“I need to get to rehearsal. Can we just GO?” Sam asked, looking exasperated. His phone gave a ding. “Hey! Do I actually have service here?” He began texting madly.
“I’ll stay with them, Tom. I already have my Red Cross babysitting certificate,” Val said. “And I can miss the rehearsal. It’s optional, really. Today is mostly blocking and stuff, so I don’t need to be there.”
“I thought you didn’t feel well—” Dad started, then jumped when Sam’s phone let out a chicken squawk. “Oh, whatever. All right. Everyone out. CAREFULLY. Frog, you stay with me. We can drop off your painted rocks and get ice cream while Sam has rehearsal. Now, cross the road carefully, and stay together. And DO NOT, under any circumstances, swim.”
Dad was still talking as they piled out of the van and slid the door shut.
“BYE, DAD! LOVE YOU! SEE YOU LATER!” Jax yelled as they crossed the road.
Eli glanced behind him as the group headed down the cove road. Dad was staring after them, looking utterly confused.
“Do you think he suspects?” he asked, panting as he tried to keep up with Jax and Alex. Val had stopped to hunt for raspberries a little ways back.
“Suspects what?” Jax asked.
“Well…” Eli paused. He agreed it was unlikely that Dad was going to connect their sudden change of heart with the car that passed them on the road.
“I think all your dad is going to suspect is that you’ve gone nuts,” Val said, catching up to them. “Jax, you sounded like a total maniac.”
Jax looked a little embarrassed. “I couldn’t think of anything to say,” he mumbled.
Alex shrugged. “Whatever. We got out. That’s what’s important. Val, you have your phone, right?”
Val gave her sister a look. “Mira. What do you think?” she asked.
Eli agreed that it was a stupid question. Val always had her phone and was usually filming anything and everything with it, narrating as she went.
“Okay, well, I think we need to get close to where he is, then kind of pretend to be taking photos while secretly filming him,” Alex said.
Eli was about to speak when they rounded the corner to the beach. Kark was nowhere in sight.
They all paused. “Where’d he go?” Jax asked. The white car, still as shiny as ever despite the dusty dirt parking lot, was right in front of the path to the rocks. But Kark was nowhere to be found.
“Huh. Well, maybe he’s on the rocks or something,” Eli said. His heart sank. Suddenly the whole spying plan seemed ridiculous. The guy was probably just painting some stupid picture and here they were—with the Galindo girls—making fools of themselves. With a grunt of annoyance, he headed toward the water to look for crabs.
“Hey! Quick, he’s coming!” Val grabbed Eli and pulled him toward the dune grass. “Jax! Alex! Come here!”
They ran to the edge of the parking lot, where beach roses, dune grass, and the occasional raspberry bush grew in a thick tangle.
“It’s prickly,” Alex complained, but she pushed her way into the grass and crouched down.
“Um…we aren’t supposed to be in here. There are ticks and things—” Eli started, but Val shushed him.
Chase Kark was walking toward his car, talking on his phone. With him was another tall white guy, who looked totally out of place in dress pants and a blazer.
“Can you hear me? This island! No phone coverage anywhere. This stupid beach is one of the only places my phone works at all, and even here…Can you…? Good. Anyway, tell me how quickly you think you can get the specs? Uh-huh, uh-huh. Well, the meeting is two weeks from Friday. Should be wrapped up by then. Meanwhile, what are the renderings looking like? They need to be perfect.” Kark opened the car and gestured for the other guy to get in.
“Hello? Are you still—? Darn it!” The call apparently failed, and Kark shoved the phone back in his pocket.
“Phone coverage on the island is appalling. Come on, I’ll show you the site,” he said to the man in the car, and, with a puff of dust from their tires, they were off down the dirt road.
Eli had barely moved, trying to stay hidden until Kark was out of sight. But suddenly his foot burned with a sharp sting. He glanced down, then looked again, in horror.
“RED ANTS!” he shouted, trying to jump backward. Unfortunately, Alex was right behind him, so all he managed to do was to fall into her, knocking her into the thorny edge of the beach roses.
“OUCH!” she screamed, as dozens of tiny thorns grabbed at her.
“Get them off! Get them off! They sting!” Eli screamed even louder, tumbling out of the bushes.
The two of them half ran, half fell from the brush, with Jax and Val close behind them.
