Chapter 3: Sunshine
Grantville
May 1635
Susan Diana Moritz was moping. She was curled up on her bed with the floral-pattern bedspread pulled up over her for warmth. It was May, and May in down-time Germany was chilly if you weren’t doing anything. Up-time, her parents had kept the house at sixty-eight degrees. Thanks to her sister Marie’s annoying habit of monitoring the temperature along with the rest of the weather, she knew it was more like sixty-five inside. Which was cold, blast it.
Not that she didn’t run outside in much cooler temperatures. But staying warm was not a problem when she was running. She sighed, well aware her nickname Sunshine wasn’t for her personality. Another month or so, and I can lie outside in the sun. Time to work on my beach body, she thought sarcastically. Not that anyone will notice anyway, other than down-timers and old fogies who’ll just have a cow I’m wearing a swimsuit.
She’d been doing a lot of moping lately, ever since Gary Rose had fallen for a down-time girl. Gary was going to be her ticket out of Grantville, to . . . Magdeburg, maybe? But from what she’d heard, Magdeburg might be worse than Grantville. Now there’s a depressing thought. Ugh.
This summer would be her last one off from school. Senior year would start in August, and then she’d be looking for a job. Double ugh. I suppose I should probably look for a summer job. She thought for a minute. They still have lifeguards at the community pool.
Somebody pounded on her door. “Sunshine! Dinner’s ready!”
She sighed again and sat up.
Dinner turned out to be chicken, which was a plus. Sunshine had tried being a vegetarian, but it was really hard to do down-time and stay healthy. She’d successfully drawn the line at mutton and rabbit—she wasn’t eating lambs or bunnies. The mixed vegetables reminded her gardening season was about to begin. It was almost time to start her tomatoes in indoor trays. Then she had better see about a lifeguard job before she ended up picking peas and beans all summer.
Her father spoke up. “Sunshine, have you given any thought to what you’re going to do after graduation?”
Sunshine suppressed a sigh. “Get a job, I suppose. I was thinking, maybe I could apply for one of the lifeguard jobs at the pool this summer.”
Her parents exchanged glances. “Not a bad idea,” Ted Moritz allowed. “But there’s not much opportunity for advancement.”
Sunshine frowned. “I guess if I stayed at it, I might be able to get a year-round job with the city.”
“There’s a chance,” her father admitted. “Just not a very good one. It’s more likely you’d end up having to find something permanent after you graduate from high school, and you’d be starting over with no seniority.”
Sunshine studied her father suspiciously. “You have something in mind already, don’t you?”
“Yeah, sure do. I need a project manager. Scheduling meetings, staying on top of projects, making sure our suppliers deliver what we order on time and to the right job, and generally keeping the workers supplied.”
Sunshine’s face fell. “Secretary?”
“Project manager. You don’t even need to get your PMP certification like you would up-time.”
“Thanks, Dad, but . . . ”
“But you’d really rather lifeguard?”
She nodded.
“Well, look into it and find out the details. The pool’s only open Memorial Day to Labor Day, anyw—” He broke off and shook his head. “I keep doing that. What holidays do we use to mark summer again?”
“Ring of Fire Day to the first weekend in September,” Sunshine replied.
“Thanks. They must have a bunch of lifeguards. If your schedule fit around working for Happy Acres . . . ”
“Two jobs?” Sunshine didn’t quite whine.
“’Fraid so, Sunshine. If pool season is three, three and a half months, it’s not long enough to have a good in with the city. And even if it were, who knows what they’d have you doing the other nine months each year?”
“So instead of a swimsuit, I get a hardhat.”
“I said both,” her father reminded her.
Sunshine frowned.
“Now, honey . . . ” Her mother entered the conversation.
This isn’t fair, Sunshine thought. But all I have to do is sit here and pout, and Mom will start to cave. Because I’m her favorite. She remembered her mother’s fights with her older sister Marie. Marie had gotten what she wanted and was now a USE Air Force pilot. Everybody was expecting a war this summer, and Marie could end up flying dangerous missions. I hope she’ll be okay, Sunshine thought. At least she’s doing what she wants to. I wish I could. But . . . what do I want to do?
Sunshine tuned back in as her mother was subtly making concessions. She took a glance at her father, and saw Mom was pissing him off. It’s not like I have a plan. I can always quit if it sucks. And I kinda have been being a spoiled brat.
“All right, I’ll do it,” she said.
Her father looked surprised, and her mother astonished. Their expressions annoyed her.
“I’ll check with the park office about lifeguarding hours tomorrow,” Sunshine continued. “And I’ll make an appointment with Mr. Laforrest to set up my senior year schedule. I’m not taking umpteen languages or music classes, so I probably have some free periods. Maybe I can get all my classes in the morning and go to work after lunch. Unless you think it would be better to take another one of the business courses?”
She gave her father points for an admirable recovery as he managed to say “See what Mr. Laforrest thinks” without either choking or spraying his drink.
* * *
Pelton Barnes stood on the concrete a few feet from the Grantville community swimming pool with his hands on his hips as he watched two men tinker with the pump.
“I’ll be honest, Miss Moritz,” he told Sunshine. “Normally we would have filled all the lifeguard positions by now. But we’ve been struggling to catch up ever since the Cunninghams were arrested. And it’s been hard to find lifeguards.”
“Really?”
“Just about all the guys and some of the girls join the military right after graduation. Not quite as many this year, but those who don’t usually have jobs or university lined up. It’s really hard to hang on to anybody past his senior year.”
“Well, I’m a junior now,” Sunshine reminded him. She refrained from pointing out she was one grade behind his daughter Millicent. It had been true since she started kindergarten.
“And it’s not nearly as glamorous a job as everybody thinks,” Mr. Barnes continued. “The lifeguards are responsible for the pH of the water. Some down-time kids are making pH paper, so it’s easy to test now. The lifeguards also have to coordinate with the water treatment department—Myles Halvorsen over there will show them what he’s done with the pump so they don’t have to call him over here every time it makes a funny noise. Communicate with the police, of course, because things do happen here in the park. At least one lifeguard has to sit in on the park board meetings and the Fourth of July committee and the district fair meetings. It’s a lot of balls to juggle. It doesn’t pay particularly well, and, well, it’s a dead-end job.”
“It kinda sounds like a project manager, Mr. Barnes,” Sunshine observed. “It’s what my dad wants me to do at his company.”
“Not sure I want to train you for just one summer.”
“Please give me a chance, Mr. Barnes.”
He seemed to consider her carefully. Almost a minute went by before Mr. Barnes said, “All right, I’ll give you a chance. Go get changed and I’ll have Hawker give you the pool test.” He indicated the younger man working on the pump. “Um, you’ll have to use the women’s restroom over at the community center. We don’t have the locker rooms open yet.”
“No need,” Sunshine said. “I wore my suit.” She unzipped her light jacket and draped it across a deck chair, then peeled off her tank top. After kicking off her shoes, she stepped out of her jeans.
“You . . . it’s not . . . you can’t lifeguard in that,” Pelton Barnes sputtered.
“Why not?” Sunshine was wearing a dark blue two-piece. The racing top was cut like a sports bra and showed . . . practically nothing, to her way of thinking.
“Up-time women’s swimsuits are bad enough. But a bikini?”
“Mr. Barnes, I was thirteen when the Ring of Fire happened. I’m seventeen. Neither one of my one-piece suits from back then fits.”
“But . . . ”
Sunshine had the good sense not to ask what kind of swimsuit his daughter wore. Instead, she waited him out. Mr. Barnes turned and hollered, “Hawker!
The younger man at the pump popped up like a prairie dog. “Mr. Barnes?”
Barnes waved him over. “Hawker, Sunshine Moritz. Applying for lifeguard. Sunshine, Hawker Baldwin. He’s head lifeguard this year.”
Sunshine saw Hawker’s eyes widen when Pelton Barnes told him she was applying to be a lifeguard. And he was still staring at her. It was nice to be appreciated as long as he didn’t get creepy about it. And he wasn’t so bad himself.
“Are you planning to lifeguard in that?” he asked.
“I could wear my white one instead,” she replied as sweetly as she could. She gestured. “It’s a triangle cut and ties . . . ”
Mr. Barnes coughed, and Hawker quickly said, “No, this one will be fine.”
Sunshine smiled just enough to let them know she considered his answer a matter of official record. And then she changed the subject.
“So, what do I have to do for the swimming test?”
Hawker gave her an evil grin. “I’ll go get a few things.” He turned and headed into the supply room.
He was back in a few minutes with an armful of weights. Not discs for barbells, but plastic-coated objects Sunshine presumed were designed not to scratch the bottom of the pool. Nevertheless, Hawker jumped in with the first one and swam it down to the bottom.
“We have to be very careful of the pool itself,” Mr. Barnes told her as they watched Hawker surface and grab a second weight. “Kinda hard to get next-day repairs. It can be done, but if you break it, don’t plan on getting paid.”
Sunshine nodded. He doesn’t need to lay it on quite so thick.
After Hawker had put all six weights on the bottom, he popped up in front of her.
“Can you swim with your eyes open?”
“Yeah,” Sunshine answered. “When I go home tonight, the chlorine will bother me, but tomorrow I’ll be fine.”
“You’ve been swimming in pools every summer.”
“Sure have.”
“Well, jump in.”
Sunshine ran a hand over her hair to make sure her French braid was firmly in place. Since it was too shallow to dive at this end, she jumped in instead, inhaled, and flipped over.
The first weight wasn’t far away. She carefully picked it up and swam to the surface. Whatever it was made of, it was heavy. Placing it gently on the edge of the pool was harder than bringing it up.
The next weight was dead center in the pool. It took longer to swim it over to the side. The third one was bigger and awkward. After setting it down, Sunshine took a couple extra breaths before submerging again.
This called for a bit of strategy. She was getting tired, so she went for the weight all the way in the deep end. Oh, and it’s heavier. The rat. Sunshine pushed off the bottom. She broke the surface a short way from the end of the pool. Trying to conserve energy, she held onto it with one hand and sidestroked.
Once the third weight was poolside, she repeated the process until all six were up.
Hawker nodded. “Good job so far.”
“Going to get the dummy?” Pelton Barnes asked.
Hawker Baldwin started toward the supply room and then looked back at Mr. Barnes. “Nah, I’m going to use the smart one,” he called—and toppled into the pool.
“Oh, crap,” Sunshine muttered.
Naturally, Hawker dropped like a rock. In the deep end. She began a fast crawl stroke to where he’d gone down. Once there, she flipped over and dove.
If you grab me, I’m going to punch you . . .
She reached Hawker and was trying to figure out how to take hold of him when Hawker grabbed her.
She punched him.
Aw, crap, there goes this job. But she didn’t have time to dwell on it. She grabbed Hawker and kicked for the surface. Hawker weighed a ton! This was so much worse than retrieving the weights! She ran out of air. Two more kicks, and their heads burst out of the water. She gulped air and sidestroked them to the edge of the pool. Hawker grasped the edge, so she let go of him.
“Nice,” Hawker told her. “Try to come in from behind if you can and—nice hit.”
“Right,” she managed.
“And you need to work on your endurance.”
Sunshine wanted to curl up and die.
“Hey—it’s May. Your endurance sucks. My endurance sucks. Everybody’s is bad at the beginning of the season. Well, except Matt Tisdel’s, of course, wherever he is now. We all have to swim laps off-duty. Y’know, between committee meetings and maintenance. Still want the job?”
