After Dark by James Leck, Yasemine Uçar, Marie Bartholomew, Danielle Mulhall Page A

afford to have you take a whole day off.”
    â€œHave you seen Mr. Autumn yet?” Miles asked, cutting in.
    â€œI’m afraid not,” Mom said. “Help yourself to a drink, Miles. You did a lot of work today.”
    â€œThank you, but I have to get going,” he said. “However, if you don’t mind, I’d like to drop by later this evening.”
    â€œJust make sure it’s before nine, okay? I’m beat.”
    â€œSure,” he said. “And thanks for the autograph, Johnny.”
    â€œ De nada ,” Johnny said, and Miles left.
    â€œIs the shower finished?” Lilith asked.
    â€œThe plumber was sick today. We’re hoping to have it fixed by tomorrow.”
    â€œOh snap, Ma,” Johnny said. “I totally reek, and I’ve got a date tonight.”
    â€œA date?” I said. “How did you line up a date? You haven’t been here for twenty-four hours, and you’ve spent most of the time blasting paint off of the side of the inn.”
    â€œI got a text from Elizabeth,” he said, shrugging.
    â€œThat reminds me,” I said, turning to Mom. “I need a new phone.”
    â€œI told you, Charlie, I’m not buying you a new phone. You’ve got your computer and your tablet. You don’t need another phone to lose.”
    â€œI can’t walk around with a tablet in my pocket, Mom. And during my long and arduous walk home today, I was thinking that I should probably have a phone in case I get into some kind of trouble or get lost. I mean, what if there’s an emergency?”
    â€œIt’s a small town, Charlie. The people are friendly. I’m sure you’ll manage,” she said.
    â€œWhat about the shower situation?” Johnny asked.
    â€œGo down to the river. There’s a place called The Bend where I used to go swimming. Take the truck.”
    â€œLook,” I said, “bathing in the river is all well and good for the television star of the family. Apparently he can line up dates standing on the side of the road in the middle of the night, but how am I supposed to meet anyone if I’m walking around in Choke clothes and smell like a mix of BO and dirty river water? I say we book into a hotel while we wait for this place to get fixed up.”
    â€œFirst, Charlie, the river’s not dirty,” Mom said. “And second, the bathroom will be done by tomorrow. There’s no reason for us to leave.”
    â€œNot yet, anyway,” I said. “Not yet.”
    Saturday, 4:40 p.m.
    Lilith stayed behind with Mom while Johnny and I piled into the truck and headed down to the river. I’d been picturing a private little watering hole, with birds singing in the trees and fish swimming around us. Instead, the road was lined with cars, and The Bend was absolutely packed with people.
    It wasn’t hard to figure out why it was called The Bend — it was just a long curve in the Rolling River that would look like a giant C from above. The inside part of the C consisted of a smoothed-down, solid ledge of rock that gradually sloped down from the woods behind it into the water. The ledge was covered with people, lying on towels. We were standing on the road, on the outer edge of the C , looking down on them. On the other side of the guardrail was a high cliff that dropped straight into the river. A gang of kids was standing on the edge and taking turns leaping into the air and screaming their way down into the water. The river was about as wide as the road, and there was a mix of people floating around on air mattresses, inner tubes or just swimming lazily in the black water.
    Up the river and to our left, there was a wooden bridge that you could cross to get to the rock ledge on the other side. Johnny headed for the bridge, but I was feeling lazy, so I got in line with the ten-year-olds on the edge of the cliff. When it was my turn, I kicked off my flip-flops and took a flying leap into the