“Go rinse them off! Go drown them!” Jax was yelling, pulling Eli toward the water.
The ants had panicked right along with him, it seemed, and were climbing wildly under the edges of his long shorts and up his legs.
Eli stopped to swat them, but they clung to his hands. “GET THEM OFF!” he screamed again, then threw himself—sneakers, shorts, and all—into the water, submerging himself up to his waist.
The rest of the kids stared at him from the water’s edge.
“Are you okay?” Jax asked finally.
Eli nodded. With as much dignity as he could muster, he stepped out of the water. “I’m fine. They just…sting. That’s all.”
His sneakers made a loud squishing noise with every step. He paused to try to adjust his leather belt, which he realized with a pang was probably ruined.
Alex gave a quiet snort. “You…um. You had ants in your pants,” she said, trying to keep her face blank.
Eli just looked at her.
Jax covered his face with his hands, muffling his laughter. Eli turned his glare on him.
“It’s not funny,” Val started, but her face looked like she was trying not to laugh too. “Pobrecito. Look at all those marks! Are those from the ants?”
Eli closed his eyes for a second, then opened them. He looked down at his dripping legs and shook his head. “No. Those are from the cat. We were trying to teach him to swim.”
Val looked at him for a second, then started to giggle.
“Sorry! I’m sorry! I can’t…” She gasped. “No, really! Just give me a second….I just…” She waved her hands, unable to keep talking.
Eli grinned. “It’s okay,” he said, plopping down on the wet sand. He looked around. Kark was gone, and the conversation they’d heard was totally pointless. He began to laugh too, until tears threatened to pour down his cheeks.
“What?” Jax asked, laughing. “What’s so funny? ELI!”
But Eli couldn’t answer. The laughter was almost turning to tears. Eli just shook his head, trying to catch his breath. He couldn’t really explain it. This was easily the weirdest summer ever. Mostly that felt kind of awful, but just now, just for a minute, it was all okay. Taking a deep breath, he shook his head again.
“Never mind,” he said finally. “As long as we’re here, let’s look for crabs.”
“What’s up, Froggie? You look bummed,” Sam said, coming into the living room. He had just gotten back from rehearsal and pizza with the cast, and was due back at the theater at eight that night for more rehearsals. The play was two weeks away and it was totally coming together. It was kind of awesome to be doing another play, especially one with grown-ups and serious actors and stuff. Julia and Ted, from the improv group, were both in it, and even though they were older—Ted was a high school senior and Julia was in college—they were totally cool, including Sam when they were running lines or just joking around. Sam kind of hated to admit it, even to himself, but hanging out with them at the theater was turning into one of the best parts of the summer.
Frog scowled. “Everything’s wrong. Jax and Eli are always off with Alex, you’re always at the play, and I didn’t get to teach Zeus to swim. And I was so sure he would like it.” Frog pushed out his lower lip and crossed his arms over his chest.
Sam rega
rded his youngest brother with a pang of guilt. It was true that this summer wasn’t like others. Of course, not having the lighthouse was the first—and worst—change. But having the Galindo girls next door was another one, and Sam was secretly relieved that Jax had someone else to hang out with. And of course the play was different too. Sam felt bad for Frog….Everything was changing, and Frog hated change.
He thought for a minute. “Well, maybe Zeus is too old to learn a new trick, but what about Lili? Maybe she’d be more willing to try it. She’s likely to try anything!” Lili the kitten remained as wild and unpredictable as ever, often clambering to the high open beams in the living room and dropping down onto the couch with a loud thud, or hanging from the window screens like some kind of demented bat.
Frog just shrugged, his lip pushing even farther out. “Eli quit helping, and then Dad and Papa said I had to stop. I thought Zeus would be a better swimmer because he’s older. Lili’s too crazy.”
Sam put an arm around Frog’s shoulder. “Well, maybe because she’s crazy she’ll like it more. I tell you what, if Dad and Papa say it’s okay, we can do a little online research and try to teach Lili. Just to see. But if she hates it we give up, deal?”
“Deal!” Frog’s face exploded into a big jack-o’-lantern grin, and he ran toward the deck. “I’ll just ask Dad! Then we can start! Okay? I love you, Sam!”