“Yes.”
“Well, then, now that you’ve rescued me, get me out of the pool.”
There’s no way I can drag him over the edge, Sunshine realized. Not now.
“All right. I’m going to take you over to the ladder, and we’ll get out there.”
And they did.
“Are you CPR qualified?”
Hawker’s question startled Sunshine.
He’s going to collapse, Sunshine realized as she heard herself say, “Yes.”
Sure enough, Hawker slumped to the concrete deck.
“Are you okay? Are you okay?” Sunshine checked for breathing.
“Not breathing,” Hawker informed her.
Crap. Tilt head, clear airway, five compressions—don’t break his ribs even though he deserves it. It’s just practice. Two breaths. Five compressions, two breaths.
Hawker faked a cough.
Sunshine sat back.
“Good job. Remember you can do the compressions to the tune of ‘Staying Alive.’”
“Or to ‘Another One Bites the Dust,’” Sunshine shot back. “How many times do you plan to pull the rescue breathing stunt? I’m just curious.”
“Just needed to confirm you know what you’re doing,” Hawker told her.
Sunshine thought about it. Yeah, that’s reasonable, she decided.
* * *
Sunshine let the screen door slam behind her. “Mom! Dad! I got the job!”
Karen Moritz stepped out of the kitchen. “Really?”
“Yeah. It’s why I’m soaking wet.”
“Well, after you change, come tell me about it while you help with dinner. After planning meals at school all day, you’d think I could get something on the table at a reasonable hour . . . ”
Sunshine hurried upstairs to her room and pulled dry clothes from her dresser. Then she ducked into the bathroom for a quick shower. She hadn’t been kidding Hawker about the chlorine. She searched for a medicine dropper to flush her eyes. I’ll use Mom’s turkey baster if I have to.
She walked into the kitchen fifteen minutes later.
“You needed a shower right now?” her mother asked.
“Chlorine,” Sunshine reminded her. “Also, hot water. It was a cold walk home.”
“It’s May,” her mother pointed out.
“Yeah. The Little Ice Age sucks, but it should stop freezing any night now. Last day of class is Thursday, May 24, and the pool opens the next day, on Ring of Fire Day.”
“So soon?” her mom asked.
Sunshine grabbed a brush and began scrubbing the potatoes. “I’ve got two and a half weeks to get into shape.”
“You’re in shape,” her mother insisted.
“In most ways, yeah. But I need to build up my swimming endurance in case I have to rescue somebody. Hawker said he wants us to head off trouble before anybody needs rescuing, but every couple of weeks you have to help somebody no matter how careful you are.”
Sunshine continued helping make dinner, happy her mother had dropped it. But she was the easier parent to satisfy. Her father would give her a hard time about it, so she began marshaling her arguments while she made the salad.
* * *
Ted Moritz soon arrived home, and a little while later they were all seated for dinner—chicken again. At least it wasn’t dried out.
Mom got the ball rolling. “Sunshine has news.”
“I got the lifeguard job, Dad!”
“Oh? What hours?”
“Hawker Baldwin—he’s the head lifeguard—is getting all of us together Saturday. One of the reasons is to work out the schedule. What hours should I ask for?”
“I really could use you in the office during the day.”
“I’ll ask for evenings and weekends,” Sunshine offered, “but I think the guys coming back from last year get first pick.”
“Hawker Baldwin. Didn’t he start out in your class and then lose a year?”
“Yeah. He lifeguarded last year, and he’ll be around next summer, too. Mr. Barnes said it’s hard to hold on to lifeguards. He’s probably pretty happy he’ll have Hawker three summers in a row.”
“Who are the other lifeguards?”
Here it comes. “Acton Burchard and Colby Andersen are the other two who are back from last year. Billy Lee Stull, Jack Sims, Aaron Hoffmann, and Elias Ramsenthaler are new this year.”
“All guys?”
Sunshine decided not to dignify that with an answer.
“I’m not sure I like this. In fact, I’m sure I don’t like this. Why are you the only girl?”
“Because no other girls applied this year.” Duh. “Mr. Barnes said the city got a late start on hiring because the Cunninghams got arrested, and then Mayor Dreeson got shot. In the meantime, lots of kids found other jobs.”
“So tell me about these boys?”
Sunshine sighed. “Dad, you know who most of them are. Hawker. Colby Andersen wants to be a drummer. He’s kind of a doofus, but he’s okay. Acton Burchard is, you know, Acton. Billy Lee Stull and Jack Sims are both good guys. And two down-timers—Aaron Hoffmann and Elias Ramsenthaler.”
“How many of them are going to ask you out?”
“I have no idea,” Sunshine told him in an exasperated tone. “If I could predict the future, I would’ve made sure we went to Morgantown instead of sticking around Grantville for the Ring of Fire.”
“Ouch.”
It did derail her father for a couple minutes, but then he came to the point. “They’re guys. They’re going to be looking at you in your swimsuit. Wait, what swimsuit are you wearing?”
“My blue one.”
“No, you’re not. It’s bad enough you wear it to tan outside, but . . . ”
“And if my one-piece from the summer after sixth grade even remotely fit, we could argue about it.” Sunshine congratulated herself on coolly tossing that into the conversation.
“We’ll see about getting you a new suit,” her father stated.
“It has to be stretchy and not absorb water,” she reminded him. If anybody gets around to reinventing Lycra, they won’t be able to keep up with demand.
“Maybe Bartolli’s or Grantville Sporting Goods,” Ted Moritz mused.
“C’mon, Dad, don’t you think we girls checked? They sold out of swimsuits in ’31.”
“Maybe they overlooked some . . . ”
Sunshine sighed. “I’m already on Karen Reading’s list to call if something shows up.”
Saturday, May 12, 1635
Sunshine arrived at the pool early on Saturday. Hawker was already in his swim trunks, leaning over the edge of the pool, dipping something in the water. Checking the pH, she surmised.
“Hey, Sunshine!”
“Hey yourself, Hawker.”
“Go get changed. We’ll be in the water first thing.”
As Sunshine changed into her swimsuit, it dawned on her she could end up cleaning the women’s locker room all summer. Aw, crap. No wonder they hired a girl. Wait a minute, they didn’t have any girl lifeguards last year. . . . Sunshine thought it through. Yeah, she was going to end up cleaning this place a lot, but she’d definitely hold out for all the lifeguards on duty cooperating on all the cleaning once the pool closed for the night.
She looked around. Showers, restrooms, sinks, mirrors, hand dryers. She pressed the silver button, and the first dryer roared to life. Sunshine was somewhat impressed it still worked. She didn’t see any cleaning supplies. They must be locked up somewhere.
Mirrors. She stepped in front of the mirror over the middle sink and examined herself. She’d heard down-time girls say they could see her ribs, but it wasn’t quite true. Bottom of her ribcage when she stretched, sure. She was thinner than most up-timers. I’d better be. I work hard to look good in a bikini. She ran, used the weight room at school, and watched what she ate.
And I’d better get back outside, Sunshine told herself. She stepped out of the locker room and saw a couple more of the lifeguards had arrived.
“Jack! Billy Lee!”
“Hey, Sunshine!” Billy Lee called.
“You’re lifeguarding?” Jack asked.
“Yeah.”
“Cool.”
The gate swung open, and a couple down-timers came through.
“Guys,” Hawker said. “Er, guys and Sunshine . . . ”
Sunshine waved a hand. “Guys is fine.”
Hawker gestured toward the dark-haired down-timer. “Elias Ramsenthaler . . . ”
He was about Sunshine’s own height, and she thought of him as yet another example of a hard-working, rule-following, oh-so-serious down-timer. But the other boy could have been designed as his opposite: blond, wavy hair, taller than Sunshine, with a mischievous grin.
“ . . . and Aaron Hoffmann. Jack Sims, Billy Lee Stull, and Sunshine Moritz.”
Hoffmann’s got a killer smile, Sunshine thought to herself. She held out her hand. “Pleased to meet you.”
He kissed her hand. Sunshine wasn’t sure whether to be amused or to flirt back. Probably not a good idea on my first day, she decided. So she just winked at him.
Ramsenthaler settled for a business-like nod. Typical.
Acton Burchard and Colby Andersen showed up a couple minutes later. Acton immediately discarded his shirt and shoes. He’s ripped, Sunshine observed. But the fading bruises from last week’s fight with Wulff Thiessen reminded her of two things: Acton is a jerk, and he’s not actually the toughest guy around.
“All right,” Hawker announced. “We’ve got a lot to do. I hope nobody’s expecting to sit around all summer and work on a tan.”
“Aw, c’mon, Hawk,” Acton protested. “I know there’s a lot more to lifeguarding. I saw every episode up to the Ring of Fire.”
All the up-timers laughed.
“Line up at the deep end,” Hawker directed. “Five laps crawl, two laps breaststroke, two laps sidestroke, two laps backstroke. I don’t care about your speed as much as your endurance. Work on your turns, because it’s a convenient way to get going in the other direction. But this isn’t for Olympic gold.” Then he had to explain the Olympics to Elias and Aaron.
“Everyone set? One, two, three, go!”
Sunshine dove in, swam underwater as far as she could, and came up into a crawl stroke. She breathed to her right, so she saw Aaron. She stayed with him all the way down, made her turn, and saw Acton was already a good bit ahead of her. She made the turn in the deep end and found she was still with Aaron. But on the return leg, she was further behind Acton.
Acton drew further ahead on each lap. Sunshine’s sidestroke was pretty good, so she managed not to lose any more ground on those laps. But on the backstroke Acton lapped her. He got out of the pool while she had to go down and back again.
Sunshine flushed and tried to speed up. She was pretty sure the guys were going to wonder why she was taking so long. Finally, her hand hit the edge of the pool and she looked around in surprise. Huh. I beat Elias and must have been right behind Aaron.
“All right,” Hawker called. “Good warm-up. Partner up. Acton and Aaron, Colby and Elias, Jack and Billy Lee. One of you swims while the other watches form and gives advice. Then switch.”
The head lifeguard had picked her as a partner. It might mean he thinks I’m the weakest swimmer. On the other hand, there’s more than one way to watch my form. She tried to concentrate on swimming correctly and listened for Hawker’s shouted advice during her backstroke.
“Pick something to track! You’re veering all over the pool!”
When it came time to pick shifts, her earlier prediction proved correct.
“We’ll pick by seniority,” Hawker said. “One shift at a time.”
And soon Sunshine had a collection of mornings and afternoons. Dad is not going to be happy.
“We’re going to break for lunch,” Hawker announced. “If you don’t like some of your shifts, feel free to trade around. Just remember trades are subject to my approval.”
Maybe I can fix my schedule, Sunshine realized. She kicked back with a sandwich and an alleged soft drink and waited.
Colby came over and sat down next to her. “Hey, Sunshine. I’ve really got to get rid of this Sunday evening shift. I’ll trade you for Tuesday afternoons.”
She smiled at him. “Done.”
“Wanna work together on a shift?” Colby asked next.
“Sure. When?”
“What about Wednesday afternoons?”
“I’ll see if I can,” she agreed. It was even a good idea, since she already had Wednesday mornings. Sunshine checked the master schedule and saw Billy was scheduled with her on Monday mornings. She also saw Elias had Monday afternoons.
“Hey, Elias. I’ll trade you my Monday morning for your Wednesday afternoon,” she offered. “You can work all day Monday, and I can work all day Wednesday.”
