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fig off the tree and shoving it, whole, into his mouth so that the juices slid out the corners and ran down his chin. He wiped it off with the back of his hand, bored. And then he saw a light go on in the downstairs window at the house across the lake.
    He checked the time again. Three A.M. Immediately alert, he grabbed the binoculars strung around his neck. Curious, Diz had been observing the family for the past few weeks, though he had never met them. He knew that his own mother, Rose, who almost always liked everyone regardless, did not approve of the way the girl’s mother dressed, flashily, in too-short shorts and too-tight tank tops and always with her oversized white sunglasses. Too sexy for her own good, he’d heard his sisters comment the other night when he’d been out here on his tree branch which was conveniently close to their bedroom window. Not that he spied on them, just snickered when they talked boys and stuff. Were all sisters as stupid as his, he wondered, and decided probably all girls were. Though not the one who came with the woman across the lake, and whom he had observed earlier that evening, rowing to the island and back. Now she was quite something.
    Tall, skinny as a snake, long pale hair that hung straight to her shoulders and swung when she walked, which was always right behind the cheap blonde he guessed must be her mother. “Walk, Goddammit,” he’d heard the mother snarl when the girl dawdled to look at the horses grazing in the field or the red-tail hawk flying overhead, or something equally important and anyhow probably the reason she was on vacation there, to enjoy nature, etc., like the rest of them. The woman had a hard mouth and narrowed eyes, and something about her gave Diz the impression she drank. Unlike his dad, who Diz knew was drinking. Diz guessed Wally was considered good-looking and very probably attractive to women, which might be the reason now, in the middle of the night, he saw his father rowing back across the lake from the direction of the woman’s house. Shit! It couldn’t be! His dad wouldn’t do that, and not with her! God, he could never tell his mom, never tell anyone, not even his older brother, Roman … Wait, though, could that be Roman? Hiding in the trees, watching his father? Why didn’t Roman call out, a simple “Hi, Dad, what’s going on?” What was going on, anyway?
    Diz watched his father dock the small, lightweight craft, pack the oars, drag the boat into the boathouse, then walk silently toward the house, followed seconds later by Roman. Diz pressed back against the tree trunk, rustling the leaves. For a second his father paused and looked directly at the tree. Roman was in the shadows behind him. Diz thought surely they must see him … but no, his father walked on and went into the house, while Roman simply disappeared into the night.
    Two minutes later, the whole world lit up in a surprising rose-tinged glow.
    Astonished, Diz immediately focused his binoculars on the house across the lake. The door was flung open. The blond girl stood there for a second, then ran screaming, toward the lake. It was odd, Diz thought, because she seemed to be surrounded by a halo that lit up her face, illuminating her open screaming mouth. And then he realized the girl’s hair was on fire … Oh Jesus, oh Jesus … he was down that tree in seconds, knees skinned, palms raw …
    The girl flung herself into the water, submerging like a terrified porpoise. And then the explosion rocked around, knocking Diz to the ground and the breath from his lungs with its force, and the house behind the girl seemed to disintegrate in slow motion, pieces flying in the air, in a ball of fire that radiated heat to the lake itself.

 
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    Moments after the explosion, Harry picked himself up. He saw the girl plunge into the lake and begin to swim toward the island. He grabbed his little outboard boat kept for lake emergencies, and headed fast toward her, but even with