"You"re doing great." Todd waded out and offered her a hand onto sh.o.r.e.
A huge cloud covered the sun. Everything around them seemed unusually quiet and still.
"It feels like we"re a hundred miles from the rest of the world," Christy said, surveying the surroundings. The small beach extended only twenty or so feet behind them before sloping up into a hill. The hillside was spa.r.s.ely vegetated at its beginning but soon sprouted thick clumps of tall, straight trees that all pointed to the sky like a line of steady, green soldiers. "This is beautiful."
"A bit chilly," Marti noticed. "What happened to our sunshine?"
"Let"s go exploring," Todd suggested.
"It"s too dangerous," Marti said. "We should get going so we can find the houseboat before a storm breaks out. I"ve heard the weather on a lake can be very unpredictable. Come now. Let"s go."
"Shh," Todd whispered. "Did you see that?" He had his back to Marti and was scanning the forest behind them. "Over there, it"s a deer! See? Up to the left, behind those two trees."
Christy spotted it and slowly moved closer to Todd. "It"s watching us. Isn"t it cute? Too bad we don"t have some apples to feed it."
"What are you talking about? I don"t see anything." Marti marched over toward Todd and Christy, but her sudden movements startled the deer back into the shadows.
"It"s gone now," Todd said. "If we come back tomorrow for a picnic, let"s be sure to bring some apples."
"Fine." Marti sounded irritated. "You can bring it apples tomorrow. Right now, let"s get back to the houseboat."
Christy realized how miserable her aunt was being out of her comfort zone like this. Christy knew the houseboating idea had been Bob"s, but he had talked Marti into it by showing her in the brochure that the houseboat contained all the comforts of home. Apparently Marti had experienced enough of the great outdoors by coming to sh.o.r.e and was now ready to go back to her "home" and all those comforts.
The three of them boarded the boat, and Christy had to agree that it felt a little isolated and almost spooky in this silent cove, especially since the sun kept sliding behind the clouds. Todd waited until Christy and Marti were seated and then turned the key in the ignition. Nothing happened. He tried again; a slow grinding sound emerged. Todd pushed a couple of switches and tried the key again. Nothing.
"What"s wrong?" Marti demanded. "What"s wrong with the boat?"
Todd tapped his finger on one of the oval gauges and calmly answered, "It appears we"re out of gas."
"Out of gas! Didn"t you bring an extra can along?" No.
"How could you let this happen? After all the skiing you did this morning, didn"t you think to check it before we left?"
"No, I didn"t."
"We"re marooned!" Marti wailed.
Christy felt a little distressed, but nothing close to what her aunt was expressing. As a matter of fact, Marti would have made a great character on the old TV sitcom Gilligan"s Island.
"What are you going to do?" Marti asked. "No one will ever find us in here!"
I"m going to pray," Todd said matter-of-factly. "Care to join me?"
"I will," Christy offered, getting up from her seat and joining Todd in the front of the boat. The two of them prayed simply and sincerely for G.o.d to send help.
Twenty minutes later, Christy pulled the life vest closer around her. It was getting colder, and she wished they had at least brought beach towels along to wrap their legs in.
Todd and Christy were the only ones talking to each other. Marti had covered herself with a life vest and sat huddled on the vinyl seat looking miserable and not saying a word, which Christy had decided was a good thing. Hearing what Marti was thinking right now would not bring much joy to their situation.
Another twenty or thirty minutes pa.s.sed. The sun continued to play its peekaboo game with the clouds, and now no one was saying much of anything. Christy thought how ironic it was that earlier that morning Todd had whispered to her that being shipwrecked wouldn"t be such a bad thing. He must not have factored Aunt Marti into the scenario.
Then, as if the volcano inside Marti could hold back no longer, she let forth a steady flow of fiery accusations. Christy had never seen her aunt this mad.
"That"s it!" Marti concluded. "You have to go for help. Todd. I don"t care how you do it. Walk over this hill to the other side or swim out to the main part of the lake. It will be dark soon, and I refuse to sit here and wait to be eaten by wild animals!"
Christy knew they had at least three hours of sunlight left, and the only wildlife they had seen was the timid deer. Still, she knew better than to challenge her aunt"s fears. She wondered if she should go with Todd or stay with her aunt. She knew what she would rather do.
"We"ll wait here." Todd said calmly yet with settled authority, as if he had already thought through all the options.
Marti looked furious. Not many people opposed her even in the best of circ.u.mstances. "I suppose you"re waiting for G.o.d to send an angel to rescue us."