“I appreciate it. Danke.”
Now she had Sunday, Tuesday, and Thursday evenings, and Wednesday morning and afternoon. I can work for Dad four days a week. Or five, if he insists on Saturdays. Yuck. He should be reasonably okay with this. But am I okay with it? All day Wednesday with Hawker, and then Colby and Aaron coming in for the swimming lessons shift, Sunday night with Jack, Monday night with Billy, and Thursday night with Jack. Not bad. Billy, though . . .
Sunshine had nothing against Billy Lee Stull. But there didn’t seem to be the slightest amount of interest on his part, and every up-time girl in Grantville knew if a Stull didn’t fall hard for you, there was no point in trying to make it happen. Monday night was Jack and Aaron. She already had two shifts with Jack. I want a shift with Aaron, she decided.
She wandered over to Jack. “Jack, would you like Tuesday night instead of Monday night?”
“Yeah, it would help me out,” Jack agreed.
“I thought it might.”
Various other negotiations wrapped up, and Hawker examined the schedule while everyone finished lunch.
“All right,” he announced. “Changes approved. If you need to get your parents or your other employers to sign off on this, do it as soon as possible. Everyone done eating? Let’s get back in the pool.”
* * *
Sunshine dragged into the kitchen.
“Honey, you look beat,” her mother observed.
“I am beat,” she agreed. “Hawker swam us into the ground.”
“What shifts did you get?” her father asked.
“A mix. Sunday, Monday, and Thursday evenings, and all day Wednesdays.”
He frowned. “That’s a lot of hours. How are you going to have time to work for me?”
“It’s twenty hours a week. I can work for you Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, and I suppose on Saturday. Except for Fourth of July week and fair week—we all have to work double shifts those weeks.”
She sensed her father was smirking into his beard, but all he said was, “It sounds doable. Did you come up with that on your way home?”
“No. We talked shifts over lunch, and I figured it out on like my thirtieth lap in the pool.”
“Honey, you’re not supposed to swim right after you eat!” her mother exclaimed.
“Yeah, I thought so, too, but it turns out it’s not true.”
“Are you ready to discuss some project management?” her father asked.
“On the twenty-ninth, like we agreed,” Sunshine protested. “I need to study for finals.”
Friday, May 18, 1635
“Five minutes!”
Sunshine Moritz looked over her English 11 final. She hadn’t left any questions blank, and she’d learned over the years not to second-guess her answers at the very end. She slid out of her seat, handed in her exam, and made a beeline for the buses.
Billy Lee Stull was already on the bus that went down Buffalo Street. Jack Sims hurried aboard five minutes later.
“You kept writing ’til the very end, didn’t you?” Sunshine asked him.
“Sure did.” Jack exhaled. “The hard one’s done.”
Sunshine gave him a sideways look. “We have chemistry on Monday.”
Jack grinned. “Like I said, the hard one’s done.”
“You’re weird. Chem’s hard. I can’t keep it all straight.”
“Do you want to study after we’re done at the pool tonight?” Jack asked. “I can show you how to keep it organized.”
Sunshine considered. From some guys—most guys—it would be a pick-up line. But she thought Jack meant just what he’d said, help with chemistry. And if it was a pick-up line, well, Jack Sims was going places in life. He might be a borderline nerd, but he was kinda cute.
“Sure,” she answered. “Thanks.”
The bus slowed as it approached the entrance to the fairgrounds. Sunshine was already on her feet and leaned back against the momentum as it stopped. She, Jack, and Billy Lee passed the ticket booth, turned left, and crossed the pedestrian bridge over Buffalo Creek. From there, the pool was just across the parking lot.
“I have been looking forward to this all day,” Sunshine declared. She kicked off her shoes and quickly took off her blouse and pants.
“We have locker rooms—” Billy Lee started to say. “You wore your swimsuit to school?”
Sunshine smiled. “Always wanted to, and it’s finals week.”
“You’re going to have to wait for us,” Jack cautioned. “Nobody goes in alone.”
Sunshine sighed and stared at the water longingly. Well, I suppose I can sit in the sun for a couple minutes. She looked around and decided on the lifeguard chair halfway down the length of the pool. She climbed up the rungs, sat back, and discovered she could see almost the entire pool from the deep end on her left to the kiddie pool separated from the shallow end by a narrow ledge to the deep end on her right. She had to turn to see the diving well that joined the deep end at a right angle.
“Glad to see somebody eager to be in the chair,” came Hawker’s voice.
Sunshine jerked upright and scrambled down. “Sorry,” she said.
“Hey, not a problem,” Hawker said. “You’re going to be spending a lot of time up there.”
Hawker made them swim until they were all exhausted. Well, Sunshine amended, he and Acton look like they could keep going, but the rest of us are done.
“Hit the showers,” Hawker told them. “See you all back here in the morning.”
“Where do you want to study?” Jack asked Sunshine. “Somewhere with food?”
“Sounds good to me.”
“How’s Castalanni’s sound?”
“Cool.”
Sunshine headed into the women’s locker room and congratulated herself on having remembered to put a complete set of dry clothes in her backpack. As she showered, she tried to decide if she wanted this to be a date. She decided since Jack was willing to help her, she’d buy the pizza.
* * *
“And where have you been, young lady?” her father asked. Her parents were seated in living room chairs, watching TV.
Sunshine pulled the front door closed behind her. “Lifeguard training and then Castalanni’s.”
“Oh? With whom?”
“Jack Sims.”
“You’re supposed to ask permission for dates,” her father rumbled.
“It wasn’t a date. We were studying.”
“Really? Studying what?”
“Chemistry.” Crap! He’s going to take that the wrong way.
“Chemistry, is it?”
“Da-a-ad. Moles and ideal gas laws and stupid electron orbitals.” She watched her parents exchange glances. “Jack called the chem test ‘the easy one’ and insists if I can remember twelve formulas and seven procedures and guess B every time I’m stuck, I can get at least an 80.” She sighed. “Chem on Monday, then two more exams, and I’m done for the year. Lifeguard through the holiday weekend, and then I can start at your office a week from Tuesday.”
Her parents exchanged another look. “Who are you and what have you done with Sunshine?” her mother asked.
Friday, May 25, 1635
The alarm clock buzzed insistently, and Sunshine groaned. It was 7 a.m. on her first day of summer vacation. Why can’t alarm clocks be on the list of up-time things that break and can’t be replaced? Nevertheless, she rolled out of bed, grabbed her robe, and stumbled toward the bathroom. A hot shower woke her up. Sunshine returned to her bedroom and dressed, pulling shorts and a top on over her swimsuit. She shoved another full set of clothes, her other swimsuit, and a towel in her backpack.
Sunshine preferred a minimal (but healthy) breakfast, but her mother was making omelets, sausage, and hash browns. She sighed and started inhaling it. I am going to feel sick, but Hawker warned us sometimes lunch doesn’t happen on schedule. If I miss breakfast and lunch, I’ll die.
Her brother Thad clumped downstairs. “Sunshine, what are you doing up already? It’s summer vacation.”
“I have to go to work.” Saying it for the first time felt weird.
“You’ll miss the Ring of Fire Day parade!”
Sunshine nodded. “Yeah. Most of it.”
Grantville had arrived down-time on May 25, 1631. It was close to Memorial Day—in 1637 the two would coincide—and like Memorial Day, it wasn’t so much celebrated as observed. The marching band and a few military units from the National Guard would start at the high school, march down Route 250 to Market Street, pause at the square for a couple speeches and a prayer, and proceed down Buffalo Street to the fairgrounds.
“But I’ll see the parade end at the fairgrounds, and then we’ll open the pool.”
“Awesome!” Thad declared. “I can’t wait!”
* * *
Mr. Barnes came by as the lifeguards finished their last-minute preparations. He inspected everything, and then asked Hawker, “Ready to open the season?”
“Yes, sir,” Hawker assured him.
“pH good?”
“Right on seven point four.”
“All right. You may officially open the pool once the parade is over.”
“Gather ’round!” Hawker called. “Colby, you’re in the chair at the far end. Billy Lee, you’ve got the chair on the side. Acton, made sure there’s not a mob of people trying to push their way in. Elias, help with that and then take the kiddie pool.”
The rest of them made their way to the memorial near the playground. The flagpole stood behind a wooden rail, flanked by a couple benches.
“Jack, I need you on the other side of Buffalo Creek. When the color guard draws even with the flagpole, you signal Aaron on this side. Aaron, when you see Jack wave, you turn around and signal me, and Sunshine and I raise the flag from half-staff to full-staff. Then Sunshine and I run back to the pool ahead of everybody else.”
“Do Aaron and I run back then, too?” Jack asked.
“Nope. You each patrol your side of Buffalo Creek. People aren’t supposed to swim in it, and they aren’t our responsibility if they do, but I’m not having anybody drown on the first day of summer with eight lifeguards a hundred yards away.”
Jack nodded. “So, if we see anybody who looks like they’re going in, we send them to the pool.”
“Exactly. One of you come check in with us every so often. We’ll switch off.”
Jack crossed the foot bridge, and just a few minutes later Sunshine could see the lights of the police car leading the parade. A couple more minutes, and Hawker said, “There’s Aaron’s signal.”
He untied the line, and he and Sunshine ran the flag up to the top of the pole. Hawker tied the rope off, and they ran back to the pool.
A couple dozen people, mostly kids, were already lined up at the gate.
“These are the Sloan boys at the head of the line,” Hawker told Sunshine. “Jake, Tommy, Billy, and Hank. All down-timers Mr. Sloan more or less adopted. Jake’s responsible for our pH paper.”
“Had to,” Jake stated. “Swimming pools are the cathedrals of up-time technology. They’ve got pumps, electricity, tile, all the trades. We have to take care of them.”
Sunshine’s eyes widened. “These guys are intense,” she whispered to Hawker.
Hawker nodded as he worked his way down the line, learning the kids’ names. Of necessity, they’d adopted a broad definition of swimwear. If it was close-fitting enough not to get sucked into anything, not so heavy it would drag the wearer straight to the bottom, and didn’t turn see-through in water, it was swimwear.
Hawker pointed at Acton, who swung the gate open.
“Slow down!” Hawker barked as a couple kids charged through. “Sunshine, it’s okay to be stern for the first ten minutes. Then things should stay under control as the pool fills up.”
Sunshine decided that made a lot of sense and began shepherding kids toward locker rooms. “Yours is right over there . . . ”
Two boys who had shown up in their swim trunks jumped into the water. Sunshine glanced their way, saw Colby was watching them, and reached out to slow a kid down. “No running. No crashing.”
The kid laughed.
I can do this.
Ten minutes later they had thirty people in the pool, swimming, having a good time, and being loud—and everything was under control. Sunshine even got to yell at her brother Thad for attempting a cannonball.
* * *
As the afternoon progressed, Hawker sent them off for lunch two at a time. Acton and Elias were in the lifeguard chairs.
“Hey, you two! Stop horsing around!” Acton barked at a couple kids.
Naturally, everybody turned to see what was going on. One woman in the kiddie pool glanced over just as her son pulled on her arm, dragging her a step to her left. At the same time, her daughter scooted to the right, just out of her reach—and then promptly tripped and dunked herself.
The little girl came up a second later, crying for all she was worth. Sunshine was already four steps along the ledge between the kiddie pool and the main pool. She squatted down and slipped into the water—the kiddie pool was far too shallow to jump into. She reached the girl just ahead of her mother and lifted her up onto the ledge, where she promptly got an earful of toddler in fully outraged mode.
