The Children Read Online Free PDF Page B

turn away from her. He gave me a sheepish look and scooted off to his house like a little boy who’d been caught running around naked. I was laughing. What the hell had gotten into him? He and Spin were like brothers; they had seen each other nude many times. And then I saw, in the dim yellow glow from our porch lights, that it was a woman who had climbed out of the driver’s seat. She was facing Everett’s screen door, which had just slammed shut behind him. “Hey, hey, cuties, it’s okay,” she said to the dogs, and they stopped barking and just circled her, sniffing and wagging their tails.
    I had started swimming in toward the land.
    â€œHello?” said the woman. She must have heard my little splashes. I stopped moving. I knew who she was. I could only see her silhouette, there on the lawn. The light from our porch created a golden aura all around her. I couldn’t see her face or make out what she was wearing, but I knew she was Laurel Atwood. Snacks barked again, and Laurel leaned over and scooped him up in her arms.
    â€œHey, hey! Careful, he bites,” Everett said. He had come out of his house wearing jeans and no shirt. He was carrying a towel.
    Laurel giggled as Snacks licked at her chin. “Is that right?” she said.
    â€œI’ve never seen him act like this with a stranger,” Everett said. “ Never. ”
    â€œWell, he doesn’t think I’m a stranger. I’m Laurel, by the way.”
    â€œOh, of course, yeah,” he said cheerfully, reaching out to shake her hand. “I’m Everett.” He said it like she hadn’t just seen every inch of him.
    She lowered Snacks to the ground, flipped her long hair back, and took Everett’s hand. “Oh, hi, yeah, Spin told me all about you.”
    The water was cold. My teeth were chattering.
    â€œWe thought you were coming later in the week. Where’s Spin?”
    I squatted there in the shallows, wearing nothing but the icy lake. The bats had come out of their winter hibernation and now one was swooping down over the cove. Soon summer would really be here, and the lake would be warmer than the air at night. Now the air was warm, but the lake was freezing.
    â€œHe had some final—I don’t know, I guess he called them evaluations or something. I was bored, so he told me to take his car out for a drive. Oooh, your hands are freezing.”
    Everett just stood there grinning like an idiot. I coughed a little to get his attention. He didn’t hear me.
    â€œGreat to finally meet you,” said Everett.
    â€œI decided to take a little drive around the lake, when I recognized the house from some of Spin’s photos. I pulled in to say hello, see if anybody was home. Guess I should have called first.”
    â€œNah,” Everett said jovially. He had now wrapped the towel, my towel, around his shoulders. I guess he was chilly. I was sure that I was hypothermic, but he seemed to have forgotten all about me. “Everybody just stops by around here,” he continued. “We’re pretty casual.”
    â€œEverett,” I said, through clattering teeth from the icy shallows. I didn’t say it loud enough. Again, nobody heard me.
    â€œYes, I saw that. Very casual!” Laurel laughed.
    Everett laughed and looked down at the ground and then back up at her, the way he always does when he’s flirting. “Yup, we don’t get all dressed up around here. Sometimes we don’t even get dressed at all.”
    â€œIs it a proper nudist colony? Are clothes frowned upon, or what?” Laurel asked. “I don’t want to shock or offend by being the only one wearing clothing. I’m not a clothes-ist or anything.”
    â€œHa, ha, ha, clothes-ist,” Everett repeated, laughing and glancing down at the ground again and then back at her.
    Oh, hahaha, Everett . My brain still seemed to be able to formulate rage, so I knew I wasn’t thoroughly