"Angel, human-either one will do."
"This faith thing of yours has gone too far. Todd. It"s fine when you want to have theological discussions with Bob, but when people"s lives are at stake..."
Todd put out a hand to silence her. He seemed to be listening for something. Christy turned her head and listened too.
"I"m not finished! You will listen to what I have to say, Todd Spencer, if it"s the last thing you do before we perish in this stupid boat."
Todd stood up and. still listening, made his way past Marti to the back of the boat.
"Will you at least have the courtesy to look at me when I am talking to you? You can"t keep trusting G.o.d to do for you what you should be doing for yourself! He has too many other things to attend to, like world peace. I"m sure G.o.d does not have time to answer the pointless prayers of..."
Todd put his first two fingers in his mouth and, facing the opening of the inlet, let loose with a whistle so shrill that Christy covered her ears. "It"s a Wave Rider." he announced. "Help me flag it down, Christy."
Christy stumbled quickly to the back of the boat and slipped off her life vest, ready to wave it in the air.
"You can"t be sure they"re coming this way," Marti muttered, remaining in her seat but craning her neck.
They could all hear the high-pitched roar of the Jet Ski now, and it definitely was coming their way. Christy began yelling along with Todd"s whistling. The minute the Wave Rider came into view, Christy waved the life vest over her head, and Todd waved his arms.
Just as quickly as the Wave Rider came into view, it shot past the cove and disappeared.
"What did I tell you?" Marti said. "Why don"t you ever listen to me?"
"I think it"s coming back." Christy strained to hear any change in the sound of the Wave Rider"s motor.
"You"re right," Todd said. "Get ready to wave your vest again." Before he finished speaking, the Wave Rider appeared and made a quick turn into their secret cove. The driver, a girl with long, dark hair, wearing a bright pink life vest, cut the engine and floated over to the boat. She had a dark tan, the color of chocolate and cinnamon, and a white smile like a crescent moon.
"Need help?" the girl called out.
"Ran out of gas," Todd answered. "Can you give me a lift to the marina?"
"Sure. Hop on."
"Make sure your aunt stays here," Todd said to Christy. "I"ll be right back."
"I heard that!" Marti said. "Of course I"m going to stay here. Where do you think I"d go? Just don"t be getting any ideas in your head that this young girl is an answer to your prayers."
"You prayed for help?" the girl asked.
"Yep." Todd slid into the water and swam over to the Wave Rider.
"Are you by any chance a Christian?" the girl questioned.
"Christy and I both are," Todd said.
"This is so cool!" the girl said excitedly. "I"m Natalie. I"m a Christian too! And you"re not going to believe this, but I actually came down to this part of the lake because something inside kept kind of nudging me to go this way. You know what I mean?"
"Oh, this is ridiculous," Marti spouted, slouching back in her seat.
Christy felt like laughing at her aunt"s refusal to believe in answered prayer even when she saw it with her own eyes. She knew it wasn"t funny, but why couldn"t her aunt see that G.o.d had responded to their request for help?
Todd positioned himself on the back of the Wave Rider, and he and Natalie waved and took off, leaving Christy alone with her aunt. She waited a few minutes before trying to start a conversation.
"Why is it so hard for you to believe in G.o.d, Aunt Marti?"
"I believe in G.o.d."
"I mean, to surrender your life to Him and ask Jesus to be your Savior?"
"I refuse to get into a religious discussion with you, Christina. You are far too young to understand such Things."
Christy hushed up. All she could think was, I"m glad Jesus didn"t consider me too young when I gave Him my heart.
Todd and Natalie returned in less than an hour, and the boat started right up. "Thanks!" Todd called out, waving to Natalie as she took off. He slowly directed the boat out of the inlet but cranked it into high gear as soon as he hit the open lake.
"Slow down!" Marti squawked. "It"s too cold! You"re going to miss the houseboat if you go too fast."
Todd slowed a little and told Christy, "Keep looking for the houseboat. They could be anywhere along this part of the sh.o.r.e."
It really was chilly, with the wind off the lake and the late afternoon sun hanging low in the sky. The sun looked so much different from the one that had greeted Christy and Todd at daybreak. This big, sinking orange ball looked tired and ready for a rest, and so did Christy.
They finally found the houseboat after several trips in and out of a variety of coves along the sh.o.r.eline. Katie was fishing off the roof, and Bob and Doug sat on the back deck, deliberating over a game of chess.
"They"re here," Katie called out. "Finally! Where have you guys been?"