“Shh.” Sunshine soothed her. “You’re fine. Just a little surprise.”
The mother embraced the girl. “I’m so sorry, I’m so sorry,” she repeated. It took two or three minutes before the girl settled down to an occasional sniffle.
“We should go.” The girl’s mother was clearly mortified.
“Don’t worry about what everyone thinks. They don’t matter. It’s more important your daughter not get scared of the water. What’s your name, honey?”
The girl ducked her head.
“Grete,” her mother answered.
“Do you want to get back in, Grete?”
“Nein! Nein! Nein!”
“I can show you how to do this.” Sunshine crouched down and blew bubbles in the water. She did it twice more, and then Grete started to giggle.
“Do you want to try?”
“Ja, ja, ja!”
A couple minutes later, Sunshine gave Grete a hug and then stepped away. The three-year-old went back to making motorboat noises in the water.
“Nice job on the first rescue of the season.”
Sunshine jumped. She hadn’t realized Hawker was behind her. She turned and said, “She rescued herself by standing back up. All I did was help make her feel better about it.”
Hawker smiled. “Hopefully it’s as exciting as today gets. And since you’re so good with the kiddie pool, you can have it next.”
“Oh, thank you.” Sunshine made sure to respond with enough sarcasm. But not too much.
Hawker just grinned at her sarcasm, and Sunshine spent an uneventful rotation standing next to the kiddie pool until Aaron took her place.
“Let’s go get food,” Hawker said. “Then it’s our turn to walk Buffalo Creek.”
They bought lunch from a vendor in the farmers’ market, and then Hawker gave Sunshine the playground side of the creek while he took the fairgrounds side. She figured he’d given her the easier assignment on purpose but didn’t really mind. She strolled along Buffalo Creek to the end of the park and back. Nobody was trying to swim in the creek, although she ran across a group of boys who looked like they were contemplating it and sent them over to the pool.
Saturday, May 26, 1635
“The sunshine sure is hot today,” Acton remarked, leaning against the base of the lifeguard chair at the side of the pool. It was about the third time he’d mentioned it.
Up in the chair, Sunshine studiously ignored him.
“Don’t you think so, Aaron?” Acton asked the lifeguard standing beside him.
“Ja.” Hoffmann wiped his brow theatrically.
Sunshine kept watching the pool.
“I can take over now,” Acton offered.
“I’m good,” Sunshine told him.
“Du bist schön,” Aaron agreed.
You are beautiful. Sunshine blushed. “I meant I will complete my shift. You two, get out of here.” She stood and blew her whistle, then waved a child back who had been stepping over the edge of the slope into the deep end.
“What did I do wrong?” she heard Aaron ask Acton. She came very close to climbing down from the lifeguard chair to give him an answer.
This sucks. This job is supposed to be fun! It’s a good thing nobody in the pool is doing anything dumb because I’d probably scream at them.
Sometime later, a voice made her jump.
“Sorry, Sunshine. Didn’t mean to startle you,” Hawker said. “It’s past shift change. Why are you still up there?”
She checked the clock mounted on the fence on the far side of the pool and was surprised to see it was four in the afternoon. “I told Acton I’d finish my shift, not take his, too.”
“Oh? Would you care to fill me in?” Hawker requested.
“Not really.”
“Uh-huh.”
She could see Hawker wasn’t pleased, but she didn’t want to run to the boss just because two of the guys were being jerks. But within a few minutes, she could tell Hawker was mad.
Oh, crap. Today just keeps getting better and better.
Acton and Aaron sauntered in a few minutes later.
“All right, Sunshine, you’re off duty now,” Hawker stated. “Acton, take the chair. Aaron, are you just hanging out?”
“Ja.”
“Excuse us, please. I need to go over some stuff with Acton.”
Sunshine headed for the women’s locker room. She’d planned to swim a few laps when she got off, but right now she just wanted to get out of here. She stepped into the shower.
“Sunshine!” came Aaron’s voice.
She was the only one in the locker room so she hollered back. “What?”
“May I talk to you?”
“No! I’m in the shower!”
Sunshine stood still and listened for a few seconds. No one was entering, so she resumed showering. And then she heard someone singing.
She had to listen carefully to make out the words. And then she groaned. Yep, it was definitely the parody “Up-Time Girl.” She rolled her eyes. The song had been funny for a couple weeks back in ’32 but had since worn out its welcome, in her opinion. She thought he had a nice voice, though.
. . . until he started singing “You Are My Sunshine.”
“I’m going to kill him.” She slammed the water off and grabbed her towel. “Just as soon as I get dressed.”
By the time she’d dried her hair and dressed, Aaron had started in on “You’ve Lost That Loving Feeling.” Sunshine looked around the women’s locker room, hoping she’d somehow been overlooking a back door for the last two weeks. Eventually, she sighed and walked out the door.
“If you start singing ‘I Wish They All Could Be West Virginia Girls’ I will push you into the deep end,” Sunshine announced as she strode right past Aaron.
He hurried to catch up. Sunshine didn’t slow down and didn’t acknowledge him until she’d passed through the gate. Once they were out on Poolside Drive, she gave him a sideways glance. “Did you come up with all those on your own? Or did you have help?”
Aaron looked worried. “I had some help,” he admitted.
“Acton?”
“Ja.”
“Is he helping you try to pick me up? Or is he sabotaging you?”
Aaron looked confused. Sunshine took pity on him. “Aaron, do you know Acton’s nickname? It’s ‘Action.’” She waited, saw confusion, and explained.
“So, Acton wants to ‘pick you up,’ and you want a boyfriend, but not him?”
“He may be a stud, but he’s a jerk.”
Aaron thought about it. “Would you like another song?” he asked.
“No!”
“What about dinner?”
Sunshine let him talk her into Castalanni’s.
Tuesday, May 29, 1635
Sunshine’s alarm went off, and she struggled out of bed. She didn’t want to, but she figured she ought to show her father she was responsible. After showering, she dressed nicely and hurried downstairs to breakfast.
“Whoa,” was her brother Thad’s contribution. “Why are you dressed up?”
“I’m going to work.”
“Yeah, right over at Dad’s office. Big deal.”
“Actually, it is,” their father said. “It’s important to look professional. Linda Jane will show you the system, Sunshine.”
A couple hours later, Sunshine had had just about enough of Linda Jane. She’d known her father’s office manager for years, and Linda Jane had always seemed like a nice lady before. But she had very particular ways she wanted the office run. Sunshine hoped some of those ways would start to make sense soon, because right now they seemed completely arbitrary.
She didn’t care much about quantities of boards and nails but organizing all the materials to make an actual house was sort of interesting. Bringing all the pieces out to Happy Acres Farm was a waste of time, though—unless it was for a house at Happy Acres itself, of course.
“Sunshine! File that. Don’t just stand around reading it,” Linda Jane ordered.
Sunshine looked up. “Oh.”
She started to stuff the invoice into the proper folder and then realized what had caught her attention.
“What folder do I use if the invoice has supplies for two different jobs on it?” she asked.
“Ohhhh,” Linda Jane moaned. “They didn’t do it again, did they?”
“It looks like it to me,” Sunshine said. “This is eight times the standard allotment for a house, and . . . ”
“We’re building four up in the Anabaptist settlement and four more in the big development east of the Ring,” Linda Jane told her.
“I’m pretty sure the nail factory put them all together. Do you want me to make a copy?”
“Copier died back in ’32.”
“No, by hand.”
“You can’t do it that way. I’ll call the nail factory and tell them to resend the paperwork.” Linda Jane picked up the phone. She had a lengthy conversation.
“I’ll send someone right over.” Linda Jane slammed down the phone and looked over at Sunshine. “Go pick it up.”
“It’ll take me an hour,” Sunshine protested.
“Don’t they teach driving anymore?”
“No, not unless they know you’ll need it.” Sunshine was surprised she’d asked.
“Well, then, walk. And hurry up!”
Holy cow, Sunshine thought as she left the office. I never realized Linda Jane is crazy!
Half an hour later, Sunshine pulled open the door at the nail factory. Nobody was behind the counter, but Joey Kinney was refilling bins of nails.
“Hey, Joey.”
“Hi, Sunshine.”
Joey was slow, and Sunshine wasn’t sure he was going to understand what she wanted.
Here goes . . .
“Joey, my dad is building houses in two different places, and this receipt is for all the nails for both. Can I get two receipts instead, one for each site?”
“Why?” Joey asked. “It’s all nails.”
She gave it another try. “But half of ’em are for houses up on one of the mountains, and the other half are for houses on the Rudolstadt road.”
“So tear it in half,” Joey told her.
Sunshine giggled. Then she cracked up completely. “That’s great, Joey,” she managed.
Someone else finally came out of the back.
“May I help you?”
Sunshine explained all over again.
“I told her to tear it in half,” Joey said.
The woman cocked her head. “He’s right, you know.”
“I know he is,” Sunshine agreed. “Still?”
“Oh, all right . . . ”
When she got back to the Happy Acres office, Linda Jane’s first comment was, “Took you long enough.”
Yep, this job is going to be just wonderful.
Fortunately, tomorrow was Wednesday, which meant she’d be lifeguarding.
Wednesday, June 6, 1635
Sunshine arrived at the pool at 9 AM to find Hawker already there, kicked back in one of the poolside chairs.
“Morning, Sunshine!” he called.
“Yeah, I’ve never heard that one before,” she retorted.
Hawker grinned. “How’s the other job?”
“It can be interesting, but my dad’s office manager has her own wacky system, and, well, she’s nuts. How about you?”
“I’m taking some EMT classes, doing some ride-alongs with the Rescue Squad.”
Sunshine looked at him with interest. “Is that what you’re going to do after high school?”
“Yeah, maybe get my nursing license. What?” Hawker asked with a smile.
“Oh, um, well . . . ”
“Just say it, Sunshine.”
“I’m surprised you want more school.”
“’Cause I was such a stellar student before the Ring of Fire, you mean?” Hawker was still smiling. “If you told me back in 2000 I’d be taking two languages besides English and thinking about college, I’d’ve said you were nuts. Now, it just seems practical. Speaking of which, why don’t you check the pH this morning?”
“I have to change.”
“Have you stopped wearing your swimsuit under your clothes?”
“No, but . . . I don’t want you to watch me undress.” It sounded lame, even to her.
Now Hawker had only half a grin. “Well, the locker room is right over there, but somehow this has never been an issue before.”
Sunshine flushed and hurried off. Hawker was right; she didn’t have to do anything put take off her blouse and shorts and toss them in her bag. But she stalled for a few minutes before exiting.
Hawker was still kicked back in a chair. “The pH,” he prompted.
“You didn’t start already?” Sunshine asked.
“Nope. It’s all you.”
She froze. “That’s not fair.”
“Jack checked the pH Sunday night. Aaron checked it Monday. Last Wednesday afternoon, Colby checked it. Sunshine, I don’t see your signature anywhere. So, go check the pH.”
Oh, crap. I hope I can remember how.
Sunshine got the paper, checked, and of course it was a bit off. She had to haul out the chemicals. Then she drew a blank when trying to remember how to calculate how much to use.
This is just like one of those stupid chemistry prob— This is one of those stupid chemistry problems. What did Jack say to do? I did what he said and got an 85 . . . .
A couple minutes later, blushing furiously, Sunshine had figured out how much to use. She put the chemicals in and looked over at Hawker.
