Summer at Forsaken Lake

by Michael D. Beil

  * * *

  The Saturday morning sky seemed to dare boaters to venture out onto the lake; slate-gray clouds raced from the northeast, bringing fierce breezes and waves with them.

  “Blowin’ the oysters off the rocks out there,” said Nick, sipping his second cup of coffee.

  “There’s no oysters in Forsaken Lake, Uncle Nick,” Hayley said. “They’re only in the ocean.”

  “Just an expression, kiddo. You three ready to go? Franny just pulled in the drive.”

  They all piled into Franny’s car and drove the three miles to the marina, where the plan was for Franny to walk them through the events of that fateful day so many years before. Nicholas brought a notebook with him so he could make notes about who was where, and when they were there.

  “It’s kind of ironic, actually,” Franny said as she put the car in park and turned off the engine. “It looks exactly like it did that day. Waves were crashing into the breakwall and spraying everything just like they are now.”

  They walked right to the edge of the breakwall and stopped. A few of the gusts were so strong that Nicholas had to hold on to Hayley and Hetty to keep them from blowing away.

  “I guess it’s a good thing the wind is blowing at us,” he said. “You two would get blown out to sea.”

  “Just like the oysters, right, Uncle Nick?” said Hayley.

  Nick grinned. “Blowin’ the twins off the dock. That’s got a nice ring to it.”

  “Okay, let’s get this show on the road,” Franny announced. “Before the rain hits. I have my limits.”

  “We’ll start with you,” said Charlie. “Where were you? And the camera?”

  Franny backed up a few steps, getting her bearings by looking to her right and then her left. “I was standing right about here.” She made an X in the gravel with the toe of her shoe. “The camera was on a tripod right in front of me.”

  “Where was the boat when the scene started?” Nicholas asked, pencil and notebook at the ready.

  Franny pointed to her left, to the protected side of the marina seawall. In contrast to the rough, white-capped lake, the water behind the wall was barely rippled. “It was anchored right over there. That way, all I had to do was swivel the camera on the tripod to follow the boat. Nice and smooth. Will hated it when the camera jerked around. He was kind of a perfectionist.”

  “So Dad was already on the boat,” Nicholas noted.

  “What about my dad?” Charlie asked. “Where was he?”

  “In the water, hanging off the back of the boat, out of sight,” Franny said. “He was supposed to climb up the ladder as soon as Will went up to raise the anchor.”

  Nicholas made a quick sketch in his notebook. “Okay, what about other kids, even if they weren’t in the scene? Some of them must have been with you guys, right?”

  Biting her lower lip, Franny closed her eyes and went back in time. She stayed that way for almost a minute, gesturing occasionally with her hands. Finally, she opened her eyes to find everyone staring at her.

  “That was scary,” said Hetty. “I thought you were, you know, being zombiefied or something.”

  “Just concentrating,” Franny said. “There were two kids—Kevin Willard and Petey Truman. There used to be another dock over there, and they were sitting on a pontoon boat—I think it may have belonged to Petey’s dad. They had a good view of everything without being in the way. Kevin was Jimmy’s best friend growing up. He was best man at our wedding. Lives outside of town, on Melvin Road. I think he just got divorced for the third time. Maybe the fourth.”

  “What about the other kid? Petey?” Charlie asked.

  “He was kind of an odd kid. Had every allergy known to man, I think. Wouldn’t go in the lake, and he couldn’t touch seaweed, so he could only take a small part in the movie. He was the gun salesman—remember? I ran into him a few weeks ago.”

  “Wait a minute—his last name is Truman? Is he Kacey Truman’s dad? She was in my class last year. She’s nice. Super quiet. Misses a ton of school. I mean, she’s absent twice a week at least. I remember one time she was just sitting next to somebody who was eating a peanut butter sandwich and her whole face broke out in this rash and she had a hard time breathing.”

  “Yep, that’s him,” said Franny. “Petey Truman. Sounds like his daughter inherited his allergies.”

  “And those were the only two there?” Nicholas asked, scribbling some notes.

  “Kids, yes. There may have been some other people on the docks watching what we were doing, but I don’t remember anyone in particular. I’m afraid I’m not being very helpful.”

