mr. Richards flipped through his phone.
“What could possibly happen to him, waiting in a parking lot in the middle of nowhere?” Allison asked. “Let him figure it out! That’s what you’d do if I was stuck there.”
“Well,” Mrs. Richards said. “You always seem to know what to do.”
“No answer.” Mr. Richards tried another number.
“You treat him like such a baby!” Allison stomped down the hall.
I stared at my iced tea. I thought maybe I should leave.
Allison walked back into the kitchen, smiling, and held up her phone.
“I knew you’d find it.” Mrs. Richards clapped. “Where was it?”
“Under my bed,” Allison said. “No clue how it got there. Probably Ian.”
“Ian?” Mrs. Richards asked.
“Kidding.” Allison laughed, turning to me. “Why are you here? Looking for me?”
“I invited her for iced tea,” Mrs. Richards said.
“Super. You taking a break from the kiddos? Lucy, super-woman babysitter!”
Everyone laughed. Allison was president of her family.
Mr. Richards looked at Mrs. Richards. “Liz, come with us.”
I started for the door. “Thanks for the iced tea.”
Mrs. Richards walked me out and leaned close. “We’ll finish our conversation sometime soon. Okay?” She kissed me on the cheek.
Superior and I walked down the road.
Mr. and Mrs. Richards waved as they drove past. Allison turned and stared at me through the back window. I felt something flicker in my chest, same as when you know the scary part in the movie is about to happen.
Just as they turned the corner, I waved. I should stay on her good side.
On Wednesday, two days later, I dropped my bag of juice boxes on the porch. Ian sat on the swing, near the kids. Was sailing camp over already?
Mr. Richards pulled up next to the Big House in his truck.
I walked over to him. “Have you found what’s wrong?”
He shut his truck door. “The support beams under the porch are rotten. We’re going to check and see how far back the damage goes.”
I nodded. “I saw the plans you made.”
“Bet I know the one you liked. The swimming pool! You don’t think you want one and then you see the plans and think about how nice it’ll be. Happens every time.”
I crossed my arms. “I want the Big House to stay the way it is.”
“Ah, you’re one of those, huh? Nostalgic. But if we don’t do something, the whole porch could cave in.” He walked to the shed and opened the door. “Hey, Lucy!”
Tools were spread on the ground just inside the door.
He picked up a drill. “What’s this doing on the floor? It’s jammed. Were your kids here, messing with this?”
I remembered Ian pointing the drill at Charlie. “I don’t think so. We were at the beach on Monday. Besides, everyone knows to stay out of the shed.”
Except Ian.
Mr. Richards stared at me, face tight. “Let’s make sure.”
I followed him to the swing. The kids stopped talking and looked at us.
“I’ve been keeping my tools in the shed and I just found my drill on the floor, jammed.” His voice was stern. “Does anyone know about this?”
Everyone shook their heads and said no.
Ian stared at his feet. Was he not going to say anything?
“The shed is off limits,” Becca said.
“I really don’t think the kids did it.” I made my voice firm.
“Somebody broke it.” He stared at me. “I sure didn’t leave it on the shed floor.”
I crossed my arms and stared back. He didn’t believe me. Well, Ian was a big coward!
Mr. Richards sighed. “I’ll take my tools with me. Just promise that you’ll stay away from the porch area. I wouldn’t want anyone to get hurt. Okay?”
“Yes!” everyone said as he walked back to the shed.
I glared at Ian. How dare he let us take the blame for this!
“Who broke it?” Lauren asked.
If I stared at Ian long enough, would he confess?
“Well, I didn’t do it,” Henry said. “Come on, I wanna play chase.”
“It’s hot,” Becca said. “Can we go swimming?”
They all talked over each other about what they wanted to do.
“Craft, craft, craft!” Lauren and Olivia chanted.
“I don’t wanna do a craft,” Peter yelled. “And my mom says I don’t have to stay here if I don’t want to.”
Everyone looked at me. I almost said, Fine, leave! But I didn’t want him to leave, especially unhappy. “We’re going to the marina to watch the boats.”
Henry and Bucky cheered. Peter’s face brightened. “Can Ian come?”
Everyone looked at me again. I clenched my teeth. “Fine.”
The woods were cool and fragrant. The sun slanted through the treetops onto the ground and bushes and I started to relax.
If Mr. Richards had kept accusing the kids, I’d have told him what I’d seen. But it wasn’t right, telling on Ian in front of everyone, especially when I wasn’t completely sure.
Ian walked with his head down. Everyone was quiet.
Lauren reached for my hand. I squeezed hers. Years from now, would she remember this summer? I wanted all of them to remember every single thing.
As we came o
ut of the woods at the marina, we saw a lobster boat at the dock. We ran across the parking lot and down the stairs to the water. A lobsterman pulled a lobster out of a cage, fixed rubber bands around the claws and tossed it into a barrel of water. He smiled and shot a rubber band at us. Peter grabbed it.
“I want one,” Henry said. The man drew a bunch out of his pocket and threw them onto the dock. Everyone scrambled and began shooting them at each other.
“Let’s see who can shoot one the farthest,” Ian said.
“Wait!” I said. “Be careful!”
Becca shot her rubber band at Henry, who ducked. Peter grabbed Bucky’s rubber band, but Bucky held on and when Peter pushed him, he nearly fell into the water. “Stop!” I yelled. The boys and Becca kept shooting at each other. The little girls covered their heads, shrieking. Superior paced the dock, barking at the waves.
Ian hit me in the thigh with a rubber band and I yelled, “You’re making it worse!”
He shrugged. “I just want to see who can shoot the farthest.”
Then Henry shot a rubber band at Lauren, who screamed, held her cheek and buried her head into my side, crying. I screamed at Ian. “You always cause so much trouble! Just leave!”
“I wanna Band-Aid,” Lauren whimpered.
“Okay.” I squeezed her shoulder and we all walked up the stairs.
Outside the marina store, I pulled back Lauren’s hand. A tiny red welt glowed on her cheek. “I’m sorry, Lauren. Nobody move. We’ll be right back.”
Kiki and Allison were inside.
“Hey, guys,” Kiki said to us, then turned back to Allison. “Perfect! Jake’ll never suspect if we do it on the night before his birthday. We’ll get someone to lure him to the Big House.”
Allison grinned at me, then glanced at Lauren and put her finger to her lips. I nodded, though I had no idea what they were talking about.
Lauren raised her hand to her cheek. Kiki leaned across the counter. “Oh, no, what happened?”
“She got hit with a rubber band,” I said. “Can we have a Band-Aid?”
“I’ll fix you up,” Kiki said. “Come with me.”
Lauren followed Kiki to the back room. I looked out the window at the waiting kids. Lauren’s mom would be mad. I was supposed to keep everyone safe and happy.
“Who did it?” Allison started cleaning the windows.