PARTI
SUMMER
CHAPTERONE
Gully Washer
May 1950
“Jack, if you get us killed, so help me God…”
The storm that had been building in the western sky rolled east, and a column of low, swirling clouds swept up the valley, blotting out the sun. By the looks of things, this was going to be a gully washer, which meant Jack Bennett had one shot at getting the motor to turn over. Otherwise he and his passenger would have to ride out the storm on Rock Island.
With the last bolt tightened, Jack turned and shouted into the wind. “All right, George, here goes nothing.” Bracing himself, Jack pressed one hand firmly against the engine, grabbed the pull cord with the other, and yanked with all his might.
The engine spat and sputtered until finally, to Jack’s delight, the steel beast gurgled to life as, from the bow, George Duncan put his palms together and raised his eyes to the heavens.
Jack grinned. But with a mile of open water between them and the dock, they weren’t out of the woods yet.
* * *
A little while later, Jack and George huddled in the weathered shack at the end of the dock as rain fell in wind-driven sheets around them. Thunder echoed over the vast expanse, and like starlight pulsing through the graphite sky, lightning twisted and forked, bridging the gap between the heavens and the earth. It was as awesome a display of Mother Nature’s power as either of them had ever witnessed.
As the dilapidated shack swayed and creaked around them, Jack took in a couple of deep breaths, smelled rain, gasoline, and the sweet aroma of chewing tobacco, then turned and stared out the window. “God must be angry today.”
“I don’t know nothin’ about that.” George lumbered to the icebox, plucked two beers from the top shelf, and tossed one to Jack. “But if we’d waited five more minutes, we could have asked him ourselves.”
Jack smiled amusedly and opened his beer. “I ain’t gonna let nothing happen to you, George. Besides, you keep forgetting I’m the best damn mechanic around. No one knows boats like me—or how to fix them.”
“Speakin’ of that, you should think about making a livin’ out of it.”
“What, boats?”
George shook his head as he took a long pull from his beer. “Bein’ a mechanic. I mean, you can fix just about anything, and since there’s no shortage of things breakin’, you’d never run out of work.”
Jack entertained the idea while he took a sip of beer. “Maybe you’re right,” he finally said. “I may look into that. Thanks, George.”
“Don’t mention it.” George gulped his beer and drew a hand across his mouth. “I’m sure glad to get outta that hot sun… and away from the storm. Now look at us.” A smile worked across his weathered face. “We got a roof over our heads and somethin’ cold to drink. A man don’t need much more’n that.” When he’d finished, he nodded toward the icebox. “There’s more beer in the chest if you get a hankerin’.”
“Thank you kindly,” said Jack. “But you know I only drink one. I wouldn’t want to get you into any kind of trouble, not on account of me.”
George leaned back and let out a laugh that filled the small room. “The way I see it, if you’re old enough to fight, you’re old enough to have a beer. It’s one of them rites of passage I heard the preacher talk about when I was younger. B’sides, there ain’t nothin’ wrong with it so long as you don’t go burnin’ up the roads. The water, on the other hand.” He nodded toward the lake. “Why, you could go off course for pert’ near an hour and not run into anything.”
While George fetched another beer from the chest, Jack pulled out his wallet and counted the bills.Thirty-five plus the four sixty-five I have at home makes…He did the math in his head.Five hundred big ones. Not bad.
“Whatcha gonna do with all that cash?”
“I reckon I’ll save it.”
“For what?”
“Same thing as the last time you asked me.”
“You mean that house on the hill?” Before Jack could respond, George shook his head in disgust. “Don’t be a damn fool, boy. Like I told you before, only rich folks live on the hill. Folks like you and me—real folks—we ain’t got no chance at a life like that. It ain’t in the stars. We’re lucky to scrape by down here at the water’s edge. Which, if you wanna know the truth, ain’t a bad deal.”
George leaned in his chair and belched. Then Jack watched as a smile spread across his face.
“That’s what you keep telling me. But even rich folks gotta start somewhere.” Jack put away his money and stared out at the dark water, disinclined to accept the fate George had predicted for him.