  “Tell us what happened next,” Charlie said. “After you started filming.”

  Franny narrated as she pretended to operate the camera. Her story didn’t differ from the account she’d given them earlier, until she got to the part where she was regaining consciousness after getting hit on the head by the mast.

  “When I got knocked down, I ended up in this position,” she said, lying on the ground. “This was grass then, not gravel. I remember hearing voices talking about somebody being hurt, and I wanted so much to open my eyes to see who they were talking about, but I just couldn’t do it. Not yet, anyway. I remember hearing Will’s voice. And then an adult—that would have been Mr. Parker, who owned the marina. He must have seen the mast fall. I heard tires—that crunching sound they make on gravel—getting closer and closer, and then somebody I didn’t know was talking. He sounded angry, and he asked a lot of questions—how it happened, that kind of thing. Frankly, he seemed more concerned with the boat than me—he left me lying on the ground without a blanket, or something under my head. Someone told me later it was the sheriff.”

  “Humph. I’m not surprised he was worried about the boat,” Nick said. “The sheriff back then would have been Ned Randleman. Moron. And a good friend of Jimmy’s cousin Teddy, who owned the boat.”

  Franny continued: “A little while later, I opened my eyes, and there was Will, looking really relieved, alongside Mr. Parker. And some other people I didn’t know—they must have been people who had boats in the marina. I remember they all laughed because I kept apologizing to Will for dropping the camera.”

  Nicholas’s eyes brightened. “Did he—did anyone—say anything about the camera to you?”

  Franny shook her head. “Just that I shouldn’t be worried about it. And then the ambulance came and they took me to the hospital.”

  Suddenly, Franny’s eyes filled with tears and she turned away.

  Charlie moved to her instantly, hugging her. “Mom, I’m sorry,” said Charlie. “This was a stupid idea. It’s my fault. Let’s go home.”

  Franny quickly pulled herself together, wiping the tears away with her fingertips. “No, no, I’m fine, really. I just didn’t expect to see it all so … clearly. Especially those few seconds right before they closed the door at the back of the ambulance. Will held on to my hand until the last possible moment, squeezing it, telling me I was going to be okay. But it was the look in his eyes.… Honestly, I don’t think anyone has ever looked at me like that since then. And how I felt—it was … well, indescribable. And that was the last time I ever saw him.”

  For the next few seconds, the waves crashing against the seawall and the screeching of seagulls—the only sounds she could hear—seemed very distant, as if she were listening to them through a long tunnel. Finally, she shook herself with a little laugh, trying to lighten the mood.

  “Well, that was all a long time ago. And I don’t know about anybody else, but I’m getting hungry. Sorry I wasn’t more help.” She walked slowly toward the car.

  Charlie was frozen in place by her mom’s words. Only her hair moved as she stared at the trees bending and swaying on the far shore, two miles away.

  Nicholas stood by her side, his fingers twitching as he fought off an almost irresistible impulse to reach for her hand.

  CHAPTER TEN

  Franny treated everyone to an early lunch at Cole’s Diner, on the squ
are in Deming, where the twins entertained everyone with a performance of their new favorite song while they all waited for their hamburgers and fries.

  “Wow—you girls really are good,” said Franny after they took their bows. “When you’re both big Broadway stars, I’m going to tell all my friends that I knew you when.”

  Hayley and Hetty made faces at their brother. “See, Nicholas,” said Hetty. “You don’t know what you’re talking about. Franny thinks we’re going to be stars.”

  “Yeah, you should definitely put us in your movie,” Hayley said.

  Franny raised an eyebrow. “Movie?”

  “I’m still just thinking about it,” Nicholas said. “Nothing is for sure, you guys.”

  “He’s thinking about finishing Daddy’s movie,” said Hetty. “He’s writing a script. We saw it when … um …”

  “When you were snooping around my room,” said Nicholas.

  “It’s going to have a different ending, of course,” Charlie was quick to add. “We have some ideas about that. We want to make the creature more … human. When I watched the movie, I felt sorry for him. He’s not a monster, actually—he’s just misunderstood.”

