The mid-August sunrise splashed across the front grass, the morning dew glistening for miles. The slip ‘n slide was still unfurled from the day before, like a mighty yellow river trailing down to the lake. It was a pond, really, but “lake” made it sound much bigger, and to us, that lake was larger than life...

We were farm girls under a hot blue sky with a bottle of discount tanning lotion from Kmart and aluminum lounge chairs that broke after one summer. We’d lie on our backs for ten minutes, then flip over like pancakes on a griddle, the nylon webbing branding our skin and sweat streaking the lotion like rain on a window... 

We cleared our plates as Rose spooned cookie dough onto baking sheets and tried to swipe a taste when she wasn’t looking. The kitchen floor was mostly dry but for that small patch in the corner that, in all the days commotion, had only been painted an hour ago...