Secondhand Summer by Dan L. Walker

Author:Dan L. Walker
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: West Margin Press
Published: 2021-10-15T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 10

The story was in the paper the next morning but the cops never came to my door. A photo of the angry driver standing next to his car, parked up on the sidewalk half in the weeds. The article made it sound like the water balloon was a bazooka shell. I was relieved to read that the car hadn’t actually crashed, but only swerved up on the sidewalk and bounced into the weeds without hurting anybody. Taylor cut the article out and put it on the wall above his bed and would have kept talking about it for a month if it hadn’t been for the Caribou Club and one burgundy Corvette.

Once I realized that the police would not track me down and arrest me for throwing a water balloon, I rekindled my resolve to take the Caribou Club. We were finishing a yard job for Billy’s next-door neighbor when Macek and Taylor came by and wanted to go back to the gully.

“Forget the gully,” I said, “forget we ever even saw it. We have a hangout to beat all hangouts.” Billy gave me a glance, as if to say, “Are you sure about this?” But I was sure and continued, “This is the Corvette Stingray of hideouts. And it’s right here in your own neighborhood.” I started laughing at myself for sounding like a used car salesman on TV.

“Are you wacko?” asked Macek. “There ain’t no such thing around here unless you’re talking about the Quonset hut.”

Taylor jumped in, “Not the hut. I hate that place. Too many older guys using it at night and everybody knows about it. Let’s go to the gully. It’s not raining today so it’ll be great.”

“Great if you like mosquitoes biting your butt. Great if dark and wet is your idea of comfortable. Tell ’em, Billy. Tell ’em how great our spot is!”

Billy laughed and jumped over the fence to join us in the alley behind his house. “It is far-out, guys. Far-out!”

“The gully’s just some stupid boards and a bunch of plastic,” I insisted.

“Stupid! But we worked a whole day on the gully,” whined Macek.

“But your dumb spot is better?” Taylor asked. “Yup,” Billy added.

“Doesn’t even compare!” I said with a grin. It was a relief to finally tell them about it. Now we just had to convince them to check it out. “Really. Come on, we’ll show you. What could be cooler than having a hangout right in plain sight?”

Taylor stared at the ground. “I can’t go right now. I’ve got stuff to do.”

“Since when?” asked Billy. “Come on, Taylor. Let’s go.”

He shook his head. Suddenly I understood. Taylor always picked our games and pranks. The Caribou Club was new and big and he wanted it to be his idea.

“We need you guys,” I offered. “You’re good at figuring things out and making stuff better.” The plan unfolded for me as I continued talking. “With the four of us, we can clean up the club and make it really cool.

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