Uncertain Summer

by Jessica Lee Anderson

  Tim stood a couple of inches taller than his dad now. Mr. Nash had to look up at his son to chew him out. “I would’ve appreciated a note or phone call at the very least!”

  Gramps must’ve thought Mr. Nash was talking to him because he answered, “Sorry. Raleigh and I should’ve called right way to let you know these guys were safe with us.”

  “My apologies,” Mr. Nash said, turning to Gramps. “I wasn’t implying you should’ve called. Tim knows he should be more courteous and aware of his responsibilities. He’ll spend the next twenty-four hours thinking about this while he’s grounded.”

  Tim looked at the top of Mr. Nash’s head as he answered, “Yes, sir. I didn’t mean to upset you. I hit a hole that flattened my tire and warped the rim, and then it took us a while to walk to the marina to find a ride home.”

  “Raleigh and I spent a while trying to fix the tire, though it needs more work than what we had time for. The boys were antsy to get back,” Gramps said as if that might change Mr. Nash’s mind about the grounding business.

  Mr. Nash shook Gramps’ hand. “Thanks for looking out for Tim.” He tried to shake Mama’s hand next, but she wouldn’t settle for that and put an arm around him. He nearly punched her shoulder as he readjusted and then apologized, but Mama laughed the hug mishap off.

  “I’m glad Tim has such kind-hearted folks who are like family to him,” Mr. Nash said. “Thanks for the hospitality, Macy.”

  I brainstormed what I could say or do to make Mr. Nash stay longer so Team Bigfoot would get a chance to talk, but there’s no way we’d get any privacy with all these adults around. Our conversation would have to wait.

  “See you soon,” I told Tim before he left.

  “Yeah, after I’ve done my time,” he said in a low voice, but not low enough because his dad overheard him.

  “Done your time and fixed your bike,” Mr. Nash added with no trace of sympathy in his voice.

  “Yes, sir,” Tim said, back to looking at the ground.

  Shawna swooped in to give Tim a hug that I would’ve never been brave enough to attempt. “Take care, Timmy.”

  I wonder if Tim saw me roll my eyes as he walked outside with his dad.

  Gramps helped transfer Tim’s mangled bike from his cramped trunk to Mr. Nash’s bike rack and then whispered something to Emmett before waving goodbye at the rest of us.

  I was dying to know everything that had happened.

  After Mr. Nash and Gramps left, Mama pulled Emmett’s dinner plate out of the fridge. “I suppose I should ground you for the next day, too,” she said, just about to microwave his food.

  Emmett hadn’t broken curfew or committed any real crime other than causing worry, but I bet Mama felt like she needed to keep up with Mr. Nash’s stricter style of parenting.

  Emmett could’ve easily sweet-talked his way out of being grounded, but to my surprise, his body sagged like he was relieved. “I understand, Mama, and dinner sure smells good, but I better go clean up,” he said. And with that, he turned around and limped down the hallway to the bathroom.

  Mama shook her head. “That’s not like your brother at all.”

  It was even more unlike him when he started drawing a bath instead of showering. I wanted to run after Emmett and shake answers from him, but I needed to be more patient. If you can’t tell by now, patience is not my strongest virtue.

  13

  Mama insisted Shawna should get to sleep in my bed since she was a guest, and she helped make me a pallet on the floor instead. I was too drained to really care. Emmett must’ve been even more exhausted because he went to sleep soon after taking a long bath. The bathroom was downright tropical when Shawna and I got ready for bed.

  “You think he’s okay?” Shawna asked.

  “Yeah, his injuries seem minor enough.”

  Shawna caught me staring as she washed the makeup off her face. “I can teach you how to wear makeup if you’re interested. Eyeliner is tricky. A couple of my friends and I did a blindfolded makeover at a sleepover. It was hilarious. We could try that sometime, too.”

  “Yeah, sure,” I said even though a blindfolded makeover wasn’t my idea of fun. Maybe I needed to be a teenager to understand.

  Without her makeup on, Shawna looked younger and more like the girl I’d been friends with last year. I’m sure I looked exactly the same to her with my big frizzy hair and teeth that overlapped.

