The heat had teeth that afternoon, the kind that nipped at your shoulders and curled around your neck like a sweaty lover. Mississippi sun didn't shine. It smothered. And out at the lake, every teenager with a pulse and a working set of lungs had taken up arms against the inferno with floaties, Bluetooth speakers, and enough gas station snacks to fuel a small militia.
The lake shimmered like a sheet of glass, green and still around the edges, with dragonflies dartin' over the surface and th