Season of Change Read Online Free Page B

anything that comes near the nest, but I haven’t seen them fight with each other,” said Grandpa Roberts.
    “Yeah, wonder if geese ever have to get marriage counseling.” I gave myself a high voice, pretending to be the female goose. “I am so sick of sitting on these eggs. I never get to go anywhere.”
    Now Diana joined in, pretending to be the male goose, using a low voice. “I’ve been getting food for her for three weeks. She never even said thank you.”
    Grandma Roberts gave us a sharp look, but Grandpa Roberts laughed. “Well, sometimes the male does sit on the eggs, in fact, to give the female a break. I’ve seen him do it.”
    “Aww, sweet,” Diana said. She glanced at me and got out her phone and sent a text. My phone dinged. I opened it and it said:
    Wonder if the geese ever have to go talk to Jon and Olivia?
    I smiled at her. It felt good to kind of joke about it with Diana in secret. It felt good to joke with Diana, period. Even though we made up after the whole “annn-i-mal” thing, I still sometimes got the feeling that Diana wished I wasn’t there.
    “Next summer Grandma Roberts and I will be celebrating our fiftieth anniversary,” Grandpa said. “Can you imagine that? Fifty years together?”
    “No,” Diana said. “That sounds like forever.”
    I couldn’t, either. Gosh, that was more than three times longer than my entire life. This spring, Colleen had a boyfriend named Clay for two months and that had seemed like a long time for high school.
    “Do you all ever fight?” Diana asked.
    “Oh, no!” said Grandpa Roberts jovially. “As long as I do exactly what Grandma tells me to do!” He put his arm around Grandma Roberts and laughed.
    “Now, that’s not true, George,” said Grandma.
    Another boat went by, and this time a boy was riding a kneeboard behind the boat. He swung out and jumped the wake with a splash just as he passed us. A rainbow-colored wall of water sprayed out beside him. The wake from the boat made our floating dock rock, and Grandpa Roberts took hold of Grandma Roberts’ elbow to steady her. I thought that was so sweet.
    “Yep, we’ll have you jumping the wake just like that in no time at all, Miss Stephanie,” said Grandpa.

5
D IANA
    S tephanie and I lay out on the dock in our bathing suits, enjoying the way it rocked every time a boat came by. It was hot and the sun beat down on us. Stephanie rubbed suntan lotion on her legs, and the smell floated over. I loved that smell of summer.
    Every so often I’d dive in the water to cool off. “Come on in!” I said to Stephanie, swimming up to the floating dock. “The fish that bite you are really small, and it barely hurts at all!” I loved teasing Stephanie.
    “Fish bite you?” Stephanie’s jaw dropped.
    “Yeah, sometimes little ones will see a mole or a freckle and think it’s food and swim up and bite it. Grandpa Roberts says they try to bite his nipples.”
    “I’m never getting in!”
    “Okay, I’m just kidding.”
    “Diana! Are you kidding or not?” Stephanie stood up and put her hands on her hips. She was wearing a pink and white striped bikini that her mom had just given her. More guilt-offerings from her mom.
    “It doesn’t hurt,” I said. “I swear.”
    “Are there any snakes?”
    “Only one or two,” I said, with a grin.
    “Just stop, Diana!”
    Finally Stephanie got so hot that she decided she had to come in, and she kind of tiptoed down the wooden stairs that led into the water. When she stepped onto the lake’s muddy bottom, she let out a squeal.
    “Diana! It’s muddy!”
    “What did you think, that it was concrete under there?”
    “It’s all squishy in between my toes.” She made a face, and swam deeper and started to tread water. She stayed in the water for probably thirty seconds, a minute tops, and then climbed out.
    I dove a few times, opening my eyes under water. Two little fish with black dots just behind their eyes floated up to me curiously, then darted away