A Memorable Day at the Lake - Chapt. 1

At 9:00 AM, Joe was startled awake by a loud sharp noise. He sat up in his bed staring blankly across the room, confused and disoriented. As Joe wiped the sweat from his face he realized his heart was pounding heavy on his chest. Slowly, familiar objects came into focus and he realized that he was in his own bedroom. “What was that?”. The house was silent except for the sound of distant sirens coming from his open window.
He jumped out of bed and quickly threw on some shorts and a T-shirt and rushed downstairs. When he stormed into the kitchen, Matt was already sitting at the counter eating a bowl of cereal with great delight. As usual, he had made a mess around the bowl - for some reason he never used a spoon to eat his cereal - but he didn’t seem to mind that the milk was slowly soaking his magazine.
“Hey, did you hear something a minute ago?” he asked his brother, grabbing some paper towels to clean up the mess.
“Mm-hmm.” Matt said without looking up from his magazine, “Sounded like a gunshot to me.”
“What? ...Yeah, right! When was last time a gunshot rang out in this neighborhood? Never!” Joe shook his head dismissively and trashed the soiled paper towel. He just couldn’t believe what a freak his brother was.
Two weeks had passed since school had let out for the summer and the season’s activities were in full swing in the little town of Birchwood. Nestled in a thick wooded area and sprawled around a big lake with plenty of activities revolving around water, Birchwood was for most people the ideal place to enjoy the summer. However, not everyone living there saw it that way; especially not Joe. He had been swimming at every swim meet since he was old enough to walk, and had worked the concession stand at the main beach for years. Now he was facing the risk of having to spend countless hours sitting in a lifeguard chair. “Not this summer”, Joe Maloney kept telling himself. There was no way he would go through another mind-numbing summer of lifeguard duty. His decision had led to a long and difficult negotiation with his mother, for she worried about her boys and always made sure they would have something planned each day to keep them occupied and out of trouble. In the end, they had reached a compromise and had agreed that Joe would take care of his brother for the summer.
Now, looking at the dark haired boy who was sitting on a stool shoveling milk-soaked cereal into his mouth with one hand and playing with the corner of his magazine with the other, Joe wasn’t sure that he had made the best choice.

Matt was still reading his magazine when the police cars raced by their house with lights flashing and sirens blaring before pulling up in front of the house two doors down.
The two boys rushed to the front steps just in time to see the ambulance fly around the corner and race down the street. The backdoors burst open when the ambulance screeched to a stop behind the police cars, and three paramedics jumped out and rushed inside the house.
The house in question belonged to the Jones family. It was a small ranch style house easily recognizable by the long covered porch in front and a very large deck flanked by a screened-in gazebo out back.
After a few minutes, one paramedic came out and gestured for another to bring the gurney inside.
Joe was about to walk down the street to check things out when he saw Gio running toward him. He was flailing his arm above his head to get his attention, and yelling at the top of his lungs, “Joe! Wait up!”
Joe waited for his friend to catch up with him. Matt lost interest and went back inside to finish his bowl of Fruit Loops.
“Dude, what’s going on?” Gio asked out of breath. He had sweat running down his red face. “I heard the commotion from across the lake and came as fast as I could. Looks like something is going down at the Jones. What is it this time?”
“Don’t know, man. I was just about to go find out!”
Joe started to head down the street towards the Jones. The O’s, as the other kids called them for their names both ended with ‘O’, walked down the street side by side, one five inches shorter than the other, without talking to each other and just focusing on the commotion up ahead.
Although Mr. and Mrs. Jones were both always friendly and amiable, they were outcasts in the community. The fact that he played up his Jesus-like figure by keeping his hair long and sleekly combed back with gel might have contributed to their social awkwardness. Or was it their inexplicable desire to keep on having babies every other year? Already a family of 7 children with 3 girls and 4 boys, they were expecting one new member any day now. It had been months since Mrs. Jones had been seen jogging around the lake 3 or 4 times a week, which was her routine when she was in between pregnancies. Besides the fact that their kids were all skinny and wearing out-of-fashion, ill-fitting clothes, they all had long stringy hair varying only in the different shades of brown.
As the O’s got close, they were stopped by a police officer who was telling the onlookers that had gathered around to go back home.
At that precise moment, the paramedics came out wheeling the gurney carrying the small frame of a child who seemed to be unconscious.
Joe turning to his friend, “Must be one of the boys, look at the hair hanging to the side. Too dark to be one of the girls!”
“And too small to be Tic-Tac-Toe Bob, cause that freak is way bigger than the twins! That’s for sure.” Gio said.
“C’mon, guys. Move along. Move along!” the police officer admonished the two boys; he was walking towards them with an intimidating air about him.
Without protest, the boys turned around and walked rather briskly back to Joe’s house only to find the front door shut and locked. Ringing the doorbell insistently, they waited for Matt to open the door to let them in. Joe thought that the lifeguard duties might have been a much better option this summer, after all.
“All right, Matt!” Joe said in a controlled voice when Matt finally opened the front door, “Why did you lock the door?” Yet, unable to contain his anger any longer, he added sarcastically, “Did you really think that someone was going to snatch you out of this house with all the cops down the street?”
“You never know.” Matt said matter-of-fact, then turned around and walked back to the family room. He was still holding the remote control for the TV, “Better safe than sorry.”
“I’ll show you sorry, YOU LOSER!” Joe barked at his brother, lunging forward to grab his arm. Unfazed by his older brother’s threats, Matt flung his arm out of Joe’s reach, and looking over his shoulder said with a triumphant grin, “Missed!”
“Whoa. Chill out!” Gio said, quickly jumping in front of his irritated friend to hold him back. He was used to seeing these two bickering with each other and knew it could quickly escalate to a full-blown fight. To defuse the situation, he steered his friend in a different direction, and quickly added, “I overheard Maria talking on her cell phone this morning, and it sounded like something is going on at the Tree...”
Giovani Cappi had been Joe’s best friend ever since their mothers had met at a Mom’s Club when they were both toddlers. Gio and his older sister, Maria, lived with their parents in a huge house overlooking the water on the north shore of the lake. Gio’s bedroom was so big that the whole downstairs of Joe’s house could have fit in it. No one was really sure how the Cappis had made their fortune, but the rumor had it that Mr. Cappi might have “been connected” back in Italy, which might have contributed to his wealth. Maria, a high school sophomore, was a true Italian beauty. Her luminous brown eyes that always seemed to smile softened her square-shaped face, but her most beautiful asset was her wavy brown hair cascading down to her waist. Every boy in town was secretly in love with her, and Joe was no different.
Walking upstairs to his bedroom, Joe’s interest was piqued at the mention of Maria. “Oh? Like what?” he asked his friend, trying to sound casual.
“Dunno, but we should go check it out. How else are we going to find out?” Gio said, holding the bedroom door open for his friend.