abaft [uh-baft]

A single family rents the cottage next door and the young neighbor boy assumes that we are friends because we are the same age but I am not overly fond of him. I prefer spending this vacation time with my extended family; especially my older cousin.

I tell him, "I can't play with you much longer. My uncle is taking us for a boat ride."

He mistakes "us" for meaning he and I, and shows up at the dock uninvited, his parents having met none of us thus far (how times have changed) and is not turned away.

He and I are planted in the stern of the power boat. It generates speed, rears and bounces. The wind and spray are fierce. I know that I am grinning widely. I exchange glances with the boy and see that he is not grinning. I feel childish suddenly and assume that he must think that of me, and so I force my smile away.