Mystery Shorts

We headed out into the cove and toward the river. The breeze on the water was cool. I was glad I wore my hoodie. It was hard to talk with the noisy motor, so we just enjoyed the ride. I looked across the cove. The other side was all grasses as far as I could see, kinda swampy looking with lots of birds flying around. I wondered if there were alligators, ugh! Ava was lying on her stomach across the front bench with her head hanging over the bow and one hand in the water. Suddenly a deep roar sounded over our outboard noise and something large flew by. A speed boat! Its wake hit us and we were lifted from our seats and crashed back down. I screamed and grabbed the side but felt myself falling over but a strong hand pulled me to safety. Thank you, Billy! But Ava wasn’t so lucky. She was hanging over the bow with her legs in the air and her head and arms in the water! Billy jumped forward and grabbed the back of her life preserver and hauled her back into the boat. Tom had stopped the boat and was standing up waving his fist. “Hey! Slow down, this is a no wake zone!” he yelled angrily. The big boat swung around and headed straight back toward us. “He’s going to hit us!” I screamed, grabbing Billy. The boat cut its engine and turned away just in time. My heart was pounding. Big Lonnie leaned leisurely over from the captain’s chair and said “Oh, I’m sorry, I didn’t see you there.” “Lonnie! You almost capsized us! You know this is a no wake zone!” “It’s so hard to read those little signs when you’re going full speed.” He waved and roared off leaving our little craft bobbing like a cork. Empty pop cans came sailing through the air at us and into our boat. Sheiks of laughter came from the rear of Lonnie’s boat and two of his friends from school were pointing and waving at us. “Grrrr! That guy drives me crazy!” Billy exclaimed. Me too, I thought.