“Good. How did you figure it out? One of Jack’s formulas?”
“Are you stalking me?” Sunshine demanded.
“Not . . . exactly,” Hawker answered. “I have noticed you tend to bat your eyes, and most of the rest of the guys do stuff for you. Asking Jack for help in chemistry is smart. But you have to be able to do all of your job here.”
Sunshine felt herself flush again.
“I’d like to convince you to lifeguard again next summer,” Hawker continued. “So, the other not-so-fun part of the job is those committee meetings. There’s one next Tuesday night.”
“You guys have seniority.”
“I have a first aid class. Acton won’t take it seriously. Colby will be drumming. And you . . . are a businesswoman.”
“I’m a gofer, Hawker.”
“There’s an item on the agenda about putting some sort of structure in Buffalo Creek, right over there. Gofer what they’re up to.”
Wednesday, June 13, 1635
Hawker was already at the pool when Sunshine arrived the following Wednesday. He was fiddling with the pump. Sunshine checked the pH of the pool and found it was right on.
“pH is good,” she said.
“Excellent,” he said. “This needed a little fine-tuning. Just about done.”
“Do you want to hear about the Fourth of July committee meeting now? Or wait until you can concentrate?”
Hawker looked up in surprise. “Wait until I can concentrate?”
“At Happy Acres, I can’t tell Dad or Linda Jane anything if they’re working on something else. They forget and then claim I never told them.”
“That’s, uh, considerate of you,” Hawker said.
“Heh, as opposed to my usual teenaged self?”
“Well, to be honest . . . ”
“This being an adult thing sucks,” Sunshine declared. “I kinda liked being a spoiled brat.”
Hawker laughed. “Yeah, me, too. I used to really hate school. But after the Ring of Fire, everybody else was doing his part, so I figured I had to grow up.”
“I couldn’t wait to get out of Grantville—and now it’s the center of civilization!” Sunshine grumbled.
Hawker laughed again. “I gotta say, Aaron sure seems to have pegged you with that song ‘Up-Time Girl.’”
Summer groaned. “You heard about that? You’re definitely stalking me.”
“Sunshine, everybody heard about it.”
Sunshine rolled her eyes. “It wasn’t just one song, either.”
“A whole concert, the way I heard it.”
“Until I could get him to shut up.”
Hawker studied her for a minute. “Ah, Sunshine, you know it wasn’t strictly Aaron’s idea, right?”
“Of course not. Acton put him up to it. Aaron told me.”
“I sense you and Acton don’t exactly get along.”
Sunshine made a face. “Action is used to girls falling at his feet.”
“And you’re used to guys doing whatever you want,” Hawker observed.
“Well, yeah,” Sunshine admitted. “I’m just not such a jerk about it.”
Hawker grinned.
As long as I’m being honest . . . “And I’m not used to guys being immune to it.”
“Oh, I wouldn’t say I’m immune.” Hawker’s grin was still in place. “I’ll just make you do your job anyway.”
“Nice to know,” Sunshine observed.
Hawker stood up. “There, the pump’s all set. And you’ve checked the pH. Tell me about the Fourth of July committee meeting.”
“Most of it was pretty normal,” Sunshine began. “Expect large crowds. Could we have extra lifeguards and everybody on duty for the canoe race? I told them you’d already put it on the schedule.” She flashed him a smile. “And then the structure in Buffalo Creek turns out to be three fountains, right over there.” She pointed toward the fairgrounds. “They’ll be controlled by some computer/organ thingamajig. The canoe race people were worried about the canoes crashing into it, so the fountain people are going to put up a wooden barrier—so the canoes can crash into it instead.”
Hawker frowned. “I’m no expert, but won’t that increase the current? We should take a close look before the race.”
“Laps?” Sunshine asked.
Hawker’s eyebrows raised.
“Hey, I’m trying to work on this responsibility stuff.”
“Cool. Then we’ll put Colby and Aaron in the chairs when they get here, and you can help me teach swim lessons.”
Sunday, June 17, 1635
Sunshine hurried down Buffalo Street toward the swimming pool. As she crossed the footbridge, she noticed pipes and scaffolding rising out of the creek. The fountain people must have begun work on their project over the weekend. She looked away. The way buildings in Grantville backed right up to the river was bad enough, but at least they were on land. Structures that came up out of the water were downright creepy.
The clock hanging on the fence said 4:50, so she’d made it on time. Sunshine kicked off her shoes and then took off her top and shorts. After stuffing everything in her bag, she tossed it under the high lifeguard chair.
“Hey, Sunshine.”
“Hey, Hawker.”
“It’s been a good afternoon. Quite a few kids, and they’re loud, but they’ve been safe. I think I blew my whistle only twice.”
“Oh, good.”
“Please check in with Jack and send him over here,” Hawker requested.
“Sure thing.” Sunshine took a few steps over to the kiddie pool. Five kids at the moment, three moms. Or maybe two moms and an older sister.
“Jack.”
“Sunshine.” Jack didn’t turn his head. “The crowd is a bit light today. Those two little boys are eager beavers. Keep an eye on them.”
“Got it,” she assured him.
“Switch at seven?”
“Sure. Thanks.”
A couple of the kids were watching her, and Sunshine waved to them as she took Jack’s chair. She flashed a smile at Hawker when he left fifteen minutes later.
Three of the little kids were having a ball. The other two were more tentative. One of them, a dark-haired little boy, looked a little green around the gills. Sunshine kept an eye on the shallow end of the main pool, too. Everything was under control there, although Hawker was right about these swimmers being loud.
She glanced back at the kiddie pool just as the dark-haired kid burst into tears. Sunshine ran over. She couldn’t see anything wrong, but she started to lift him out of the water anyway. As she did, he threw up. All over her and into the water, naturally.
Oh, gross! Yuck! Sunshine set him down beside the pool. His mother reached them a couple seconds later.
“Has he been sick?” she asked.
“Nein, but I should take him to the doctor right away.”
Sunshine agreed. She turned to check the rest of the kiddie pool and saw the other moms and kids had left the water.
She hurried over to them. “I’m sorry, but we’re going to have to drain the kiddie pool and clean it. I don’t know if we’ll be able to reopen it today, but you’re welcome to play in the shallow end of the main pool.”
One family did; the other decided they were done for the day. Sunshine hurried to the supply room, passing Jack on the way. He was still watching the pool, but was out of his chair, edging her way.
Sunshine gestured at herself in disgust. “I’ll go get the pool closed signs, and then I’m going to shower. Then I’ll start draining the kiddie pool.”
She set out the plastic warning signs and then hurried for the shower. She just had to get the puke off herself. Sunshine stripped off her swimsuit and dashed into the shower. She washed twice, just to make sure she’d removed every last trace of it. Then she wrapped her towel around herself and examined her swimsuit. Ugh. This is going in the wash tonight.
Then her face brightened. Guess I’ll just have to wear the other one.
Sunshine came out of locker room in her white bikini. Unlike her stretchy blue racing suit, this one had ties. When she’d been thirteen, she’d tied it with big loops. Now she was seventeen, and the loops were a lot smaller.
She grabbed the procedure binder from the supply room and opened it to the draining the pool checklist. Plastic folding Slippery When Wet signs up—check . . .
The water level was dropping when she heard a whistle. Sunshine looked up. Jack was waving her over.
“What’s up?” she asked him.
“It’s seven o’clock. You want to take over here?”
“I’ve got the kiddie pool half-drained,” she said. “I was going to try to clean it and refill it tonight. Then Billy Lee and Elias will just need to adjust the pH in the morning. They can probably have it open an hour after the main pool.”
“Good plan.” Jack smiled. “I’ll follow it. It’s your turn in the chair.”
Sunshine looked at him. “Thanks, Jack.” She sincerely meant it.
“You deserve it,” he told her.
Sunshine wasn’t sure what to make of that, but she gratefully took the main pool. She glanced at Jack’s progress from time to time but kept her attention on the swimmers. She never saw anyone watching her.
Monday, June 18, 1635
“You’re dressed up,” Aaron commented as Sunshine entered the pool area.
She noted the kiddie pool was back in service before looking down at her blouse and skorts. “I have to dress up for work. Which is silly, because once I figured out the hooks and hinges and door knobs for the new houses in the Anabaptist settlement got delivered to the other new houses on the Rudolstadt road—again—I spent half my day moving construction supplies from one construction site to the other. I’m going to go get changed.”
She came out wearing the white bikini a few minutes later and headed straight for the pool log. Ah, good. Billy and Elias had reopened the kiddie pool just before 10 AM.
After a while, she realized she heard loud voices. Sunshine looked up and saw Colby and Elias squared off with a couple men, both down-timers by their clothing. She headed toward them.
“Slut!” one of the down-timers shouted.
“Shut your mouth,” Colby told him.
“And get out of here,” Elias added.
“We will not tolerate this—!”
“Yes, you will,” Elias stated as Aaron approached to make it three against two.
“Shove off. And don’t come back to the pool,” Colby ordered.
The two men exchanged glances and backed off.
“Sorry, Sunshine. They don’t like your swimsuit,” Elias said.
“We do, of course,” Aaron added.
She gave him a good-natured shove.
“Thanks, guys. I mean it,” she told them.
Wednesday, June 20, 1635
“What’s this I hear about you wearing a scandalous swimsuit on duty?” Hawker asked her by way of greeting.
“Oh, come on,” Sunshine protested. “A kid barfed on me Sunday night. I had to go change. When I got home, I had to soak my suit overnight to get it out. So I wore my white bikini Monday. Washed the blue one and . . . ” She pulled off her polo shirt. “Voilà! All not-scandalous today.”
Something in Hawker’s expression suggested to her he really wouldn’t have minded if she’d had to wear the white one today, too. I should arrange that, she thought.
But then Hawker shook his head. “Not scandalous to us up-timers, you mean.”
Sunshine got serious. “Or to many down-timers. We were talking about it Monday, and Elias said in his village, there’s a women’s day in the bathhouse and a men’s day—and nobody wears anything. And you know how straitlaced Elias is.”
“Well, what his village has is more of a communal bathtub than a swimming pool,” Hawker pointed out. “Anyway, those two guys went and complained to Tino Nobili and eventually found their way to Mr. Barnes. He was fit to be tied at first, but I explained what happened and calmed him down.”
“Thanks, Hawk.”
“You’re fine,” he concluded.
Sunshine couldn’t help it. She smirked.
“I didn’t mean it like that!”
“So I’m not fine?” Sunshine faked a pout but couldn’t hold it. “Sorry, I can’t help giving you a hard time.”
“I’ll let it slide because you did such a good job cleaning the pool. Jack wouldn’t have taken over if you’d tried to con him into it, either.”
Sunshine gave him her best smile and spent the next hour feeling very good about her job. A number of kids came in, but no littles, so she was in the chair on the side of the pool.
“Slut!”
Hawker jumped down from the lifeguard’s chair at the far end of the pool and headed for the office. “Stay in the chair. I’m calling the cops.”
Sunshine glanced toward the parking lot. Yep, the same two men were just outside the fence. One of them looked around and pushed the gate open.
Hawker came out of the office and intercepted the men near the shallow end, leading off with “What’s your problem?”
Both men started shouting. Sunshine could hear only a few words: “indecent” and “intolerable” among them.
“Listen,” Hawker said loudly. “It’s not your decision.”
Sunshine kept watching the pool, but she could hear them arguing. When she heard, “What’s going on here?” she snuck a glance and saw police officers arriving.
