How I Spent my Summer Holiday

Grandma sat silently, holding her coffee cup in one hand, and drumming her fingers on the table with the other. Isabelle and I stared at her, not daring to move, wondering what was going to happen next. I was just about to say I was sorry I opened the parcel when she stood up.

“I can’t take this anymore. Get in the car kids. We’re going to the lake.”

She grabbed the keys off the hook by the door and headed outside. We hustled out behind her and got in the car. In a few minutes we were careening down the gravel road, with a huge cloud of dust following close behind us.

Pigeon Lake is about five miles from Fernwood Manor. It isn’t a very big lake, but it is said to be a very deep one. It is known for being a great place to catch Northern Largemouth Bass. My dad has a trophy for catching the largest bass during a fishing derby at Pigeon Lake when he was a teenager. The lake has a boat dock, because of the fish, as well as a few camping spots and picnic tables.

We pulled into the parking lot by the boat launch. Grandpa’s truck was already there, along with a couple of police cars. He and Detective Richolt were standing on the launch, looking out the lake.

Grandma led us to a picnic table by the shore and told us to sit quietly and watch. I focused my attention on the lake, in the direction that Grandpa and the policeman were looking. There was something moving in the water near the dock. It was two divers in a wet suits. They had oxygen tanks on their backs. They disappeared under the water.

Grandpa turned and saw us sitting at the table. He waved and came over to be with us. Grandma asked him what was happening. He didn’t reply, just handed her the letter. She started reading.

After a few moments of silent reading, she looked up at Grandpa and asked “what has it got to do with this lake?”

“It ties back to our time at Serenity Place. One night we were all sitting around the fire talking about how we would choose to kill ourselves. A crazy topic, for sure, but that’s who we were back then. Anyway, Sara said she would find a deep lake and drive her car into it and drown. That’s why she wrote ‘you know what I plan to do’ because she was the only one who came up with that idea that night.

“But why wouldn’t have someone found the car back then. It wouldn’t have been able to drive far into the water”

“I thought of that, but Detective Richolt reminded me that 1976, the date on the letter, was a unusual year. Record breaking cold temperatures, all through November. The lake would have been frozen over by Thanksgiving.”

“Thanksgiving!” Grandma looked down at the letter in her hand again. “That’s when she was planning to do it? Thanksgiving, 1976; the morning I went into labor with Daniel?”

“Yes. We were at the hospital that day, and the next, and the next. Remember the storm. It was a good thing that the labor pains started when they did. We wouldn’t have made it to the hospital if we had left in the afternoon.”

“So, she drops off the boy at our house and drives here to drown herself in this lake. That poor boy. All alone in the midst of that storm, with no way to get into the house. That’s why he was in the barn. He was trying to stay warm. What kind of a woman would do that?’

“One whose brain had been burned out by drugs, I assume”

“Oh Virgil, it’s all my fault. I didn’t give you the parcel.”

“No, Olivia, it’s not your fault. She made the decisions. She did what she did. You had nothing to do with that, other than trying to protect our family. She was a troublemaker and you knew it. She claims Vincent was my son, but that’s not true. I never touched her that way. We can never know what would have happened if I had opened the parcel back then. I probably would have ignored it, thrown it in the garbage, and we would be in the same place today as we are now. So please, please don’t assume you are the guilty one.”

“But I am.” Grandma turned and stared resolutely out at the lake.

Just then, there was a commotion over at the boat launch. A diver had reappeared above the water line and was yelling “yes” and pointing down at something in the lake. Campers were emerging from their tents to see what was going on. A couple of more police cars pulled into the parking lot.

Grandpa went and stood in front of Grandma, blocking her view of the lake. He took both her hands and pulled her to her feet and wrapped his arms around her. “I love you, Olivia. I am so blessed to have you as my wife.” His arms tightened around her as he kissed her cheek. “Can you take the children home now. The mystery is solved. I’ll be with you as soon as I can.”

When she finally nodded, he let her go, and stepped back. He reached up to cup her face in his hands. “Be strong my precious,” he murmured, looking deep into her eyes. He turned and picked up the letter from the table. “The police are going to need this for evidence.” He headed back to the boat launch.