Ava’s chest throbbed with pity for Avery. She remembered what it was like to be passed from one parent to another in the years after her parent’s divorce. The school year with mom, school breaks with dad. The transition was tough, no matter how much you loved both parents.
She didn’t want to add insult to injury by having the kid help her with cleaning. No kid wanted to help their aunt’s friend do chores. She thought about the canoe sitting abandoned by the dock.
Ava walked to the storage area behind the stairs where her dad kept the outdoor chairs and life jackets, along with seasonal decorations. She spotted the orange life jackets in a pile and rummaged through them, looking for a child’s size. The bathroom door opened, and Avery’s footsteps padded on the wood floor behind her.
“What are you doing in there?” Avery asked.
Ava found what she was looking for and spun around, holding up the smaller life jacket. “There’s a pond at the edge of the property. Want to go canoeing?”
Avery’s face split into a grin that showed one of his missing teeth, and he nodded eagerly. Ava grabbed two more life jackets and rejoined Summer in the dining area.
“What do you say, up for a canoe ride?” Ava asked.
“Hell yeah. I'll steer.”
“If a sub is a sandwich, wouldn’t a hot dog be a sandwich? The bread is cut the same way, you just eat a hot dog cut-side up is all,” Summer pushed her paddle against the current to slow down the canoe, sending them coasting into the bed of lily pads on the far-side of the pond.
“Absolutely not,” Ava said.
“No, that’s weird,” Avery agreed.
“Why not? A hot dog bun is just a different loaf of bread. What about hoagies? Hoagie bread is basically a hot dog bun,” Summer continued.
Ava glanced over her shoulder, catching Avery’s scrunched-up expression from where he sat in the middle of the canoe. He’d wanted Ava’s spot in the front, but that would’ve left the canoe unbalanced. They convinced him he could be the navigator and tell them where to go. He’d directed them to all corners of the pond, excitedly pointing out fish and turtles along the way, each new discovery lifting his spirits more.
Somewhere in their conversations, they started getting philosophical, pondering the all-important questions like whether queso dip is a soup and if a lobster roll counts as a sandwich or something closer to a hot dog. It may be silly, but it made Avery laugh, so they carried on. After a couple of hours on the pond, Ava could admit the kid was growing on her.
It made her feel awful Summer had hidden this part of her life all these years.
“Hot dogs are their own thing. Like hamburgers,” Avery said.
Ava nodded in agreement.
“If you have to cook something to assemble it, I think that takes it out of the sandwich category,” Ava said.
“But what about bacon? You have to cook bacon. You’re telling me you wouldn’t consider a BLT a sandwich?”
“Didn’t think about that,” Avery muttered, deep in thought.
“Okay, okay. I take it back. You can cook stuff that goes on a sandwich. But a hot dog still doesn’t count, and that’s my final answer,” Ava said.
She turned to look at Avery and Summer behind her.
“What she said.” Avery shrugged.
“OK fine, but—”
“Look, it’s a moose,” Avery interrupted Summer, pointing at the canopy of trees to their right. “You see it? Do you see it? It’s huge.”
Ava followed his gaze, searching between the dense trees. The sun was sinking lower in the sky, getting closer to early evening, casting long shadows from the tree trunks.
“Holy cow, you’re right, squirt. You see it yet, Ava? To the left of that pine tree closest to the shore. One of its antlers is broken off at an odd angle.”
Ava scanned the shoreline again before she spotted it. Avery wasn’t exaggerating. The moose was massive.
“I see it now. I couldn’t tell you the last time I saw a moose,” Ava said. “My dad always swore there was a moose living near this pond, but I never believed him. Thought he was just messing with us.”
The memory came back unbidden, reminding her of all the summers they’d paddle out on the water, her dad swearing if she looked hard enough she’d see a moose. Every time she kept her eyes trained on the shore, hoping for a glimpse, wanting to be in a secret club with just her dad, who could say they saw the moose.
