Family + Camp (working title)

Chapter 17 Part 2: By the Lake

"You excited to lifeguard here?" Cash asked.

Nell considered. "Excited is not the word I'd choose."

"What word would you choose then?"

"Nervous? Resigned? On board?" She considered again. "Okay, I can add excited to that list. Yes, I am excited. This lake is much bigger than the rinky dink pond we had at Fields."

"You have your open water certification?"

Nell slid her eyes his way briefly. "Technically? No. But I have enough hours to qualify. Plus, my dad tells me my supervisor will help train me. And I swim a mile every morning."

"Really?" He seemed impressed.

"No. That was a lie."

He both gratified and mortified her by blushing. He didn't seem gullible. She felt bad about embarrassing him and hurriedly added, "But I plan to swim 500 yards every morning while I'm here. I used to do that back home."

Nell paused as both she and Cash awkwardly recognized what she had just said. Home.

"The lake is pretty cold," Cash said after a beat. He faced the water. "All that snow melt. You'll want to keep warm with a steady stroke."

She nodded, grateful for his moving on quickly.

"Got a favorite one?" he asked.

"Breaststroke. But I'll probably do freestyle to power through." 

On the lake, a platform floated about twenty yards out from the deck. Beyond was the open water of a contained bowl—granite rocks and trees across the way. On the near shore, a wide lawn with a few birch trees here and there providing shade. Nell imagined the campers spreading out their towels on the grass, sunbathing, music playing on stereos, the sounds of chatter and laughter. 

The lake water was dark green and murky. Nell saw some orange koi swimming around near the edge, nosing up out of the water as if begging for breadcrumbs. A turtle chugged along a little farther out. Tiny fish swam around. And were those tadpoles?

Cash pointed into the distance. "See that rock out there?"

She followed the line of his arm to the other side of the lake.

"I see many rocks out there."

He squinted one eye closed. "The one shaped like a heart."

Nell copied him, closing one eye and following his hand to the tip of his pointer finger. "Okay. Sure."

"It's a tradition to swim out there and leave a handprint. We call it Handprint Rock."

Beatrice nodded. "Original."

Cash clicked his tongue and narrowed his eyes at her, but underneath the look was amusement.

"No, it's cool," she said. "I'll have to do that."

"It's okay if you need a floaty—I mean, not you you," he clarified at her offended glare. "I just mean that there's no shame in using a floaty to get there. It still counts."

"Who decides?" Nell asked with a laugh. "Who decides if it counts or not?"

Cash shrugged. "You do, I guess. You decide for yourself."

"That is deep."

"Deep and wide. Like the lake."

"Deep and wide," Nell murmured. "Isn't that a song?"

And before she knew what was happening, they were both singing. Well, more like bellowing.

Deep and wide
Deep and wide
There's a fountain flowing deep and wide
Deep and wide
Deep and wide
There's a fountain flowing deep and wide!

As they sang, they squatted on deep and threw out their hands on wide.

"Yes!" Nell's dad called from where Sandy, Rob, and he had been surveying the canoes and life vests in the boat house. "That's what I like to see. That old camp spirit!"

Before them all, Morland Harte joined in another round with a decent baritone, squatting pretty low for a guy pushing two bucks. Rob got in on the action, too.

In the middle of it all, Nell realized something was off.

"Did you guys change the words?" She asked the Tilney brothers.

"Not us," Rob said. "We've always just sang 'lake.'  Probably because...because of the lake." He gestured out at the water.

He and Cash had been singing "There's a lake that's flowing deep and wide" instead of "fountain."

"Yeah," Cash agreed. "That's probably it."

"I think it's a Salvation Army song," Nell's mom said. "I learned it in Sunday school."

"No Sunday school for us," Cash said apologetically. "Our parents are, like, atheistic agnostics."

"They're professors," Rob added, as if that explained everything about their spiritual upbringing.

"Same," Nell said. "I mean, I'm not a professor, but I ain't got that old time religion at all."

"You did at one point," Sandy muttered. She was the only one in their family who attended church. Once Nell had reached the age of demonhood, aka junior high, she had refused to go anymore. Morrie went with his wife on Christmas and Easter, but was otherwise engaged with work on Sundays. Or so he claimed.

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Wattpad Readers: If you attended camp, what songs do you remember? Did your camp have a religious focus or some other kind?