All Jack could hear on the other end of the phone was sniffling. “Cut that out right now. Sniffling and crying and tattling is exactly what Emily wants you to do. She’s counting on it, depending on it making you so mad you lose your timing when you hit the water. What you’re going to do is turn the tables on her. You’re going to go with the joke, show off your knees, laugh about it. Don’t blame her, don’t even look at her. She’s expecting you to go all ape poop on her, and you aren’t going to do that. If you do what I say, she will be the one who loses time in the water because she will be trying to figure out where she went wrong and why it isn’t bothering you. You listening to me, LJ? Can you do it? Can you carry it off ?”

“All I wanted was for her to like me, Uncle Jack. My friend Luke told me she likes Trevor, but Trevor likes Sally. See my point?”

“I do see your point, but you need to see my point. So, do I have your promise? And it wouldn’t hurt to maybe show some interest in some other girl, just for fun. Okay, are we good here, pal?”

“We’re good, Uncle Jack. Thanks. I’ll send you a text later to let you know how the day goes, okay?”

“You got it. Good luck. Remember now, play it cool.”

Jack ended the call. Oh, to be that young with those kinds of problems. He felt a bit guilty about continuing to keep LJ in the dark about Cosmo’s situation, but he knew it was for the best. He shook his head to clear his thoughts. Right then, at that precise moment in time, Jack Emery wished he were ten years old again and in summer camp with all the drama that occurred twenty-four hours a day and loving every minute of it.

Cyrus nudged his leg. Time to get back on the stick with his own real-world drama.

Jack was happy to see that Annie’s kitchen sparkled and everyone was on the move. Dennis was waiting, his backpack settled comfortably on his shoulders.

“Harry said to tell you he’ll see you at one o’clock and to try not to get into any trouble, because he’ll be too busy to get you out of said trouble,” Dennis said.

Cyrus didn’t like the sound of that. He woofed, then woofed again. Jack laughed as he looked around for his own backpack. “Guess we’re taking Lizzie’s Benz. Do you know where we’re going, Dennis?”

“Got the address right here. Straight drive as the crow flies. Forty minutes depending on traffic. I think we should drive around first, get the lay of the land before we tackle the senior citizens. What do you think, Jack?”

“Sounds good. Do we know who’s in charge of the housing complex?”

“I’m not one hundred percent sure, but I think it’s a man named Gentry Lomax. His second-in-command is a woman named Bessie Love. I got all that from the Happy Village newsletter they publish once a month. Another thing I learned was that there are no couples in Happy Village. It’s for people who’ve lost a spouse. That’s not to say that some of them might not . . . um . . . hook up from time to time, but from what I read it’s frowned upon. It’s a friendship kind of place, and if you stop to think about it, Jack, it’s a great idea. No one can replace a wife or husband after, say, forty or fifty years of marriage. From that point on, it’s all about friendship. At least that’s what the newsletter wants everyone to believe.”