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"I'm not even going to tell your grandmother Megan about this,'" Mommy said. Then she looked up at me, a smile around her eyes. "If I did, she'd only write it on a piece of paper and bury it in the backyard,

"One of these days. all those seeds of unhappiness are going to sprout into black trees with tears dangling instead of leaves," she added.

"How horrible," I said.

Mommy grew very serious.

"You don't bury your bad times and pretend they never happened. honey. You face them and you conquer them. Then you can bury them.

"That's what I've done," she said. "That's what I'll always do." She said it as if she knew there was more to come.

9

The Lake's Victim

.

Aunt Alison never so much as said thank you to

Uncle Roy. When she was resting comfortably, she cried that she was hungry and then, when she saw Daddy, she teased him instead of thanking him for his part in saving her life, too.

"I couldn't ask for a better mouth to give me mouth-to-mouth. Austin." she told him. "I feel a little sore here," she said indicating her breast. "where you pumped so hard. It probably would have been easier if I was flat chested."

Daddy never really blushed like other people. He got red only around the crest of his cheeks and around his eyes.

"It would have been easier if you hadn't gone swimming," Mommy commented for him.

We had put Aunt Alison in the nest bedroom. Mrs. Geary had brought up some hot chicken noodle soup for her, but she wouldn't take a spoonful. She insisted she needed something stronger and finally settled for a vodka and orange juice. After that. Daddy took Harper downstairs to give him something to eat and drink, while Mommy and I stayed with Aunt Alison.

"I guess I've embarrassed the family again," she told Mommy as soon as Daddy and Harper left.

"What were you thinking. Alison? How could you bring a man here to go nude swimming with Summer and Harley right there anyway? Roy's very upset. too."

"Roy's upset? He's not the one who almost drowned. And besides, what is he upset about? He's no angel."

"I wouldn't say anything unpleasant about Roy. If it wasn't for him, you most likely would have drowned. Apparently, your new boyfriend was incapable of acting quickly."

Aunt Alison pouted a few moments and then she shrugged and smiled at us.

"I didn't bring him along to be a lifeguard anyway. He's better at other things. Well, maybe just one thing," she added laughing. "How long am I supposed to lie here like this?"

"Austin says you've had a very traumatic experience. You don't realize what a toll it's taken on your body yet. He said you should go to sleep."

"Poo on that." Aunt Alison said sitting up and not caring that the blanket fell from her naked breasts,

"Cover yourself for godsakes. Alison. If you're not embarrassed, you might embarrass someone else," Mommy chided.

Aunt Alison smirked and looked at me.

"You don't look so terrible," she said. "For what happened to you, that is."

"Her pain is not on the outside. Alison."

"Oh, pain. Half the time that I've been with a man, it's been like a rape. Either I'm doing the raping or they are," she added with a laugh.

"If you think you're being clever and

outrageous, you're not." Mommy said, her eyes small. ''Summer is only sixteen.'"