Chapter 2

One Hour earlier.

Monday Sep 4, 1978

Cindy Lew screamed a joyful laugh as the ski boat whizzed by the ski ramp pulling her dangerously close to it. Her boyfriend Billy Rivers was behind the wheel of a speedboat designed for pulling multiple water skiers which meant it was too powerful for a bunch of irresponsible teenagers, especially inebriated ones. Cindy was at the top of the social clique at Breakwater High School due in large part to her father being the mayor. Billy’s dad was the CEO of a large multi-million dollar corporation which had been controlled by the Rivers family for several generations.

“Not so close you idiot” she yelled at the top of her lungs and proceeded to flip him off. Billy took a big swig of beer and cut the wheel to the left slinging Cindy across the wake on the right side and then cut it sharply to the right in a “crack the whip” maneuver which caused her to tumble as one of her skies got caught in the wake. As the boat idled towards her, she started yelling:

“Billy, you idiot! What do you think you were doing? I could’ve been killed! You never could drive this boat worth a damn. Why your parents bought it for you is beyond me!”

Cindy was on the warpath as she climbed up into the boat and promptly stumbled into the nearest seat due to her own inebriation. Billy’s friends awkwardly looked on as she attempted to become vertical once more and then tore into Billy with slaps and punches. He fended her off and tried to laugh about it but was getting tired of her abusive treatment. One moment she was lovey-dovey and the next she could get physically abusive. His dad always told him to “put a girl in her place” when she got uppity, but he had trouble doing so with Cindy. His mother had had a completely different way of thought which taught him to never lay a finger on a female in anger so he often got confused as which recommendation to follow.

“I’m sorry babe, I won’t do it again” he managed to get out as she continued her onslaught.

Doortje and Beth had been swimming nearby when the reckless antics of the boat had garnered their attention. Most everyone from high school was familiar with Cindy’s outbursts but there were times she surprised everyone by being overly abusive and this was one of those times.

“Why doesn’t he just deck her and put her in her place?” Liesbeth said.

“Because he’s a halfway decent guy?” responded her sister, Doortje.

“He may be, but ze laat hem kut zwepen and his choices of friends aren’t the greatest, either. Add expensive toys, booze and no common sense and you have a winning combination!” Liesbeth said sarcastically.

“Yeah. She’s a fox, her daddy is powerful, she’s supposedly a slut, and she’s the pinnacle of the social ladder so what teenage boy could say no to that?”

“A real man ... a real man.”

“So, why are we here, again?” asked Liesbeth.

“Because we were told to be. I couldn’t hear everything she said, but we are supposed to be here and keep an eye on Billy and step in if anything happens to him.”

“Such as?”

“Well, from the looks of things, probably if Cindy kills him.” They both laughed.

“I’m going to swim a little closer to that ramp they keep passing and see if I can hear them a bit better” said Beth.

“Be careful” Doortje whispered.

A wicked grin slowly appeared on Beth’s face, “when I’m in the water, I can’t be found unless I want to be.”

—————— Cindy slammed the cooler shut and popped the tab on another cold beer. “It helps to have connections. Who else could convince adults to sell alcohol to a minor?” Cindy bragged before taking a deep chug of Budweiser. All the guys on the boat held up a beer in a mock toast and followed her example. She straightened her white bikini and plopped down behind the wheel.

“OK, sugarplum, your turn to hit the water” she commanded Billy. “You gonna take that ramp and show me what kind of slammin’ stud I’m dating?”

Billy shook his head. “Are you crazy? I don’t have the right kind of skis not to mention the buzz I’ve got right now. Maybe next time I can be trippin’ before I start in with the brewskis”

His friends all started clucking at him. “CHICKEN!” they taunted him good-naturedly.

“Hey, I don’t want to cluck up, ya know??”

Everyone laughed while Billy jumped in, grabbed the rope and got situated. “Man, I can’t believe the stuff I go along with sometimes. I need someone who likes me for me and not what I can do for her” he mumbled to himself. He gave the thumbs up sign and Cindy jammed the throttle forward before he could get his hand back on the rope causing him to momentarily rise out of the water, twist and fall.