Date: Sat, 12 Jul 2008 18:05:56 -0700 (PDT) From: bill vincent Subject: The Boy at the Lake, part 4 The Boy at the Lake Part 4 Kevin Printon Sean looked up at the patio door. "Oh, there's uncle Joe! Mom!" He motioned to the Sheriff standing in the kitchen to come out to the patio. The man switch his look of puzzlement and beamed with a smile as he opened the patio door and walked out onto the patio and off onto the lawn where the picnic bench was situated. " Hi Joe Ann said, "Can you stay for a beer?" "Nah, I'm still on duty, but thought I'd drop over and see how you all were getting along." Everyone except me got up to hug and greeted "uncle Joey' later explained as the ex's brother. Joe looked over at me and I introduced myself. "Haven't I seen you somewhere before? Joe said as he was trying to place my face. "Yeah probably down at the post office. My picture's there. I kidded. Joe looked at me like I was serious, and then he got the joke and laughed nervously. Still eyeing me. "Ann can I talk to you?" Joe said nervously. " In Private!" he insisted. Ann rolled her eyes and said "Sure" she motioned him to lead on back into the house. The two of them went up the patio and into the kitchen. You could see that Joe was angry at Ann for something. They stood at the closed patio door. He wasn't raising his voice but, probably being of Italian descent, he was using his body language, especially his hands in the air to make his point. This heated discussion continued for about 15 minutes while we all nervously made small talk in whispered voices, hoping to catch what was going on. Well it appeared to be ending. He hugged Ann, waved good-bye to everyone thru the closed patio window and left but not before he took another look and final stare at me. My blood ran cold. Shit I hadn't done anything...why was I feeling like a criminal? Ann came back; you could tell she was flustered. The only thing she said was "that bastard!" She started to cry and the older girl began to comfort her and grill her as to what was said. The girl excused her and her mother and led the mother back into the house. They disappeared somewhere into the now darkened house. A nervous cloud settled over the rest of us. I looked over at Chris he was sitting up in his lawn chair all stiff and straight in deep thought. I reached over and tickled Sean and said, "Your mom let you go in the water this soon after eating?" "Sure, she does, she says that's an old wise tale!" Sean chirped. "Well I race you down to the water and last one in to the raft out there is a "rotten egg" "You need a head start? ", he said as he grinned. "No!" I said, "On the count of three!" One, two ,two and a half,,,,THREE! We were both off with a shot. I beat the little B......by two leg lengths and reached shallow water and " dove into the cool water when it was about ankle deep. Sean grabbed the heel of my foot to slow me down, and then took off in a sprint. He made it to the raft before me. I was laughing to hard to myself for his cheating scheme. Something I might have done to him, if I had known him better. I looked back to shore, Chris had disappeared. Sean was like a little puppy all over me, bumping into me, cutting in front of me and generally horsing around. Hey Kevin can you flip me over your shoulders? Please, Please my dad used to do that! Sure Sean...Ok but I think you're a little bigger now then when he probably did that... "Yeah sure, sure." Sean discounted, "but you look like a big strong guy...He felt my biceps to prove it. The feel of his warm fingers around by shoulders and arms gave me an instant woody. Good thing it was safely below water, entrapped in my baggy kakis. So I took his both hands and he sort of jumped up in the water, and miraculously landed on my shoulders. I kept hold of his hands while he steadied himself for a second, then I reached back and grabbed the calves of his legs and launched him forward. He gracefully sailed ten feet in the air and dove into the water like a swan. His head bobbed back up to the surface all animated, you could tell he was all giggling with excitement. "Gosh! Kev!" he stammered " That was cool! It was better then I remembered!" Can we do it again? Said the little con. Well twenty launches later, my shoulders were getting tired. We must have been in the water alone for almost 3/4's of an hour. It was now getting dark. I could see the moon rising over the mountain. I looked to the lake's edge and there staring at us both with a smile on his face was Chris. He was out of the tight gym shorts and into a tight pair of linen Bermuda shorts. His lanky frame and tanned skin made him look stunning. "Sean, Mom wants you out now. It's getting late and we're leaving early tomorrow. We both swam back to the shallows together, like pals. Cutting me off as many times as he could. Sean got up and walked towards Chris and grabbed his arm and shoulder and tried to drag him into the lake. " "Come on Kev, let's get Chris wet!" He chimed back to me. Chris took one look at me and you could tell that was not something he wanted me to help Sean with. "Nah Sean, it's getting late, I got to get going anyway. I have a long day tomorrow." Sean got the hint and let his older brother's arm and shoulder go. "What Time does your mom want to leave Chris?" He turned to me in relief, realizing I was not going to help his brother try to drag him into the water. "She says it's up to you but she has to start work at 4:00.. " "Well in that case, we should probably leave before 9:00." "I'll buy you guys breakfast, if you don't mind going to that same restaurant? So we'll need to leave here at 7:30" "That will work!" Chris said making the decision when to leave for his family. We walked back to the picnic table; which had now been cleared and looked lonely on the dark lawn. "You want another beer?" Chris offered, again playing the host. "Nah I got to be going.", I said. I went into the house which was still dark and quiet, walked into the living room. Chris was right behind me. I reached for the door. Chris said. "Let me walk you to your car." Sean was following us closely. He looked around and said to Sean. "Sean you'd better get out of the wet jams." I'll say goodbye to Kevin. With that Sean turned on his heels and bobbed up the stairs. Stooped down just before he disappeared and said. "Bye Kev! See you tomorrow at 7:30." I walked to my SUV and opened the door and got in. Chris was at the door as I rolled down the window. He seemed all-nervous suddenly and then said " Oh! I almost forgot!" He reached into his pocket and pulled out what appeared to be a clean white sock. "This is for you." He said. I reached out my left outstretched hand and he placed it in the middle of my palm, I stared at it. It was a white sock! He quickly closed my fingers around it and smiled. It's sudden warmth and wetness radiated from it. I instantly knew what it was wet with. I froze! " I was wondering if I could have my undies back, they're sort of my favorite and I only have three pair. "Between Sean and I we have hundreds of white socks. You can keep it." He added. I turned beet red with embarrassment. I was caught red handed at my game! He looked directly into my eyes and said with a warm smile. "Hey I didn't mean to embarrass you, Kevin." "No, Sorrrrry." I stammered. " Just taken a little off guard. Sure here they are. You can have them now if you like..." "Naaah, didn't mean that, just needed them back eventually..." Chris said. "Enjoy them for a while ....if you like?" He gave me a queer look. "Well! Bye! See you tomorrow...I'd shake, but seems you have your hand full. Don't want to get "socked!" If you know what I mean." Have a good one!...." He chuckled like a boy. Wave and turned to go back into the house... To Be Continued.... Well ....what do you think??