The Time Keepers

Chapter 32

CHAPTER 32 Long Island, 1979

T HE MORNING THAT C LAYTON AND B UDDY SET OUT TO FIND the best place for their fort, they crossed paths with Katie Golden, who was en route and excited to be beginning her first day of work at her lifeguard job. Dressed in a terry white pullover, her red bathing suit concealed underneath, she still caught the boys’ attention as she pedaled down Main Street.

It was Clayton who shouted out first to her. “Hey, hot stuff, you’d better slow down!” A smirk spread over his face like spilled kerosene.

Katie had seen the boys out of the corner of her eye and had tried to avoid them. She had never liked Buddy, but she had known him since they were toddlers, and he was like a pesky mosquito who irritated her more than anything. But since he had started hanging out with Clayton, she sensed something more menacing growing in him. The two of them had become inseparable, and she suspected what they were up to couldn’t be anything good.

Buddy had always loved stirring the pot, but this new boy, Clayton, really had given her the willies. His pale eyes narrowed looking at her. Like he was hunting her.

They surprised her at the intersection of Main and Blythe streets. They clearly thought it would be amusing to take a shortcut and then reappear.

“Hey, Katie, what are you up to today? Hope you have something on under that cover up.” Buddy grinned. “You’re a lot prettier than that old bike of yours.”

She was repulsed. “You’re just gross. Why don’t the two of you just get lost?” She hated every ounce of them. Buddy’s wiry neck. His vampire-white skin and red hair.

“What did you say? I didn’t hear you.” Clayton mocked her. He stepped forward and put a hand in the center of her handlebars. “I like it when I get you mad. Your nose crinkles up like a little ferret.”

She told them to buzz off. “You’re both pathetic, you know that?”

Clayton came in closer, his face now only inches from hers. “I’ll tell you again. I like it when you’re mad.” He snickered.

“Well, then, you’re going to really like this,” she announced before kicking him firmly in his shin.

Clayton fell back in pain, shouting expletives in her direction. But Katie hardly heard him. She’d already taken off toward the pool. She had worked far too hard to get the lifeguarding job that summer. It was the most coveted summer job in town, a stepping stone to high school popularity. Nothing was going to stop her. No one, not even a bunch of annoying boys, was going to threaten to take that away from her.