The Secrets of Lake Road

She tossed the covers aside. After making sure her bedroom door was closed tight, she lifted the screen and climbed out. She crawled into the crook of the trunk between two big branches about a third of the way up the tree. It was big enough for her to fit comfortably, stretching her legs on the thick branch in front of her and maintaining her balance in the pocket. It was better than any deer stand that had been constructed in the woods on the other side of the colony in the open field far from the cabins.

In summers past she and Megan, the twins, and Adam would hike to the field and play games in the deer stands. They’d use sticks for guns and knives, pretend to track animals, play King of the Mountain. Other times they’d hike farther into the woods where a tree had fallen across the creek that fed the lake. They’d swing on vines, balance on the fallen tree, and hang out far away from the jeering of Johnny and Chris’s gang and where the grown-ups could never find them. They’d catch crawfish and salamanders and frogs. They’d make mud pies and build stick huts.

Caroline wished they were doing those things again this summer. What she wouldn’t give to go back to the way things were between her and Megan, before Megan went all girly and goofy over boys.

She thought about Chris and felt funny inside, warm and icky at the same time. The way he looked at her when she caught the line drive down the third baseline made her heart flutter. It was as though he were seeing her for the first time, and it made her cheeks burn.

She willed herself to think of something else and pulled her legs to her chest, resting her chin on top of her knees. The willow’s long fingerlike branches rocked in the breeze. The leaves rustled softly, gently lulling her. She leaned back against the trunk. Her thoughts settled. Her eyelids grew heavy. She fought to keep them open for a moment or two before giving in. What could it hurt to rest her eyes for a few minutes?

She was unaware of time passing. The wind picked up and the swinging branches roused her. She wondered how long she was asleep when she heard the sound of footsteps.

Who’s there? she asked.

A twig snapped.

Hello? she said, squinting into the shadows below.

A little girl appeared underneath the tree. She was wearing the same yellow-and-pink polka dot bathing suit as Sara had worn that day on the beach. Water dripped from her braids down the front of her chest. Bits and pieces of her arms and legs were missing as though someone had taken an eraser to her limbs. Sara?

Caroline rubbed her eyes. She must be dreaming. Her spine pressed into the cold hard trunk. Her right leg tingled from sleep. The wind blew her hair across her face, the strands sticking to her lips. She swiped them away from her mouth.

What are you doing here? Everyone is looking for you.

Don’t let them find me, Sara said in a whispery voice that seemed to blow with the wind.

Who don’t you want to find you?

I want my mommy.

Caroline’s body shivered from the breeze. She was confused. Was she dreaming? Wake up, she told herself. You need to wake up.

Sara, she said, hearing her voice inside her chest just before she felt herself falling, the kind of falling that happens in dreams. She hit the ground with a thud. The air in her chest burst from her lungs in a whoosh.

When she opened her eyes, her arms were splayed in front of her. Her left cheek was pressed in the dirt. Her legs were spread wide. Leaves and twigs stuck to her skin. She sat up, feeling dizzy. She couldn’t catch her breath. Her chest constricted. She sucked in, once, twice, and finally, finally, her chest opened and her lungs filled with air.

She looked up at Willow. She had never fallen from the tree before. She had never had the wind knocked out of her. Slowly, she stood and rubbed her sore shoulder before brushing off the debris from her hands and knees. The hem of her nightgown was torn and hanging on the ground.

It was almost dawn. The leaves were covered in dew. She had been in the tree for longer than she had thought. She slipped back through the window, pulled her nightgown over her head, and shoved it into the back of a drawer. Trembling, she put on a T-shirt and shorts and crawled into bed. It wasn’t until she was buried under the covers that she curled into a ball and thought about what she had seen and heard in her dream. It had felt so real. The fall had been real. Her torn nightgown and aching shoulder were proof.

She was scared, but she couldn’t tell Gram or her parents what had happened. They would be angry with her for crawling out of the window in the first place. They would say she was stupid for falling asleep in a tree. And what if her father insisted on fixing the screen? Or worse, what if he forbid her to ever climb the tree again?

And even though she was frightened, her mind raced ahead, turning over the dream and what Sara had said. She couldn’t let Stimpy and his men follow the snappers and do to Sara what they had done to the eel.

She closed her eyes. Somehow, someway she’d help Sara find her mommy. And maybe in the process, Caroline would find her mother too.





CHAPTER SIXTEEN