Summary

Download PDF PDF Page Citation Cite Share Link Share

"Greasy Lake" is a story about three college-age boys and what happens to them one night when they visit a local teen hangout, Greasy Lake. The narrator and his two friends, Jeff and Digby, have been cruising in his mother's Bel Air station wagon all night; the narrator explains that they thought they were "dangerous characters," and when they get to the lake at 2 a.m., the three are very high.

There are two vehicles in the parking lot, a motorcycle and a '57 Chevy which they mistake as belonging to a friend, Tony Lovett. The three friends, looking to embarrass their friend Tony—who they expect is having sex with a girl in the car—flash their lights and honk their horn to get his attention. But the car is not Tony's, and the three get into a tremendous fight with the owner, who seems capable of beating all three of them. The narrator is kicked in the face, loses his car keys in the grass, and finally ends the fight by hitting the man in the head with a tire iron. He appears to be dead. There is a girl in the car, and the boys, driven to a frenzy by this violence, are on the point of raping her when another car shows up and they run and hide.

The narrator, not thinking clearly, runs into the lake and hides in the undergrowth there. Up to his neck in mud and water, he finds the body of a man floating. The people in the car, friends of the man who was beaten (who it turns out was not dead), yell curses at the boys, then vandalize the Bel Air, smashing its windshield and breaking the headlights, before leaving.

In the morning, the three boys emerge from their hiding places to survey the damage. The narrator immediately finds his keys. While they are preparing to leave, another car with two girls in it shows up. The girls ask about "Al," the owner of the motorcycle that is still parked in the lot. Presumably, it was Al's body the narrator found in the lake. The boys say they don't know anything about Al and leave, even though one of the girls asks if they want to "party." Clearly, the three friends have had enough of being "dangerous characters."

Get Ahead with eNotes

Start your 48-hour free trial to access everything you need to rise to the top of the class. Enjoy expert answers and study guides ad-free and take your learning to the next level.

Get 48 Hours Free Access
Next

Themes

Loading...