The People Next Door Read Online Free PDF Page A

said. ‘He’s a dork who doesn’t know his limits, Kyle. He wasn’t content to have a little
     fun. He had to have
all
the fun. That’s the point.’
    ‘That boat is beast,’ Kyle said, watching Roger and Bonnie race around the lake, that Journey song even Briela was sick of
     blasting surprisingly clear.
    ‘It’s not his,’ Dad said. ‘He’s completely broke. That I can promise you.’
    That’s when she noticed the look in her dad’s eyes. The one that was angry and disappointed. Like he really liked Roger’s
     boat too, but would never admit it in front of Kyle. Briela didn’t care. Her family’s Bayliner was smaller, but it was still
     clean and nice, and it was
theirs
. Iteven had a sign on the back that said
Kickin’ it in Nashville
.
    ‘I like our boat better, Dad,’ Briela said.
    ‘Atta girl,’ Dad said. Mom was biting her lip.
    Briela knew they wouldn’t sell their boat unless they were getting a new one just like it. Though she guessed bigger would
     be okay, too. With white leather seats and pink sparkles. That would be suh-weet.

5
    By three o’clock the water was dead calm. The sun was blazing and Kyle’s hangover was mostly gone. Dad nursing an IPA, Mom
     reading in her lawn chair on the dock, B painting her face with a Snickers.
    Kyle wanted to ski in the worst way, but he also didn’t want to ski at all, and the duality of this was eating at his nerves.
     He had gotten really good at two, and knew how to drop one to slalom, but the deep water start was another story. Last summer
     he had swallowed half the reservoir, Dad giving him pointer after pointer, refusing to let him into the boat until he tried
just one more time
. Getting up on one had become Kyle’s Everest.
    ‘Water doesn’t get any smoother than this,’ Dad said. He was reclining in the boat, chomping those sour Greek peppers just
     about as fast as he could, belching loud and then laughing when it echoed across the lake.
    ‘Yeah,’ Kyle said, dangling his feet off the boat’s swim platform.
    ‘Gonna be a busy summer, champ. You should get a hold of it while you can.’ Why couldn’t he just say it?They were selling the boat, everyone in the family knew it.
    ‘Maybe I should drop one,’ Kyle said.
    ‘Tell you what.’ His dad removed the Connelly from the ski locker. It was a beautiful thing, this blade of ceramic and graphite,
     with the double hi-wrap bindings. A tournament ski, a five-hundred-dollar report-card bribe. ‘You’re bigger this year. Your
     arms are stronger, your legs. You let it get in your head. This is a fresh start. You can do it, bud. I know you can.’
    Kyle accepted the ski, dunking it to lube the bindings.
    ‘That’s the spirit,’ Dad said. ‘You remember what I told you?’
    ‘Arms straight, knees tucked to my chest, deep breath, head down.’
    ‘And don’t let go. That was your problem. It’s going to feel like you’re going under, but I promise you, if you keep the ski
     tip right in front of you and count to five, you’ll pop right up.’
    ‘Okay.’ Right after I take a cold-water enema.
    ‘Do I get to be flag girl again?’ Briela shouted.
    ‘Sure, honey,’ Dad said. ‘I need you in the bow.’
    Briela took her position, her yellow life vest riding up around her ears.
    Mom climbed in the boat. ‘What do you say when he falls?’
    ‘DOWN! MAN DOWN!’
    ‘Except he’s not going to fall down,’ Dad said. ‘Once he gets up, he’s going to ski all the way around the lake, aren’t you,
     champ?’
    ‘I guess.’ Kyle pushed off the dock and bobbed in the water.
    When the boat had drifted a safe distance, Dad lowered the drive and fired the engine. Mom twirled the handle like a lasso,
     let it fly. He caught it in mid air, suddenly had to pee again. He let it go while the tow line played out. His stomach fluttered,
     he had to remind himself to breathe. The Bayliner’s 4.3 liter Mercruiser burbled blue smoke and spat water as it chugged toward
     the mountains.