The swimmers all clustered to the edge of the pool to watch. Sunshine kept a close eye on them, counting heads and making sure nobody dropped out of sight. When they gave it up and went back to swimming, she snuck another glance and saw the two men were leaving. And the two cops and Hawker were headed toward her.
“Hey, Sunshine, I’ll take the chair for a minute.”
Oh great. One lecture on modesty, coming up. But she climbed down.
“Sergeant Gunther Wiener, Miss. I have a few questions.”
Five, in fact. Sunshine was surprised the cop not only didn’t say anything about her swimsuit but seemed to ignore it entirely.
“So you had never seen these two before yesterday?” he finished.
“That’s right.”
“Danke. We have told them to stay away from you.”
“Thanks.”
“But have someone walk you home, okay?”
“Okay,” Sunshine agreed.
“And you’re not getting the chair back,” Hawker told her, “because at least half of the swim lesson kids ‘want to be in the pretty girl’s class.’”
Sunshine smiled. She was starting to get the hang of teaching swimming, too.
Thursday, June 21, 1635
Sunshine filled out the pool logbook and returned all the kickboards to the supply room while Jack straightened the chairs and tables and began hosing down the deck. Then they tackled the locker rooms, cleaning toilets, sinks, showers, and mirrors and mopping the floor. Experience had taught all the lifeguards it was much faster to team up to clean one locker room and then the other, rather than each lifeguard cleaning one alone. Sunshine thought it had something to do having a common goal and being able to talk to her co-worker. I bet I can find things like this to speed up at Happy Acres, too, she thought. She still hated cleaning, but the sooner they were done, the sooner she could go home and crash. Summer vacation really wasn’t what it was cracked up to be when she was working sixty-hour weeks between her two jobs.
When she and Jack had finished the end-of-day cleaning, Sunshine grabbed her bag from under the lifeguard chair. As she picked it up, something slid off onto the deck. She reached for it. Someone had lost a necklace. It was shiny and gaudy. Gold—maybe electroplated, Sunshine thought. Certainly not 24-karat.
“Jack! Toss me the keys, please! I’ll put this in lost and found.”
After relocking the supply room, Sunshine took her bag into the women’s locker room, toweled off, and put on dry clothes. She reached for her compact to check her appearance, then frowned when she didn’t find anything in the pocket of her bag. She emptied the bag’s contents onto one of the locker room benches. She still didn’t find it.
“Sunshine! Are you ready?” came Jack’s voice.
She crammed everything back into her bag and hurried out of the locker room. “Sorry, Jack. I couldn’t find my compact.” She took a quick look around the lifeguard chair, and then she and Jack left.
Sunshine tried not to worry about her compact. She hoped she’d simply forgotten to toss it in her bag this morning, and it would be on her end table or in the bathroom. So, she wasn’t really paying attention to her surroundings. Still, as they cut through the fairgrounds and turned left on Buffalo Street, she glanced over her shoulder a couple times.
“What are you looking at?” Jack asked.
“Probably nothing,” Sunshine told him. “Just frustrated over the compact and feeling jumpy.”
Jack stopped and looked around. He didn’t see much in the dark, just the outlines of houses and trees. “I don’t see anything.”
“Like I said, I’m just jumpy,” Sunshine stated. “Thanks for walking me home, though.”
Once she got home, Sunshine searched her room and the bathroom and failed to find her compact. In a bad mood, she fell into bed later than she had intended. She needed all the sleep she could get to survive her Friday and Saturday shifts at Happy Acres.
Sunday, June 24, 1635
Sunshine arrived at the pool early Sunday afternoon to get some laps in before she went on duty at five. She saw Hawker and Jack standing together at the lifeguard chair.
“What’s up, guys?”
Hawker turned to her with a very serious look. “This was under the lifeguard chair.” He dropped it into her hand.
“It’s a fancy ring. I think it might be real silver.”
“There’s a note, too.” Hawker handed it over.
I will be seeing you soon, she read.
“Seriously, guys? Which one of you wrote this? It’s creepy.”
“It wasn’t either of us,” Hawker told her. “I don’t think it was any of the lifeguards.”
Sunshine gave him a skeptical look.
“Let’s check the logbook,” Hawker suggested. “Jack, you have the pool.”
Hawker pulled the logbook off the shelf in the storage room and opened it to the current page. “Check the handwriting against everyone’s maintenance items.”
Sunshine grinned. “Look at you, being all detective-y.” She held the note alongside the logbook. “All right, it’s not you or Jack. Oh, it’s not Aaron.” She flipped back a page. “Not Elias . . . or Billy . . . or Colby . . . or Acton. Okay, you’re right. It wasn’t one of you guys.”
“Sounds like you have a secret admirer,” Hawker told her.
“Oh, crap,” Sunshine muttered. “That necklace I found last shift? Is it still in lost and found?”
Hawker stepped into the storage room and checked. “Gold, kind of overdone?”
“Yeah.”
“It’s still there.”
“I found it on my gym bag Thursday night when we closed.”
“I’m not sure I like this,” Hawker stated.
“Me, neither,” Sunshine agreed. “I’m going to get changed.”
When she came out of the locker room, Hawker was talking to a girl who was obviously a down-timer. She wore a plain off-white blouse, an ankle-length green skirt, and a matching vest. Her blonde hair was covered by a black bonnet.
“Sunshine!” Hawker called.
Now what? she wondered. But she walked over.
“Sunshine Moritz, Barbara Kellarmännin.”
They shook hands.
“I think I’ve seen you around school,” Sunshine stated. “Are you Amish or something?”
“Sunshine!” Hawker exclaimed.
“Brethren,” the girl explained. “We are hoping to avoid the Amish schism in this timeline. Most people call us Anabaptists. It is why I am here—to ask if we may baptize people in the swimming pool.”
Sunshine just blinked. “You want to do what?” she managed.
“Baptize Brethren.”
“And sistern,” Hawker added. “That’s where you come in.”
“Uhhh . . . I’m Catholic,” Sunshine protested. “We sprinkle. Besides, isn’t having a lifeguard sort of cheating?”
The girl—Barbara—laughed. “An excellent point! We just want to use the pool for a few minutes.”
“There has to be a lifeguard in the chair if anyone is in the pool,” Hawker explained.
Sunshine laughed. “Sure, Hawker. I’ll just sit up there in a bikini in case one of the ladies slips. Everybody will be calling me names instead of just those two guys last week.”
“What do you mean?” Barbara sounded genuinely curious.
“Oh, it’s been taken care of,” Hawker assured her. “A couple guys were giving Sunshine a hard time about her swimsuit. The police told them to leave.”
“Do you think they’re the ones leaving me presents?” Sunshine wondered aloud.
“Leaving you presents?” Barbara repeated.
“Oh, it’s probably nothing.”
“Nein, I would hear about this, bitte.” The Anabaptist girl’s voice was suddenly quite firm.
Sunshine gave her a sharp look. “Why?”
“Because someone scandalized by your clothing should not be sending you presents,” Barbara stated. “It does not fit.”
“Doesn’t fit what?” Now Sunshine was curious, too.
“The profile.” Barbara obviously realized the word didn’t mean anything to Sunshine. “People act in certain ways. Giving presents to people who offend you is not one of those ways.”
“That’s . . . ah . . . ” Sunshine couldn’t think of a way to be ask diplomatically and decided to just blurt it out. “How do you know?”
Barbara looked uncomfortable. “I have been studying criminal behavior.”
Sunshine’s eyebrows rose. “You’re . . . what, a detective?”
“Nein, a profiler.”
Sunshine stifled a smart remark about “Amish, P.I.” because Barbara really did seem concerned. “Well, there were a couple guys who were offended by my bikini,” she explained. “Well, my other one. It’s . . . less.”
It was Barbara’s turn to raise her eyebrows. Sunshine awarded her points for not saying anything and continued.
“Thursday night I found a necklace on my bag. Today there was a ring along with this note.”
Barbara stepped closer to read over Sunshine’s shoulder. Then she looked Sunshine straight in the eye. “You have a stalker.”
“I checked the handwriting,” Hawker put in. “It does not match any of the lifeguards.”
“Good job with the forensics,” Barbara told him. “I will tell Georg and Martin they have competition.”
“Forensics?” Sunshine asked.
“Physical evidence,” Barbara explained. “Different than profiling, different than detective work. Only Sherlock Holmes did all three, and he isn’t real. You should go to the polizei.”
“I don’t want to bother them—” Sunshine began.
“Go,” Barbara urged. She looked at Hawker. “At least do not let her walk home alone.”
“I’ll talk to Jack,” Hawker promised. “Ah, the baptisms . . . I’ll check with Mr. Barnes, but I’m pretty sure he’ll say if we let you baptize people, we have to let everybody.”
Barbara shrugged, conveying, “Of course.”
“When do you want to do this?”
* * *
Sunshine and Jack locked the pool gate a few minutes after 9 p.m. Sunshine didn’t live far from the pool as the crow flew, but the way Buffalo Creek twisted around made the roads quite a bit longer. On her way to the pool—in daylight—she often took the back entrance from the Happy Acres development to the new Len Trout Road to Summit Road, which approached the pool from the south. But most of it wasn’t lit at night, so she went home across the footbridge to the fairgrounds, then left on Buffalo Street out to the bridge into Happy Acres from the north.
Sunshine chattered away until Jack glanced over his shoulder, and she realized it wasn’t the first time he’d done it. “What is it?”
“Don’t look behind us, but we’re being followed,” Jack told her.
“Seriously?” Sunshine waved a hand to their right. “You just happen to bring it up at were passing Beatty Cemetery?”
“Nope. I’m telling you because now I’m sure someone is following us.”
She took a quick look. “He’s got a hat and cloak on. I can’t see his face. I can’t tell if it’s one of the guys who was hassling me. But Barbara said it wouldn’t be.”
“Say what?”
Sunshine explained quickly.
“Sunshine, I don’t know if I can take him.” Jack sounded worried.
That scared Sunshine. “We can run. Or jump in the creek and swim across.”
“I wouldn’t mind taking you up on it some other time,” Jack stated. “But swimming Buffalo Creek at night might be pushing our luck.” He took Sunshine’s hand, and they ran.
Sunshine wasn’t sure if she really heard footsteps behind them or just imagined them. She was pretty sure she’d never run faster. They cut left across the bridge and dashed through Happy Acres to the Moritz’s farmhouse and in the front door.
Ted Moritz looked up from his newspaper. “Sunshine. Jack Sims. What’s the rush?”
“Someone followed us!”
Sunshine’s father got the short version and went for his gun. He and Jack made a quick search and came up empty. When they returned, Ted Moritz wanted the long version.
After Sunshine finished, he said, “I don’t want you lifeguarding anymore.”
“I’m not going to let those bozos win!” Sunshine insisted.
Jack interrupted the ensuing argument with, “They know your schedule.”
“What do you mean?”
“Those guys showed up Monday and Wednesday. Somebody left you jewelry Thursday and today. But they weren’t there yesterday. At least, I didn’t see them, and Billy Lee didn’t mention anyone hanging around.”
“How do they know Sunshine’s schedule?” Ted Moritz demanded.
“The schedule is posted. Anybody can read it. Maybe they sent a kid in to see when Sunshine’s shifts are. But how doesn’t matter as much—”
“I’m not letting Sunshine work—”
Normally-polite Jack talked right over her father. “What if you pick Sunshine up after work tomorrow, Mr. Moritz?”
