I was startled when Will chuckled. "In all our conversations I don't believe I have asked how you like the lake," he mused.
I shrugged and bumped my arm against his. "It's okay. It's a little crowded, though," I replied.
"Many of these cabins are not yet ten years old," he commented. His eyes swept over the monstrosities that would have been considered mansions on less wet grounds. "When I was a boy there were only the older cabins, like yours, mine, and Olivia's. You wouldn't know it from hers, though, as she's updating it quite a bit. There were meadows where stands most of these cabins, and the trees stretched down to the lake. People would come in with their trailers for the Wolf Hunt and stay where the park now stands. We had our choice of locations for the hunt. Over the years the parcels were divided and sold to wealthy individuals. The Hunt was pushed aside, but my family offered our property above the road for the hunt. Mr. Trimble and Olivia were kind enough to donate their land for the fun."
I could hear a touch of sadness in his voice. "I wish I could have seen the lake as it was," I told him.
"I have pictures if you wish to see it," he offered. "My father was an avid photographer and we spent many summers here."
"So what made you stop coming here so often?" I wondered.
"My parents passed away and I was left with a company that didn't need my inexperienced hand to guide it, so I journeyed around the world. It was-it was a learning experience," he explained.
"And you picked up Vuk on the way?" I teased.
He smiled. "Yes. You wouldn't believe it now, but I met him in a small village in Hungary. It was right after-well, after a minor adventure in the mountains around the village, and he was the only one willing to tend to my wounds."
"Wounds? You were hurt?" I guessed.
He stared straight ahead and nodded. "Yes, gravely hurt. A wild beast attacked me and I managed to crawl back to the edge of the village before I lost consciousness. When I woke up I was in Vuk's home, a house smaller than your cabin and situated in the forest around the village. Apparently when the villagers found me they'd thrown me back out into the woods." He chuckled, but I shuddered at the sound. It was cold and full of sorrow.
"How could they do that?" I whispered.
"Superstition makes monsters of us all when we reject our humanity to save ourselves," he philosophized.
"So Vuk wasn't superstitious?" I guessed.
"On the contrary, Vuk was very superstitious, but I was fortunate in that he rejected the fear superstition induces and took me in," he told me.
"What kind of animal attacked you?" I wondered.
"A wolf." My eyes widened, and he turned to smile at me. "Yes, quite the irony, isn't it? I abandon Wolf Lake only to find myself in the jaws of a real wolf."
I couldn't laugh. It was like some cruel joke. "So Vuk cared for you and treated your wounds?" I asked him.
Will turned away from me and his voice was a ghost of a whisper. "Some wounds couldn't be healed," he murmured. There was a heavy weight in his words, like he carried a burden he could never shrug off.
I didn't like him this way. I wanted him to be the teasing and chuckling, and wooing me into a relationship I knew couldn't last longer than my vacation, but one I'd cherish for a long time. I skipped ahead of him, grasped his hands in mine, and smiled into his morose and surprised face.
"Some wounds might not be able to heal, but what about being forgotten for one night?" I suggested. Will looked doubtful, but I turned around, kept one of our hands locked, and pulled him forward toward the fun and excitement at the park. "Let's hurry before the little piranhas in tennis shoes eat all the hamburgers and hot dogs," I insisted.
Chapter 3
We reached the park in a few minutes, a record time thanks to my tugging on Will's arm, and Olivia jumped on us like a tiger on its first meal in days. "There you two are!" she scolded as she hurried up to us. There was a cigarette in one hand and a hot dog in the other. It was a surreal moment, but she did an admirable job of switching between the two. "I thought you had abandoned me to a life of solitary!" That wasn't possible. Even in a stone prison she would have made friends with the rocks in the walls. She might even had married one of them.
"It's entirely my fault, Olivia. I was reminiscing," Will replied.
She gently batted her cigarette holder against his shoulder. "Well, enough about the past, it's time for the present and a hot dog," she scolded.
"I have never heard you suggest a more brilliant suggestion, Olivia. If you will excuse us," Will agreed.
