The Secrets of Lake Road

“Oh no, thank you.” Caroline returned the paper to the rack.

Megan wandered down the makeup aisle. Caroline joined Adam in the candy aisle. Together they picked out bubble gum with the baseball cards, butterscotch suckers, and jelly candies. The entire time Caroline kept thinking about the article in the paper and Mrs. Starr. She looked over her shoulder at Mrs. Nester. Hidden behind her spectacles were sharp beady eyes watching every movement they made. Caroline didn’t know what made her turn around and approach the woman. Courage? She doubted it. More like an annoying itch she couldn’t help but scratch.

“Do you have any old Lake Reporters?” she asked. “Maybe ones from other important events that happened around the lake?”

Mrs. Nester narrowed her eyes. “I might. Anything specific you’re looking for?”

By this time both Adam and Megan had approached the counter and stood next to Caroline. It seemed she had garnered everyone’s attention. She pulled the visor of her baseball cap down a little more.

“I was wondering about other lake drownings.”

Mrs. Nester peered at Caroline over the top of her spectacles. “Now what would you want with that information? Are you looking to cause trouble? Because that’s exactly what you’ll get, poking around in that kind of news.” She glanced over Caroline’s shoulder as though she was making sure they were the only customers in the store.

Mrs. Nester continued. “Folks around here don’t like to talk about certain things. It’s bad for business.”

Caroline put the candy she was holding onto the counter in front of her. “Yes, ma’am. I don’t want to cause any trouble. It’s just—” She stopped, thinking how to explain.

Megan and Adam dumped their loot onto the counter too. Everyone waited for Caroline to continue, but she didn’t know how to tell them it had to do with her mother. She had to know why her mother kept running away from her. It made no sense when she put it this way, but she knew her mother had a secret, and it had something to do with Billy and drownings. If she could figure it out, maybe she could help her mother and she would stop running.

Mrs. Nester rang up their order. When she finished, she told Caroline to wait. She must’ve seen something on Caroline’s face—perhaps pity. Whatever it was, she disappeared behind a door at the back of the store, returning a few minutes later with a pile of newspapers.

“Take these around back. I’ve got a couple of chairs on the patio. Leave the papers on the table when you’re done. If anyone asks, you didn’t get them from me.”

Caroline took the papers and thanked Mrs. Nester repeatedly.

“Go on now, get, before I change my mind,” Mrs. Nester said.

As soon as they were outside, Megan complained. She didn’t want to read old newspapers. She didn’t see the point. It was like doing homework, and it was summertime. She wasn’t going to read anything she didn’t have to. And Adam was more interested in the bubblegum and baseball cards.

They settled on Mrs. Nester’s back patio. The sun blared, but at least they were in the shade under the trees. Megan took out her new lip gloss and smacked her lips while Caroline sifted through the papers. The black print rubbed off on her fingertips. She scanned the article about the boating accident and the man who had drowned, the one she had witnessed three summers ago. She dug farther into the pile and pulled out the last paper in the stack, dated July 1997.

With trembling hands, she shook the paper open, the headline reading: Sixteen-Year-Old Local Boy Drowns. She held the paper inches from her nose and inspected the blurry black-and-white photo of a teenage boy. There was something she recognized in him, a look or coolness she sensed in some boys, definitely Chris, maybe Johnny. But it was hard to gauge something like that from just a grainy photo. She continued to read.

Sixteen-year-old William J. Hawke disappeared late Monday night after last being seen on the beach outside the lake Pavilion by his friend Kevin Knowles police said. After an extensive search lasting five days, his body was recovered near the floating pier in the middle of the lake. It is speculated William “Billy” Hawke went swimming alone that night after his friend had gone home. The drowning was ruled an accident. Memorial services to be announced.

The mention of her father’s name came as a complete surprise, and Caroline immediately shoved the paper under the pile. She wiped her blackened fingertips on her shorts.

“Are you finished now?” Megan asked, irritated about having to wait.

Caroline nodded, her thoughts reeling.

“What did you find?” Adam asked.

“Nothing,” she said, not wanting to talk about it. “Let’s go.” She left the papers on the table like Mrs. Nester had asked, and walked to the front of the store, where their bikes lay on the ground.

Adam handed her a couple of baseball cards. “Here,” he said. “I already have these.”