Summer at Forsaken Lake (20 page)

H
ayley and Hetty, who had not stopped vibrating with excitement and pride since Nick had told them that he was certain they would be the youngest ever to circumnavigate Forsaken Lake, sat on the porch swing twenty-four hours before departure. There, Charlie and Nicholas imparted an even more exciting bit of news: the twins were to be the stars of the re-imagined Seaweed Strangler movie, which they would be filming during the voyage.

“Okay, here’s the situation,” Nicholas explained after calming the girls down. “You two are famous archaeologists—”

“What’s an archaeologist?” Hetty interrupted. “Oh, they’re the dinosaur guys, right?”

“That’s only one kind,” said Charlie. “You’re the kind who goes around looking for old stuff, like tombs and bones and ancient tools and other things.”

Hetty smiled. “Cool. Can I use my British accent? I think it sounds
quite
lovely.”

“No British accents!” Nicholas said. “Okay, now pay attention to this part, because it’s important. We’re going to be using some of Dad’s old film for the story, but you have to pretend that what’s on that film is
real
—in other words, that the Seaweed Strangler is a real creature.”

Charlie took over the explanation. “In the first scene, you two are snooping around in an old house that was owned by one of your professors, an archaeologist who recently disappeared while on a secret expedition. He was obsessed with finding this creature that everyone called the Seaweed Strangler. Most people thought he was crazy, that it was just a legend—but not you two. So, you’re digging around in his house and you find a secret compartment where he has hidden a journal and some movie film that shows the creature. It doesn’t take you long to realize that those things are
proof
of the existence of the Seaweed Strangler.”

“And that’s where
Goblin
comes in,” said Nicholas. “Using the film and the notes in his journal, you figure out
where he was when he found the creature, and you decide to go on an expedition in search of your old professor—and the Seaweed Strangler. Nick is going to play the ship’s captain you hire to take you into the dangerous waters you need to explore, and Charlie here is going to play this woman who is going with you, filming everything you do. She’s like a reporter or something, and she’s making a documentary film about the expedition for an adventure channel. We’ll explain the rest later; that’s all you really need to know for now.”

“And who are you, Nicholas?” Hayley asked.

“I’m going to be the cameraman, and I’ll also play the Seaweed Strangler.”

“When do we start?” asked Hetty. “I can’t wait. It sounds just
super
!”

“Right now,” said Charlie. “Meet you up in Nicholas’s room in five minutes. We’re going to shoot the scene where you discover the film in the house today, and then tomorrow we’ll be filming on the boat as we leave.”

Hetty turned to her twin. “We should ring Mummy, don’t you think? I’d love to chat her up a bit and tell her all about our new careers.”

“Brilliant!” cried Hayley, joining in the fun. “That’s a jolly good idea.”

As they leaped off the swing and ran past Nicholas, he couldn’t help smiling. “You’re going to be
stars …
unless you use those stupid British accents!”

* * *

Saturday night, with just hours to go before the start of the voyage round the lake, and the twins safely tucked in their beds, Nick and Nicholas sat on the porch and listened to the weather forecast on the radio.

“Temperatures slightly below normal for the next three days, possibly dipping into the fifties overnight, with a slight chance of thunderstorms Monday evening and early Tuesday morning.…”

“Going to be a bit chilly,” said Nick. “We need to make sure everybody has enough warm, dry clothes. I borrowed some foul-weather gear to keep you dry, but the twins’ll need either a nice wool sweater or a fleece. You too. No fun being cold and wet.”

“I think the twins packed everything they own,” said Nicholas. “But I’ll make sure.”

“We’ll put the three girls forward in the V berth, and we’ll sleep on the nice wide berths in the main cabin. How’s that sound?” He scratched Pistol behind the ears. “Pistol, old boy—you’re going to be on the floor. Like a dog. Tragic, really.”

Pistol seemed to agree, his beagle eyes looking sadder than usual.

