Just Another Summer

The waves crashed against the pier as Leah walked along. It had been a long time since she’d met any of her friends on the beach. She wasn’t sure she’d gone at all since the incident last year, at least, not alone. She looked up, feeling eyes on her. Some of the younger fishermen were standing in front of the docks, leering at her.

She hugged her shirt around herself, thinking her father had been right to suggest bringing the dog along, but it was too late now. She wasn’t going back in front of those old shacks.

She glanced around when she stepped out on the sand. She was alone. She could relax with the sound of the waves in the background and the feel of the sand in her feet. She took her shoes off, relishing the warm sand after so long. She walked along the water’s edge, feeling it lap against her feet. On an open beach, she could see forever in any direction, and she could see that she was alone. At least when she was alone, she could relax. At least then, she knew she was safe.

#

           A tall man with a weather-worn face sat in the office of the only lawyer in the village. He doubted that a small-town lawyer in a little podunk fishing village could beat he Manhattan hot-shot he was up against, but the man was also sure that a small-town lawyer in a little podunk fishing village was all he could afford. He leaned forward, with his elbows on his knees, tapping his fingertips together.

“Mr. Thompson?” asked the secretary. She was a cute red head that, at any other time, Thompson would have paid a lot more attention to. She looked him up and down in disdain. He smiled and tipped his hat at her.

“Yes ma’am?”

“Mr. Gordon’s ready for you.”

“Thanks.”

He stepped into the office with an ease that didn’t match how he was feeling.

“Mr. Thompson, I’m going to make this brief,” said Mr. Gordon. He was a short, round man with a face like a toad, “I don’t think I’m going to be able to help you.”

Thompson’s mouth went dry, “What?”

“Mr. Thompson, the defense attorney is alleging that this wasn’t a case of rape.”

Thompson leaned forward, steely eyes drilling into the little lawyer. There was no change in his expression, but the lawyer squirmed under his gaze anyway, “Say that again, Mr. Gordon.”

The lawyer cleared his throat, “Well, Mr. Thompson, this can’t be easy to hear, I’m sure,” he said, starting to regain some of his older composure, “but the defendant is alleging that the, uh, contact was consensual.”

Thompson took a deep breath and wouldn’t take his eyes off of the lawyer. He clenched and unclenched a fist a couple of times before speaking again, “He’s lying.”

“Can you prove that?” Gordon was finding his footing again. He specialized in sleezy used car salesman tactics, particularly when he sensed he had the upper hand, “You see, Mr. Thompson, Mr. Reese’s family spends a lot of summers down here. They have a lot of rich friends. People trust them.”

“More than they trust one of their own?”

“More than they trust an outsider.”

“Jesus Christ.”

“Don’t you think it’s just possible, Mr. Thompson, that she is telling you the contact was nonconsensual to stay out of trouble.”

“No, I don’t,” Thompson said. He felt a peculiar combination of anger and sickness,

“Jesus Christ,” he said again, “No one in this town’s got a bit of decency. All willing to throw away one of their own, just to keep the money rolling in.”

“It is what it is, Mr. Thompson.”

#

“Leah!” yelled a girl with long sandy-colored hair a ways off, “I can’t believe your dad let you off work!”

“It was easy!” Leah called back, jogging toward the girl, “The regular mate’s working tomorrow.”

“That’s great,” said the girl.

Leah sat down, “Pass me a beer, Jenny,” she said.

“Hey, Leah,” Jenny said in a sing-song voice, “I hear there’s some college guys supposed to be coming out tonight. Lots of cute guys,” she elbowed Leah and sloshed the beer.

“I’m good,” said Leah.

“Why? There something you’re not telling us?” said a tall boy with long hair as he sat down across from them and took a swig out of an unmarked bottle.

“What? No. Piss off, Ian,” said Leah.

“Yeah, shut up, Ian,” said Jenny, smacking him on the shoulder, “Besides, I bet it’s got way more to do with her dad than anything. Who wants to get on the bad side of that guy?”

