The Secrets of Lake Road

Cougar yanked on his chain the closer they got, stretching every link as far as it would go until he was choking. The stake he was chained to bent at a diagonal as though at any moment it would fly out of the ground. The funny thing was, Caroline wasn’t worried about the dog breaking free. He didn’t sound vicious or mean. His barks sounded more like a cry for attention.

Adam walked up to Cougar but stayed far enough back as not to make contact. The dog yelped, cried, and pulled at the chain in excitement. Adam tossed a chunk of beef jerky over the dog’s head so he wouldn’t continue choking himself. Cougar whipped around and gnawed on the jerky. Adam threw two more pieces.

“One was enough,” Ted said. “Save some for us.”

Adam stuffed the rest of the jerky into his pockets.

The sight of the hungry, attention-starved dog made Caroline feel bad. While he continued to chomp on the beef jerky, she walked up to him and unhooked the chain from his thick leather collar.

“What are you doing?” Megan squealed.

Cougar rubbed against Caroline’s legs, chewing and rubbing, circling her. She reached down and scratched behind his ear. Adam joined her. And soon the twins, Jeff, and even Megan surrounded the dog, petting him, letting him lick them all over.

“Let’s take him with us,” Adam said.

The six of them, seven if you included the dog, proceeded down the path, single file, with Cougar running circles around their legs, darting on and off the trail, tongue hanging out and tail wagging. They stopped when they reached the parking lot, which was now filled with tents for the Trout Festival. People were still working under battery-powered spotlights, setting up displays, preparing for the events the next day. The dark of the night seeped in between the cracks of light. The Pavilion was open, and music blared from the live band performing in the bar upstairs.

Caroline couldn’t help but think, after everything that had happened, summer had come after all.

She turned to Adam. “Which way?”

“It’s on the south side.” He pointed. “Past that old private beach nobody uses. Closer to where the lake feeds the stream.”

“That’s nothing but a muddy hole,” Ted said. Ned agreed.

“No, it’s not all mud. There’s a spot where the water is deep. All the big fish are there. I swear.” Adam’s head bobbed. Cougar poked his nose inside Adam’s pockets, searching for the jerky.

“We’ll have to take the long way around so no one sees us,” Caroline said. A gang of young kids walking around at ten o’clock at night was sure to draw attention. “We can go the way we went to the pump that day,” she said to Adam.

The twins balked. Megan picked at her cuticle, obviously bored. Jeff shrugged.

“You don’t have to come with us,” Caroline said to the others, and started walking.

Adam and Cougar followed. After more bellyaching, the twins and Jeff and Megan chased after them. It took almost an hour to get to the private beach, walking through the woods behind the lakefront cabins with nothing but slivers of moonlight cutting through the branches of trees to guide them. Cougar panted, but his barking had stopped. Once, he drifted toward the lake to get a drink of water, but otherwise he walked alongside Adam the entire way. He was a good dog and meant to be with kids.

The cabin that sat at the back of the private beach was deserted. It had been dark and empty every summer for as long as Caroline could remember. Although she had heard the family who owned the property preferred to stay away from the lake during the peak summer months, coming only in autumn when the air was cool and the trees were dressed in their finest colors.

Caroline didn’t see the point. Why would you need a beach if it was too cold to sit on it and too frigid to swim? And it wasn’t like they weren’t in the most secluded spot on the lake, a place to hang out where other vacationers couldn’t bother them.

Johnny and his friends had used the private beach for their end-of-summer party, figuring if they got caught, it wouldn’t matter since they’d be going home the next day.

Thinking about Johnny hurt, and she pushed the thoughts away. She turned toward Adam. “You better lead from here.”

“This way.” The moonlight caught the back of his ears, making it look as though he had two big orbs on the sides of his head.

She followed close behind. The twins pushed and shoved each other, cackling about how this was nothing but a waste of time. Jeff and Megan dropped back from the pack.

“You go on ahead,” Megan called. “We’ll catch up with you.”

Ned made kissing, sucking noises. Ted mumbled, “Gross.” They continued on, leaving Jeff and Megan on the beach. Caroline didn’t want to think about what Megan was doing. The idea of kissing a boy still made her feel icky.