Summer at Forsaken Lake by Michael D. Beil Read Free Book Online Page B

with questions about
The Seaweed Strangler
, but Uncle Nick held up his hand for them to stop.
    “Girls, what do you say? Let’s let our guest enjoy this beautiful dinner—which she prepared—in peace. No more questions.”
    Hayley and Hetty put on their poutiest faces.
    “That’s not going to work on Uncle Nick the way it does on Dad,” Nicholas said, laughing.
    “Tell you what, girls,” said Franny. “Because you’re so nice, and because I just love your names, I’ll tell you a little secret. I
married
the Seaweed Strangler.”
    “You WHAT?” the twins shouted.
    “But that means,” Hayley said, turning to Charlie, “that you’re …”
    “The Seaweed Strangler’s
daughter
!” Charlie exclaimed.
    “Absolutely true,” said Uncle Nick. “Remember, I told you that the monster was a kid named Jimmy Brennan.
    That’s Charlie’s dad.”
    “Too bad you weren’t Daddy’s girlfriend,” said Hetty. Nicholas and Franny both choked momentarily on bites of salad.
    “Yeah. You would have been our sister, Charlie,” Hayley said wistfully.
    “Um, I don’t think it works like that,” Charlie said. “Besides, you have Nicholas; isn’t he better than another sister? I
always
wanted a big brother. I have an older sister, Natalie, but she’s already away at college.”
    “No!” Hayley shouted. “You saw what he did to us today. He tried to kill us! If you hadn’t rescued us, we would have drifted out to sea.”
    “It’s not really fair to lay all the blame on Nicholas,” said Nick. “As I recall,
I’m
the one who untied you.”
    “But Nicholas tried to capsize us,” said Hayley. “That was way worser.”
    “Oh, you’re right. That is definitely much worser,”Charlie agreed, grinning at Nicholas. She then turned to Uncle Nick and said, “Why don’t you and Mom go relax on the porch. Nicholas and I will do the dishes.”
    We will? She’s even crazier than I thought
.
    “And then afterward, I want to see this movie you’re all talking about,” she continued. “Apparently, I’m the only one here who hasn’t seen it.”
    “But what about our adventure?” Hetty asked. “Remember? We were going to sleep on
Goblin
tonight.”
    The distant rumble of thunder seemed to answer her question.
    “Oh,” she said.
    “Not afraid of a little lightning, are you?” teased Nicholas.
    “We’ll do it another time, honey,” Uncle Nick promised. “Come sit on the porch with us and watch the storm.”
    Nicholas wished he were going to join them, but instead found himself standing next to the sink drying dishes as Charlie handed them to him.
    “You don’t say much, do you?” Charlie asked after a few minutes of silent washing and drying.
    Nicholas shrugged, smiling just a little. “Yeah. I mean, no, not really.”
    “Always, or just with new people? When you were at the ball field, I didn’t think you were so shy. Actually, I thought it took a lot of guts to do what you did.”
    “But you still struck me out.”
    “Yeah, I guess I did. I couldn’t help it. It just sortof … happens. It’s your uncle’s fault. He’s a great coach, isn’t he?”
    “To be honest, until a few days ago, I barely knew him. My dad never talked about him, or about staying here when he was a kid, or anything like that. I had no idea he even played baseball. I just figured, you know, with his arm and everything …”
    “What about the movie? Or my mom? Did your dad ever talk about them?”
    “Nope. Before we left New York, the only thing he said was something like ‘You never know what you’ll find.’ ”
    “And you guys are going to be here all summer? Are both your parents in Africa?”
    Nicholas hesitated a second before answering. “No, they’re, um … divorced. My dad spends most of his summers in Africa. Have you ever heard of Doctors Without Borders? He’s an immunologist, and he’s been working with them for a long time on this program to get kids in Africa vaccinations for things like