Chapter 76

It was really too cool for swimming on this, the last Saturday of August, but going to the Spearfish Lake city beach seemed like the thing to do. Josh and Amy and Danny and Marsha had spend a lot of time at the beach over the course of the summer, and it seemed like the logical way to end it.

The water was cold, and they didn't stay in long. After they got out of the water, the girls curled up in towels while sitting on the sand, with Josh and Danny on either side, mostly looking across the lake toward the dim, faint hazy line of the far shore, miles away.

"Well, we're heading back tomorrow," Amy said sadly. "I can't believe school starts Monday. It's going to seem so strange to have to get up and get dressed. Here it isn't even Labor Day yet, and school's starting. It isn't fair."

"Yeah," Danny said. "Marsha, maybe this time next year, you and I'll be heading for Athens."

"Well, you ought to know by then whether that's where you'll be going," Marsha said. "Have you heard anything more about the scholarship up at Michigan Tech?"

"Nothing," Danny said. "I don't expect to hear anything until toward the end of football season, anyway."

"Have you thought any more about going to Athens?" Amy asked Josh.

Josh hadn't gotten around to telling her -- or even his father -- about Bud's job and schooling offer made in the cab of the GP-9 a couple of weeks before. It wanted some thinking about, but even the thinking that he'd done so far had made college a lot more nebulous. But, even now, he didn't want to tell Amy that -- not now, especially. "Not really," he said. "I thought maybe when school starts, I might write off for something about it, but between work, and football, and working with the dogs, and going out with you guys, I really haven't had much time to spare."

"Well, it would sure be neat if you could go to Athens," Amy said. "It would be a lot of fun if we could all be there together the year after next. Maybe when I see you next summer, you'll have a better idea if you're going."

Not likely, Josh thought sadly. It was nice to think about, but it was getting less likely every day. Realistically, Athens really was pretty much a dream, anyway. "It's going to be strange, not having you two around," Josh said, trying to change the subject a little. "I sure have enjoyed having you two around this summer. It'd have been really dull if you hadn't been here."

"Well, there's always next summer," Marsha said. "If it goes like it always does, we'll be up here right after school's out, and I guess we're on pretty much the same schedule you're on."

"I sure hope it's not next summer before we see you again," Danny said.

"It sure would be nice if you could make it up for a football game," Josh said. "It would be a lot of fun to go out afterwards, for a pizza or something."

"I don't know," Marsha said. "We might, but I kind of like to go to our football games, too. Maybe we can make it up some time when we're playing away."

"Make it up if you can, at least once," Danny said. "This is going to be the last year in the blue and gold for me, and Josh ought to be playing a bit."

"Well, you two know where Camden is," Amy said. "There's no reason you can't drive down there some time."

"I suppose," Josh said. "But then, I'm going to be pretty busy this fall, too. Mr. Ellsberg is going to have me working weekends as long as the rock traffic holds out, so I might not have much spare time for a while. But, maybe this winter Danny and I can make it down, sometime."