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“Hey, you two,” called Arden, turning to hold up his catch. “This is a really big one. A bass, and big enough for all of us. Let’s take it to Mom and she’ll broil it for our lunch.”
“Oh, Arden,” exclaimed Vera, clasping her hands together and widening her dark eyes with awe. “I do believe that’s the granddaddy fish all the fishing experts around here have been trying to catch for years and years. And to think you caught it. What a wonderful fisherman you are.”
Usually Vera seemed to annoy Arden, but this time he smiled broadly, flattered by her praise. “Gosh, Vera, it just jumped on my line.”
I hated him for falling for her stupid flattery, for not recognizing that Vera would say anything to make him look at her more than he looked at me. I jumped to my feet and ran to where I’d left my sundress. Behind concealing bushes I hoped to change from my swimming suit into my clothes. But my clothes were gone, even my sandals! Already my white bathing suit was on the ground, wet and muddy, and I was looking everywhere, thinking my clothes may have been blown away. “Vera, did you hide my clothes?”
At that instant, as I looked in another direction, I caught a glimpse of a quick hand that snatched up my discarded bathing suit. I recognized the ring on her finger. Vera’s hand. I yelled at her and started to give chase, but Arden was out there and I didn’t have on one stitch. “Arden,” I cried, “stop Vera! She’s stolen all my clothes and my bathing suit, too.” Almost crying, I looked around for something I could use to conceal my nudity.
I heard Arden thrashing around in the bushes, calling Vera—and then he was coming my way, making plenty of noise. “Audrina, I can’t find Vera. She can’t run very fast, so she must be hiding. You can put on my shirt. It’s long enough to cover you until you reach home.”
Daring to peek, I saw him turn to head for where he’d left his clothes. “Hey!” he cried, “my clothes are gone, too! But it’s all right, Audrina. You just stay where you are and I’ll run home and ask Mom to loan you something of hers to wear home.”
At that moment my father came running through the bushes, shoving them aside as he yelled at Arden, “Where’s my daughter?” He looked wildly around, then riveted his threatening eyes on Arden again. “All right, young man—where is Audrina? What have you done to her?”
Shocked into momentary speechlessness, Arden shook his head, unable to say a word. Then, as my father advanced, his huge hands balling into fists, he found his voice. “Sir, she was here a moment ago. She must be on her way home.”
“No,” growled Papa, knitting his thick brows and scowling. “I would have passed her on the way if that were true. If she’s not home, and she’s not here, where else can she be? I know she visits you and your mother often. Vera told me that. Now where the hell is Audrina?”
There was an edge of panic in Arden’s voice. “I really don’t know, sir.” He leaned over to pick up his catch of fish. “I was teaching Audrina how to fish. She doesn’t like hurting the worms, so I was showing her how to cast with flies. Audrina caught two of these big ones, and Vera caught one. Here’s the one I caught.”
Papa’s back was to me. If I dared, I might be able to sneak away and perhaps he’d never even see me. Scrunching down, I began to steal away. Suddenly I was shoved from behind. I screamed as I fell face forward, directly into a briar bush.
Papa bellowed my name. He came charging my way, thrashing through the heavy underbrush, yelling to find me naked, screaming out his rage as he tore off his expensive summer sports jacket and threw it over my shoulders. Spinning on his heel, he raced back to where Arden stood and seized him by the shoulders. Then brutally he began to shake him.
“Stop it, Papa!” I yelled. “Arden hasn’t done anything wrong! We were only fishing, and wearing bathing suits so we wouldn’t ruin our clothes. It was Vera who stole my sundress, and when I had my bathing suit off, she snatched that and ran.”
“You took off your bathing suit?” roared Papa, his face so red he seemed ready to explode.
“Papa!” I screamed as my father made another menacing move. “Arden hasn’t done anything wrong. He’s the only friend I’ve ever had, and now you’re punishing him for liking me!” I ran to where I could put myself between Arden and my father. He glared at me and tried to thrust me aside, but I clung to his arms, weighing him down. “I was changing clothes behind the bushes; Arden was still fishing. When Vera stole my clothes, and even my bathing suit, he offered to give me his shirt to wear, but she’d stolen his clothes, too. Just before you arrived he was going to run home and bring back something his mother would loan me to wear—and now you want to punish him for what Vera did.”
Behind me, Arden jumped to his feet. “If you feel such a need to punish someone, punish Vera. Audrina has never done one thing to make you ashamed of her. It’s Vera who plays the dirty tricks. And for all I know she may have been the one to tell you what we planned to do today, hoping you’d presume the worst.”
“And what is the worst?” asked Papa sarcastically even as he held me close at his side. His jacket almost slid off my shoulders to the ground. I made a desperate grab to hold it in place. I was trying to hide a bosom that didn’t exist.
Papa’s anger began to simmer down, but only a little. His fingers uncurled, though he kept tight hold on my shoulder. “Young man, I admire you for trying to protect my daughter, but she’s misbehaved just by being here. Vera told me nothing. I haven’t seen that wretch since last night at the dinner table. All I had to do was watch my Audrina’s eyes this morning. They were shining so much at the breakfast table I immediately became suspicious.” His smile was charming and evil too, as he turned to me. “You see, my love, there are no secrets you can keep from me. I can guess what’s going on even without a tattletale like Vera. And if anyone should know better than to meet secretly with a boy in the woods, it should be you.”
Papa grinned, put his hand flat on Arden’s chest and thrust him away. “As for you, young man, if you want to keep that nice straight nose of yours unbroken, leave my daughter alone!”
Arden staggered backward from the hard shove, but he didn’t fall.
“Goodbye, Arden,” I called, tugging on Papa’s hand and trying to move him along before he pushed Arden again.
Papa chose the most overgrown and difficult paths home, where everything clawed at my face, my legs and feet. After a while, he let go of my hand in order to protect his own face from being whiplashed by the low branches.
I was having great trouble keeping his jacket in place. The neck was so large it kept slipping off my shoulders. When I reached to pull it up on one shoulder, it slipped off the other. The sleeves dr
agged on the ground, and several times I tripped and fell. Impatiently he waited for me to stand after the third fall, and then he took the sleeves and wrapped them about my neck like a heavy scarf.
Helplessly, I stared up at him, wondering how he could be so mean to me. “Are you feeling sorry for yourself now, darling? Do you regret your hasty actions—deciding to risk your papa’s disfavor to see a boy who will only ruin you in the end? He’s only a bit of trash, not worthy of you.”
“He’s not trashy, Papa,” I wailed, already beginning to itch and burn. My feet were full of cuts, my legs scratched. “You don’t know Arden.”
“You don’t know him either!” he bellowed. “Now I’m going to show you something.” Again he seized my hand and pulled me along in a different direction. On and on he dragged me until I gave up trying to resist. Finally he came to an abrupt halt.
“You see that tree?” he said, pointing to a splendid one, lush with golden leaves that trembled in the gentle summer breeze. “That’s a golden raintree.” There was a small mound under the tree, covered with clover over which honey bees hovered, hummed and fingered for nectar. “That’s where we found your older sister, sprawled there stone-cold dead. Only it was raining that day in September. Raining hard. The sky was dark with thunderclouds, and lightning flashed, so at first we thought she might have been struck by lightning. But there was evidence enough to prove it wasn’t the work of God.”
My heart was a wild frantic animal in my chest, thudding hard against my ribs, screaming and wanting to get out. “Now you listen to me, and listen carefully. Learn from the mistakes of others, Audrina. Learn before it’s too late to save yourself. I don’t want to find you dead there too.”