He led me over to a long line of tables filled to the breaking-point with food. We helped ourselves to the usual picnic fare and sat down on a patch of grass not occupied by running kids, picnic blankets, and the half-dozen barbecues hard at work cooking our meaty food. It was nearly six by the time we finished, and my calculations about the timing of the setting sun were a little off. The tall hills around the lake blocked the sun a good hour before a flat horizon would hide its light and the lake fell into the shadow of early twilight.
I set aside my empty paper plate and sighed. It had been a good meal with plenty of salads and meats. I glanced over at Will's plate and noticed there were only stains of meat juice on its white surface. "Didn't your mom ever tell you to eat your vegetables?" I teased him.
He placed his plate atop mine and smiled at me. "She did, but I was always too stubborn to listen," he replied.
"What about fruit? You have to like some sort of fruit," I persisted.
"I don't dislike fruits or vegetables, it's only that I prefer meat," he told me.
I clucked my tongue as all motherly women were apt to do when faced with a pure carnivore. "One day you'll wake up to find you've turned into a wolf," I warned him. The color drained from Will's face so quickly that I expected him to faint. He stiffened and I caught him in case he fell. I could feel his body tremble in my grasp. "Are you all right? Do you feel well?" I asked him.
He weakly smiled and shook his head. "Perhaps I ate too much meat," he joked.
"You look like you ate a whole lamb and it stuck in your throat," I countered.
"I'm fine, only I was taken by surprise with your comment. It brought back memories of Eastern Europe that I-well, that I would rather forget," he replied.
There was the depression, the sadness in his eyes. I didn't want to see that, so I took my plate that was smothered in the remains of my ketchup-mustard-relish covered hot dog and playfully shoved it into his face. I let go of the plate and it stuck there in all its gooey glory. Will garbled out a few protestations before he pulled the plate off his face to reveal something like clown makeup if it had been applied by a five-year old.
He glared at me and gripped the plate in his hand, but a mischievous glint in his eyes warned me what he planned. "No! Nonononono!" I protested. I tried to stand and sprint away, but he grabbed my arm and pulled me back down. The next second the plate was applied to my face and the remains smeared liberally across my nose and cheeks. He released the plate, I stiffened, and the paper dish slowly slid off my face to flutter to the ground in front of me.
I turned to him with a hot glare complete with ketchup-red cheeks, and he laughed. "All's fair in love and war," he teased.
"Then this means war," I returned. I grabbed the plate, but he grabbed my wrist and snatched the dish from my hand.
He held it out in opposite me. "I think we've each had enough of your hot dog," he countered.
"Not with you having the upper hand," I protested. I dove for the plate, but he deftly twisted me around and I landed in his lap. He dropped the plate and wrapped both arms around me as I struggled to free myself from his delicious grip. "Let go! I must avenge myself!" I insisted.
"You forget we're not alone," he reminded me.
I froze. The picnic. The people. They were still there, and as I looked around I realized we, in our garbled clown makeup, were the center of attention. I sheepishly smiled at them and sank down in Will's arms. "You couldn't have reminde
d me sooner?" I growled.
Will chuckled. "And miss all this fun?" he teased.
"Uh-huh, so now what do we do? Perform for the children?" I asked him.
"Actually, the water looks very inviting. We could wash ourselves there," he suggested.
"I guess." I hadn't done much more than test the water with my fingers. A little splash sounded tempting. I tried to stand, but his arms held me on his lap. I turned to him with a frown. "Do you mind letting me go?" I wondered.
"I'm quite comfortable," he countered. He pressed me harder against his firm chest and my ketchup highlight was nearly out-redded by my blushing.
"But I'm filthy and so you are, so let's stop this teenager stuff and wash up," I insisted.
Will sighed. "Very well." He released me and we walked away from the gawkers down to the edge of the lake.
