Summer of '69(57)

“I can’t, Nonny,” Blair says. “I can’t go anywhere.”

“Nonsense,” Exalta says. “It’s a beautiful day. Let’s drive out to Smith’s Point in the Scout. That way you won’t have to walk. We’ll deliver you right to the water’s edge. We’ll pack a picnic.” She looks at Kate. “Do we have groceries?”

“Yes, Mother,” Kate says. “I have hard-boiled eggs and sliced ham and a fresh loaf of Portuguese from the bakery. And we still have half a melon.”

“Wonderful,” Exalta says. She studies Blair. “You haven’t even dropped yet. We still have weeks before we see those babies.”

Blair looks morose. “I can’t swim. I have no bathing suit.”

“You can get your feet wet,” Exalta says. “It’ll be good for you.”

“I’m not going,” Jessie says. “I have my summer reading to do. Anne Frank: Diary of a Young Girl.” She stomps out of the kitchen to the backyard and slams the door behind her even though stomping and slamming are not allowed. She stands on the brick patio for a second, waiting for Kate to appear to either reprimand her or ask what’s wrong. But enough time passes that Jessie figures she has gotten away with it. As she crosses the lawn to Little Fair, she sees Pick’s bike is gone, but even so, she hopes to find him upstairs, maybe getting ready to make lunch.

Little Fair, however, is deserted. Jessie takes the tin of Jays potato chips off the shelf and absconds with it to her bedroom.

Her book is splayed open on her bed. She has reached the part where Anne is beginning to have feelings for Peter, which matches how Jessie feels about Pick. Like Pick, Peter is older. Jessie hasn’t come out and asked Pick what religion he is but she can tell he isn’t Jewish. She suspects he might not be Christian either. If he lived in a commune, they might have practiced their own religion.

Jessie tries to read but is too agitated. She is so angry at Exalta, and when she feels this way, there is only one cure. She can hear Exalta, Kate, and Blair going back and forth between the house and the street, where the Scout is parked. They’re leaving for the beach without her. Jessie loves Smith’s Point not only because they can drive right onto it but also because there are big, pounding waves on the ocean side and calmer water on the sound side and she can easily walk between the two. Tuckernuck is so close that, with binoculars, Jessie can see the people over there riding on the sand roads in their bare-bones Jeeps. Smith’s Point also has shells and driftwood for collecting, and the sand is flat, good for walks. Despite this, Jessie is glad they’re leaving her behind.

She waits until they all pile into the Scout with an umbrella, a stack of towels, the picnic basket, and a Styrofoam cooler. Blair seems to have a hard time climbing into the back seat and for a second, Jessie thinks Blair will have to stay home, but she manages to hoist herself up and Jessie silently cheers. Kate gets in the driver’s side and the Scout takes off down Plumb Lane, then turns right onto Fair. Jessie waits five minutes, ten minutes, twelve minutes—just in case they’ve forgotten something and have to turn around. She predicts they’ll be gone three hours at least.

Jessie slips out of Little Fair. The door to Mr. Crimmins’s room is open but he’s not home. During the day he works as a caretaker at other people’s houses and is usually gone until dinnertime. Jessie pauses in the doorway, wondering if there is anything of value she could steal from Mr. Crimmins. She sees only a novel, The Godfather, a drinking glass by the bed, and the clothes in the closet. None of it is appealing, and it’s not Mr. Crimmins she’s after, anyway.

She goes back into All’s Fair through the kitchen and sees that her mother has left her a ham and butter sandwich wrapped in wax paper and a spear of dill pickle, which is Jessie’s favorite lunch. She takes a bite of the pickle but leaves the sandwich for later. She can’t afford to get distracted.

In the den, she considers the whirligigs. Which one would Exalta miss the most? Probably the man on the tricycle—but what would Jessie do with it? Hide it somewhere in Little Fair? Bury it in the yard? Put it out with the trash? Exalta would immediately suspect that Jessie had taken it, and an inquisition would follow.

Then Jessie gets an idea.

She tiptoes up the stairs and down the hall to her grandmother’s room. She turns the knob, steps inside, and closes the door behind her. The room is dim and cool; Exalta keeps her curtains drawn and her air conditioner running, even though she’s not home. The rest of them are forbidden to do this—it’s wasteful!—but the rules don’t apply to Exalta because she owns the house. Kirby has long proclaimed that if she ever inherits the house, she’s going to run the air conditioners full blast all day, every day.

Jessie takes a look around. She has been in this room only a few times before. There are two twin beds, side by side. They are so high off the ground that Exalta uses a step stool to reach hers. There’s an armoire and a dressing table on top of which is a three-sided mirror, a silver hairbrush, and a matching hand mirror.

Jessie lifts the hand mirror. It’s an antique, engraved on the back with Exalta’s mother’s initials, KFB, for Katharine Fox Baskett.

Over by the closet door is a triangular table on which Exalta keeps her jewelry. She brings only a few pieces with her because Nantucket is casual, and the rings she keeps in the porcelain boxes at home, for example, would be out of place here. But there on the table is the burgundy velvet box. When Jessie opens the box, she sees her gold-knot necklace with the diamond.