The Ghost of the Lake

Chapter 6

I caught up to May and Balto as they were going out the back door. "Did Jackson leave with Reu already?" I ask May as we walk into the the yard.

"Yeah I think they already left," she responds.

The yard is about the size of a football field; except that the yard is bigger than that. I think that Reu said it was about two acres of land. There were two lonely maple trees that signaled where the woods started. Next to the maple trees was a peach tree. Or was it an apple tree? I couldn't tell. To one side of the house was a fence of trees. They were put there to show where one property ended and where another started. The lake was in a corner of the land.

I started to walk over to the lake. I didn't even know why though. It felt like I was in a dream. Something was forcing me to go towards the lake.

Thats when May asked, "Where are you going?"

"I'm walking towards the lake." My mouthed moved and words came out. As if someone was putting them in my mouth.

Balto started to bark. He barked louder and louder each time. May followed me towards the lake, but Balto stayed behind. He kept barking at us. Almost like if he wanted us to come back or stop walking.

May yelled, "Shut up Balto." She grabbed my arm. That broke me out of the trance. "Opal, do you want to go see what type of fruit is growing on that tree," she said pointing to the peach/apple tree.

I blinked at her a couple of time and then said, "Sure."

Balto stopped barking as soon as he saw where we were actually going. He ran after us. I leaned down to grab a small twig that was on the ground. I showed it to Balto and threw it. He ran after it.

We got to the tree and noticed its actually a peach tree. Balto arrived at the tree with the twig. I threw it again.
"Its a peach tree," said May.

"Yeah, I noticed. Its full of peaches!" I exclaim. "Do you have paper or something you can write with?" I ask May.

"Yeah I take paper and a pen with me everywhere I go," she responds with sarcasm.

"If you did we could write a letter to Nelly saying to give us a bag. We could have sent it with Balto. But I guess neither of us has paper or pen, so I guess you're going to have to go all the way back to get a bag," I say.

"Why do we need a bag for?"

"To collect peaches. Duh! Nelly can make a peach pie or something for dinner tonight."

"Oh you're right, but why do I have to get the bag?" she complains.

I know that May will just keep complaining until she gets her way. Well I'll keep trying to convince her to go get the bag. We're both stubborn, but since I'm older I get an advantage.
"Fine to make it fair let's play rock, paper, and scissors. Best out of three," I say as I hold my hand out.

"Fine," she says as she also holds out her hand.

"Rock, paper, scissors," we say as I hold out a rock and she gets scissors.

"Rock, paper, scissors." This time I get a rock and she gets paper.

"Rock, paper, scissors." On the last time she gets scissors and I get rock again.

"I win," I say. "You get to go for the bag."

"But I don't get it. You came up with the idea. You should go get it."

"No because Balto doesn't listen to you very well. He might go too close to the lake and might fall in."

"Ugh," she says finally giving in. "Fine. Only because of Balto. You owe me."