“I guess it’s a good thing Charlie’s mom couldn’t come after all,” Nicholas said. “I don’t know where she would have slept.”

“One of us would have been up in the cockpit, sleeping under the stars,” said Nick. “Done it lots of times. It’s not so bad—unless it rains.” He turned off the light and started up the stairs to bed.

“Uncle Nick?”

Nick stopped on the stairs and turned to face Nicholas. “What’s up, sport?”

“Thanks. For, you know, teaching me to sail, letting us finish up Dad’s boat, everything. This summer isn’t what I expected—at all. It’s been … awesome.”

“Well, you’re welcome. Glad to hear that you’re having some fun. I know you kids have had a rough time lately, with your parents and all. Now get some sleep—we’ve got a couple of big days ahead.”

* * *

Charlie stared directly into the camera lens, waiting for a signal from Nicholas. “My name is Charlie Brennan, and I’m standing here on the deck of the good ship
Goblin
with twin archaeologists and adventurers Hayley and Hetty Mettleson. Standing behind me are Captain Nick and his first mate, Pistol, who will be taking us into the perilous, uncharted waters of the north end of Godforsaken Lake—which is all I have been told so far.” She pointed the microphone at Hayley. “Hayley, you and your sister have been very secretive about this expedition, but now that we’re under way, can you tell
us something about where we’re going and what you’re seeking?”

“I guess so,” said Hayley. “We should have told you before, but you wouldn’t have come if you knew … that your life would be in danger.”

“Cut!” cried Nicholas. “That was beautiful.”

And so it went for the rest of the first day, as
Goblin
made her way toward the undeveloped and unpredictable north end of the lake. While Charlie interviewed the two young archaeologist-adventurers, Nicholas quickly grew to appreciate the advances in technology that had occurred in the years since his father started
The Seaweed Strangler
. A Super 8 film cartridge lasted only about three minutes, after which there was the one-week (or longer) wait for the film to be developed. With a digital camera, he could continue shooting for as long as he liked, and he could view the results immediately.

After a lunch of roast chicken and potato salad, he showed everyone the video they’d shot the day before—the twins in the tower room, followed by the long scene with the boys Nicholas called the Three Stooges. Zack and Ryan, from Charlie’s baseball team, and a friend of theirs, a summer kid named Kirk, played a group of hunters who stumble across the Seaweed Strangler and foolishly try to get close enough to capture him. They were almost impossible to work with—constantly fooling around and ruining take after take when one of them would burst out laughing. Only when Nicholas started to fold up the
tripod and put the camera away, telling them it would be easier to just rewrite the script and eliminate their scene, did they get serious.

Later in the afternoon, along with more of the “interview” scenes with Charlie and the twins, he got plenty of sailing footage—some of it while standing at the bow and stern, and some from the tiny inflatable boat they’d brought along as a dinghy. The conditions were ideal: blue sky and water, puffy white clouds, and a ten-knot breeze pushing
Goblin
along quite nicely. Down in the cabin, the explorers pored over the details of the chart, explaining to Charlie where they expected to find the missing archaeologist—and, possibly, the Seaweed Strangler himself.

They reached their Day One destination ahead of schedule and found a secluded, well-protected spot to anchor for the night. After dinner, they watched the sun set beneath a purple sky. Nick brought out a book of poems, and they took turns reading “The Cremation of Sam McGee,” “The Highwayman,” and others by the light of the kerosene lantern hanging from the boom. Like the ticking of a clock, waves lapped at the side of the hull, and shortly after ten, the twins, yawning loudly, crawled into the V berth, leaving little room for Charlie.

“That’s okay,” she said, gathering up her sleeping bag in her arms. “I think I’m going to sleep up on the deck.”

“Wow. Really?” said Nicholas.

“Why not? It’s beautiful, and there’s no bugs. Look at the stars! I don’t think I’ve ever seen the Milky Way look so … milky. Come on, get your sleeping bag.”

