Summer Shorts - Anthology

1969 by MAndALaptop

1969 by MAndALaptop

I pushed my sunglasses to the top of my head, swinging my bag over my
shoulder.

"Bye, Ma," I said.

Ma leaned over the sink, husking corn quickly, a strand of greying hair dangling
in front of her face. "Where are you off to?" she asked, not bothering to turn around to look at me.

The beep of a car's horn replied.

"Is that Mitchy?" said Ma, her tone changing from monotonous to excited. "Tell that boy I said hello! And tell him to come over whenever he likes."

"I'll tell him, Ma."

She glanced up briefly to smile tiredly at me. Wrinkles creased her tanned face, and water dripped from her fingertips. She had on her faded green apron. When I picture Ma, I always see her in that damn apron.

"Don't be out too late," she said, and then I was hurrying out the door. The
uneven wood creaked underneath my sneakers, and the screen door bounced loudly in the frame.

I stepped out on the porch. Mitch's chipped red truck sat on the gravel road. He grinned up at me, his arm slung around the passenger seat.

"Get in, Daphne!" he said, honking the horn again for good measure. Behind
the car, my family's farm spread out for acres, rows and rows of rows of corn.

I slid in the passenger seat, pushing my sunglasses down in front of my eyes. The thick, humid summer heat seemed to melt the skin right off my body. "Shit, it's hot, Mitch. Won't you turn on the air conditioner?"

"We'll be fine once we're on the road. Come on, you baby. It's the first day of
summer vacation!" He smiled at me and shifted the gear into first, and the truck took off, gravel crunching beneath the tires. Ma said that Mitch could charm anybody with that smile. His green eyes flashed in the sun, blinding and unforgiving in a cloudless blue sky.

"Do you have your bathing suit on?" Mitch said.

"'Course."

"There better not be anybody else at the pond, I swear to god." Mitch glanced at me sideways and switched on the radio. A cheerful tune began to crackle through the speakers. "It's those Beatles again!"

"You don't like The Beatles, Mitch?"

"Don't care for 'em." 

I smiled. 'Course I knew Mitch didn't like The Beetles. We had this discussion every time they played on the radio.

"Anyway," said Mitch. "I'm glad school ended. We don't have to hear Mrs.
Grasley drone on and on about English anymore. Do you remember how boring that class was?"

"It must've been boring, I was asleep half the time."

Mitch laughed, and I smiled. I loved making Mitch laugh.

Mitch and I, we'd been friends ever since the first grade when we were assigned partners for a science project. He lived in town, a good two miles away from the farm, but we always found ways to get into trouble together, especially during the summer. And it was easy when Mitch finally got his license. To me, summer meant Mitch.

I rested my head on my hand and closed my eyes. Mitch was right - the heat wasn't so bad when the truck was moving, and air blew in through the open window.

We pulled up to the swimming pond fifteen minutes later. The first day of summer, Mitch and I would always come here. Usually, we were the only ones, maybe because it was in the middle of nowhere. Surrounded by overgrown trees that skimmed the surface, it was just a small circle of murky water.