  When daydreaming about having a slumber party with Shawna after she moved, I’d imagined how we would’ve chatted into the early morning hours. We’d remember stories like how we couldn’t get each other’s names right when we first met, and then we’d laugh at how someone with a last name of Minnoe could be so clueless about fishing. The first time she joined my family on a fishing trip, she shot a chunk of garlic cheese at Emmett’s face when she casted her own line. Shortly after I’d won a stuffed fish out of one of those crane machines, I gave it to her, which is how Minnoe the Minnow came to be.

  To top off my imaginary slumber party, Shawna would’ve said that she made new friends, but no one compared to Emmett, Tim, and especially not to ME.

  Our actual slumber party was nothing of the sort. She tossed one of my favorite stuffed animals aside and said, “I’m so over pigs!” Instead of a heart-to-heart chat like I’d wanted, Shawna spent time talking to both of her parents and then tinkered around with her cell phone like it held the secrets to the universe.

  The stress of the day and all that worrying and wondering caught up with me, and as I started to nod off, Shawna whispered, “Hey, Everdil, do you believe Mr. Nash?”

  Sure, Mr. Nash’s story sounded far-fetched, but I answered, “Why would he lie about it? And why would you dare mention the contest to him?”

  “If we bring the contest right out in the open, we look more innocent that way,” she explained. Was this something she’d learned from her lawyer dad or from hanging around big city kids?

  “You ever miss Uncertain?”

  “Just my family, I guess.” Sadness seeped into her voice. “Dad said he’s looking forward to me coming home, but my mom will probably need some help with my grandma.”

  “What do you want to do?”

  Shawna was so quiet I thought she might’ve fallen asleep. “I don’t know. Dad gets so busy sometimes he barely knows I exist, and now Mom has her hands full taking care of my grandma.”

  “I’m sure your Dallas friends would miss you, especially since you’re so popular and all, but you have friends here, too.”

  “Yeah,” she said half-heartedly. “I’m exhausted, and my head’s starting to hurt. Goodnight, Everdil.”

  I rolled over. When had I stopped being enough of a friend for her? I was so zonked that I didn’t dwell on it for long and had dreams about the boar and smashed bikes.

  When I woke up, the sun had another hour or so before it would rise. Shawna was still sleeping, and I totally had to take a picture of her. Her face was mashed into my pillow, making her lips pucker out all fish-Minnoe-like. She must’ve tossed and turned a lot because my favorite set of sheets had somehow wrapped around her legs mummy-style. I wondered if “Timmy” would find this picture as funny as I did.

  I took another photo and thought the camera made a weird clicking noise, but it was Emmett at the door. “You awake, Everdil?” he whispered.

  I opened the door so swiftly that Emmett almost knocked on my forehead. I held my finger to my lips and pointed to Shawna as I escorted him into my room. Emmett took one look at Shawna and snickered. For as sound as she’d been sleeping, Shawna rolled to her side, winding the sheets even tighter around her legs. Her eyes popped open, and she attempted to sit up but was too caught up in the fabric to move.

  Emmett started laughing even harder now, and as quiet as I’d tried to be, I lost it.

  “What’s so funny?” Shawna asked, pulling her burgundy streaked hair over her face as if she was trying to cover a giant zit.

  You probably had to be there, but when she asked this, we b
oth laughed even harder. It’s a wonder we didn’t wake Mama and Papa up.

  Shawna kicked off the sheets, and I finally stopped laughing when I heard the sound of fabric ripping. Have I mentioned those were my favorite sheets? Gram had given the set to me when I was a little girl.

  “Sorry,” she said, like it was no big deal. Yeah, for her it was no big deal, but stuff like this couldn’t be replaced. Shawna sat on the edge of the bed, straightening out her owl-patterned jammies since they’d gotten twisted too. “Seriously, why are you guys laughing at me? Do I look bad?”

  “No, you look … pretty,” Emmett said, but he must’ve been nervous because the word “pretty” came out sounding like “purdy.”

  My case of the giggles continued, but I was the only one laughing now. I cleared my throat and tried to act more serious. “You do look pretty,” I said, accentuating the last part of the word to sound less hick. “Especially without the paint on your face.”

