Read By the Creek for Free Online Page A

responsible by the community. It was viewed that Mama and Papa didn’t raise Samuel correctly. Yes, Samuel was punished by Mama and Papa, but in the community, everyone is responsible for everyone else.”
    “Sounds sort of like Big Brother,” David said, and Benjamin looked completely lost. “Sorry, it was from a book I read once. It means that it feels like everyone is watching everyone else.” David thought that sounded really creepy, but he didn’t want to say anything in case it hurt Benjamin.
    Benjamin stood up and walked toward the edge of the trees, looking up at the sky before hurrying back to where David sat watching him. David loved the way Benjamin’s underthings clung to his body. He’d expected Benjamin to be much shyer, given their earlier encounter, but that seemed to have disappeared. Maybe it demonstrated Benjamin’s comfort around him.
    “I need to go,” Benjamin said as he sort of pranced back in bare feet. “Papa will be angry if I overstay the time he gave me.” Benjamin crossed where the creek was shallow and rushed to where he’d put his clothes. David watched as Benjamin pulled on his shirt and pants and then sat on a log to brush off his feet before stuffing them hastily into his socks and shoes. The last thing he did was grab his hat from the fallen log. “Thank you for the talk and the food. I have to rush or Papa won’t let me come swimming again.”
    “I understand,” David said as Benjamin hurried away down the path on the opposite side of the creek. He watched him go, and instantly the clearing felt a little darker and he felt a little lonelier than just a few minutes earlier. Once he could no longer see Benjamin, David dressed and packed everything up before heading back.
    By the time he reached the house, the sky was darkening, storm clouds blowing in from off the lake to the west. Inside, David hung up his bathing suit and towel to dry in the laundry room. Then he opened the back door and shook out the blanket before he decided it was too dirty to reuse and placed it in the washing machine. The first crack of thunder sounded in the distance as David pulled on dry clothes. Then he sat in the living room and watched through the large window as darker and darker clouds rolled overhead. The wind came up, whipping around the house, and David wondered if Benjamin had made it home okay.
    David quickly lost interest in the storm as his thoughts turned to Benjamin. He couldn’t stop a smile as he saw in his mind’s eye the way Benjamin looked in just his underwear, clinging wetly to his skin. David had tried not to look like he was looking, but it had been nearly impossible. His mother had said that men were handsome and women beautiful, but after seeing Benjamin swimming and then lying on his blanket, David knew his mother was completely wrong—Benjamin was beautiful. His skin was white except for where the sun touched it, and there were freckles on his face that David wanted to touch. So, in his mind, he reached out and did touch them. David smiled as he remembered the feel of Benjamin’s smooth skin on his own, and he could almost feel Benjamin’s skin on his hand. At the time, he hadn’t wanted to let himself think about it, but now, alone, watching the sky, he let himself remember every second of it.
    “Where are you?” his mother asked from behind him, and David jumped, nearly falling out of the chair. He’d been so engrossed in his own imaginings he hadn’t heard her come in. “You looked a million miles away,” she added as she set her purse down and then collapsed into the other chair near the window. “It rained like crazy the entire drive here,” David’s mother went on.
    “It came up really fast,” David said as lightning flashed, followed almost immediately by thunder.
    “What did you do today?” she asked as she lifted her purse onto her lap.
    “I finished the list of chores you left and went swimming in the creek,” David answered. “Benjamin was