Water Bug
Emma Sukowski
While the car backed out of the driveway onto the street, I stared out the window at the bright blue sky and thought about the memories of Lake Dusty. Last summer was, by far, the craziest summer we’d ever had up there. I remember it like it was yesterday.
When Mom turned down the gravel road and the rocks jumped from underneath the tires, greeting me with every inch we moved, I knew Lake Dusty was excited we were back for another summer. I rolled down my window and gazed at the sun as it danced on the rippling water. While I was reliving the fun memories of Gram and Gramps taking me out on the lake, my older brother Jack had bitten the last of his fingernails down to the nail bed.
When we were little, our parents bought us a jungle gym playset. Every afternoon I’d go swing from the monkey bars and fling myself down the swirly slide. Jack would sit still on the swing and watch me. I could tell by the expression on his face that every move I had made gave Jack extreme anxiety. In fact, everything we would do that was even the tiniest bit dangerous would give Jack that look of absolute terror. Imagine a cardboard box. Jack resided deep inside the box while I, on the other hand, was so far away from the box, I didn’t even know it existed.
My whole family loved the water. In fact if we had the choice to breathe air or water, we’d pick water. Well, my whole family besides Jack. Jack hated the water, Lake Dusty even more so. The beautiful fish kissing our toes as we dipped them into the cool water in our minds were, in Jack’s mind, the fish plotting to take our toes to their next family dinner. When the silky seaweed gripped our legs as we skipped out of the water, begging us to stay for a while longer, it was, in Jack’s mind, the slimy seagrass purposefully trying to make us break out in hives. He was imaginative in that way.
Jack always came up with these creative stories. He’d write stories of dragons kidnapping princesses and knights having to risk their lives to save them or zombies coming to attack the human population and one man would kill them all off and save the world. I always thought that his stories were so weird and imaginative because he couldn’t be in real life.
Every time Gram and Gramps wanted to go out onto the water, World War III broke out and we would have to fight Jack just to step foot on the boat. We always lost. The water called out to my Grandparents and I like a mesmerizing siren waiting to be sailed on, so, we’d scurry off on the boat and leave Jack to bolt the opposite direction and play video games inside. While I was Gram and Gramps’ “water bug”, Jack was the fly swatter always trying to kill my buzz.
One day, Jack wanted to see the new Zombie Player IV at the cinema in town and Gramps saw an opportunity when Jack asked for permission to see it.
“You can see the movie, my treat. Heck! I’ll even drive you there myself!” Gramps chuckled in a somewhat maniacal manner.
“You’re the best, Gramps!” Jack squealed and jumped up and down like a little girl seeing a pony for the first time.
As Jack began to dance away with a twinkle of excitement in his eye, Gramps cleared his throat loud and hearty.
“Well, hold your horses, son. You can go, if you take my little water bug out on the lake, in the canoe.” Gramps negotiated as he sat down in the big comfy recliner and propped his feet up.
The twinkle in Jack’s eye had faded faster than a jet ski flying through the water, “W-w-what?” Jack stuttered, fear clasping his throat and making him breathless.
“You heard me, son. Take Julie out on the lake and you can see that Zombie movie at the cinema.” Gramps grumbled nonchalantly.
Although Jack’s fear of the water and what lies beneath it was oddly strong, his love for the Zombie Slayer movies was stronger. Jack gussied up the courage and told Gramps with a firm voice, “You’ve got yourself a deal, Old Man.”
The walk down to the lake from the house wasn’t a long one. The house was up on a hill and there were wooden steps that took you all the way down to the dock. It’ll take a normal person maybe three minutes to walk down, but it took Jack ten. As my older brother was contemplating whether or not that movie was worth facing his fear of water, I pulled the rope that the canoe attached to and set it up for a ride around the lake. I was receiving kisses from the fish surrounding the canoe when Jack’s trembling leg stepped into the boat.
“You okay there, Champ?” I giggled and took his clammy hand.
“No, but I have to see that movie.” Jack whispered and slumped onto the seat across from me.
I picked up one ore and gave the other to my brother, “Ready?” I said excitedly.
“As I’ll ever be.” he replied and took a deep breath.
