Life at Lunar Lake

Chapter 2

Father stumbled into the house, sweaty as usual from a long day at work at the lumber farm. He opened the cabinet where he kept his beer, only to find it empty. He opened other cabinets and the refrigerator and just about anywhere to look. “Where is it?” He grumbled quietly. I didn’t reply, for I knew he didn’t know sign language. My mother knew it, and he was always my interpreter around him, but when she died he didn’t even care to communicate with me. However, if necessary, I would use my little whiteboard that I carried around with me sometimes.

“I said where is it?” He boomed, matching me perfectly in the eyes since we were the same height. I simply shrugged. He grabbed me by the shoulders. “Where is the booze?”

I shoved him off me and scrawled out on the whiteboard “Check in the lake.” He glared at me, seething with rage, and stormed outside, into the backyard, towards the lake. I looked out the window and saw him bring his hands to his face as he looked out on the water. His whole stash of beer cans was out in the water, the cans empty. I had dumped the beer from them in a hole I dug. He ran into the water, trying to salvage any beer that was left in the cans but he didn’t get any. He whirled around, his face twisted in anger. He stormed into the house and grabbed me by the collar of my shirt.

“What… did you… do??” He boomed, bringing his sweaty face closer to mine. I grabbed the whiteboard.

“Look, I have company coming over and I don’t want you drinking tonight. I don’t want you to scare her or screw up the house.”

He took the whiteboard and broke it in half over his knee, throwing the wood board behind him. He shoved me on the ground and rampaged out of the house, slamming the front door behind him and hopping in his truck. I figured he was getting more beer. I sighed, standing up, picking up the remnants of my whiteboard and taping it together. I brushed myself off and walked back outside to clean up the cans of beer in the lake.

When I’d cleaned up the majority of them I looked over to see Krista diving into the water in her high waisted floral bikini. She glanced my way but quickly turned her head. You gotta admit, she looks pretty, but… no, she’s my best friend. That would only make things weird. Besides, I don’t like-like her. She’s my best friend. I shook my head, dismissing the thought. I waved at her but she ignored me. Hurt, I took the mass of cans and lugged them back into my house. I decided that it was as good a day as any to go swimming, so I changed into my bathing suit and got ready to take out the boat. I didn’t care if Krista was mad at me. It’s not like I did anything. We hang out all the time, why should she be angry when I want to hang out with another person for a change? I hopped in my boat and paddled out to the middle of the lake, taking my fishing pole and tackle box with me. To my surprise I saw Heather on the other side of the lake sunbathing, wearing a deep blue bikini. I never saw a bathing suit like that in Lakeview before. I waved to her and saw her look my way.

“Oh, hi Mason!” She exclaimed, waving back feverishly. My god, she was so beautiful…

“How are you? Want to come in my boat?” I expressed through sign language, a smile on my face.

She blushed. “Well, I think I’ll pass on that. Have fun fishing!” She exclaimed, putting on more tanning lotion. I nodded and cast out my line, being wary of the fact that Krista was swimming.

Later that afternoon, since I didn’t catch anything, I paddled back to shore, saying goodbye to Krista and Heather. Krista was still mad at me, but like I said, I didn’t care.

I have to admit I was nervous the whole time I was out on that lake. I kept trying to convince myself what had happened the night before hadn’t happened and that it was just one of my usual crazy dreams, but I couldn’t. It seemed too real, especially those glowing eyes. I’ll never forget them. One thing’s for sure, I’m not going into the woods anytime soon, I thought with a chuckle, even though it was utterly serious.