The Secrets of Lake Road

Caroline smiled. “You’re still hoping to find the horse’s bit, aren’t you?” she said. “I’m sure Heil got rid of it. And even if he didn’t, I doubt he’d hide it behind a pinball machine.”


“I know.” Adam shrugged again. “But it was worth a shot,” he said. “Besides, I’m not going out there.” He pointed outside. “My folks are sitting on the beach. Heil made them. But he can’t make me. Not with that girl still out there. No way.”

Megan stomped through the open doors. “God, it’s hot,” she said, and smoothed her blond hair. She was in full makeup, but it looked subdued in the dim lights or perhaps most of it had melted in the heat. “This sucks. What are we going to do?” she asked.

It didn’t matter that Heil had opened the beach. The kids had made an unspoken rule that you didn’t swim in the lake while Sara was still out there somewhere. Sara had been one of them, whether they had known her well or not. An invisible line had been drawn separating them, the kids, from the adult world. It had always been there since the day Caroline was born, but she never felt it more sharply than now.

And those same adults using the snappers to find Sara seemed cruel, although she couldn’t say what they should be doing to make it right. She just knew the way they were going about it was wrong. Opening the beach and expecting people to swim was wrong.

She looked at Megan and Adam. She couldn’t do anything about the heat or the fact the lake was off-limits, but maybe she could talk her friends into going for a bike ride.

“I know what we could do,” she said. “Let’s go to the Country Store.” She searched her pockets for change. Megan pulled a couple of dollars from her back pocket.

Adam stared at the folded bills. “Did you rob a bank?”

Megan shrugged. “Babysitting,” she said.

They pooled their money. Adam contributed a couple of pennies and a nickel. Caroline had two dollars in quarters. Together with Megan’s stash, they had almost nine bucks.

“Get your bikes and I’ll meet you by the steps.”

Adam took off running. Megan held Caroline back. “Let’s ditch Adam,” she said. “And ride our bikes past Jeff’s cabin.”

“What for?” she asked.

Megan rolled her eyes. “God, Caroline. You know what for. To see if he’s around. Maybe he wants to hang out with us.”

Megan looked so hopeful, Caroline couldn’t say no. “Fine. We can ride past his cabin, but Adam’s coming with us.”

“But he’s a baby,” Megan whined.

Who was the baby? she thought but didn’t say. She should want to do the things Megan wanted to do, but deep down all she wanted was to ride her bike and buy candy at the Country Store, same as Adam. Oh, and read a newspaper or two. “Adam’s coming with us. I’m not going to ditch him.”

Once they all had their bikes, they pedaled toward the colony. Adam kept asking where they were going, why they weren’t going to the store.

“We have to do something first,” Megan said in a snotty voice.

Caroline dropped back to ride next to Adam and let him know she didn’t feel the same toward him as Megan did. Megan stopped and waited for them to catch up when they were close to Jeff’s place.

“You go first,” Megan said to Caroline.

“Why? It was your idea. You go first,” she said.

“What are we doing?” Adam asked.

Megan sighed heavily. “Let’s ride past together.”

And off they went, riding their bikes past Jeff’s cabin. Caroline couldn’t believe she had agreed to this, feeling more stupid as each second passed. It didn’t look like anyone was around much to her relief. Megan made a sudden U-turn and rode past again. Caroline and Adam followed.

“What are we doing?” Adam asked for a third time. “Aren’t we going to the Country Store?”

“Yes,” Caroline said. “We are.” And she sped past Megan, heading straight out of the colony and onto Lake Road. Adam’s little legs pedaled fast behind her. Megan reluctantly took up the rear.

Lake Road dipped and turned. The old oak and maple trees provided shady patches in-between long stretches of sunny hot macadam. Within fifteen minutes they reached the Country Store. The bell jingled above the screen door. Mrs. Nester looked over the top of her spectacles when they stepped inside. Adam headed straight for the candy aisle. Megan reached for a cola.

Caroline swiped her forehead with the back of her arm and pulled her baseball cap down to hide her eyes. She walked over to the newspaper stand feeling guilty and conspicuous, which was silly. It wasn’t like she was going to steal anything. She plucked the latest Lake Reporter from the rack and read the front-page news about Sara. Very little was mentioned about her family other than her mother’s name, Patricia Starr, and how it was Sara’s first time vacationing at the lake. The article went on to mention the warning signs posted about swimming, and the lengths the community was going through to bring closure to the family, but the details about how the community was going about it were noticeably left out.

“Can I help with you something?” Mrs. Nester asked.