Lizzie! by Maxine Kumin

Jeb Blanco, who had once been a member too and Jeb Blanco killed him instead.
    I said, “Maybe Jeb owed him money so he killed him.”
    â€œBut how did he get out on the very tip of the jetty in the middle of the night?” Josh asked.
    â€œMaybe he came by boat.”
    â€œIn that case, where’s the boat?”
    Then I said, “Jeb Blanco is giving me the creeps. Can we play Scrabble instead?” Josh really trounced me. He built m-o-s-q-u-i-t into the end o of my m-o-t-t-o and he managed to block me out of two triple word score chances. Scrabble can get to be a very fierce game. Mom and I have stopped playing because I am very competitive and I can’t stand to lose every time, but it’s even worse if she lets me win. I don’t know why I take it so hard. It’s a mother-daughter thing. But when Josh won I didn’t mind at all. Josh’s mom Jenna had bought fresh bluefish for dinner, and corn on the cob, which we shucked on the back deck. That’s one thing I can never get over in Florida. You can eat fresh corn like, forever. In Wisconsin it’s an eight-week . . . phenomenon, and that’s it.
    Josh’s dad Will and his brother Greg tended the fish on the outdoor grill with a lot of kidding and poking each other with the baster. They were supposed to be using it to baste the fish with this special sauce Jenna had made from limes and I don’t know what. When it was ready we all assembled around the dining table and took turns rolling our ears of corn on the stick of butter that had been “sacrificed for the greater good,” Jenna said. Dessert was strawberries to dip in melted chocolate. I couldn’t help feeling how terrific it was to have a father there picking the bones out of his fish, and chewing his ear of corn keyboard-style all along one row and then the next, and even talking with his mouth full. Talking about Greg’s soccer team’s chances of going to the state championship, and about how sweet it was not to have to worry about the phone ringing to call him to the hospital because he wasn’t on call tonight. Josh had said that his dad was gone every other weekend when he had to stay out at Dirk Isle, and so they mostly didn’t see him from Friday till Monday night. We sat around the dining table just pleasantly chatting until the sun started to go down. Then Jenna said she would drive me home in the van, so Greg rolled me up the ramp and Jenna fastened me in and when we got to our cottage she unfastened me and let me shoot down the ramp the way Josh does. That was sweet too.
    It turned out Mom wasn’t home yet, but the back porch door was open, so Jenna helped me get in. “I’ll wait around till she gets here,” Jenna said.
    â€œNo, don’t bother, I stay home alone lots of times when Mom isn’t here.”
    â€œYou’re sure?”
    â€œPositive. I’ll be fine.”
    â€œOkay. But promise me you’ll lock the door when I leave.”
    I thanked her again for a lovely time. And then I said, “You have a very nice family.” My voice kind of squeaked as I said it. I didn’t realize I was close to tears. Jenna said, “Thank you Lizzie” in a sort of surprised voice and then she bent over and gave me a hug. Then she went out the front door and I locked it behind her.
    I wheeled around and turned on a few lights. Mom and the Scarecrow had gone out to dinner—she’d left a note to tell me where they were and also to say that her cell phone was on if I needed anything. I leaned back in my chair and daydreamed about how it would be with the Scarecrow as my father, cheering me on at the debate team finals or just grilling bluefish for a family dinner. Maybe we could find Julio and bring him to live with us and just as I was imagining adding a room to the back of our garage I heard footsteps in the kitchen.
    â€œMom?” I said, though I knew it wasn’t Mom, and