“Come on,” Jana said. “You can’t sleep now. We have to go down to the lake. It’s tradition. Whenever we arrive, we drop off our stuff and go right down to the water. Even if it’s the middle of the night.”
Sierra considered telling Jana to go ahead and uphold her tradition without her, but she heard the openness and enthusiasm in Jana’s voice and realized none of the earlier tension seemed to have followed them into this room. Sierra didn’t want to be the one to invite the tension back into the weekend.
“Okay,” she said, pulling herself up.
Jana already had pulled her bathing suit from her bag and had it on. She was wrapping a towel around her waist and smiling brightly. Sierra was amazed how different Jana’s outlook was on life when she was in familiar surroundings and back in step with comfortable routines and traditions. This was the Jana Sierra knew and liked back in Pineville.
“Come on!” Jana urged.
“Are we going to look at the water or get in the water?” Sierra wanted to know.
“It’s your choice,” Jana said with a twinkle in her eye.
“I’m coming to look, not to touch,” Sierra said. She followed Jana out the front door and saw that Jana’s parents and the guys were already out on the dock. Mrs. Hill was sitting in one of the wooden lawn chairs with her camera in hand. The guys were at the end of the dock, both wearing swim trunks. Gregg seemed to be explaining something to Tim.
“Wait for us!” Jana called out, running across the grassy area toward the dock.
Sierra let Jana jog ahead. She watched as Jana joined the guys, and then on the count of three, they all ran off the end of the dock and made three huge cannonball splashes in the water. They came up hooting and hollering about how cold the water was. Mrs. Hill snapped their photos. By the time Sierra arrived on the dock, the three jumpers were wrapped in beach towels, sitting in the sun with their teeth chattering.
“You should have joined us,” Gregg said to Sierra.
Sierra laughed. “Oh yes, you all make it look like such a pleasant experience.”
“It’s much nicer in the afternoon,” Mrs. Hill said. “It’s still a little early for swimming.”
“But we had to keep up our tradition,” Jana said happily. “Gregg and I always jump in within five minutes of getting here. Once we jumped in at ten o’clock at night with our clothes on after we had driven two days. Then we went inside the cabin, put on our pajamas, and sat by the fire until our hair dried. Do you remember that?” Jana turned to Gregg, looking for affirmation.
“I think I was ten,” Gregg said. “I remember it.” He looked as if all the stress from the long journey had washed off his face.
Sierra almost wished she had jumped in with them. But right now her preference was to sit in the empty padded lawn chair next to Mrs. Hill and catch a few winks with her face to the sun. She was still wearing her tie skirt, a T-shirt, and a thin sweater. It didn’t feel warm enough to take off her sweater, but she slipped off her shoes and tucked them under the chair as she settled in.
Gregg started to tell a story about their flight to Minneapolis. “I think the flight attendant wanted to see if anyone was paying attention when they went over the emergency procedures.”
“Oh, I know,” Jana jumped in. “It was so funny.”
Gregg talked over his sister, taking the story back. “When she got to the part about the oxygen mask, she held that sample one up and put it over her nose and mouth and then her eyes bugged out, and she started to turn red, as if she was trying to breathe but no oxygen was coming through.”
They all laughed at the memory.
“I’m surprised the airline let her get away with that,” Mr. Hill said from his lawn chair on the wide dock. “You would think they would monitor the instructions to know if the procedures are being upheld to the full extent of the law.”
His words sounded serious, but something in his tone told Sierra he was teasing. Gregg’s wry wit obviously came from his father.
“Oh, and then that emergency instruction card they hold up,” Jana said. “She held it upside down.” Jana laughed. “Remember that time we were on the plane to Arizona, Gregg? You pulled out that card and pointed to the picture of the guy who had his head between his legs in the emergency crash position, and you said, ‘This is a picture of the last guy who ordered the lasagna on this flight. We better order the chicken.’ ”
Gregg laughed too. “Remember that flight attendant? He gave us such a dirty look. I didn’t think he was going to give us lunch when the cart came down the aisle.”
