As their junior year came to a close, so did the cool, spring days caked with yellow dust. The thermometer continued to climb past 80, then 90 degrees. In a small town with no more responsibilities of demanding school, Kendall and Warren, her best friend and partner in crime, day-dreamed about the relaxing pool-side days ahead of them. And they were perfectly content with another mundane summer.

The last thing they expected, or dreamed of, was a new place to get into all sorts of adventures that summer. So when Kendall’s parents announced the news that they were surprising her and her younger brother with a lake house, she was ecstatic! However, she quickly became skeptical; afraid this too-good-to-be-true claim was a cruel joke. It didn’t take long for her to be convinced, and the sweet reality sunk in.

Of course, Warren knew almost immediately after Kendall did. Memorial Day weekend was in 6 days, and naturally they stayed on the phone all night. Both jittery from the butterflies and the hype of the whole situation, they didn’t waste one second. They began scheming their new summer out on Lake Hartwell and also informing each other on what they had already began to pack.

As Friday rolled around, it was absolutely pointless for the two anxious girls to be at school. All day, their eyes dizzily followed the hands of the clock and the constant tick was imprinted into their brains. Only the bells signaling class changes broke them from their trance. Not soon enough, the school day ended and the girls hopped in Warren’s Four Runner and were at the lake in no time.

Weaving back to their cove, they bounced down the rocky, unpaved Shubert Road where the house was impatiently waiting on them. James, Kendall’s dad, was just as impatient as the girls; he met them in the driveway with life jackets and hurried them down to the dock.

With the wind whipping and dreading Kendall and Warren’s hair, and Luke Bryan blaring out the speakers, it was the perfect start to their two months of freedom and nothing was going to shake that.

The following day, they were right back on the water. And this time, with the whole family: James, newly nicknamed “Gilligan”, was the captain, Momma Melly was the photographer, and Warren, Kendall, and her brother were getting all geared up to tube. The girls went first. Momma Melly captured some priceless faces as they bounced and flew across the water.

Little brother was impatient to get his turn; so being the mature older sister, Kendall sacrificed her spot. As her brother and friend resituated on the tube, Kendall convinced her dad to let her drive. She began taking off slowly, getting the feel for the boat. Soon, she was picking up speed becoming more confident. Then, she popped her eyes up into each of the mirrors and took a quick glance around making sure there were no boats.
Suddenly, she took a hair-pin turn and to her surprise the boat started beeping and a picture of a boat capsizing flashed across the dash board. However, the beeping was no match to Momma Melly’s shriek. And thankfully, Gilligan came to the rescue jumping from his seat to take the wheel, correcting his daughter’s mistake.
Panicking when she remembered Warren and her son, Momma Melly gasped as she watched the two clinging to each other violently flopping off the tube and then into the air. As they hit the water, she jumped, and hurried her husband to circle around to get them.
Fearing the worst, Momma Melly practically leaped off the boat to check on Warren and her baby. As Gilligan pulled up beside them, they were bobbing up and down in the water with the waves from the boat. With an undertone of pain, they caught a glance at each other and reminisced on the previous few minutes. Only when they starting laughing did Momma Melly’s body finally relax.
Climbing up onto the boat, their heads were pounding as the pain sunk in, threatening Kendall if she ever tried to drive again! They docked, and spent the rest of the day baking in the sun.
That summer had many more memories, but never any like that again. Almost flipping the boat and coming close to injuring innocent tubers was enough to ban Kendall from captain duties. Nevertheless, they came back senior year with hilarious stories from Lake Hartwell.