Summer at Forsaken Lake Read Online Free PDF

who were used to the sun setting a little earlier, it seemed as if it would never be dark enough to show the movie.
    “Why don’t you two entertain us?” Nick asked. “Your mom tells me that you’re always putting on little shows for her. Show me what you’ve got.”
    “You’ll be sorry,” said Nicholas. “Once they get started, it’s practically impossible to get them to stop.”
    Hayley stuck her tongue out at him. “You’re just jealous, Nicholas, because me and Hetty have
talent
.”
    “Let’s do that song from
Junior High Musical
!” said Hetty. “That’s our best one.”
    “Compared to what?” Nicholas scoffed.
    “Give them a chance,” said Nick.
    The twins, who spent most Saturday mornings during the winter in a song-and-dance program for aspiring Broadway stars, belted out the pop ballad “He Passed Me a Note in the Hall!” like a couple of old pros, bringing Nick to his feet, where he demonstrated his earsplitting whistling ability.
    “Bravo! Wow! I had no idea I was host to two
stars
.”
    “We
are
both named after actresses, you know,” said a beaming Hayley. “Mom’s favorite when she was a little girl was Hayley Mills—she’s the one in that movie
The Parent Trap
. The
old
one, that is.”
    “And Dad has a great-aunt Hetty, who was on Broadway a long time ago,” added Hetty. “I’ve never met her, but he showed us pictures of her. There’s even a drawing of her in this restaurant over by Times Square. She was kind of famous in the fifties and sixties, I think.”
    “Well, I never met dear old Aunt Hetty, but I have to say I’m very impressed, and I think both she and Miss Mills would be proud. How about one more song, and then we’ll watch the movie?”
    Nicholas groaned, burying his head under the couch pillows. “No-oooo!”
    But it was too late; when it came to performing, the twins didn’t need to be asked twice.
    * * *
    As the sky to the west turned magenta, and then violet, they watched the last few die-hard fishermen pull-start their tired Evinrude outboards and head back down the lake toward the marina.
    “Is it dark enough yet?” Nicholas asked.
    Nick nodded and threaded the film into the projector. “Now, you have to remember, not only is the movie unfinished, it’s eight-millimeter film, so there’s no sound.”
    “What do you mean, there’s no sound?” Hetty demanded. “How can you make a movie without sound?”
    “You’ll see. That’s how everybody used to do it. Ever hear of Charlie Chaplin?”
    “N-no. Who’s he?”
    “I’ll explain later,” Nick answered with a laugh.
    “Lights!”
    The projector whirred into action and the screen flickered to life. In the first grainy images, the camera peered over the shoulder of someone sitting in a chair reading the front page of an obviously hand-printed newspaper. The headline, in enormous letters, read:
The Seaweed Strangler!
The person then turned to page two, which read:
Written, Produced, and Directed by Will Mettleson
.
    “Daddy!” cried Hetty as the credits faded to black. “I can’t believe we’re watching a movie he made.”
    The first real scene unfolded exactly like the one Nicholas had read, except that the person in the boat almost fell overboard as he stood up to aim the rifle at the Seaweed Strangler. They all laughed at that, and atthe frame reading
Bang!
that appeared as the person shot the poor creature, and again when the Seaweed Strangler stumbled and fell face-first in the water as he chased after his attacker.
    “Who are those boys?” Hayley asked.
    “Just kids from the neighborhood,” Uncle Nick answered. “Summer people, some of them. Not sure about all of them, but the Seaweed Strangler is definitely Jimmy Brennan—used to live down the road. Kind of a pain in the neck. Always a little too good-looking for his own good.”
    Nicholas’s ears perked up.
    Brennan! That’s the second time today I’ve heard that name
.
    After that first scene, the movie was hard for