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What action? Will didn’t know, but he was in favor of anything improving. Tempers tended to be brittle in the heat, and the inconvenience was pushing people to near violence. By noon he and Becky, their only cashier, had had to mediate two arguments in the check-up line.

Will kept his head down to avoid the worst of it. He bagged groceries, wrangled carts, and helped customers find stock, swallowing down their sharp, angry demands with a smile. It was how he’d gotten through most of his years in this town.

By the time Adrián, the Farmer’s Grocery owner, was locking the front doors for closing, Will’s cheeks ached from the fake smiling.

As Becky started wiping down her belt and register, Will rushed through his closing cleaning tasks. His stomach rumbled with hunger. The sandwich he’d bought and eaten for lunch had evaporated a long time ago.

“Hell of a day,” Becky said as she pulled out the drawer. Will was finishing cleaning the front doors of handprints, and turned to look at her over his shoulder.

“Yeah. You okay?” He normally didn’t ask how she was, they’d had a nothing but professional relationship since he’d started here a few years ago, but today her high blond ponytail had sagged down to her nape, and her usual pristine makeup was missing, like she’d wiped some of it off at some point.

“Fine,” she said, but she put a hand to her neck, grabbing at the muscle there. “But damn, you’d think we personally flooded the road the way they were bitchin’ at us, Christ.”

“Yeah,” Will said.

“Hopefully the town meeting will solve something,” Becky said.

“Hopefully,” Will said, because he was a well of conversational skill.

Becky stared at him a second longer, then seemed to shrug to herself. She pinned the drawer against one hip to take it to the back room where Adrián would total it out. “Anyway, night Will. Thanks for hangin’ in there today.”

“Uh, yeah,” he said awkwardly, unsure of exactly what he’d done to be thanked. “No problem. Thanks to you too.”

The last part came out clunky. Becky stopped where she’d been carrying the drawer off to look at him again. Will internally cringed when her head quirked, as if assessing him.

Panic prickled across the back of his neck. Was she going to try and talk to him more? He wasn’t equipped for this.

But Becky just gave him a smile and turned, heading back toward the office.

When she’d gone, Will let out a breath. Today had diverged from the routine, and Will didn’t like it. Predictability was where he thrived. It was safe.

Quickly, he finished the windows and threw everything back in the cleaning cart and hefted the cart back into the storage closet. He didn’t want to be here when they finished. A minute later, Will slipped out the back door, done for the night.

He started back toward the orange groves like he always did. The humming tune came back to him, filling the night air around him.

But as Will got to the crumbling sidewalk to start the walk back, he found the tune in his mouth changing, slipping into something different. It moved to match the crickets and frogs that were beginning their night chorus.

He came to a stop and turned to look in the direction of Mercale. There was that strange pull again, the one he’d felt earlier at the edge of the water. The urge to get closer, to touch the water.

Will looked back at Farmer’s, but the front lights were out. Becky and Adrián would be at least another half hour.

He changed direction.

It was a nice night, cooler than usual, and Will crossed the parking lot with just the full moon above him for light. He made his way back to Mercale, coming to a stop exactly where he’d released the turtle earlier.

In the dark, the road was a glimmering black lake of water.

They’d hit a spring for sure. There was too much water for anything else. Even the tall trees that lined the road were over half-sunk, the water fifteen or twenty feet deep at least.

Will stepped right up to the edge. The flood was shallower on the road, because most of the roads in this area were raised to allow for runoff. He thought it might come up to his knees on the road.

Water lapped at the scuffed rubber of his shoes. Dead grass and twigs floated on the still surface, lifted from their graves. Will would bet it was full of snakes and ants right now. During the rainy season, flooded areas became hazardous with creatures heaved up out of their homes. He’d made the mistake once and waded unknowingly through an ant pile island as a kid.

Will stared at the water, considering.

He should turn around and go home. Should have that last can of beans and tuck himself into bed and put this day behind him.

But the strange humming night song was still in his mouth and… he wanted to stay. Wanted to walk into the water and…