Sierra thought it was great the way everyone had let go of the tension that had silenced them earlier. This is how she had imagined the vacation. Maybe yesterday was just a bad beginning. The tension was gone, and the “experimental flirting” was likely to be over as well. They could all settle in and have fun. Jana was in her comfort zone now. She could go back to being the steady, sure, predictable friend Sierra was familiar with.
Tim reached over and grabbed Sierra’s bare toes with his cold hand. “You’re sure the pacifist,” he said.
“Hey, I didn’t get any sleep in the airport,” she protested.
“She was too busy knocking out janitors,” Gregg teased.
“You did what?” Mr. Hill asked.
Jana, Gregg, and Tim laughed as Mr. and Mrs. Hill waited for an explanation.
“I went to buy a can of juice while these guys were sleeping,” Sierra explained.
“No, you have to stand up,” Gregg said, “and show them everything the way you showed us.”
Sierra reluctantly complied. She stood near the end of the dock, out of the way of the others so she wouldn’t accidentally hit anyone. As she continued her story, Gregg sat in her chair, holding the cushion instead of sitting on it.
Everyone laughed as Sierra related the humiliating experience all over again, complete with arm motions and facial expressions.
Gregg rose and took center stage next to her when she reached the part about the janitor coming out of the rest room. Still holding the cushion, Gregg used it as a prop for a can of juice, holding it to his jaw and giving a terrified look when he saw Sierra. They all had another great laugh.
Then Gregg said, “Oh, and I just remembered another line the flight attendant used.” He handed Sierra the cushion, and she took it, assuming he needed both hands to act out his next joke.
She was right. As soon as Sierra took the cushion, Gregg announced, “And remember, in the event of a water landing, your seat cushion may be used as a flotation device.” With that, he grabbed Sierra and jumped into the water.
7
y skirt!” Sierra cried when she surfaced from the brisk lake water.
Jana was standing at the edge of the dock, looking down on Sierra sympathetically. Sierra quickly realized that she hadn’t been the first “little sister” Gregg had tricked into the water.
“Did it ruin your skirt?” Jana cried. “Gregg, if you ruined her skirt, you’re going to have to pay for it. She made that, you know! It’s not like she can just go buy another one.”
Gregg had paddled to the ladder on the side of the dock and was back on deck as Jana continued to rail him about the skirt.
“My skirt!” Sierra cried out again, her teeth chattering as she tread water.
“You better come out,” Tim said, directing her over toward the ladder.
Sierra paddled toward the ladder, too cold to say what she wanted to. Suddenly a strange, multicolored, bulbous creature popped to the surface and hovered ominously like a deformed jellyfish between Sierra and the dock.
“What is that?” Jana shrieked.
“My skirt!” Sierra yelled for the third time.
“Oh, you poor dear!” Mrs. Hill said, hurrying over to the ladder with a dry beach towel. “Turn your heads, boys. Sierra has lost her skirt.”
She had been concerned that her skirt had sunk to the bottom of the lake, never to be retrieved. Now that she saw it floating, she was relieved.
>
The guys turned around. Sierra grabbed her floating skirt, pulled herself up on the ladder and onto the dock, where she let Mrs. Hill wrap her in the warm towel.
Jana took the wet skirt from Sierra and carefully wrung it out. “Such tiny snaps,” Jana said, examining the skirt. “No wonder it came undone. Maybe you should have used a zipper.”
“Can we turn around now?” Gregg asked.
“Yes.” Sierra sunk into the lawn chair still shivering, holding the towel tightly around her.
Gregg chuckled cautiously. “I honestly thought that floating thing was some creature from the deep lagoon, awakened from his primeval slumber.”
“You wait, Greggory Hill,” Sierra said. “You’re going to be wakened from your primeval slumber before this weekend is over.”
“Only you, Sierra,” Mr. Hill said, awkwardly patting her wet head.