  “I see,” said Franny, laughing. “I had no idea. To me, it was just Jimmy Brennan running around in torn jeans and some dime-store fangs, carrying a big bunch of seaweed. Which he used to strangle people. I’m trying to imagine what’s so sympathetic about him.”

  “Well, for one thing, all these people are trying to kill him—like, for sport!” said Charlie. “We’re going to show his childhood. You know, what happened that made him become the Seaweed Strangler.”

  “The way we see it is, he didn’t become the Strangler until people started shooting at him,” Nicholas explained. “He’s not just some random serial killer. He was just a guy—okay, a creature—trying to mind his own business, to live his own life.”

  “He might even have a wife,” Charlie said. “And a bunch of little Seaweed Stranglers.”

  “Is he going to die in the end?” Hetty asked. “Please don’t let him!”

  “I—we haven’t decided that yet,” said Nicholas. “Like I said, we were just thinking about it.”

  “Well, it sounds like you’ve both put a lot of thought into this,” Franny said.

  Charlie looked across the table at Nicholas and smiled.

  “They’re always out in the barn working on the boat together,” Hetty said. “That’s when they talk.”

  Charlie choked on her soda and looked to Nick for help. He wasn’t quite sure why, but he knew that Charlie was hoping to keep the Heron a secret from her mom.

  Franny tilted her head questioningly at Charlie. “You’re building a boat, too? My, you have been a busy girl.”

  “Looks like the cat’s out of the bag,” said Nick after a secretive wink at Charlie. “Sorry, kids. You see, Franny, in addition to finding that old movie, these two also dragged out that old cedar-strip canoe that’s been up in the barn for ages. Remember, you and Will used to talk about fixing it up.”

  Franny smiled at the memory. “Oh, right. I do remember. It was hanging from the ceiling next to the door to the milk house, right?”

  “Yep, that’s the one. I’ve been helping them get it ready to go in the water. I’m supplying the materials, and they’re providing all the labor. It’s shaping up real nice. You’ll be canoeing before long.”

  “Wait a minute,” said a very bewildered Hetty. “What canoe? I thought that was—”

  Nicholas put his arm around Hetty’s shoulders. “We’ve been teasing you, Het. It’s not really a submarine.”

  Hetty looked even more puzzled until Hayley, who understood what was happening, whispered something in her ear.

  “Ohhh,” said Hetty. “That canoe.”

  “Boy, you all are just full of secrets, aren’t you?” Franny said. “I can’t believe that old thing was still in one piece. I seem to remember that it was in pretty rough shape.”

  “It’s been up in the barn for thirty or forty years. Nothing really wrong with it—at least nothing that a little paint and caulking can’t fix. I should have checked with you first, to make sure it was okay with you to have her over working on it, but they wanted to surprise you. They’ve been working like crazy on it.”

  She waved off his concerns. “I think it’s great. In fact, I can’t wait to see it. And your movie, you little sneaks. But I think you’d better work fast. It’ll be August in a few days. Summer’ll be over before you know it.”

  As the horror of that statement began to sink in with everyone at the table, the front door of the diner jangled and a well-dressed woman entered. Nicholas almost fell off his chair when she took off her sunglasses.

  “Mom? What are you doing here?”

  “Mommy!” screamed the twins, who then raced to hug her, almost knocking her down in the process.

  “I’ve been on the road since five o’clock this morning, so I stopped in here for a cup of coffee and to ask for directions,” she said when Hayley and Hetty finally let her up for air. “As soon as I saw this place, I remembered that Nick used to come here for— Hey, Nick, it’s nice to see you. It’s been a long time.”

  Nick stood and kissed her on the cheek. “Good to see you, too, kid. These are some friends—Franny Brennan, and her daughter, Charlie.”

  “Hi—I’m Jo Mettleson,” she said, waving at them. “You know, from the looks on all your faces, I get the feeling that somebody forgot to tell you that I was driving out this weekend.”

  “Oops,” said Hayley.

  Nicholas shook his head. “Wait—you knew she was coming?”

  “Welllll, ummmm … yes,” said Hetty.