I untied the canoe from the rope and pushed us off the dock. We began to row and periodically I would help Jack position the ore correctly and make sure he wouldn’t spin us in circles by pushing the wrong way. The water was calm today, perfect canoe weather. The sun beat down on us, not in an uncomfortable way, but like the way hot chocolate warms you up after hours of sledding. We sat quietly and enjoyed the water. I was surprised to see Jack had not had a heart attack already. I laid my ore across the canoe, horizontally so the top and bottom of it hung off the edges. Panic swarmed Jack’s eyes.
“What’re you doing, Julie!” Jack cried out as he halted the rowing on his side too.
“Taking in the beauty, Jack. Just try it, it’s like no other feeling.” I breathed out, closed my eyes, and tilted my head towards the sky so the sun would kiss my face.
Jack was panicking and tried to slow his heart rate down, I think he was able to because I wasn’t hearing his labored breathing anymore. We both sat in silence and were pleased with that moment. The peace was quickly interrupted by an unearthly screech that flew from Jack’s mouth. I jolted so quickly the ore that was resting on the edge slid into the water and sank to be with the catfish. My eyes widened and I glared at Jack with the angriest look on my face.
“Why would you scream when my eyes were closed and the ore was above my lap?! What’s wrong?” I yelled at my brother while he looked terrified across the canoe.
“Look.” Jack said as he pointed to the sky.
Black clouds rolled in and covered the shining sun. It was going to storm and we were in the middle of the lake with one ore. With two people, rowing a canoe with one ore seemed impossible.
“Hand me the ore, Jack, now!” I softly screamed.
“No, Gramps told me I had to take you onto the lake. I will row us back.” Jack rebutted.
We wrestled over the ore as much as two people could in a tiny wooden boat. Jack flung the ore high into the air and it slipped from his hands into the water, right with the other one.
“Oh, my God!” I mumbled with fear now clenching my throat like it had previously done with Jack’s.
“What do we do? We’re stranded!” I fought with myself outloud and rubbed my temples as an attempt to soothe the frustration brewing in every crevasse of my body.
The dark clouds rolled in faster than one would hope. By the time Jack and I had exhausted all of our options, they were above us. I could feel my heart rate spike up and my eyes darted around in every direction looking for an escape from this tragic boat story. My glance fell upon my brother who, to my surprise, was sitting still and calm. He smirked at me and told me he had a plan.
“Okay, Jules, you have to breathe and calm down. We need to get back to shore and here’s how: we have to jump in the water and swim there.” Jack devised his plan and waited for my “okay”.
“Jack, but you hate the water.” I squinted my eyes and questioned his actual intention to swim to shore.
“I would rather have to swim in the water than sit here any longer.” Jack joked and stood up with his hand out reaching for mine.
We both were standing in the canoe and it started rocking as the water went from calm to irritated. The waves weren’t unbearable, but we needed to go now or it would become more of a challenge later. I closed my eyes, plugged my nose tightly, and jumped into Lake Dusty. My head bobbed out of the water and I pushed the hair off my face. All I could hear was my heavy breath as I looked around for Jack so we could start heading to shore.
“Jack! Jack!” I called out with panic creeping through my voice.
Treading started to get harder as the waves got more aggressive. The clouds soon turned into a thunderstorm and I still haven’t laid eyes on Jack. I swam to shore quickly, without looking back for my brother anymore. When I approached the dock a familiar hand appeared in front of my face to pull me up, it was Jack.
“I’ve never been happier to see you!” I shrieked and hugged my soggy brother.
Jack just smiled the whole way up to the house. We were both drained from any energy we once had and were praying we could slam our faces into the fluffy pillows in our bedrooms the second we stepped into the house.
“Are you children alright?” Gram asked with a worried tone and simultaneously squeezed our cheeks as reassurance we were in one piece.
“We’re fine, Gram. Jack actually saved us out there.” I talked my brother up to my grandparents.
After the initial shock of what we had just experienced and Gram’s tight grip, we slugged into the guest room and fell into bed. I never would look at Jack the same way.
Well, that was last summer. Let’s see what this year has in store for us.