Read Online Skinny-Dipping at Monster Lake by Bill Wallace - Free Book Online Page B

forgotten.
    When everything was in a neat pile, we each drank another pop so we could put the fire out.
    Guys know how to put out a campfire.
    It’s one of those things that nobody—not even your dad or the older guys—have to tell you. You just know.
    We formed a circle.
    The embers and coals hissed and crackled. Steam and smoke swirled into the morning air. Daniel and Chet got in a sword fight with their streams, so the rest of us moved away and stood shoulder to shoulder on the other side. Just to make sure it was completely out, Ted poured the water from the minnow buckets and ice chests on it, too. Then we got our horses and rode to Ted’s house to clean the fish. Mr. Aikman came out to help us. When he saw the big one, his eyes lit up. He went back inside and got his fish scales. The thing weighed out at thirteen pounds, eight ounces. He weighed a couple of the others. One went five even. Another went seven pounds and fifteen ounces.
    Before we started cleaning the fish, Mr. Aikman made us go in and wash our hands at the kitchen sink. (Guess he knew how to put out a campfire, too.)
    We put a big mess of fish in Ted’s refrigerator.
    Mr. Aikman took Ted and me to help him load the camping stuff in the back of the pickup. Onceit was all delivered, I rode Duke home. Mom left a note on the front door, telling me she was off showing a house to a client. I latched the door, took a quick shower, and crawled into bed.
    I didn’t even have the pillow fluffed around my head when the phone rang. It was Pepper. He told me that we were having the fish fry tonight and asked if it was okay with my parents. I told him they were both gone, but I knew Dad didn’t have to work tonight, so I thought we should be able to be there.
    As soon as I hit the sheets, the phone rang again. This time it was Jordan.
    â€œLet’s go out and dig the trench for the telegraph line.” His voice was all bright and cheerful.
    â€œHuh?” I hadn’t made it to bed yet. Still, I was so tired from working all day cutting bank poles, and staying up all night fishing . . . well, I guess I was already half asleep.
    â€œThe trench for the telegraph line,” he repeated. “We need to bury the thing. Our dads have hit it so many times with the lawnmowers, and we’ve spliced it with electrical tape so often that it will short out if we leave it exposed to the elements. We have to bury it. We have an adequate supply of PVC pipe left over from when we built the house. It’s out behind the horse barn. We’ll put the line init so it won’t be exposed to the weather, then bury the entire thing and—”
    â€œJordan.”
    â€œWhat?”
    â€œDidn’t you stay up fishing all night with the rest of us?”
    â€œYes.”
    â€œAren’t you sleepy?”
    â€œNo, not in the least.”
    â€œWell, I am! Let’s do it some other time. Besides that, I don’t even know Morse code. What am I gonna do with a telegraph line?”
    â€œIt’s quite simple. I’ve a book that I can loan you. Once we have the line buried—”
    â€œNot today, Jordan,” I cut him off. “Some other time.
    â€œWell, fine!” he huffed. “I’ll just do it myself.”
    â€œGood! You do that, Jordan.”
    I went back to bed. Trouble was, even after being up all night—now—I was wide awake. I tossed and turned and flipped and flopped.
    Every time I closed my eyes, I could see those yellow eyes staring at me. I just couldn’t get it out of my mind. Finally I sat up on the edge of the bed and started talking to myself.
    â€œAll right. You know you’re going back out to look for the Lake Monster, right?”
    â€œRight.”
    â€œBut you cant let anybody know, right?”
    â€œRight.”
    â€œSo how do you expect to get out of the house without Mom and Dad hearing the alarm? Even if it doesn’t screech and wake the