Page 197 of Story of My Life
Hazel moaned. “What do we do? We can’t let them capsize!”
My mother joined us and handed the cross-eyed chicken she was holding to Zoey, who looked like she was about to pass out.
Mom clapped her hands. “Levi, get out there and assess the damage. Take extra life jackets with you and find out who can’t swim. Gage and Cam? All available boats, find ’em and get them out there to start the rescue. Laura, call Gator and see how far that winch on his tow truck goes. If we get the boat close enough, maybe we can tow them to shore.”
“What can I do?” Hazel asked, clutching her notebook to her chest.
“Call Darius and track down as many of the Outdoor Girls as you can. They just completed lifeguarding badges this summer.”
I keyed the walkie again. “Bingo Caller to Golden Oldie. Rescue operation is underway. Sit tight and try to enjoy the sunshine.” Beto waved the okay from the boat, and I hit the dock looking for boats owned by people too trusting to lock them up.
Emilie sidled up next to me as I tried to untie Junior Wallpeter’s Sunfish from the pier. “Told ya this was a bad idea,” she said smugly.
I paused my knot abuse and glared at her. “It’s almost like you wanted us to fail.”
“What? No. Why the hell would I want that?” she sputtered.
“Exactly, Rump. Why the hellwouldyou?” I agreed. The knot gave up the fight, and I jumped down onto the craft. By the time I pushed off from the dock and raised the halyard, Emilie was gone.
Minutes later, I was busy hauling a tiny but spry eighty-six-year-old aboard when my radio crackled. “I know everyone is busy saving lives right now, but we’ve got a problem at the ice cream stand and the petting zoo.”
“Figured everyone could useone of these,” Rusty said, wandering up with two buckets of icy beers.
“Thanks,” I said and grabbed two by the necks. I made my way through the puddle of dejected, dehydrated Summer Fest committee members to Hazel, who was seated on the curb. She looked like someone had run over her grandmother and then set her house on fire as she watched the Silver Haven residents board their bus with hastily boxed-up dinners from Angelo’s.
I dangled the beer in front of her face. “Haze?”
She blinked and accepted the bottle. “Thanks.”
I sat down next to her on the curb. The sun was lower in the sky now, taking the worst of the temperatures with it. But that was about all we had to celebrate.
“It wasn’t that bad,” I insisted, popping the top on my beer. “It could have been worse.”
“How, Cam? How could it have been worse? We lost an entire bus of tourists. We gave the whole high school cross-country team heatstroke. Your store has to hand out thirty-fourfamily packs of toilet paper since every single runner crossed the finish line in front of Mayor Poop Emoji. We nearly drowned an entire bus of senior citizensanda couple of Outdoor Girls during the rescue. And now we’re all covered in melted ice cream and livestock hair thanks to the Great Freezer Breaker Flip and Petting Zoo Escape.”
“Nobody actually died or ended up in the hospital,” I pointed out.
“We needed an entire tent dedicated to medical emergencies. That shouldn’t be a metric for success.”
I uncapped her beer and handed it back to her. “Baby, we all knew this was a long shot. The first step in a very long fight. The first event was always going to be a shit show. But you know what did work?”
She pouted down at her beer. “What?”
“We did.”
“We did what?”
“We worked together. The whole town. And that’s all because of you.”
“I’m busy wallowing right now. I don’t think phony compliments are appropriate in this moment,” she said morosely.
I nudged her shoulder. “You organized an entire town to show up and fake our way through looking bigger and better than we are. And it was working.”
“Yeah, until it didn’t.”
“Until someone made sure it didn’t,” I said.
Hazel sat up straighter. “What do you mean?”
