The Secrets of Lake Road

The lake turned into a spectacle of rowboats, motorboats, and canoes. Every local fisherman and their kin were out on the water. Stimpy and his men must’ve trapped two dozen or more of the turtles overnight. It was the only sense Kevin could make of the scene.

Day four of the drowned little girl, and all that remained of the original recovery team was the single watercraft and three crew members. The rest of the team was called to another location in the Poconos, another tragedy, this one occurring along the Delaware River. It had been all over the eleven-o’clock news. A couple of teenagers had been tubing down the Delaware when one of them got sucked under by the current. Kevin had been watching TV with Gram in the cramped living room. Jo had already gone to bed. It had been an early night for everyone after the drama on the beach with the fishermen and the eel.

The word at the lake was that the underwater recovery unit from the next county over would’ve pitched in and covered the Delaware River drowning, but they were tied up in another recovery farther north.

Welcome to summer in the Poconos, Kevin thought, where the water was refreshing and cool—and deadly. He shoved his hands into his pockets. He was standing on the dock next to the parking lot for a little more than half an hour. The sun burned the tops of his feet and the tips of his ears. Sweat dripped between his shoulder blades. His T-shirt was moist and sticky.

The lake water rocked with chaos. The ducks honked their grievances. Men shouted when they felt sure they had found something. Stimpy and his crew scrambled from fishing boat to fishing boat, pulling up drudge and carrion off the bottom, but nothing of the little girl was recovered. It was midafternoon, and they had been at it for several hours. All the while, the underwater recovery team went about their search methodically, professionally.

The Pavilion doors were flung open. Songs played on the jukebox, and bells rang from pinball machines. Two or three families sat on the beach and played in the sand with their young children. The floating pier was surrounded by boats rather than teenagers. The diving boards were empty. And yet, the strangest part was that on a day as hot as today, not one person entered the water. Heil could open the beach, but he couldn’t force people to swim.

Kevin raked his fingers through his hair. The scene was all too familiar. But he wasn’t thinking about why it was familiar. He wasn’t thinking about Billy and the five long days of searching the lake for his body. Instead he was thinking about Jo when she was sixteen years old. He had been standing on this same dock under the hot sun. Jo had been sitting alone on the back steps that led to the upstairs bar. Her dark hair glistened in the sunlight. Her head tilted to the side as though she were deep in thought.

When she looked his way, he lifted his hand and waved. At first she didn’t acknowledge him and he had been hurt. He considered walking away, heading back to his parents’ cabin—to do what? Sulk? Listen to his dad berate him, how he wasn’t tough enough, how he was a pansy for playing his guitar all day long, how he’d never get lucky with a girl? Not like Billy. Now there was a boy who would grow to be a man’s man.

While he debated his next move, she started walking in his direction. His pulse quickened. He knew Billy was gone for the day, off with his sister, Dee Dee, to visit family in New York. The closer Jo got, the faster his heart raced. By the time she stepped onto the dock, he was sure his chest would burst wide open.

For a moment neither of them spoke. Kevin had never been alone with Jo before. In all the summers he had been coming to the lake, Billy had been a permanent fixture between them. As for Eddie and Sheila, he wasn’t sure where they were nor did he care.

Although, now that he had Jo alone, he realized he had no idea what to say to her.

“What are you doing?” she asked.

“Nothing.” He couldn’t take his eyes off her.

She touched his hand. Her skin was soft and warm. “Come on,” she said.

He walked alongside her, aware of her body next to his, the curve of her hips, the rise and fall of her chest, the casual swing of her arms. He supposed he knew where they were heading. He shouldn’t have been surprised. The last few days they had stared at each other, sometimes for long stretches of time. He’d catch her watching him, going out of her way to brush up against him. And once, she ran her fingers through his hair while he was playing his guitar. Billy had laughed. “Careful, Kev,” he said. “She’ll steal your heart.”

Billy had never felt threatened by Kevin. Why should he? Why would Jo want Kevin when she had him? Every girl at the lake had wanted Billy. And Jo had never shown the slightest interest in Kevin.