I shivered, sat down, and hugged my arms around my body. The numbness from the icy water was wearing off and I rubbed my thawing arms and legs as I tried to bring the picnic blur into focus. Mirabelle was standing at the edge of the shore. Then Bea and my mother got up and started dancing, fuzzy people jumping up and down. No, not dancing, they were waving their arms. I lay down on the rocks where I could see them but they couldn’t see me. Let them worry. Let them think I was dead. I watched my mother run back and forth, her hands cupped together in front of her mouth.

“Fuck you!” I cupped my own hands together. “Bitch. Motherfucker. Asshole! I Hate You!” Christ, it felt so good to get it off my chest.

A flash of light cracked the sky. Bea pulled Mirabelle under the tree. Then another burst—lightning. Goddamn Merilee. She led us right in the middle of a lightning storm! Another flash broke in the distance and the skies turned dark as rain began to pour. Merilee ran to the edge of the pool, threw off her sarong, and dove into the water. Was I to be rescued by my naked mother? I’d rather wait out the storm here for however long it took—an hour, a week. After all she’d put me through, I was not about to let her off the hook by saving me.

I stood now, pressed against the back of the cave. I could make out her anxious face as she swam to the rocks at the base and climbed effortlessly up and over the boulders.

“Jacqueline!” I read her lips as she searched for me.

I got down on my hand and knees, pushed myself forward through the waterfall, and crawled to the edge of the boulder.

My mother reached out her hand to me. “Oh, honey.”

“Geronimo!” I gave her the finger and jumped, wrapping my arms around my knees like a cannonball just as a bolt of lightning flashed across the sky. I hit the frigid water with a huge splash, the blow knocking the wind out of me, suspending me in shock. I fought toward the surface in broken strokes and gasped when I finally reached the air.

“Take it easy.” Merilee bobbed beside me. I couldn’t speak. I tried to swim but my limbs weren’t working right. I flailed in a circle like a plastic windup toy waiting to be set off in the right direction.

My mother drew me into the crook of her arm. I tried swatting her away.

“Lemme go,” I managed to sputter, but I was too tired to resist.