Chapter 20

Mendez's Story – The New Friend

Mendez was only 10 years when he and his mom moved into a new house, in a new town. The town was called Michael's Lot. It was a small town, somewhere in North Dakota.

His mother got a job in the town as the new dentist. His father lived in the hot southern city of Austin, in the hot desert state of Texas, with his new partner and his partner's children.

As for their new house, it was a big house, not far from the woods and a lake, from its backyard and its front faced the road. Mendez's new house was two storeys high; with three large bedrooms, a very large kitchen, a dining hall with a large dining table in it, two bathrooms (one below and one on the top floor), an attic, a very large storage room, and a large basement.

Mendez liked his new home but admitted that it was too big for just two persons. He didn't even have a pet dog or even small turtles in a bowl.

Despite the fact that it was not just a large house, but even a very attractive place to live, his mom was lucky enough to get it for a bargain price. That made Mendez extremely happy, given its internal and external appearance, as well as surroundings.

For the first week his mom did not work and he didn't get enrolled into school yet. They did shopping for the house while at the same time, his mom interviewed young women who would become Mendez's future nanny.

One woman who ended up becoming Mendez's nanny was a young blonde in her early 20s named Rachel. Rachel needed the money and wouldn't mind being a nanny. But what was important was that she got along with both Mendez and his mom.

The idea was that when Mendez's mom started work next week, it would be Rachel who would take care of the house and of Mendez.

On the second week, Mendez was enrolled in the local school. A school bus would pick him up in the morning and send him back home in the afternoon. In school, Mendez made new friends.

After school, when Mendez returned back home, he normally went for a swim on the lake, by the woods facing their backyard. Mendez loved swimming.

Whenever Mendez went for a swim, Rachel would sometimes go out and check up on him. Both Rachel and his mom knew that Mendez should be safe, since he knew how to swim and that the lake was safe.

The lake was like Mendez's private swimming pool. Whenever he went swimming, he never swam far from the shore. The farthest he would swim away from the shore, would be about fifteen meters.

When Rachel had to go out shopping, she normally left Mendez to be by himself. She knew that he was likely to be safe being all alone, in a town like Michael's Lot, where the crime rate is 0%.

But one afternoon while Mendez was swimming, he was going to meet a stranger. As he ducked his head underwater, only to emerge above water, he saw someone else with him on the lake.

Two meters away from where he was floating, was another boy. The boy was taller and looked older than him, at about 13 years of age. The boy had dark brown hair and green eyes.

Mendez: (surprised) Hi! Where did you come from?

The boy: I live around these parts. My house is not far from here. I cross the woods to come here for a swim!!

Mendez realise that he never really explored all the paths in the woods. He only paid attention to the one that took him from his house, towards the lake.

Mendez: My mom and I had just moved in. I thought I was the only one who lived around here.

The boy laughed in a warm and friendly way. The boy kept on splashing water towards Mendez. Mendez tried to retaliate, by splashing back.