Caroga Lake - The "Cove" is to the Left
When I was eleven or twelve I got Brian Yates and Johnny Gage (both about 8 or 9) to stay near me in a boat as I attempted to swim across Caroga from Sherman's to the "Cove."
Neither Brian nor Johnny could swim well, so they tied a rope to the boat. On the other end was an inner tube. The idea was, if I got into trouble swimming, for me to grab the inner tube. Of course I forgot to tell them to put air in it! It had just enough to not sink out of sight, but off we went anyway.
As luck would have it Brian and Johnny couldn't draw a straight line with a ruler, much less row a boat straight. They zigzagged all over the lake! They'd be heading towards Sherman's one minute and then Hogan's camp the next, with a few HUGE circles in between!
There I was, beating the water to death, trying to stay up with them and the flat inner tube which was supposed to save my life! After more than an hour of the zigzags I just wanted to catch up so I could throw them overboard! I swam two miles before I was halfway across the lake because of their zigzagging!
My swim was supposed to be "top secret." I knew if ma got wind of it, and she had a nose like a bloodhound, I'd be grounded in the back end of our Tastee Freez store all day.
I was a quarter way across when I noticed something white running up and down Vrooman's Beach, making loud noises . Being in the water I really couldn't see and hear much more than that. Figured it was one of Fishbein's white mules that got loose.
It wasn't until 7 or 8 boats, including one with Johnny and Raymond Gage's father, started circling me that I realized I was in trouble. Wouldn't you know it - she found out, but it was too late to stop me. The "white thing," running up and down Vrooman's Beach was ma in the huge white apron she wore!
She commandeered all the boaters on the beach to get her "crazy son who was trying to kill himself!" They probably came after me to get away from her! :)
Anyway, I made it to the Cove okay, but was banished to the back room for the rest of the summer. Then she'd start bawlin' every time I played Ebb Tide on my accordion.
Kept telling her I'd stop playing it if she'd let me out. It didn't work.