  Shawna crossed her arms as if I’d offended her.

  “I didn’t mean it like that. Anyway, we’re wasting time,” I said to move things along. “We’ve been dying to know what happened, Emmett.”

  My brother sat down at my desk and winced. “First, Tim and I found this really weird pine tree close to Swamp Sam’s cabin. The trunk was twisted like massive hands had bent it in half. When we were checking out the area for other suspicious signs, we came across a huge hog trap. As we got a closer look, Swamp Sam snuck up on us and said, ‘Leave, spies, or I’ll shoot!’

  “I hollered out that I was Raleigh’s boy, but Swamp Sam didn’t hear me or didn’t care because the next thing we knew, he pulled a shotgun on us. Right as I jumped on my bike to get away, I felt a blast of pain. Tim got hit on his hand, and something grazed his face. We managed to get on our bikes and pedaled for our lives, and that’s when Tim ran his bike into a hole. I dragged him out of the area before Swamp Sam could shoot us to smithereens.”

  Swamp Sam had issues, but how could he shoot at two kids? Two kids he knew at that!

  “Do you need to go to the hospital?” Shawna asked.

  Emmett’s face got all blotchy like he was having an allergic reaction again. “Gramps did more than try to fix Tim’s bike. He recognized right away that we’d been blasted with rock salt instead of real bullets and told me that if I soaked in a bath for a while, it would help take the sting of the rock salt away. It still hurts this morning but not anything like yesterday.”

  So that explains the limp and the long bath. As I continued thinking this over, Shawna surprised me by catching the laughing bug next. “Did you get shot in the butt?”

  Emmett stayed silent which meant she was right! He didn’t find this one bit funny, but I sure did.

  “Hey, I was risking my life for the cause while you girls were shopping.” He drew the word “girls” out like an insult.

  Shawna calmed down and told him about the boar attack. And in case the seriousness of her tale didn’t sink in, I showed him the picture.

  “Whoa—that thing is mammoth!” Emmett said. He looked at Shawna all sensitively now. “Are you okay?”

  She nodded.

  “I’m fine, too, in case you were wondering,” I told Emmett. “You’re not the only one risking your life. Or busting your butt.” Shawna and I cracked up over this.

  “I guess you don’t care to hear the rest of what I had to say then,” Emmett said, standing up and walking his way slowly out of my room. His limp wasn’t as pronounced.

  “Stop!” Shawna said.

  He was toying with us, but I wanted to know what he was referring to just as badly as Shawna. “We’ll quit giving you a hard time, okay?”

  Emmett nodded, knowing he had accomplished exactly what he wanted. “Gramps lied. Papa wasn’t helping me and Tim—he was doing a deal with some guy at the marina. I overheard the guy offer Papa a job to privately charter one of the pontoons.”

  “Let me guess, did the guy resemble George Washington dressed up for a safari, only without the wig and one middle finger?” I asked.

  “How did you know?”

  “Everdil saw him at the grocery store, and he’s the one who led us to the boar,” Shawna explained.

  “Mr. Nash said he’s bad news. We have to tell Papa he can’t take the job.”

  “He already did. I couldn’t sleep well last night and heard Papa when he came home late. Mama was miffed until he told her about the job. The guy obviously offered a lot of money.”

  I heaved a sigh. There was no way Papa would turn down a well-paying job. Maybe Mama would make him reconsider given what Mr. Nash said, but then I thought about the bills and the bank calling. Even if the hunter was bad news and complicated matters, we needed the cash. And really, what were the odds of any of us winning the contest?

  Not impossible, I told myself considering the recent happenings. “We should keep tabs on what Papa and this guy are up to,” I said. “Maybe they’ll unknowingly lead us to a discovery like before.”

  “Maybe,” Emmett said. “I’ll research as much as I can today while I rest up.”

  “You mean while you’re grounded,” I said, and Emmett grinned.

  “Want to go shopping today while the boys are out of commission?” Shawna asked me.

  I’m not into shopping, especially since I never have the money to buy much, but we needed some supplies if we were going to take things to the next level.

