"I wanted to ask Billy about teenage partying. Where is he? I thought you guys were inseparable."
"He's the expert on the subject of partying, that's for sure, but him and Melissa took off. Right now, he's pissed at me. The jerk wanted me to buy him some booze and I wouldn't. I don't need that kind of grief. I had enough trouble in New York." He joined them on the porch, licking an ice cream and pulling over the fourth rocker so as not to disturb Mrs. Lincoln, who gazed longingly at the dripping vanilla.
Dean could see Cynthia bite her tongue. He, too, could visualize the two young people headed for wedded bliss, a six-pack between them. The word "irresponsible" hung silently in the air. "I certainly hope you do something about teenage drinking when you're sheriff," Cynthia said to her husband. "It's too easy for kids to get liquor and too little else for them to do with their time. It was the same when Randy was in high school. Thankfully, he was too concerned with sports to get in any real trouble."
It was the same when I was young, David thought. Nearly impossible to stop, next to impossible to control. At the very least, keep them away from the car keys-and teach responsible sex.
"I'll tell Billy you want to talk to him, when I see him tomorrow-if he's still talking to me," Pumpkin said. As he began to ramble on about Mrs. Langstrom's cooking, Mrs. Lincoln jumped down and stood on hind legs, stretching up the young man's pant leg. Pumpkin nearly fell off his chair.
Cynthia laughed. "I think the cat wants dessert!"
Me too, thought Dean as the hall phone rang and Cynthia hurried in to answer it.
"Tomorrow's the big water fight," Dean said, as he reached over and retrieved the disappointed cat.
"Yeah," Pumpkin answered. "I hereby bequeath to you my shopping cart and all its contents. It's yours if I get killed."
Brandon Westlake heard him as he climbed the steps and joined them.
"Don't worry. You'll survive," Brandon said as he took over Mrs. Lincoln's chair. "I was in the water fight myself when I was younger than you. Back in forty-one, it was. My brother Ralph and I. Knocked the whoop-de-do out of me, it did. I was twelve that summer. You're in better hands than I was being on Billy's team. That young man has been in the water fight for years. He and his father Ed Langstrom nearly won last Fourth of July."
"The water fight's been going that long? That's over fifty years ago!"