“That’s what my dad always says,” Sierra said through chattering teeth. As a matter of fact, he had said that line to her earlier when she had finally called to say they’d arrived safely. She gave him a summary of their complicated journey, and her father sounded relieved when he said, “Only you, Sierra.” Apparently her many life mishaps didn’t come as a surprise to him.
“After you get some dry clothes on, would you like to join me on a trek into town?” Mrs. Hill suggested.
Sierra slipped her shoes on her cold feet and picked her way down the dock and back to the cabin. Jana went ahead of her and hung Sierra’s skirt on the clothesline, which was strung from two trees on the left side of the yard area. Sierra appreciated Jana’s being so concerned about Sierra’s tie skirt. Jana apparently knew how much Sierra liked that skirt and how much it was a symbol of her personality.
As she changed, Sierra thanked Jana for hanging the skirt.
“I’m serious,” Jana said. “If it’s ruined, Gregg should have to pay you for it. So try to figure out what it’s worth.”
Sierra thought about that as the three women drove into town. What would that skirt be worth? What was her personality personified worth on today’s market? Was she a fun and interesting person because of how she looked and acted? Or was she just a big klutz who knocked out innocent janitors and was too naive to see a push into the lake coming?
On one hand, Sierra was glad Gregg had pushed her in. His action showed that he accepted her, that he liked her in a big-brother way. He wouldn’t have tried so hard to set up the perfect opportunity to tease Sierra if he didn’t think she could take it and if he didn’t enjoy it. Not just enjoy it for the sake of the joke, but enjoy it because it was the way one buddy treated another buddy. She was the freckle-faced tomboy and everybody’s kid sister.
On the other hand, what if she wanted more? What if she felt ready to encourage more in a relationship with a guy? Was that what Jana was doing when she put her head on Tim’s shoulder at the airport? What if Sierra had done that to Gregg? How would he have reacted? she wondered.
And she wondered some more that afternoon after lunch. The guys had gone off fishing in the boat, which left Sierra and Jana plenty of time to lounge in the sun and catch up on their lost night of sleep.
When the guys came back with three fish, they were pretty proud of their catch. Sierra thought there wasn’t enough meat on those three little silver-scaled fellows to feed all six of them. However, Mrs. Hill prepared lots of rice and vegetables and then mixed the diced pieces of cooked fish in with the whole batch.
Sierra had plenty to eat, as did the others. The cleanup went quickly, and then everyone put on a sweatshirt and went back out to the dock to enjoy the close of the day.
“Can we make a rule that you can only throw a person into the water once? And can we recognize that I’ve already had my dunking?” Sierra asked.
“Sounds fair,” Mrs. Hill said.
Sierra noticed that Gregg didn’t voice his agreement. Of course, he and Tim were busy with some project they had started after they came back with the fish. They had six long cattails that they had cut from the bulrushes of the fishing cove they had boated to that afternoon. The cattails were the longest Sierra had ever seen, with stalks as thick as broom handles. Gregg had the bulblike end of the cattails dunked in a white bucket at the end of the dock.
Everyone chatted and watched a family of ducks come quacking up to the side of the dock. Mrs. Hill was ready for them and offered Sierra and Jana several pieces of dried bread.
Sierra broke the bread into bits and cast it on the water. The energetic baby ducks paddled quickly over to where the bread landed.
“They are so cute,” Jana said, tossing her bread to them. “I think we had three duck families last summer. Are these the only ones that have been coming?”
“Yes,” Mrs. Hill said, “these are the only ones we’ve seen. Who knows, maybe once the word gets out that we’re offering free food, we’ll be swamped like we were a few years ago. Do you remember that? We had more waterfowl than we could feed. I think the Morrisons got here before we did this year, and the ducks made it a habit to go there.”
When Jana’s mom mentioned the Morrisons, Sierra noticed that Jana’s expression changed. She looked surprised or hopeful. Or both.
“I didn’t think they were coming until August this year,” Jana said.