Nick slapped him on the back. “Life is too short to pass up sleeping under the stars on a night like this. I’d join you, but if I slept on one of those hard benches, I wouldn’t be able to move in the morning.”

Nicholas blew out the flame in the lantern and stretched out on the bench across the cockpit from Charlie, who stared up at the sky. They lay quietly for a while as their eyes adjusted to the near-total darkness.

“Shooting star!” said Charlie. “Did you— Oh, there’s another one!”

“Where are you looking? I’ve never seen one before.”

“What? Never?”

“I live in the city—I’ve barely seen stars, period. I never saw the Milky Way until this summer. The sky around New York is just too bright.”

“I don’t think I could live someplace where I couldn’t see the stars. They’re so … 
amazing
. It’s like they’re up there just to remind me that I’m only one little speck of dust in the universe, like the flash of light from a spark. There one second and gone the next.”

“Gee, that’s a cheerful thought,” said Nicholas. “Hey, look—the moon’s coming up, behind those clouds over there.”

“Oh, so you know what the moon is, city boy,” Charlie teased.

“Ha-ha. As a matter of fact, I have an amazing view of the moon from my room—some nights. In fact, my dad and I have this thing we do when he … No, you’ll think it’s stupid.”

“No I won’t. I
promise
. Come on, you can’t leave me hanging like that.”

“Well, when Dad’s in Africa, sometimes he can’t call for weeks because phone access is limited, but then he’ll finally get through. Usually, it’s pretty late, and he always makes me go to the windows and look at the moon while we’re talking—the same moon he’s looking at, halfway around the world from me. It always makes me feel better, like he’s really not that, you know, far away. I told you, it’s stupid.”

“That’s
not
stupid. I never use this word, but it’s, like, the
sweetest
thing I’ve ever heard. My dad lives thirty miles away, and he doesn’t do
anything
like that—when he remembers to call.”

Nicholas, unsure of how to respond, said nothing.

After a few more moments of silence, Charlie asked, “So, what do you think he’s doing right now?”

“My dad?” Nicholas checked his watch by the light of the moon. “They’re five hours ahead of us, which makes it, like, three o’clock in the morning. So, probably sleeping. But with Dad you never know. He could be stitching somebody back together in the hospital. He kind of does whatever needs to be done.”

“Well, wherever he is, whatever else he’s doing—I’ll
bet he’s looking at the moon and thinking of you and the twins right now.”

Nicholas stared at the sliver of orange moon peeking through a thick blanket of clouds just above the horizon. He blinked back a tear, grateful for the darkness that hid his face from Charlie, and then drifted off to a peaceful sleep.

* * *

The smell of bacon frying woke Charlie first. She sat up, struck by the sight of the vivid red-orange sky and a layer of mist hanging over the lake’s unbroken surface.

“Brrrr! It’s cold up here!” she shouted down to Nick, who was cracking eggs into a bowl.

“Nice and warm down here,” he said. “Come on down. You can get the twins up and dressed and make sure they have their cabin shipshape before we weigh anchor.”

Charlie saluted him stiffly. “Aye, aye, Captain.”

The twins, however, informed Charlie that they were going for a swim before breakfast. “When the Walker kids slept on board
Goblin
with Jim Brading,
they
went swimming in the morning,” Hayley insisted.

“I see,” said Charlie. “You may change your mind when you climb out of those sleeping bags. It’s kind of chilly up on deck.”

“R-really?” Hetty asked, clearly having second thoughts.

Nicholas burst into their tiny cabin baring his plastic fangs. “Aaarggghhh! The Seaweed Strangler’s next victims!”

Hetty screamed, but Hayley sat up with her arms crossed. “That’s not even scary, Nicholas. Now get out of our room.”

“Cabin,”
corrected Nicholas. “Boats don’t have rooms.”

Two minutes later, there were three splashes as Nicholas, Charlie, and Hayley hit the water. Hetty remained on deck, looking uncertainly at the water beneath her.

“
Come on
, Hetty,” cried Hayley. “It’s like a big bathtub.”