Water Dogs by Lewis Robinson

Author:Lewis Robinson [Robinson, Lewis]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: FICTION, Mystery & Detective, crime, Literary, Thrillers, General
ISBN: 9781588367907
Google: 2Q4dZIDrES4C
Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
Published: 2009-01-13T00:00:00+00:00

The summer after Bennie graduated from Brunswick High, he and Littlefield spent a week on Cuxabexis Island in the middle of Penobscot Bay with their uncle Theo, working the stern of his lobster boat, helping him haul, bait, and set traps. Theo wasn’t their uncle, exactly; he was Coach’s second cousin. They worked long days and went out with him at night, from party to party. Bennie and Littlefield had felt like minor celebrities—Theo was a popular guy on the island, especially with single women his age, and it seemed everyone wanted to meet his “nephews.” At the end of each night Theo would drive Bennie and Littlefield to his cabin in the middle of the island, down a winding dirt road, tunneling through the mossy forest. Littlefield and Bennie slept on a mattress on the floor in the basement.

Sleeping side by side was something they were used to, from family trips; Gwen refused to sleep next to either of her brothers because she was such a light sleeper and both of them talked and moved around a lot at night. Bennie and Littlefield no longer hated each other like they had when they’d been competing, when Coach was alive. Bennie felt that they had an unspoken understanding now, that he and his brother would look out for each other. Gwen was working at a summer camp in Standish, getting ready for her first year at Vassar, but Bennie and Littlefield had no special plans for the coming year. Lying on the mattress, they could see the moon through one of the little windows near the basement ceiling. It smelled like earth and woods and new carpet. Their first night on the island Littlefield told Bennie, “I’d be happy living out here. Way out in the middle of the ocean.”

“I think I’d miss home too much,” said Bennie. They were both lying on their backs, wearing T-shirts and underwear under the covers in the dark.

“Out here, though, you wouldn’t have to deal with any of the bullshit.”

“What bullshit?”

“The bullshit. Stuff like taxes and … I don’t know … lots of cars driving around and … people getting in your business.”

“Meadow is an island, too.”

“Yeah, but it’s kind of a bullshit island. You can drive to it.”

“I think they probably pay taxes out here,” said Bennie.

“Uncle Theo doesn’t.”

“Well, you could probably stay on the mainland and not pay any taxes, too.”

“Whatever,” said Littlefield. “You know what I’m talking about. All that crap you need to deal with. It’d be simpler here.”

Bennie looked across the room at the window, which framed the moon and the clouds racing by. He wondered if his brother, whom he knew to be smart in school, was acting dumb just to trick him. But he liked listening to Littlefield’s voice, which sounded like his own in many ways. They sounded more alike than they sounded like Coach or anyone else, though Bennie thought of Littlefield’s voice as a little deeper and less tentative. They drifted off to sleep.

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