“No, they’re here. I saw Corinna in town the day we arrived.”
“Did their kids come this year?” Jana asked.
“Some of them,” Jana’s mom answered.
That’s when Sierra knew what was going on with Jana. Sierra had heard about Danny Morrison, who lived in Oklahoma. His parents were wealthy and owned a lakefront house—not a cabin but a house—and it was located only a few hundred yards through the woods from Jana’s family’s cabin. Danny was thirteen when Jana had seen him two summers ago, but she had returned to Pineville with a secret summer crush she had told Sierra about. Jana had lamented that Danny wouldn’t be at the lake this summer so she wouldn’t have a chance to see if he had grown into a stud like his older brother, Michael.
“Is this the family that vacationed in Australia last summer?” Sierra asked.
“Yes,” Mrs. Hill said. “That’s where Corinna is from. They didn’t come at all last summer, and we thought it was such a pity for that beautiful home to be locked up the whole season. How do you know about the Morrisons?”
Sierra shot a smile at Jana and teased her by saying, “I heard they had a good-looking son.”
Jana’s glare was ice and nails. Sierra was a little surprised. She didn’t think Jana’s intrigue with Danny Morrison was a big secret.
“Oh yes, Michael, their oldest son, is very nice looking. He played football for a big school in the South. I don’t remember which one. Corinna said he may turn pro when he graduates next year.”
Sierra glanced at Jana and knew she was saved from Jana’s wrath since her mom thought Sierra meant Michael.
Jana leaned forward in her lawn chair. “You said only some of the Morrison kids came this summer.”
“Yes?” her mom replied.
“Did Danny come?”
Sierra leaned forward too, just as curious to hear the answer.
8
es,” Mrs. Hill said, “Danny is here with them.”
“And Cassie?” Jana asked.
Sierra vaguely remembered Jana mentioning Danny’s annoying little sister, Cassie, and figured Jana was asking about her to cover up for her interest in Danny.
“Yes, Cassie is here too. She was at the store with her mother. She’s really grown.”
Sierra wondered if Jana was thinking about whether Danny had grown since she had seen him. As Sierra looked over at Jana, she noticed Jana’s dark eyes practically sparkled. As a matter of fact, they were reflecting a soft light. Sierra looked out at the end of the dock and saw the reason for the glow in Jana’s eyes. Gregg had pulled one of the cattails from the bucket and lit the end of it. He now held the natural tiki torch over the water, and they all watched the flame from their lawn chairs.
“It’s burning a long time,” Sierra commented.
“They soaked them in kerosene,” Jana said.
Now Sierra understood why it had smelled like gas when they came down to the dock. She thought it had come from the boat.
The cattail torch continued a little longer before snuffing itself out. Once the flame extinguished, Sierra noticed the sky. It was beginning to fade into a soft peach, and the first star was already visible.
Sierra wondered which star it was. She knew she could ask her brother, Wes, if he were here. He would know. Gregg, Tim, or someone else on the dock might know also, but Sierra didn’t feel like asking the name of that twinkling star because none of them had noticed it. It was her star. She could enjoy it without having to know it on a first-name basis.
Gregg and Tim lit two more cattail torches and held them high, joking about being conquering warriors.
“I want to light one,” Sierra said, getting out of her seat. “Do you want to light one too?” she asked, turning to Jana.
Jana appeared to be daydreaming and didn’t hear Sierra. I bet I can guess what she’s thinking about. Just because I’m such a nice friend, I won’t disturb her.
Sierra shuffled to the end of the dock and asked if she could “play” with one of the torches too.
“We’re not playing,” Gregg said. “This is … ah, necessary. Yes, necessary for ah …”
“Keeping away the mosquitoes,” Tim filled in for him.
“That’s it exactly. We’re keeping the mosquitoes from biting you guys, and our job is to hold the torches and wave them just right.” Gregg gave his lit cattail a little loop in the air.
“That’s right,” Tim said, copying Gregg’s loop.