The empty long dock and boat launch were on our left. The fisherman had reeled in their lines and pulled out their boats for the day. In front of us was the cordoned-off swimming area where several families with their young children played and splashed around one last time before the sun set. I turned and led Will to the right away from the noise and bustle of the other residents to the very end of the cordoned-off zone. The waters there were calmer, and I knelt down and looked at my reflection in the water. It was a good thing I wasn't afraid of clowns or my face would have scared me back to my cabin. I quickly drenched my face and washed away the evidence of our fun. Will did the same with his makeup.
"Do you have any family?" Will spoke up.
I glanced at him with a raised eyebrow. "Parents," I replied.
"No siblings?" he wondered.
"No, why?"
"Have you a great attachment to your parents?" he asked me, ignoring my question.
I shrugged and turned back to the water. It was cool and clear, and I could see a few shells laying among the pebbles and sand. I picked one up and picked at it. "They're okay, but we don't really talk, not since I moved out a few years ago," I revealed. I snorted, but it wasn't really from humor. "I guess long-distance relationships don't really work for them. They live clear across the country and didn't really like it when I decided to move so far away. I think maybe they thought I was running away from them."
"Were you?" he mused.
"Maybe. I was at that trying age where the world was against me and any sort of authority that didn't pay me was using me," I commented.
"I can't imagine you as a rebel," he replied.
I fell back onto the sand just above the wave line and toyed with the shell in my hand. "I thought I was, but thinking back I guess I just wanted a life a little more exciting than the one my parents had."
"What do they do?" he asked me.
I snorted and smiled. "My dad's a teacher and my mom's into helping the community. You know, one of those busy-bodies who knows everything about everyone," I told him.
"So you're from a small town?" he guessed.
"Born and bred," I replied.
"You seem to have matured quite quickly in just a few years," he commented.
I tossed aside the shell and turned to him with a teasing smile. "That was out of necessity. People really weren't going to pay me to scowl at them all day, so I learned to smile. That got a lot of jobs as secretaries, and I climbed the big, old corporate ladder to end up as Mr. Trimble's secretary."
"And the tale ends with you happily ever after, or does it?" he wondered.
"Well, it doesn't end with me out on the streets living in a cardboard box that I share with a couple of alley cats, a mangy dog, and a toad that just happened to hop in," I countered.
"But what if that toad happened to be a prince?" he teased.
I snorted and looked out on the shimmering lake. "Then I chose the wrong path and need to invest in cardboard box realty," I joked.
"But what if your prince came hopping by without the need for you in a cardboard box?" he persisted.
I frowned and turned to him with a confused expression. "I'd say I wouldn't see him coming and accidentally run him over with my car."
Will choked out a laugh and fell back onto the sand with a grin on his face. "That would be a rather unlucky prince," he mused.
"Yes, a messy end to a short courtship," I agreed. I lay down on my stomach beside him and looked over his smooth, youngish face. "So what about you?"
"What about me?" he returned.
"You have an immaculate conception or did you sprout from a cabbage patch?" I asked him.
"Neither. I had a set of very nice parents, but they passed away a few years ago. Heart and blood illnesses runs deep in both sides of my family," he replied.
"And no siblings?" I wondered.
"None."
"No girlfriends? No close friends?"
"I trust no one but Vuk and-" He paused and looked away.
"And who?" I persisted.
"Darlings!" a voice rang out behind us.
Chapter 4
I turned and sighed. It was Olivia who interrupted our little chat, and this time with company in the form of a middle-aged couple. The wife wore a simple ensemble shorts and a white shirt, though around her neck was an extravagant diamond necklace. The man was in the same sort of attire, and in one hand he held a short leash attached to which was a large black labrador. The dog wagged its tail at me and drooled. We hastily stood and each of us slapped a smile on our faces.
"There you two are! I was afraid after all that commotion that you'd run away before the fireworks and disappointed me!" she scolded us.
"We wouldn't think of it, Olivia," Will replied.
"Good! Now William, Grace, I would like to introduce you to some of my oldest and dearest friends, the Dodson's, Nicholas and Priscilla," she told us, gesturing to the older couple. "Nick, Priscilla, this is William Campbell and Grace Stevens."
"A pleasure, I'm sure," Mrs. Dodson greeted us as we daintily shook hands.