  “So what’s for breakfast, Emmett? Are you going to make crepes again, or do you want to garbage-can breakfast for us with some other ingredients?”

  Emmett shrugged as he answered, “Cereal.”

  “Oh,” Shawna said. “You don’t cook anymore? I always thought you’d own your own restaurant someday like your mom wants to.”

  Emmett smiled, probably because she’d remembered he could cook, and then he cut the pretense. “I’ve gotten even better since you moved. I’ll make us crepes, but just like you both promised not to give me a hard time about getting shot in the bu—backside, you better not give me a hard time about my cooking.”

  I tell you what—it took some serious inner strength to not laugh. One thing that helped me keep it together was the idea that the contest deadline was now seven days away.

  14

  Mama and Papa had woken up a short while after the three of us had our secret meeting and joined us for breakfast. Too bad we didn’t have cream cheese frosting to swipe since Emmett had pitched the rest of the cake.

  Just as the crepes were light and airy, so was the mood as we sat around the table. Mama and Papa held hands while we said grace, and they stayed connected even after our group “Amen.” Emmett gawked at them while serving a plate of chopped fruit. It had been a long time since we’d seen them hold hands like that.

  “I think this is one of the best things I’ve ever eaten,” Shawna said after her first bite of breakfast.

  “I could’ve made the crepe batter a little thinner,” Emmett said, almost like he was begging for her to continue to praise his culinary greatness.

  He didn’t get that chance because Mama cleared her throat and made a funny face at Shawna. “What am I, chopped liver?”

  “I mean, except for everything that you’ve prepared, Mrs. Jackson.” Shawna had eased up on the makeup this morning, and her cheeks naturally blushed now.

  “I’m just giving you a hard time, Shawna. I’ll take it is a compliment as I’ve trained Emmett myself,” Mama said with a laugh. “And chopped liver. Now there’s an idea for a future meal.”

  “Mom!” Emmett said in a whiny voice.

  Papa laughed a deep laugh—a sound I realized I’d missed hearing just like I’d missed seeing Mama and Papa show affection. “I’ve got some good news,” he announced.

  I knew what he was talking about but acted clueless when I asked, “What?”

  “I took on a nice private charter at the marina,” he said with a smile like he was proud of himself. Once again, he had something stuck between his teeth. I passed h
im a napkin, but he didn’t get the hint. He balled it up in his hand. “I hope you’ll be extra helpful for Mama’s sake since I’ll be gone a lot the next week or so.”

  I wanted to point out that he’d been gone an awful lot already as it was, but kept this to myself. “Congrats, but is the job safe?”

  “Thanks for looking out for me as well as your mom, Everdil, but every job has its share of risks. You never know if a pontoon might go off course after someone spies Bigfoot.” Papa winked at me.

  “Ha ha!” I said, not finding his comment the least bit funny as everyone else at the table. “Seriously, though …”

  “I signed a confidentiality agreement and can’t share the details about my new client, but rest assured I’ll be as safe as possible.”

  No doubt Papa meant to be reassuring, but the “as possible” part got to me. I hated the thought of that man putting him in danger. That’s when I got an idea. “Will Gramps take over the tours then while you’re busy? Shawna wants to go on one real bad while she’s in town.”

  Shawna shot me a questioning look but went along with things even though she’d said nothing of the sort.

  “I’m sure Gramps would love that,” Papa said.

  Yes! I had a feeling this might lead to something big.

  “I’ve got some good news too,” Mama said, catching me completely off guard.

  “Did FoodieLand call?” Emmett asked, nearly falling out of his chair.

  Mama’s expression flattened when she answered, “No, but since things are looking up with your father’s new opportunity, I took the day off since I’ve been putting in so many hours.”

  It had been ages since she’d had a day off. While I wanted to explore and find answers, this could work to our advantage. “Great, Mama. Shawna and I were thinking of going shopping—”

  I didn’t have a chance to finish my sentence because Mama was all over a shopping trip the way flies flock to you-know-what. We said goodbye to Papa and Emmett, and then we were out the door in a matter of minutes. I sure hoped my brother would find out some useful information while we were gone besides resting his behind.