Free Summer at Forsaken Lake by Michael D. Beil

dad was being nice, putting my name on that plaque,” Nick said. “He did all the work. I just gave him a little advice now and then. And maybe a little lumber.” He rubbed his hand down the length of the starboard gunwale, reminiscing. “She’s a beaut, no?”
    “Is it fast?” Charlie asked.
    “Oh, I’m sure she’d scoot right along in a little breeze. These little boats are very popular in England, partly because they’re so stable. Hard to capsize. Thousands ofthem, most homebuilt like this one. Your dad saw a picture of one in a magazine and sent away for the plans. Spent most of two summers working on it. Shame he didn’t—”
    “Can you take us out on it?” Hayley interrupted. “It’s so cute.”
    “
Adorable
, really,” added Hetty.
    Nick scrunched up his face, scratching his chin and squinting at Nicholas and the twins. “Well, it may not be my place to say, but after all these years, I don’t think your dad would object to somebody finally finishing her up. It’s kind of a shame, her sittin’ up here like this. But I have to warn you, she still needs a good bit of work before she’ll be ready to sail. Think you’d be up for that?”
    Charlie and Nicholas nodded enthusiastically.
    Nick sighed. “Well, I suppose she’s been imprisoned long enough.”
    “Why is it up here, anyway?” Hayley asked. “Why didn’t Daddy finish it?”
    “Long story,” Nick answered, not offering to tell it.
    “Does it have a motor?” Hetty asked.
    Nick found an oar leaning against the wall and showed it to her. “Yep. Finest kind. Look, I think this one even has your name carved into the handle. H-E-T-T-Y,” he teased. “There’s a suit of sails somewhere in the house. Will bought them used from a fellow from Cleveland. If I had to guess, I’d say they’re probably in the back of that hall closet.”
    “Is there anything you
don’t
have in that closet?” Nicholas asked.
    Nick laughed. “You sound just like Lillie.”
    Hayley cleared her throat to interrupt. “Um, don’t we have a little problem here, people? The boat is in a
hayloft
.”
    “Oh, don’t let that bother you,” Nick said. “I got her up here; I can get her down. There’s a block and tackle around here somewhere we can use to lower her over the edge.”
    Hetty walked all the way around the boat, then stood with her arms crossed. “She doesn’t have a name.”
    “Hetty, the boat isn’t even painted yet,” said Nicholas. “The name won’t go on until last.”
    “IMP!”
shouted Hayley and Hetty together.
Imp
was the name of the dinghy used by
Goblin
’s owner in the book to go between his mooring and shore.
    “Please, pretty please, Great-uncle Nick—allow us to name her
Imp
,” said Hetty in the fake British accent she’d started using after reading
We Didn’t Mean to Go to Sea
. “It’s
ever
so perfect.”
    Nicholas and Charlie laughed at Hetty’s over-the-top plea.
    “I thought you didn’t like books, Hetty,” said Nicholas.
    “
Most
books,” she replied, doing her best to sound like a sophisticated English child. “That one is
quite
special.”
    * * *
    Nicholas was in his room reading over the faded construction plans for the Heron and suddenly feeling a little intimidated by the childhood version of his own dad. A movie. A boat. A girl, even. Who said she
loved
him.
    Yikes. Not sure I’m ready for that
.
    And all at the age of fourteen.
    I have a couple of years to catch up
.
    Nick knocked on the staircase and then slowly spiraled his way into the tower room. “Now I remember why I don’t come up here that often,” he joked as he sat on the edge of Nicholas’s bed and took a few deep breaths. “This room is meant for young people. Ah, I see you’re looking at the plans. Nifty little boat.”
    “Did you have plans like these for
Goblin
?”
    “Very similar. Building big boats is a lot like building little ones.”
    “I wonder why Dad never told me about this,” said Nicholas.
    Nick nodded.