Mr. Dodson wrinkled his manicured mustache. "Campbell, eh?" the boisterous Nick Dodson mused. "Not the family that owns the old cabin across the lake?"
"The one and only," Will replied. Will leaned forward to shake the man's hand, but the labrador intervened. Actually, to put it truthfully and scientifically the beast went ballistic.
The lab lunged at Will, who was saved from a nasty bite on the hand by the dog's short leash. Olivia screamed and jumped into Priscilla's arms as Nick pulled with both hands on the leash and dragged the fierce beast back. It bared its teeth and snarled at Will. For his part he had a firm, stoic expression on his face and wasn't at all bothered by the dog's violent outburst.
"I'm so sorry, old chap! He's never acted like this before. Heel! Heel, Hercules!" Mr. Dodson ordered him. The dog sat at his master's side, but continued to bare his fangs at Will. Dodson frowned at his rude pet, and his eyes flickered between Will and the dog. "That's strange. He's usually so friendly toward people," he commented.
"I must smell like a cat," Will joked. The couple and Olivia laughed, but I was disturbed by the dog. Its eyes were narrowed and it watched Will like an enemy. Will gently tugged on my arm and broke my thoughts. "What do you say to some dessert before the fireworks?" he suggested. By this time the glow of the setting sun on the horizon was faint and people started lighting lanterns to keep away the encroaching darkness. The dark surface of the lake was like a forbidden mirror. Look long enough and it would drag you into its depths.
I smiled, more to hide my unease than because I felt happy. "That'd be great," I agreed.
"If you'll excuse us," Will told our fellow cabin folk.
Olivia stepped away from her friend and unruffled her feathers. "Oh, yes, of course, but don't leave until the fireworks are finished," she reminded us.
"We won't," Will agreed. He led us away to the table loaded with desserts, but neither of us had any appetite so we stood a few yards off close to a thick tree. When Will spoke his voice was low, but relaxed. "You're bothered by the dog," he commented.
"That dog looked like
he wanted to rip you to shreds," I whispered in return.
"I'm afraid I have that effect on most animals," he revealed.
"Have you tried changing cologne? Something not quite as eau de threatening?" I teased.
He chuckled. "Would you care to go shopping with me for my personal articles?" he wondered.
"No. You shop for your own underwear," I replied.
Our little back-and-forth was again interrupted by Olivia, but not directly. While we talked men had prepared the fireworks display by setting out long, wide pieces of ply board on the beach and erected small, angles chutes made of plastic piping. The boxes of fireworks were places behind them and the men produced lighters. Olivia stepped onto a pile of the fireworks boxes and waved her hands over her head.
"Attention! Attention, everyone!" she bellowed over the crowd. The cabin folk ceased their conversations and turned to her. "We are ready for the fireworks, so if you would please seat yourselves on the grass we can begin!" The crowds meandered their way to the edge of the sand, and sat down on the grass and blankets.
"Shall we?" Will invited. I turned to him and the smile died on my lips. Even in the weak light of the propane lanterns I could see his face was ghastly pale and there was a hint of sweat on the surface.
"Are you all right?" I asked him.
"Quite all right," he assured me.
I looked over his tense facial muscles and wide, dilated eyes, and thought I'd never seen such a bad liar. "You don't look all right," I insisted.
Will wiped the perspiration from his brow and smiled at me. "Perhaps the episode with the dog affected me more than I thought, but I just need to rest a while." He guided me not to the beach, but to the edge of the park closest to our cabins. There we plopped down on the cool grass and waited for the dazzling lights.
I noticed Will fidgeted, and his hand kept diving into a pocket of his jeans. "Are you sure you're all right?" I persisted.
"Yes, quite-" His affirmation was interrupted by the sudden firing of a large, whistling rocket.
It flew into the sky and burst into a thousand tiny sparkles of red and white. The crowd oohed and aahed. The fireworks men, encouraged by the crowd's admiration, went to work blowing up all the cases of fireworks. Six rockets were shot off at once and Roman candles were lit on the beach in front of the cabin folk.