Page 17

"You provoked him." I said. 'Now look at the mess."

I dove into the water and started for shore. Amber followed, I swam as quickly as I could. but I didn't get there in time to stop Uncle Roy from taking a swing at Harley, slapping him across the side of his head. I heard his shouted order at Harley to get home. Harley hovered a moment and then spun around and walked away quickly.

"Harley!" I screamed. He didn't look back.

"Roy, you were too hard on him." Mommy complained, wheeling herself up beside him and Daddy.

"It's the only thing he understands." Uncle Roy told her.

"You know that's not true. Roy. You of all people should know what it's like to have a father who doesn't hesitate to get physical."

"Yeah," Uncle Roy said. He looked at me standing in the water. ""Sorry about this. Princess. I gave him a good lecture this morning, but it didn't help."

"It wasn't only his fault. Uncle Roy."

"It's never only his fault, but somehow he's always in the middle of something."

He turned and walked back to the tables. All the laughter and happy talk, even the music suddenly seemed frozen in the air.

I looked at Mommy who forced a smile back at me.

"Let it go for now," she said. "It's not the time for this sort of talk."

I nodded. glanced at Amber who had come up beside me and looked almost as heartbroken.

Then we both looked after Harley who had reached the house and gone inside, letting the screen door snap behind him like the door of a prison cell.

Daddy told the musicians to start playing again. The caterer's staff began to go around to the adults to serve them champagne and wine. I heard a loud peal of laughter coming from Aunt Alison's lips.

Chase came wading out of the water, holding his hand up dramatically so that the blood could drip down the side of his palm, making it look far worse. I could hear the gasps. Daddy went to him immediately and then took him to the house to get some antiseptic on the wound and bandage it.

It takes only a few seconds sometimes, a few moments, to turn the world from a day of rainbows to a day of thunder and storms.

Where was the lake's manic when I had needed it the most? I thought mournfully.

3

Into the Night

.

Despite the incident between Harley and Chase,

the party was wonderful. Chase milked sympathy from all the girls and even some of his buddies when he emerged from the house with an impressive bandage on his hand. I knew Daddy would do as good a job as any doctor.

Daddy rang a cowbell to indicate we should all get out of our bathing suits, dress and come to the tables where a sumptuous lunch consisting of lobster, shrimp, roast beef and turkey dishes was served family style. Mrs. Geary complained there was enough food to feed a small village in Ireland.

"Just what's left over will do," she muttered to Mommy, but clearly well in Daddy's range of hearing. He and Mommy exchanged smiles.

While we ate, the band played and most of my friends got up to dance. Chase made it seem like he was enduring great pain in his hand just to ensure that I would have a good time. At one point Aunt Alison came over and fawned all over him. She deliberately leaned so far over the table that all the boys could feast their eyes on the sight of her breasts, exposed nearly to the nipples. I saw the boys peering and then looking at each other, some even reddening.

"Look at this poor boy's hand. You've got to protect him better." she told inc.

The others at the table laughed.

"He's pretty good at protecting himself. Aunt Alison." I said, glaring at him and the way he was sucking up all her attention.

"Men are not as strong as they make out to be. Summer," she lectured, directing herself mostly at my girlfriends, who listened wide-eyed, "They need us more than they care to admit. They need us to tell them when they're making fools of themselves. especially.