Mohawk

girl,” he repeated, planting a sloppy kiss on her lips.
    Anne wished Dan would say something. If someone didn’t distract Dallas, chances were that he’d continue in the present vein all the way back to Mohawk, and Anne was not sure she could endure much more of his foolish blubbering. He was too sweet to hurt, but she found herself dangerously close to telling him she thought he was a fool and that she couldn’t wait to go away. She knew that would make the both of them feel terrible, and when they came to a stretch of road that was only a few yards from the lake, she said, “Let’s go for a swim.”
    Dallas perked right up. “Skinny-skipping!” he said. “Dipping, I mean.”
    “I think we should go home,” Di said.
    “Stop the car!” Dallas roared, grabbing Dan by the shoulders and shaking him.
    “It’ll be fun,” Anne said. “Some people might even sober up.”
    “Not me,” Dallas threatened. He was already trying to get his shirt over his head, confused by the fact that it was a button-front.
    By the time Dan eased slowly off the road, they had overshot the small inlet by nearly a hundred yards. Dallas, still struggling with his shirt, plunged blindly into the trees on what he was convinced was a shortcut. When Dan cut the engine, they heard Dallas crashing through the brush. He grunted once and they heard a thud, followed by a splash. “I found it!” he called.
    “Don’t look at me like that,” Dan told Diana, the first time Anne could remember him raising his voice to her.
    “This is crazy—”
    “So what? Maybe we could all stand a little crazy. Maybe you could.”
    “I’m sorry,” Anne began. “This is all my fault—”
    Dan interrupted her. “You better catch up to Hawkeye before he drowns himself.”
    Anne got out and began to feel her way toward the thrashing, splashing sounds, but when she looked back she could see that Di was still seated stubbornly in the front seat.
    The moon was down and it was very dark, but by following the sounds Anne was able to locate Dallas at the water’s edge where he was struggling to get his pants off, swearing angrily as he hopped about on one leg. Anne quickly stripped down to her underclothes and slipped into the water before he was even awareof her presence. When Diana and Dan emerged from the trees, he stood before them in nothing but his shorts and socks. “C’mon,” he said excitedly. “You’re way behind.”
    When Dallas took off his shorts, Di turned away and said she was going back to the car. This struck Dallas as an insult and instead of diving in, he stood his ground in his argyles. “Wassamatter?” he said. “We’re all friends.”
    “Are you coming?” Diana said to Dan.
    “Wassamatter?”
    “Leave her alone, Dallas,” Anne told him. “For once don’t be a jerk.”
    “See?” Dallas said, surprised by her voice so close. Her presence seemed to him at that moment more significant than what she had to say. The fact that she was in the water made her an ally. “Anne’s not ashamed, and she’s better looking, too.”
    “Di can do what she wants,” Dan said.
    Had Dallas been a degree more sober he would’ve heard the warning in his friend’s tone, but he wasn’t. “Who cares?” he said. “She doesn’t have to pretend she’s a saint is all. Everybody knows she’s putting out.”
    For an instant Anne was certain Dan was going to punch him. Dallas must’ve thought so, too, because he began to step back. The two men were only two yards apart, but the slope was steep. In the knee-deep water Dallas lost his balance and started over backward, then righted himself too much and lunged forward. Dan palmed the top of Dallas’s head like a basketball, held him still for a second, then shoved him gently into the lake. By the time Dallas came sputtering to the surface, Dan had disappeared into the trees in pursuit of his fiancée.
    Dallas now realized that he was alone in the lakewith his beloved and that the departure of their friends, once he thought about it, suited him fine. He spied the mound of Anne’s clothes on a log nearby, but it was too dark to ascertain which garments were there. Here was an opportunity to make something of the summer after all. Turning around, he made out her dark silhouette a few yards away. His heart thumping wildly, he dived beneath the surface, hoping to surprise her from below, a manuever that struck him as a pleasing combination of foreplay and football. The problem was, it