Summer People by Sara Hosey

Author:Sara Hosey [Hosey, Sara]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: CamCat Publishing

24

With more splashing and laughing, they eventually managed to climb back into the rowboat. Christmas’s heart soared as she rowed them back toward Rory’s dock. He’d meet her eyes and they’d smile, and she’d pull harder on the oars, and they flew across the water.

Closer to the dock, Christmas began, as usual, to note the algae, a reminder of not only all the recent unpleasantness, but also of her conversation with Rory about whether or not the cows had been poisoned as well as her resolution to get a water sample as soon as she got back home.

This idea that she and Rory had been swimming in poisoned water had apparently been waiting patiently in her mind, and, like a bird of prey perched on a tall branch, it now swooped in to clasp her in its talons. Christmas felt a prickly panic. Her breath became shallow, and her mind began to race. Had she swallowed any of the water? Would she, like the cows, soon fall into convulsions? What about Rory? Or even if they were fine in the immediate, had she so saturated her skin that she was now, already, in this moment, hatching a cancer, something sinister and untreatable growing inside her?

“What’s wrong?” Rory asked, clearly sensing the shift in her mood.

“Would it be okay—I just . . . I feel like I need a shower. After the lake. Maybe I should head home . . .”

“No, don’t go home. You can shower here.” They disembarked and grabbed the towels they’d left on the dock. “We’re lousy with showers. We have an outdoor one and an indoor one. Whatever you’d be more comfortable with. But—I mean, you don’t have to stay, but . . .”

“That’s fine,” Christmas said quickly. Though she would have preferred to shower at home, she didn’t want to leave. But even more to the point, she felt as though her skin were on fire. The sooner she was able to rinse off, the better.

Christmas hustled into the outdoor shower, which, with its beautiful blue mosaic tiling and the killer water pressure, was nicer that Christmas’s family’s indoor shower. She soaped and scrubbed, used shampoo to clean her suit, which she then rung out and put back on, and emerged red and fragrant, her mind, if not completely soothed, at least quieted for the time being.

“I hope you’re hungry,” Rory said when Christmas emerged, wearing the dry T-shirt and shorts she’d had the foresight to bring. Naomi stood at the grill on which sizzled something that smelled smoky and delicious.

“Starving,” Christmas confessed. Her stomach grumbled.

“So, Christmas,” Naomi began, turning to face her. “Rory tells me your family moved up here full time when you were in elementary school?”

Christmas nodded. “Yeah. My dad was able to retire, and my mom got a teaching job up here.”

“And you like it?”

“Sure,” Christmas said.

“Rory said you thought the schools here were better?”

“Yeah, I mean, I’m sure the schools downstate were fine. But I have some processing disorders. And I also have ADHD.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.