Sam watched him run off, feeling pretty good. He had to admit that he didn’t mind all the changes this summer, but seeing Frog so bummed kind of ruined it. Hopefully they’d have better luck with Lili, and Frog would be his usual happy, totally wacko self again.
—
The family, including Jax and Eli, who had returned from another unsatisfying morning spying mission while Dad bought groceries (“Kark just walked around town saying hi to everyone! Like he’s running for mayor or something!” Eli complained), headed off to the beach.
The waves were perfect, long and straight and curling, and Sam caught a bunch of epic rides on his surfboard before a wipeout filled his hair, nose, and bathing suit with so much sand and salt water that he decided to take a break. The boys lay on their towels, watching people pack up and leave as the sun got lower and lower in the sky. The air was still warm, the late-day sun baking the sand as the beach emptied out around them.
Eli rolled over with a sigh of contentment. “This is the life! Seems like we’ve always been rushing around this year. We haven’t had dinner on the beach practically at all.”
“Remember last year?” Jax asked. “We ate dinner here almost every night for a week when Lucy came. And we also played a ton of soccer at low tide. We haven’t done that once!” He paused. “Though I guess having Alex playing in the yard so we can do a real two-on-two—no offense, Frog—is pretty cool. Still, we haven’t played any beach soccer.”
Sam sighed. It was true. Their stay on Rock Island was already half over and it seemed like they had barely done any of their usual stuff.
“At least we’re here today,” Dad said from his chair. He was reclined all the way back, his face tilted up toward the sun. “Let’s enjoy what we are doing and not worry about what we aren’t.”
“And remember, every summer is different,” Papa added. He was lying on the blanket with a towel over his face, but he was still listening. “Remember a few years ago when it rained for three weeks of the month? Or the time, Eli, you had terrible ear infections and couldn’t get your head underwater? Or when we all got that stomach bug—”
“UGH. Let’s not relive that summer. I’d like to repress all memories of it,” Dad interrupted.
“You get the point. We remember the good parts, but problems happen, and changes happen too, whether we want them or not. This summer has a lot of good things.”
Eli shrugged. “I guess. But I still miss the lighthouse.”
The others nodded.
“Me too,” Papa said. And his voice was a little sad. Dad patted his hand.
“Well,” Papa said, after a minute, still beneath his towel. “We have almost two weeks left. The lighthouse might not be a sure thing, but what else do you guys want to do? We should soak it up and make every moment count! Let’s make a list, and we’ll check off as many things as possible.”
The boys started shouting out their ideas.
“Bike to Gilly’s!”
“Eat dinner at the Sisterhood!”
“Have another lemonade stand!”
“Buy a book at Rock Island Bookworks!”
“Kayak to Tuckernocket!”
“Teach Lili to swim! Sam is going to help me, right, Sam?” Frog added.
The rest of the group groaned.
“Sam, save yourself and refuse. Seriously, take it from me. I bear the scars of one who has learned the hard way,” Eli said, holding up his scratched and scarred leg.
“And I bear the scars of one who just keeps getting mauled for no reason!” Jax added.
Sam shook his head, smiling. “A promise is a promise. Besides, I’m not messing with Zeus. He’s practically as big as I am. No, we’re going to try Lili. She’s such a wing nut, she might just love it.”
Eli looked at him pityingly. “You just keep telling yourself that,” he said. “But Dad, you’d better buy more Band-Aids the next time you’re in town.”
The sun dipped lower in the sky, and Dad looked at his watch, sighing. “Well, lads, I’m afraid it’s time to pack up. We have to get home and eat so that Sam can head in for rehearsal.”
The group started to groan, but Sam stood up, grabbing towels and throwing them into the beach bag.
“Blegh! Sam, shake the sand off away from people. Especially people like ME!” Papa said as sand flew everywhere.
“Sorry! But let’s go,” Sam said, grabbing his shoes.
Jax glared at him. “You’re in a hurry,” he accused. “Since when are you so psyched to leave the beach?”
Sam just shrugged. He wasn’t about to tell Jax that rehearsal was one of the most fun parts of the day.
“I told Frog I’d look online for tutorials on teaching cats to swim. Let’s roll,” he said, grabbing his surfboard.
“I’m telling you, you’re nuts,” Jax grumbled, but he picked up the cooler and started toward the car. “What’s the play about, anyway?” he asked.
