The Secrets of Lake Road

She searched in the cabinet above the toilet for supplies. Nothing. Her mother had never stayed at the cabin for more than a day or two, except for this summer. None of her feminine products were stored here. She guessed Gram went through her phase already, meno-something. What was she going to do? No way could she tell her mother. But what other choice did she have?

She thought about buying supplies at the Country Store. What if someone saw her? She’d die of embarrassment. Maybe she should tell Megan and she could help, but it felt too personal, a private matter she didn’t want anyone to know about. She plopped on the toilet and covered her face. Stop being a baby, she told herself.

“Caroline,” Gram said in a soft voice, and knocked on the bathroom door.

“Yeah,” she said, wiping her eyes. “Just a sec.” She grabbed a towel and wrapped it around her. How was she going to get out of the bathroom without anyone knowing what happened? Her pajamas were stained, and she was still bleeding. “Gram,” she said. “Are you still out there?”

“Are you okay?” Gram asked.

“I need some help.” She opened the door a crack and waved Gram inside. She didn’t know which one of them was more embarrassed when she showed Gram the pajamas and underwear.

“Oh,” Gram said. “Is this the first time?”

Caroline nodded.

“Do you want me to wake your mother?”

“No.” She shook her head.

Gram touched her arm in a sympathetic way. “Stay here. I’ll bring back some clean clothes. We’ll go the store. I planned to go today anyway. You can come along and get what you need.”

Gram returned with clean clothes. “Use these for now.” She handed Caroline a stack of cloth rags she was supposed to put between her legs. She must’ve made a face, because Gram said, “It’s what women had to do before. It won’t kill you to use them for a little while.” She left Caroline alone in the bathroom, mumbling on her way out something about Caroline’s mother and not being better prepared, not stocking up for what was obviously coming.

Caroline stuffed a cloth rag in her underwear and pulled on her shorts. She felt as though she was wearing a diaper. She didn’t want any part of this. She finished getting dressed and met Gram in the kitchen.

“I stripped your bed,” Gram said. “I’ll go to the Laundromat later. Now, let’s get to the store. I have a long list.”

*

At the Country Store, Mrs. Nester made a point of ignoring Caroline, maybe because Gram was with her, and maybe because she regretted giving Caroline the old newspapers. Gram went about getting the food and paper products on her list. Caroline lingered in the candy aisle, working up the nerve to go down the aisle where the feminine products were located. She took a deep breath and turned the corner, pretending to be lost, looking for something, anything other than what she was there for. She plucked the first box of pads she saw off the shelf and tucked it under her arm.

With her head down, she darted away to find Gram and hide the small box in the grocery cart. She made it to the end of the aisle and bumped into someone. When she looked up, she was staring into Chris’s two-toned eye. He smiled. She fumbled the box and quickly hid it behind her back.

“Sorry,” she said, and scurried around him. She found Gram in the next aisle over, and she stuffed the box in the cart. Gram was too busy with her shopping list to notice the flustered look Caroline imagined was on her face.

Gram pushed the cart farther down the aisle. Caroline felt someone’s eyes on her back and turned to find Chris at the other end, watching her.

“You’re up to something,” he said, and folded his arms. The grin on his face made her feel as though he was the one hiding something.

“No, I’m not.”

He motioned for her to come closer. She looked over her shoulder for Gram, but she must’ve moved to a different aisle. Caroline took a tentative step in his direction. Her uncertainty seemed to amuse him.

“Come here,” he said. “I’m not going to hurt you.”

Right, said the wolf to Little Red Riding Hood, she thought, but walked up to him anyway. “What do you want?” she blurted, wishing she knew how to act cool.

“Why’d you do it?” he asked.

“Do what?”

“Why’d you release the snappers?” Something in his eyes told her that he liked the idea she might’ve done something bad.

“It wasn’t me.” She was a terrible liar.

“Yeah, it was.”

She crossed her arms and then uncrossed them. She pulled at her fingers. “Fine.” God, she was weak, but she wanted to believe she could trust him. She felt the need to explain. “It’s not right what they’re doing. I think it’s cruel and gruesome.”

“They’re just using the natural resources the lake provides.” He shrugged. “And it’s probably the only way they’re going to find her now.”

She looked at her feet. “I suppose,” she said, wondering if he would answer a question for her if she could work up the courage to ask.

He leaned in close. “What is it?”