After the Fire by Becky Citra Page A

his mouth. Melissa was glad that for once Sharlene hadn’t given in to her brother’s demands. Now that they were out here, she had to admit she was enjoying herself. It was satisfying to feel the canoe surge forward each time she pulled the paddle through the still water.
    â€œYou’re good in a canoe, Mel,” said Sharlene suddenly. “You make very even strokes. I think we make a great team. When your Aunty Eleanor and I used to take our grandpa’s canoe out, we argued steadily about who was paddling the hardest.” Sharlene chuckled. “Once we got in a down-and-out fight and tipped the canoe right over!”
    Melissa couldn’t help grinning. She found it impossible to imagine Sharlene and her sister Eleanor as kids, canoeing on some lake that might have been a bit like this. Melissa didn’t know her aunt very well, and the few times they got together, she always had the feeling that Aunty Eleanor disapproved of Sharlene.
    She examined the compliment her mother had given her and imagined casually telling the kids at school that she had spent the summer canoeing.
    â€œOh my,” said Sharlene suddenly in a low voice. “Keep quiet and look over to the right.”
    A sleek black and white bird drifted on the smooth water. It opened its bill and gave a long quavering cry.
    â€œA loon,” whispered Sharlene. “It’s calling its mate.”
    Melissa scanned the lake and spotted another loon. “There it is!” she said, pointing. “Way over there.”
    The loons called back and forth. Goose bumps prickled Melissa’s back. The sound was beautiful and sad at the same time.
    For a long time they let the canoe drift while they watched the loons. Finally the birds dove and reappeared far in the distance. Melissa and Sharlene picked up their paddles. The canoe glided around a point of land that jutted into the water. “Look, Cody,” said Sharlene. “Somebody lives here.”
    Cody looked up long enough to decide that it wasn’t at all interesting and began to whine, “I want to go back. I want to go back.”
    â€œThis must be the Hopes’ ranch,” said Sharlene.
    Melissa’s heart gave a jump. Rippling green fields stretched back from the lake. A tractor was parked in the middle of one field and a swath of mowed grass stretched like a ribbon behind it. The field next to it had been cut and was dotted with huge round bales of hay. A log house, the fading sunlight glinting off the dark windows, faced the lake, and a barn and several outbuildings were scattered behind. A long dock in front of the house was bare except for the blue canoe and an aluminum boat tied to the end.
    Melissa thought of the clutter of lawn chairs, beach towels and Cody’s toys that had spread across the grass and onto the dock in front of their cabin. Sharlene must have been thinking the same thing for she said, “It looks kind of lonely here.”
    Sharlene and Melissa rested their paddles and the canoe drifted toward the house. “Maybe we better go back,” said Melissa quickly. Her heart raced in her chest. She was terrified that Alice would think she was spying on her.
    At that moment a tall thin boy walked through a door onto the front porch of the house. He was wearing baggy blue jeans and a gray T-shirt with the arms cut off. His black hair was long and fell over one side of his face. He stopped and stared out at them, and Melissa’s face flushed. “Come on,” she urged. “It looks like we’re being nosy.”
    â€œNonsense,” said Sharlene. She waved at the boy. “Hello!” she called out.
    The boy stared a moment longer but made no sign that he had heard Sharlene. Then he wheeled around and disappeared back inside the house, slamming the door.
    â€œSee!” said Melissa, mortified. Was Alice watching them too, from one of the windows? She dug her paddle into the water and swung the canoe