Leah rolled her eyes at them. She’d heard it all before. When a single father moved to a small, insulated Long Island fishing village about ten or twelve years ago, it was impossible to stop the rumors. There were rumors about why he was a single dad and why he had chosen that village to move to. The answers, of course, were always more boring than the questions insinuated. There was a fishing business for sale, and they needed somewhere stable to go after her mother dropped her off. It hadn’t stopped the rumors from flying. There wasn’t much else to do in a quiet fishing village.

“Can we talk about, I don’t know, literally anything else?” asked Leah, “What’s in the bottle anyway?”

“Rum,” said Jenny, “You want some?”

“Out of a glass, maybe. I don’t want anywhere near Ian’s spit.”

“What’s wrong with my spit? You didn’t mention Jenny’s spit.”

“Jenny’s spit won’t give me herpes,” said Leah.

“How would you know that?”

“Because Jenny didn’t sleep with the whole cheer squad last year.”

“You heard it here, folks, that was me!” yelled Ian.

“Pass me the rum and shut up,” said Leah.

“Where the hell is Robbie?” asked Ian.

“What do you care?” asked Leah.

“He’s supposed to be bringing the weed,” said Ian.

“Hey! Robbie! Over here!” Jenny yelled, popping up and waving.

Another boy with short brown hair sat down on Jenny’s other side.

“Hi, Robbie,” said Leah, a little shyly. Jenny grinned broadly and leaned back.

Jenny, Robbie, Ian, and Leah had all grown up together, just like all the other kids in the village. The difference was that they had all moved to the island when they were young, making them “outsiders”. This made them inherently untrustworthy in the eyes of the real villagers. If you weren’t born there, then you weren’t a real villager. Real villagers didn’t press charges on the rich summer tourists, no matter what happened.

“Hey, check out what I got,” said Robbie, producing a small bag out of his pocket.

“Nice,” said Ian, as Robbie rolled a joint, lit it, took a drag, and coughed before passing it to Leah.

“Nah, I’m good. Pretty sure Dad would kill me. You should have seen what he did after he caught me with a regular cigarette.”

“Oh, just try it, you wuss,” said Ian. Leah tossed sand in his drink.

“Oh, would you two just screw already and get it over with,” Jenny said, laughing.

Ian jumped up and started toward Leah. Leah ran toward the waves, kicking up sand behind her as she ran. He caught her wrist, and she spun around with a wild look in her eye before she remembered what was going on. They stopped, gasping for breath with their hands on their knees.

“So, what about it?” asked Ian.

“What about what?”

“What Jenny said.”

“Get bent, Ian,” she said and slugged him in the jaw, knocking him into the water before walking back toward Jenny and Robbie, brushing her hands off. Jenny was cheering. Leah waved and was in the sand before she knew what hit her. Before she knew just what she was doing, she kicked Ian hard in the stomach, sending him flying.

“Jesus Christ, Leah, what the hell?”

“I – I’m sorry, you scared me is all.”

“Holy crap.”

“Are-are you ok?”

“I’ll be fine. Remind me to bring you with me if I ever need a bodyguard. God!”

“Leah, are you ok?” Jenny yelled, running up to them.

“Her? She kicked me in the gut.”

“Shut up, Ian,” Jenny yelled and dragged Leah away from the boys.

“Leah, are you ok?”

“Yeah,” Leah said too quickly.

“You’ve got to forgive Ian. He’s an idiot.” Leah nodded again. Jenny rolled her eyes and held up the joint, “Here.”

Leah shook her head, still breathing hard, “Dad – “

“Forget him. You think he’d care after what just happened? Just one drag. It’ll calm you down.”

“Leah, Jenny! Ian says he’s sorry!” Robbie yelled to them.

“One hit?”

“One hit.”

“Screw it,” Leah grabbed the joint and took a quick drag, holding her breath a short moment before exhaling. They walked back and lit the fire. They sat and drank and talked for a few more hours before the college students showed up. Jenny and Ian found partners quickly, leaving Leah and Robbie sitting by the fire.

“That was pretty cool what you did back there,” Robbie said, “Kicking Ian in the gut, I mean.”

