Lake Overturn by Vestal McIntyre

Author:Vestal McIntyre
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: General, Fiction
ISBN: 9780062028495
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2010-07-13T04:00:00+00:00

WITH NO SCHOOLWORK to do this Tuesday night, since Thanksgiving break started the next day, Liz finally had time to go to the Rollerdrome. A sign taped to the Plexiglas window said, ENTRANCE: $2.50. NO EXCEPTIONS. Would she really have to pay for what might be a fruitless visit that lasted only a minute? She bent to speak into the vent, which was situated low to be within reach of little children. “I’m picking up my little brother. Do I have to pay?”

The woman waved her cigarette and said, “Pull hard.” With her other hand she unbolted the door.

Liz entered, then stood for a moment to let her eyes adjust. Fragments of light cast by the disco ball raced along one wall, then jumped the gap to race along the next. The floor was blackened at each entrance to the rink, and the walls, where they met the floor, were riddled with colored marks left by the rubber stoppers of roller-skates. There were only a few kids skating in the rink. Their shouts echoed, and their skates hissed. Liz wondered why the place seemed so forlorn, then realized there was no music.

A boy whizzed by her and disappeared into the deejay booth. A moment later, a song began. The boy emerged and whizzed back behind the snack bar. His face was marred with zits and freckles as if to match the walls. A bank of lockers, Liz noticed, stood near the snack bar. She went to it and found locker 21 in the top row. She took from her pocket the key that she had been carrying for the last two days, inserted it into the lock, and twisted. Machinery shifted, locking the key into place. She opened the door, peered in, and saw something near the back. She reached in and took out a plastic Ziploc bag, half-full of water. She looked at it for a moment, then opened it an inch and sniffed. Just water. She tossed it into a nearby trash can. Then she rose to her tiptoes and again looked into the locker. There was a wet sheet of paper stuck to the bottom. She carefully peeled it up and read the blurred, typewritten message:

YOU’RE THE ONLY ONE I LIKE.

Was that it? Were these clues or some sort of booby trap? Was the water meant to pour out on her head? Maybe it was some junior high brat.

“Hey!” yelled the boy behind the snack bar.

Liz crumpled the note and turned toward him.

“You want a Red Hot?” he asked. He rested an elbow on the lid of a giant jar in which pickles swam in a cloudy liquid, and held toward Liz a bright red ball in a plastic wrapper.

Liz smiled and shook her head.

“For free?”

“No, thanks,” Liz said. She dropped the wet wad into the trash and left.

Jay, who had watched the whole thing from the game room, huddled into the black booth of the Frogger game until Liz was gone. To allow her time to leave the parking lot, he finished his game.

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