Monday, June 25, 1635
Sunshine spent the rest of the evening worrying about whether her father would really make her quit lifeguarding. She worried about it some more as she got ready the next morning, finally getting distracted as she experimented with tying her hair back with a bright red ribbon. It wasn’t her preferred style, but she was testing a few looks to see if any of them caused other Happy Acres employees to treat her with a bit more respect.
Once she stepped into the Happy Acres office, the confusion of a brand-new project took over. The contract was for half a dozen big, fancy houses—mansions, really—in Castle Hills up north of the Ring of Fire. It wasn’t a design Happy Acres had built before, and as the day wore on, it became clear the supply specifications were off across the board. The piles of excess wood alone showed the project estimates had been thrown together and not double-checked.
“Send it back,” Linda Jane ordered.
“No!” Sunshine was aghast. “With the limited supply of construction-grade wood all along the Golden Corridor, if we sent it back, we’ll never see it again. The lumber yard will sell it by the end of the day. We’ll need it soon enough for some other project.”
Linda Jane appealed to the boss—and lost. “Get it under cover and under guard,” Ted Moritz directed.
The estimates were high for wood, but low for nails, fittings, glass, and pretty much everything else. By Saturday afternoon, Sunshine had made or organized several supplemental trips for parts and was writing new supply specs.
On one of her trips, she paused for a few minutes to watch construction of one of the Happy Acres houses. The frame had already been erected. One whole side was assembled on the ground. Workmen lifted the side of the house into position. She hoped none of them lost his grip. But then carpenters swarmed over the frame, nailing and pegging it into place.
Finally, her father said, “Good work today, Sunshine. C’mon, I’ll drop you off at the pool.”
Sunshine breathed a sigh of relief.
When they pulled up outside the pool enclosure, Ted Moritz said, “If you see anyone or anything even a little bit off, call the police and call me. I’ll be here in five minutes.”
“Okay, Dad.”
When Sunshine came out of the women’s locker room, she tossed her bag under the lifeguard chair as usual. This time she had a lock on the two zipper pulls, and the key was on a chain around her neck. She saw Colby and Elias seemed to be in no hurry to go home.
“Take the chair,” Aaron offered. “I’ll watch the kiddie pool.”
Sunshine looked at all of them suspiciously, but then accepted as graciously as she could. Elias and Colby finally took off. Then she realized Aaron had positioned himself a couple steps further back than the lifeguard at the kiddie pool normally stood. It just happened to put him in front of the gate and in a position to watch her.
After an hour, she climbed down from the chair and waved him over. They met near the corner of the main pool and stood looking past each other, watching their water.
“You’re watching me,” Sunshine accused.
“Hawker told me to,” Aaron told her. “I do not mind.”
The twinkle in his eye annoyed her. “You’d better not be my stalker.”
“I am not. I prefer the direct approach.”
True enough, Sunshine reflected. You’re bad at it, but you do seem to prefer it. She gave him a sharp look. “You’re sure?”
“May I take you to dinner?”
She smiled in spite of herself and went back to the chair.
Sunshine had just checked the clock—8:03 p.m.—when there was a yelp from the far side of the pool. She spotted a kickboard, but not the kid who’d been hanging onto it five seconds ago. She made sure the water below her was clear, blew her whistle, and jumped straight from the chair.
Sunshine crossed the pool with a fast lifeguard’s crawl stroke that kept her head above water the whole time. She saw arms flail, and the kid got his head above water before she got to him. Nevertheless, she wrapped an arm around him and towed him to the edge of the pool.
“Are you okay?”
“Ja.”
“Did you swallow any water?”
“Nein. I just let go of the kickboard.”
“It happens. Hold onto the edge.” Sunshine retrieved the kickboard and handed it to him. “Ready to try again? I’ll stay close.”
A few minutes later, the boy was splashing around again.
Sunshine swam back across the pool. Aaron met her at the edge.
“Kid lost his grip on the kickboard and dunked himself,” she reported.
“Is he okay?”
“Yeah.”
The rest of shift passed without incident. But after Sunshine had showered and dressed, she couldn’t find her hair ribbon. She sighed and dumped her bag. It wasn’t there.
“But I locked my gym bag!” she protested out loud.
At least her dad was picking her up. She’d better not tell him about this.
Wednesday, June 27, 1635
Sunshine was just finishing breakfast Wednesday morning when there was a knock at the door. Her dad answered the door and didn’t seem surprised to see Hawker Baldwin. Aw, crap, Sunshine realized. They’ve been talking.
“Hey, Hawk. Let me guess—you’re my ride.”
“Yep.”
Hawker waited until they were in his dad’s truck. “I talked to Aaron yesterday. He said your hair ribbon disappeared.”
“Yeah.”
“No chance you misplaced it?”
“I took it off in the locker room and tossed it in my gym bag. At least, I thought I did.”
When they arrived at the pool, he took her bag from her and examined the cheap padlock.
“Hawker . . . ” she began.
He pointed with his other hand. “See? Scratches. Somebody picked this lock. Let’s start locking your gym bag in the supply room during your shift.”
“I want to kick this guy’s butt!” Sunshine declared.
“Do you mean it?”
Sunshine realized it was a serious question.
“Yeah, I do.”
Sunshine distracted herself with teaching swim lessons. Wednesday passed with nothing being taken from or added to her bag.
“I’ll drive you home,” Hawker told her. “Slight detour to the Rescue Squad first.”
In fact, the Rescue Squad was in the opposite direction, but Sunshine didn’t think anything of it until Hawker came back out with two walkie-talkies. “They let me borrow these for a couple days. I’ll leave one with you and Jack and give the other to your dad. Jack can walk you home tomorrow, and your dad can come pick you up if anything happens.”
“Hawker . . . ”
“I’ve had enough of this guy stalking one of my lifeguards.”
Thursday, June 28, 1635
By the end of the Happy Acres workday, Sunshine was looking forward to the pool. Her father insisted on giving her a ride. The pool was crowded—people were already starting to arrive in town for what the lifeguards had dubbed Summer Chaos, Part One. Other people called it Fourth of July week, the Tech Fair, or the Messe. It depended on whom you talked to.
It all meant a lot of new people in the pool who didn’t quite know what they were doing. Sunshine blew her whistle several times and extended a kickboard to one man old enough to know better than to step over the line into the deep end and water over his head. By closing time, she was a bit frazzled.
After they had cleaned everything, Sunshine retrieved her gym bag from the supply room, and Jack grabbed the radio.
When she came out of the locker room, Sunshine realized Jack had been standing guard outside the door.
Jack spoke into the walkie-talkie. “Mr. Moritz, we’re leaving now.”
“You guys are definitely overdoing it,” she declared. Sunshine wasn’t sure if she was annoyed, amused, or grateful—probably all of them.
They locked up and cut across the parking lot toward the footbridge, passed the fairgrounds ticket booth on their right, and turned left on Buffalo Street. Normally, Sunshine wouldn’t think anything of it, but the recent events made her unhappy with the trees and the rocky hillside on the right side of the road and the fairgrounds’ chain link fence on the left. At least there were streetlights.
Jack glanced back over his shoulder a couple times. Under the circumstances, Sunshine wasn’t going to razz him about it. She was feeling jumpy herself.
Walnut Avenue. Chestnut. Linden. Beatty Cemetery was coming up on the right, up and over the hillside that ran right down to the road and then down some more to Buffalo Creek off to their left.
Jack checked behind them and immediately keyed the walkie-talkie. “Sunshine and I are passing Beatty Cemetery. Somebody’s behind us.”
“On the way,” came Ted Moritz’s voice.
Jack grabbed Sunshine’s hand, and they started walking fast. Sunshine glanced over her shoulder, spotted an indistinct shape, and felt a surge of panic.
“Run!” she cried.
She and Jack took off, running down the left shoulder of the road, around the big curve Buffalo Street made as it followed the loop of Buffalo Creek. Sunshine heard a yelp behind them. She risked a glance back and thought she saw more than one figure back there.
Bright lights illuminated them, and Ted Moritz squealed to a halt in his pickup. “Get in!”
Jack pushed her into the truck and slammed the door behind her. He swung himself over the side into the back. Ted Moritz made a quick three-point turn, and a couple minutes later they were at Happy Acres.
“Someone followed you again?” Sunshine’s father demanded. “That’s it. No more lifeguarding.”
“Da-a-ad!”
“It’s putting you in danger, honey.”
“But, Dad—”
Sunshine was still wheedling her father when they heard another vehicle pull up outside. There was a knock at the door.
Ted Moritz grabbed his gun before answering it.
“Hawker!”
“Hey. Mr. Moritz, Sunshine. I finished a ride-along with the Rescue Squad and drove by the pool to see if I could give Sunshine and Jack a lift.”
“Did you now?” Ted Moritz asked.
“Any problems?” Hawker asked.
They filled him in.
“I’m going to talk to Chief Richards in the morning,” Ted Moritz stated. “This is going to end.”
“Good,” Hawker said.
“And Sunshine’s done.”
Sunshine’s face fell. If he was telling Hawker—her boss—then he was serious.
“I understand, Mr. Moritz, but the police might catch this guy. Sunshine’s next shift isn’t until Saturday afternoon, and we’ll have four lifeguards on duty at a time all next week. We can definitely arrange for rides home.”
“I’ll think about it.”
Sunshine knew her father’s probably-no-but-definitely-not-if-you-keep-pushing tone.
Hawker seemed to recognize it, too. “If you have a few minutes tomorrow, please give me a call so I can make any adjustments to the schedule.”
“Thanks, Jack. Hawker.” Sunshine gave them both a hug.
After they left, Ted Moritz said, “I don’t think you need to express any more gratitude than that, young lady. Understood?”
Sunshine rolled her eyes. “Yes, Daddy.”
“And tomorrow, go see Karen Reading and order a new swimsuit.”
“But—!”
“I mean it, young lady. New swimsuit if you want to keep lifeguarding.”
Friday, June 29, 1635
Sunshine couldn’t avoid it. Her father had even let her off work a couple hours early. She went into town to Grantville Fabrics and Textiles.
“And we can add a little skirt . . . ”
Sunshine rolled her eyes. “It’s a swimsuit, Mrs. Reading, not a dress. I have to be able to rescue people.”
“Maybe a cap sleeve?”
Sunshine sighed and started negotiating.
* * *
Sunshine left Grantville Fabrics and Textiles with another sigh. Unfortunately, Karen Reading had some fabric that would probably work. Sunshine hoped it would prove impractical, but she had a sinking feeling Mrs. Reading really was good enough to pull this off. Well—
“Sunshine Moritz!”
She looked around and spotted a police officer hurrying toward her, looking rather harassed.
“Officer . . . ” She wasn’t sure she could say his name with a straight face.
“Sergeant Gunther Wiener, ma’am. I have a few questions for you.”
“About the guy who keeping following me, taking my stuff, and leaving me things? He followed me last night!”
“Ja. Are you aware a man was knocked unconscious last night along Buffalo Street?”
“No, I wasn’t.” But all at once it came together. A third walkie-talkie . . .
“Assault is a very serious crime,” Sergeant Wiener continued.
Sunshine thought his statement was close to being a blatant lie, but she kept her mouth shut. She didn’t follow the police beat in the newspapers, but her parents did—and complained about serious bar fights resulting in only a couple weeks on a work crew.