“He’s a jerk.”

“He’s only like that cause he likes you,” Leah stared at Robbie in disbelief, “I don’t mean it like that. I mean…I guess you’re like a kid sister to him,” they sat quietly for a few more minutes before Ian and the girl he had his eye on ran between them, kicking up sand.

“Ian, you jerk,” yelled Leah.

“I’ve got to get going,” Robbie said, “Dad’s got an early charter tomorrow.”

“Oh…ok. See you,” Leah said as he left. She took a swig of rum from the bottle Ian had brought, thinking of the look Robbie had given her just now. All the villagers have her that look and had given it to her since last year. That weird look between pity and anger. She looked at her phone. It was a little after ten. She might as well call her dad. There wasn’t much point in sitting and staring at the fire.

As she walked toward the parking lot to wait on him, one of the older guys swaggered toward her. He was tall and good looking with long, blond hair. She felt a familiar panic rising in her chest. She swallowed, trying to quell it. Next time, she would bring the dog. When the stranger spoke, he words were slurred, “Hey, I saw what happened. What jerk leaves a pretty girl like you alone on the beach? A dumb jerk, that’s who? Y-you wanna join us?”

Leah shivered and pulled her shirt around herself, “No…thanks anyway,” she said as she hurried off and dialed her father.

#

Mr. Thompson had been holding his phone all night, watching TV, and waiting on his daughter to call. Her friends were decent enough kids, but he wouldn’t feel settled until she was back home. The phone hadn’t even finished its first right when he answered it, “You alright, Leah?”

“Yeah, Dad, it’s just a little crowded out here.”

“I’m on my way,” he hung up the phone and grabbed his keys. The bonfire site was only a minute or two down the road, and he was there in almost record time. She was standing with her back against a pole, hugging her shirt tightly around herself. He recognized the stance. Something had gotten to her. He flung open the door to the truck without a word, she climbed in, and he drove off. She stunk like pot, but that could wait until they got home. They finally got home and went inside. She turned on the lights.

“You going to tell me why you stink like skunk?” asked Thompson.

“I had a hit not long after we got there.”

“Why you little – “ he turned and saw her arm. It was bruised and scraped from where she’d hit the sand. He sat at the table and kicked out the chair across from him, “What happened to your arm?”

“Ian.”

His eyes narrowed, “What happened?”

“He didn’t mean anything by it. We were all joking around, and he started chasing me. Just fooling around, and he caught me by the wrist.”

“Got you all worked up?”

She nodded, “So I cold-cocked him right into the water. So, I thought the whole thing was over, you know, and I started walking back to Jenny and Robbie. Well, I guess Ian wasn’t going to take that for an answer, so he tackled me; knocked me into the sand.”

“And that’s what happened to your arm?” she nodded, “What did you do then?”

“Well, I was kind of panicked by then. I didn’t really know what I was doing, or who he was, so I kicked him in the gut. Sent him flying.”

“That why you took the hit?” She nodded. He hooked his thumbs in his pockets and watched her closely. It certainly sounded like Ian had put her in quite a panic, “It was just the one time?”

She nodded.

“And it was just to calm you down?”

She nodded again.

“Just the one hit?”

She nodded. He studied her closely. She wasn’t lying to him, “Alright, Leah, I’ll let it slide this time. Just this one time, you understand. You can thank that idiot friend of yours,” he sighed and shook his head, “Let me get some popcorn going, and we’ll watch a late movie. Just take a load off with your old man, alright.”

They sat on the couch, and she leaned against him. It was some dumb old B-grade horror movie that was so bad it was funny. He was sure there was more she wanted to say, but now was not the time. Tonight, they were just going to watch a dumb movie and not think about anything else. It wasn’t long before she fell asleep against him. He smiled. They would go fishing tomorrow. There wasn’t anything else to talk about. Not tonight. Not for a while. As far as he was concerned, today was just another day at the beach, and tomorrow was just another day fishing, and this would be just another summer. That was how it had to be. At least for now.

“Night, Leah,” he said before switching off the TV, leaning back, and going to sleep.

THE END