“You alright?” she asked.
“Yeah.” He wiped at his mouth with the back of his hand.
“A little tired, I guess?”
“I guess so.” He stood up and pulled up his pants. “Do you want to see the pond?” he asked.
“There’s a pond?”
“Yeah, I told you about it.”
“I don’t know. I’m really scared of alligators.”
“There aren’t alligators in it.”
“Are you sure?”
“I’m sure.”
“Then I guess so.”
They went back through the front section of the shed and out the big sliding door, from the sweltering heat to the relief of cool air and bright sunshine.
“It’s pretty out here,” said Abby.
“It is, isn’t it? The pond is this way.” They began walking around the side of the shed.
“Aren’t there any little doors? Any people-sized doors? Can we only come and go through that big door?”
“There’s a door right there,” Charlie said, as they rounded the back of the shed. “A little nervous, aren’t we?”
“No.”
“I would have used it, but I don’t have a key for that one.”
“I was just asking. It’s a big building. I figured there must be a few doors, that’s all.”
“That,” he said, as they passed a couple much smaller, nondescript sheds, “is the pond.”
It wasn’t a pond so much as a small lake. “It’s huge,” Abby said.
“Do you want to walk down to it and take a look?”
“Sure.” Just then she heard what sounded like a vehicle approaching. “Do you hear that?” she asked.
“Uhhh…” Charlie turned, looking back up toward the sheds and dirt road they’d come in on. The view of the road was blocked from here.
“Charlie, someone is definitely coming. What should we do?”
“You stay here. It’s probably someone who’s lost.”
“I don’t want to stay here alone. What about alligators?”
Charlie looked helplessly at Abby as they listened to the vehicle stopping on the other side of the shed. One car door slammed, and then another. A sudden low wind rustled the tall grass around them and the buzzing cicadas seemed to all hush at once.
“What should we do?” Abby whispered
.