The Family: Ties That Bind (VOL. 2)

Chapter 12

The day was scorching. The sun beat down on the three of us relentlessly and licked at our limbs as we trudged through the tall dry grass toward the lake. Bubba held tight to my hand to make sure I didn't run off. Both of our palms were slick with sweat but if he didn't care then neither did I. His chest rose and fell rapidly, heaving from the long walk and the hellish temperature. I felt awful for him. His back and chest were drenched in perspiration, making his button-down shirt cling to his body. Droplets of sweat rolled down the back of his neck and added to the wet spots on his shirt. It must've been like a sauna beneath his mask.

The hem of my thin cotton dress caught in the hot breeze like a furnace door being opened and stuck to my legs as we walked. I grabbed the length of my hair and lifted it off my neck as beads of sweat rolled down my back. "Are we almost there?" I asked, wiping the sweat from my forehead with the back of my arm.

"Mhm" was his reply. "Jus' through these trees."

I hiked my skirt to keep it from getting caught in the brush and skipped after him, the smile on my face growing of its own accord and my mind buzzing with the excitement of splashing in the brisk water. I broke through the shrubs, Bubba clutching a handful of my skirt to keep me close, and finally laid eyes on the lake.

If you could even call it that.

Like snuffing a candle, the exhilarating flame of anticipation burning through my body was immediately extinguished. I drug my feet toward the mere dip in the earth that once housed a lake now teeming with overgrown weeds and no doubt snakes.

"This...this isn't a lake."

"Used to be." He slid down the grassy hill to the bottom, stopping himself with his feet and dusting the dirt off his rear once he stood. "Dried up a while back."

"You could have told me that before letting me follow you all the way out here in the middle of a heatwave!" I complained, walking down the hill instead of scooting to keep from dirtying my dress and giving Loretta more laundry to do."Why'd you wanna come here of all places anyway?"

"Didn't. That's jus' what I told Ma," He replied.

I should've guessed he was up to something, but dang I sure was looking forward to swimming. "Lemme guess...you were actually going to the graveyard, weren't you?"

"Bingo!" he said with a laugh then crawled on all fours out of the pit. "An' now that I brought yall here, that's exactly where I'm headin'."

"That's awfully sneaky...take me with you."

"Wh-why should I?"

"Not this again!" I rolled my eyes. "Because if you don't, I'll tell Loretta you were prowling around in the graveyard again."

"Snitches get stitches, ya hog b!t©h"

"Funny you mention stitches because that's exactly what you'll be getting when Loretta and Drayton find out you lied about the lake."

"Ok, ok, fine! I'll take ya," He said with a look of annoyance. "Need Bubba's help anyhow."

A stream of childlike babbles spilled from Bubba's lips. He whipped his head side to side and pointed in the direction of the house, frantic to keep us from wandering any further away. "Mom," he signed then twisting his face into a scowl and making a claw with his hand, he raised it before his face as if he had an itch. "Mad!"

"But Bubs, if we follow him then he can't possibly get in any trouble! So, in a way, it's only right that we go with him. And I'm sure your mom would appreciate you keeping your brother out of trouble. You'd be doing her a favor!"