  “I told them the other night. They were supposed to tell Nick so it wouldn’t be a big surprise when I showed up on your doorstep. Sorry, Nick—I should have talked to you about it.”

  “Not a problem,” said Nick. “Plenty of room at the inn.”

  * * *

  After three hours of softball at Ryan Crenshaw’s house, followed by a long swim in the lake, Charlie and Nicholas were relieved to have a few minutes to relax on Nick’s porch swing.

  “Your mom seems nice,” said Charlie. “She’s not how I pictured her at all.”

  “What were you expecting?”

  “I don’t know—kind of uptight. Like really intense.”

  Nicholas laughed. “Oh, she’s plenty intense. Trust me.”

  “Who’s so intense, Nicholas?” asked his mother, joining them on the porch.

  “That would be you, Mom,” he said. “It’s okay—I’m used to it.”

  “So, do you live close by, Charlie?” asked Jo. “How did you find Nicholas and the girls?”

  “Actually, Nicholas found me,” said Charlie. “I live about a half mile down Lake Road, but we met in Deming. He stopped to watch my baseball team practice. And then, the next day, I was bringing Nick some lasagna that my mom made, and there he was again.”

  “Well, I’m glad Nicholas has someone his own age to … do things with. Nick tells me that you have become quite the sailors, that he lets you take his boat out without him on board. I’m … not sure how I feel about that, but I’m going to trust Nick. And you. All I ask is that you be careful. Promise?”

  “Promise,” said Nicholas.

  “And really keep an eye on the twins, although they seem to be doing fine now. After Hetty’s little meltdown on the phone, I was a little worried. Now I get the feeling that if I tried to take them back to New York with me, they’d mutiny. I imagine that has something to do with you, Charlie. I’m sure they like having a ‘big sister.’ ”

  “They’re great,” said Charlie. “It’s been fun for me, too. And I guess Nicholas isn’t too bad, either.”

  * * *

  Kevin Willard’s head was buried far beneath the hood of a maroon 1967 Ford Galaxie 500 when Charlie and Nicholas turned their bikes into his yard the next day. He looked up when he heard their tires hit the gravel and adjusted the trucker-s
tyle cap (GIT ’ER DONE! it implored) that covered his greasy shoulder-length hair. He set a wrench on the car’s fender and nodded approvingly at Nicholas’s classic ride.

  “Cool bike, kid.”

  “Thanks.”

  “Y’wanna sell it?”

  “I, uh, no … It’s not really mine. I’m just borrowing it.”

  Kevin took his first good look at Nicholas. “Do I know you? Y’look familiar.”

  “You knew my dad. A long time ago.”

  Kevin squinted at him, trying to make the connection.

  “Will Mettleson,” Charlie said.

  “Yep, I see it now,” Kevin said. “Y’do look a lot like yer old man, now that I think about it. What’s he doin’ these days?”

  “He’s a doctor,” said Nicholas. “Right now he’s in Africa with Doctors Without Borders—you know, helping people.”

  “Huh. Y’don’t say. Guess he done all right for himself.” He turned his gaze to Charlie. “You one o’ Will’s kids, too?”

  Charlie grinned. “No, but you know my mom and dad. You were in their wedding.”

  “No way. You’re Jimmy and Franny’s kid? Look at ya, all grown up. Last time I seen you, you wuz still a baby. How’re yer folks? I heard they split up a while back. Hear from yer dad much?”

  “Not too much, no. He’s still trying to get rich raising ostriches.”

  Kevin chuckled. “That sounds like Jimmy. He’s a good egg, though, yer dad. We had some good times together.”

  “Um, yeah, that’s why we came out here,” Charlie said. “We were kind of wondering about something from back when you were kids. Remember when you guys were making that movie?”

  “The Seaweed … somethin’ or other?”

  “Strangler,” Nicholas said. “The Seaweed Strangler.”

  “We’re really just interested in one day—the last day,” Charlie said. “When the boat crashed and my mom got hit in the head with the mast.”

  Kevin winced, remembering the moment. “Not likely to forget that day as long as I live. Felt like I was watchin’ it in slow motion. Yer mom dropped like a stone.”