Sam walked quickly, his mind racing with thoughts of the play. So far he was loving Shakespeare way more than he thought he would. There were more jokes, and more downright funny parts, than he had expected. But his role, Puck, was the coolest. He was a fairy, which sounded kind of lame, but was actually awesome. He was all action and trouble, leaping and rolling around, like gravity could barely keep him down. And the guy who played Oberon, the fairy king who was Puck’s master, was this huge guy named Carl with a big beard who looked almost scary and was totally believable as someone who would boss everyone around. The whole thing was cooler and more exciting than Sam knew a play could be.
“Well, it’s about this fairy queen and king who are in a fight. And then there are these four, like, older teenagers, called the youth of Athens, or the lovers, and they’re all messed up….One guy likes a girl who likes him back, but the other girl likes him too, and—”
“Skip that part,” Jax interrupted. “Go on about the fight.”
“I’m a servant of Oberon, the fairy king, and he has me get a plant that makes a person fall in love with the first thing he or she sees. He wants me to sort out the lovers so they all like the right person. But then, since Oberon is mad at Titania—she’s the queen—he has me use it on her so she’ll fall in love with some weirdo. And last, there are these, well…kind of loser country-bumpkin guys, and they’re putting on a play. And they’re hilariously bad. But then we enchant one of them so that he has a donkey’s head, and he’s the one that Titania falls for.”
Sam paused.
“Anyway, it’s all mixed up and crazy and everyone is with the wrong person and freaking out. By the end, Puck sorts it all out, and everything’s right in the wor
ld again.” He fell silent.
Jax digested this for a second. Then he shrugged. “Cool, I guess,” he said, and turned to Eli, begging him to join him and Alex for flashlight tag later that night.
“Are you thinking about Lili?” Frog asked Sam in the van as they wound their way to the house.
Sam turned to look at Frog, who was wrapped in Jax’s sweatshirt in the back. Frog’s eyes were bright and excited.
Sam smiled. “Yep,” he answered, lying a little bit. “As soon as we get home I’ll do some research and we’ll get started tomorrow.”
Frog’s face fell. “Not tonight? Why not tonight?”
“Well, I have play practice, and—” Sam started.
“But not until after dinner!” Frog said. “I heard Papa say he’ll take you after we eat! Can’t we start tonight?”
Sam glanced out the window, where the light had turned a glorious orange as the sun sank almost to the horizon. The day had gone by so fast! He sighed, then smiled.
“Sure, Froggie. We’ll get started right away,” he said.
Eli shook his head. “Wear protective gear,” he said. “Trust me. You don’t want to do this.”
But Sam just grinned. “Sure we do, right, Frog?” he said.
Frog beamed.
Eli couldn’t sleep. It was his birthday tomorrow. Well, today, really, since it must be after midnight. Eli had celebrated every one of his birthdays on Rock Island—the only Fletcher boy to do so—and while he sometimes wished he was home with his friends, he mostly loved the birthday rituals they had here. Like Papa and Sam going into town early in the morning to pick up fresh blueberry muffins, still hot from the oven, and then…But Eli shut his thoughts down, or tried to. Because then they’d take the muffins to the top of the lighthouse, and Papa would take a photo of them all, marking their heights against the stone wall, checking how much they had all grown that year.
Of course this year would be different. They couldn’t get into the lighthouse, and despite a week’s worth of spying, they hadn’t gotten any incriminating evidence against Chase Kark. They had seen him on the dock, driving his fancy boat up to a mooring near Captain Jim and rowing himself in to meet with a bunch of old men, but he hadn’t said anything suspicious, at least nothing that they could hear from their hiding spot near the bait buckets. And then Captain Jim’s assistant, Charlie, had nearly poured buckets of fish guts and blood on them when he was cleaning out the fishing boat, which was possibly the grossest thing that had ever happened to them. And they had seen Kark again when they were picking Sam up from rehearsal, this time standing near the bank with three men in suits and briefcases who looked very out of place on the island, but that time he had given his big clown smile and cornered Dad for ten minutes to chat, asking about their summer vacation and what Dad had been reading lately. The boys had escaped into the theater, which was really just the back of the church, figuring even Shakespeare was better than Kark.
The Family Fletcher Takes Rock Island Page 10
