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All I want you to try to do today is get your face wet. You decide how you want to do that. If you don’t mind getting your face wet you can learn to swim underwater. When you can do that, the rest comes easier.”
    Sam ran toward her and dropped his stick. He shook his wet body and Rachel laughed as she felt the water drops hitting her.
    â€œI may as well just run right in,” she said as she kicked off her sneakers. “I’m already wet!”
    Rachel sat on the dock after supper for her hour alone. She looked at the glasslike water and thought back to this afternoon. Zac had said she’d done really well for the first day. She hadn’t minded getting her face wet, and by the end of the afternoon she was letting herself lie facedown in water that was up past her knees. She hadn’t floated exactly, but she had let herself go more and more.
    After swimming, Rachel had picked ten boxes of raspberries and Amelia had put most of them in the freezer for the winter. Rachel had eaten a bowl of berries with milk and sugar for dessert and she could still almost taste the sweetness. She’d grabbed the last two peaches from her basket to eat at the lake. As she finished them, she pitched the pits out into the water as far as she could throw them. Neither of the dogs had come with her. Bud had been in the house when she left and Sam had been chewing on a hambone in the front yard.
    It was different being here at this time of the day. Everything seemed calmer and more peaceful. It seemed like a long time had passed since she was at the market this morning. She had stashed her money in the pocket of her winter coat and stuck it at the very back of the closet. She didn’t think the other kids would steal it, but you could never be sure. She really had no clue what they were like or what they would do. Chelsea and Crystal still hadn’t said one word to her. Raymond had grunted a few words but he generally didn’t acknowledge that she was even around. He talked nonstop to Zac, though. He was over the moon to be going up to Zac’s to work on the David Brown, which Rachel now knew was a tractor.
    At least she had seen the school she would be going to. Before seeing it, Rachel had pictured a one-room schoolhouse with an outhouse. But it was a big, normal-looking school and maybe it wouldn’t be so bad. It did feel like a different century here, though. She wasn’t sure if they had the internet here and she hadn’t even seen a computer. Normally she would be freaking if she hadn’t gone on Facebook in a couple of days, but she hadn’t really even missed it for some reason.
    Two loons flapped loudly as they rose out of the still water and took flight. Rachel stood on the dock and watched them until they disappeared out of her sight.

Chapter 3
    Turkey Feet, Fireflies, and The Last Swim of Summer
    The sound of the rain hitting the tin roof woke Rachel up on Sunday morning. She shifted in bed to look out the window. It was raining really hard and the sky was dark. She had no idea what time it was, but she couldn’t hear any sounds coming from the kitchen below. She got up quickly and headed down the back stairs to the kitchen. She saw Amelia in the pantry as she passed by, but didn’t say anything as she headed toward the washroom. As she passed through the dining room, Rachel could see that the large table was set with seven places. The dishes were white with red roses around the edges. There were birthday napkins at each place.
    Amelia was setting two cake pans into the oven when Rachel re-entered the kitchen. A box of cereal, a carton of milk, a bowl, and a spoon were on the table.
    â€œTop of the morning to you, Rachel. I don’t cook breakfast on Sunday mornings, so help yourself to cereal or make yourself some toast. On Sundays we get up whenever we want to and I put all my cooking energy into supper, though I will have to cook up and bottle those pickles today.