Rainy Season by Adele Griffin

Author:Adele Griffin [Griffin, Adele]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-1-4532-9738-4
Publisher: Open Road
Published: 2013-01-03T00:10:00+00:00

10

CHARLIE’S BOBBING HEAD IS the first thing I see after I thrash myself up from darkness. My ears and nose and mouth are full of water, and I shoot out into the air and an explosion of noise that is the rain and me screaming at last. My scream is a relief, almost happy, but it scares my brother. I narrow my eyes against the rain, now gunning down on us in stinging pebbles, and lunge for him.

Charlie darts down under the surface and away from me in a fierce wiggle, swimming farther out from the tower. I’m sort of laughing, from relief I guess, as I beat through the water after him. I yank my head and look every which way to find him, but he’s gone. I thrash my legs, hoping I’ll ram into an eye, a leg, anything. In a weird way, though, I also want to shout, “I did it! I jumped!” and I’m sort of proud of myself, although jumping wasn’t my choice.

Charlie’s slick pale head surfaces again; now he is even farther out. I push myself closer to him, pumping my arms and legs. If I could get even a quick cuff on his ear or the back of his head I’d feel better. He’s closer to me, this time, when he comes up for air.

A massive crash and then another, both from behind, veer me off-course and Charlie slips below the surface of the water just as Ted and Steph push up from it. They catch up with me in only a few, sure strokes.

“You okay?” Steph shouts hoarsely. The rain nearly drums out her words.

“Charlie!” I scream. But the rain and the water everywhere hides him from me.

“Take it easy, Lane. Your body’s in shock. Link your hands around my chest and I’ll swim you in.” It annoys me when Ted talks like he’s some doctor. I’m not in shock.

“I’m okay.” I breathe.

But Ted takes hold of my arms anyway and ducks in front of me, repositioning himself so that he’s dragging me along as he swims an awkward sidestroke back to the tower. Steph paddles next to us. My eyes comb the water for Charlie, but he can slip and glide underwater forever, furtive as a minnow. He’s probably swimming right underneath us, all open-eyed and laughing. Still, every second he doesn’t surface gets me feeling more uneasy.

“That was a crummy stupid thing Charles did,” Ted shouts over his shoulder through the thrumming rain. “Way out of line, way way out of line.”

“Soon as he grabbed you, Ted and I climbed to the midway and long-dived out,” Steph tells me. “I knew Charlie’d do something crazy like try to drown you. Where’d that kid go, anyway?”

“How should I know?” I clamp my chattering teeth shut, but then my chin starts wobbling. The water is cold from below and above; gray sky and water make a box around us. I can taste the fishy warmth of the Canal water mixed in with the cool raindrops.

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