Christy noticed that another houseboat was parked across the cove from them. Katie yelled so loudly that Christy felt sure the people in the other houseboat must be ready to come out on their deck to find out what all the commotion was about. Todd docked the boat, but before he or Christy had a chance to explain why they were gone so long, Marti started in.
"It was absolutely horrible," she moaned to Bob, who offered her a hand out of the boat. "We were shipwrecked for hours! I"m frozen to the bone!"
"We ran out of gas." Todd explained to the curious eyes that looked to him for an explanation. "We prayed, and G.o.d sent an angel on a Wave Rider."
"Why don"t you come on in and take a warm shower," Bob suggested. "Everything is ready for dinner except the steaks, and the coals are perfect, so I"ll slap"em on the grill. You got back just in time."
Christy gladly took Bob"s suggestion to hop in the shower. She was surprised at how nice the shower was in the houseboat, and they had plenty of hot water. There was even a place to plug in her hair dryer. She took her time drying and combing out her hair. Better to finish that in the bathroom than to fling her wet hair all over her aunt again.
As it turned out, Christy didn"t have much to worry about. Marti didn"t emerge from her room for the rest of the night. Bob, the ever-patient and loving husband, prepared her dinner and took it to her.
Christy felt fresh after her shower and only slightly ruffled from the day"s adventure. She slipped into a pair of jeans, a favorite cream-colored knit sweater, and a pair of weathered white tennis shoes. The water from the shower made her hair especially soft, not frizzy like the water at home in Escondido. She could feel a little bit of sunburn on her cheeks and thought how rosy and cheerful it made her look.
Quickly dabbing on some mascara and going over her lips a second time with a tube of clear lip gloss, Christy took another look in the mirror. She felt pretty. Pretty in an outdoors, healthy, glowing sort of way. She wondered if Todd would notice.
Just then Katie knocked on the door. "Are you coming, Christy? The steaks are almost ready."
Christy opened the door and pulled her friend inside. "Well?" Christy whispered. "*How did it go?" with Doug this afternoon?"
"What do you mean, "How did it go?" How was it supposed to go?"
"I thought you guys might start to, you know...get together, sort of, if you had some time alone."
"Christy, what makes you think Doug is at all interested in me?" Katie"s words came out almost sad.
"I think you two would be perfect for each other. He"s a great guy. It would help if you would show him a little more attention. Let him know that you like him."
"And what makes you think I like him?" Katie asked.
"Why wouldn"t you? He"s tall, good-looking, athletic, a super-strong Christian, and a lot of fun to be around. I"m sure he likes you."
"Then he"d be the first guy ever," Katie said dryly.
"And what a great first guy!" Christy tried to cheer her friend on. "Come on, Katie. You"ve got to emotionally walk away from all those bad memories of Rick, and who was that missionary kid from Ecuador? Glen? It"s time to move on."
"You"re probably right." Katie glanced in the mirror and noticed that her freckled nose was sunburned. "Oh no, now I"m going to peel."
Christy looked in the mirror. The contrast between the two girls was evident. Katie"s fair skin, green eyes, and copper-colored hair made her look young, almost childish. Christy"s tan made her blue-green eyes stand out. Her smooth skin looked flawless next to Katie"s freckles, and her clean hair looked silky compared to Katie"s unbrushed hair.
"How can I compete with that?" Katie motioned to their reflections and focused on Christy.
"We"re not competing, Katie. This is not some sport. Besides, if it was, you"d whomp me hands down. This is just the guys, and I"m with Todd, so why don"t you see what you can do about getting together with Doug?"
It surprised Christy to hear herself talking like that. She had never pushed Katie toward any guy before. She knew her motive was to get Katie and Doug together so she wouldn"t have to feel awkward around Doug.
"Ladies." Bob"s voice called through the closed bathroom door. "We"re about to sit down to dinner, and we have a guest. Care to join us?"
"We"ll be right there!" Christy called back, then looked at Katie. "Is there any way I can encourage you by telling you that you"re wonderful just the way you are? You"re adorable. Katie, and any guy would be crazy not to see how terrific you are."
"Do you really think so?"
"Yes, I really think so. And I think Doug would definitely be interested in you if you showed some interest in him."
"You sure?"
Christy nodded. "Come on. let"s go out there and see what happens."
"Okay." Katie smoothed back her hair before opening the door. "Here goes nothing."
The two girls walked side by side down the short hallway to the kitchen. What they saw made them suddenly stop and stare.