“Do you know who ambushed him and left him unconscious in the grass?”
“No.” Well, yes, I’m sure I know, but no.
“This man stated he would file charges. He claims the lifeguards beat him up.”
Inspiration struck. “If he’s the one who was stalking me, I want to file charges, too.”
“This had better never happen again.” Sergeant Wiener sounded very gruff.
“I want to file charges, too,” Sunshine repeated.
“Well, you cannot. Because now we cannot find the man.”
“Oh? That sounds fishy.”
Sergeant Wiener shook a finger at her. “Lifeguards are not police officers. And don’t just leave them by the road. Make an anonymous call or something.”
Somehow Sunshine managed to keep a straight face.
10 a.m., Saturday, June 30, 1635
Sunshine’s first shift of Summer Chaos, Part One didn’t start until one in the afternoon, but she intended to arrive early enough to swim and relax. She still wasn’t sure if her father was going to let her keep lifeguarding. If not, she was going to go out with style.
As Sunshine passed through the gate, she saw Aaron watching the kiddie pool and Acton in the lifeguard chair at the far end. Then she spotted Jack next to the chair at the side of the pool and Hawker over by the diving well. She made her way to the side chair and set her backpack down by the other lifeguards’. Sunshine pulled off her top and shorts, revealing her white bikini. After securing her pack with a quality lock, she made her way to the deep end and waited for a lane to clear. She might have stood at the edge of the pool a little longer than was necessary before diving in. She swam the length of the pool, made her turn, and swam back in the return lane, straighter and much faster than she had back in May. She was fairly sure the guys would be watching.
After ten laps, Sunshine climbed out of the pool, toweled off, picked up her bag, and walked out the gate. She found a spot in the park in direct line of sight of the pool, spread out her towel, and lay down to work on her tan. After a few minutes, she wasn’t asleep but was pleasantly zoned.
A sudden scream startled her. Sunshine sat up, scanning the park but seeing nothing out of the ordinary. She heard another scream and realized it had come from the fairgrounds. Sunshine grabbed her lifeguard whistle and ran to the edge of Buffalo Creek.
Two men were in the water amid collapsed pipes and barriers from the fountain project. One section had pulled away from its supports and fallen flat into the water. Another had sliced straight to the bottom and was just barely poking out of Buffalo Creek.
“Hilfe!” a woman on the opposite bank yelled.
Help, Sunshine realized.
“Pieter is trapped!”
Sunshine turned toward the pool, waving both arms and blowing a long blast on her whistle. Then she jumped into Buffalo Creek and swam toward the collapsed structure.
“Who’s trapped?” she called. “Just one person?”
“Ja! He is under the board!”
Sunshine eyed the big, mostly submerged section of boards tangled in some pipes.
“Tell the other lifeguards I went down after him!” Sunshine flipped over and dove.
Buffalo Creek was murky—some of the debris must have stirred up sediment. Sunshine found a pipe and followed it down. Intact, nobody there. She worked her way right, found another pipe, and followed it up. Body.
The man flailed helplessly. Sunshine saw the board had pinned him against an intact section of pipe. She tried to move it and couldn’t. She swam to the man, breathed into his mouth, and surfaced.
“Found him!”
One of the other two men had scrambled out of the water, but the second one was flailing around. Sunshine grabbed him and towed him the short distance to the riverbank. Then she took a deep breath and flipped over.
She could wiggle the board but the bottom wouldn’t move. She swam along it. Ugh. One of the pipes had broken off. The bent stub had caught the corner of the board. She swam back up to the man, gave him another breath, and surfaced.
“Air hose?” she shouted. “Really thin pipe?”
“We do not have any!” the woman on the bank called back.
Sunshine dove again. This time the man tried to grab her. She recognized his panic and pushed away. She made a second approach, holding up a hand. He—the woman had called him Pieter—had the presence of mind not to grab her this time. But when he froze, he slipped a bit lower against the pipework. Sunshine gave him another breath and surfaced.
She heard splashes and looked. Hawker, Aaron, and Jack were swimming her way.
“What happened?”
“It collapsed. One guy trapped on the bottom. Need you guys to lift the board out of the water. I gotta give him more air.” Sunshine dropped below the surface.
How was it attached? She swam to a still-standing board and saw the big bolts. It was just like the side of a house! They could raise it . . . if they had a way to control it from above.
“I need thin ropes!” she hollered.
The woman on shore threw her a rope.
Sunshine shook her head. “Too thick!”
She threw a second one. It looked like it might work. Sunshine grabbed it and submerged, breathed air into Pieter’s mouth.
The stupid bolts are still in! Sunshine reached underneath. The nut was gone, so she pushed the bolt out. The rope threaded through—just barely. Lucky.
She popped to the surface. Hawker had a second rope in one hand and gave her the okay sign with the other. She dove to give Pieter another breath. Hawk’s smart—he’ll figure out what I’m up to.
Sunshine made another dive. By then, Hawker had the other rope tied. A crowd had gathered on shore. Some of them held the other end of the ropes, with Hawker, Jack, and Aaron ready to lift. And the Rescue Squad had arrived.
“Can you guys lift the board when they pull?” Sunshine asked. “I’ll get Pieter.”
“Got it!”
“Ja!”
Sunshine dove, gave Pieter a breath, and surfaced. “Now!” she shouted. She saw Jack and Aaron guiding the board while Hawker pushed it upward. Then she gulped air and dove.
By now, there was a lot of sediment. She swam to where she could see Pieter’s legs. The board shifted. She put an arm across his chest and kicked. Nothing happened. She kicked again. Still nothing. Sunshine popped to the surface.
“Stop! Guys! You can’t just pull back on the ropes. You have to lift it up off Pieter first. I’ll hit it when he’s clear, and then you holler at them to pull.” She hyperventilated. “Lift!”
Sunshine skimmed down along the board. It moved slowly. As soon as it was off Pieter’s legs, she gave it three hard whacks, grabbed him, and propelled them both to the surface.
Once Pieter was clear, Jack and Aaron flipped the board over, and the men on the ropes easily pulled it in. The paramedics lowered a stretcher to Hawker. He slid it underneath Pieter, who was coughing up water.
Once they had the stretcher on solid ground, one of the other men looked down at Pieter. “How are you still breathing, Pieter?” he demanded.
“Jakob, she kissed me air under the water.”
The woman looked at Jakob. “See, I told you oxygen is real.”
Sunshine couldn’t help it. She started giggling.
Pieter managed to throw his arms around Sunshine and kiss her.
“Ich danke Ihnen.”
“I dank dir if you’re going to kiss me like that,” Sunshine murmured.
“We’d better get back to the pool,” Jack said. After a round of thank yous, he and Aaron hurried across the footbridge.
One of the paramedics happened to look up right then and saw who was approaching. “A priest?” he asked. “Ah, c’mon, guys, have a little faith. She saved your buddy.”
“Magister Kircher is the head of our project,” the woman explained. “I forgot I sent Martin to find him right after the accident.”
“Father Kircher!” Sunshine exclaimed. Mom and Dad are going to stroke out if they find out I ran into the parish priest while I was wearing this bikini.
“Is anyone hurt?” Kircher asked.
“Pieter was trapped underwater.” The woman pointed at Sunshine. “She saved him.”
“We want to take him in to Leahy and check him out, Father,” one of the paramedics added, “but I think he’ll be okay.”
“Please do.” Kircher’s eyes twinkled as he bent over the stretcher. “Pieter, I may have to concede our discussion of how God is sovereign to accomplish His will—even to rescue you by the hand of this young lady.”
Sunshine shifted uncomfortably. “And Hawker. Aaron and Jack, too—they had to get back to the pool.”
The medics loaded Pieter into the ambulance. The other woman insisted Jakob—the other man Sunshine had towed to shore—go with him.
Then she turned to Sunshine. “Thank you. I do not even know your name.”
“Miss Sunshine Moritz,” Father Kircher introduced her. “And Frau Josyntjie Boekhorst.”
Josyntjie held out her hand, and they shook.
“Danke. Pieter, Jakob, and Reinhard went out on the catwalk to paint over the graffiti when one section shifted and fell . . . ”
“The nuts came loose,” Sunshine put in. “The bolts were still in the board, though. I’m afraid I dropped them in the creek.” After a few weeks working for Happy Acres, she genuinely regretted losing quality bolts.
Father Kircher frowned. “Frau Boekhorst, we will need Father Nick for the accident investigation. And we will need to make repairs. With safety lines.”
“There were no nuts on the other side, either,” Hawker stated. “Just bolts.”
Frau Boekhorst’s eyes widened. “Magister, this was no accident! We put nuts on all those bolts. We were careful.”
A blond man at her side spoke up, his expression as grim as his words. “Whoever put the graffiti there knew you would paint over it, and he removed the nuts on purpose. Pieter and the others stepped well past the last bolts, and the board flipped. This was not just vandalism—it was meant to injure or kill.”
Sunshine shuddered. Someone is a sick puppy. And this man—who had a rifle slung over his shoulder—looked like he meant to go take care of whomever it was.
Kircher looked at him for a moment. Sunshine could practically see the wheels turning. “You’ll tell Neustatter, of course. Make sure Georg Meisner knows as well,” the priest directed.
The man nodded, murmured something to Frau Boekhorst, and departed.
“While Pieter and Jakob are gone, I will help with the repairs,” Frau Boekhorst stated. “I am lighter than the men . . . ” She looked to Sunshine and gestured at her heavy skorts. “They will not allow me in the water in these.”
Sunshine frowned. “Neither would I. You’d go straight to the bottom. You need a swimsuit.”
“Ah, like, um . . . ” she faltered.
“Like mine, only more?” Sunshine suggested with a grin. “I know just the person to see. She really wants to make the kind of swimsuit you want.”
Hawker spoke up. “We’re both on duty at the pool this afternoon, so we’d better go. If you are going in Buffalo Creek at all, please let me know first. I’ve got extra lifeguards on duty all week. I can send one over.”
“Thank you,” Athanasius Kircher told him. “And thank you, Sunshine.”
* * *
“Are we walking or swimming?” Sunshine asked.
“Well, we’re already wet . . . ”
After they were back on the Hough Park side of the creek, Hawker said, “By the way . . . nice swimsuit. You kinda remind me of that Bond girl coming out of the water.”
Sunshine blushed with pleasure.
“And great rescue,” Hawker told her in a serious tone. “You saved his life.”
Sunshine didn’t know what to say.
“You should have just enough time to shower and change before your shift.”
2:30 p.m.
Later, a young man dressed in expensive-looking down-time clothes passed through the gate. Sunshine noted his boots, hat complete with an actual feather, a pistol, and . . .
“Nice sword,” she told him. “Are you supposed to be a knight?”
He drew himself up. “I am indeed a ritter,” he answered in Hochdeutsch. “Ritter Friedrich von Kardorff.”
“I’m Sunshine Moritz. Are you the kind of knight who rescues damsels in distress?” She batted her eyes at him before giving him a glare. “Or the kind oppressing the villagers?”
“The first. I am on assignment for Neustatter’s European Security Services.” He looked her up and down. “I can rescue nymphs, too.”
“Cool.” Sunshine smiled and looked up at him. “But don’t fall in the pool in that get-up, or I’ll be the one rescuing you.”
He was obviously taken aback but rallied. “Have any of you . . . lifeguards seen anything unusual yesterday or today?”
“Like someone sabotaging the fountains?” Sunshine asked. “No.”