Page 61 of Summer of '69
The three adults stare at her for a second as though she’s an alien arrived from Mars. Kirby is, frankly, relieved that Dr. Frazier isn’t present. This is her chance to charm the judge, maybe. She gives him her best smile. “Your Honor, I’m Kirby Foley. I met you at the Homeport with Rajani?”
“Yes,” the judge says. “I remember. Good morning.”
The woman stands up. “I’m Cassandra Frazier,” she says, offering her hand. Her hair is in a towering bun that’s wound with a colorful scarf. She’s wearing wooden bangles that clatter as she shakes Kirby’s hand. “And this is my husband, Hank,” she says as she sits down.
Hank has a mouthful of muffin but he rises to shake Kirby’s hand, and then, once he’s swallowed, he says, “Hank Frazier, first cousin of the honorable judge.”
Kirby looks at Cassandra. “Are you by any chance the sister of Mr. Ames’s wife, Susanna?”
Cassandra cocks her head and offers a half smile. “I am, yes. How do you know Susanna?”
“Oh, I’ve never met her. But I work the night shift with Mr. Ames at the Shiretown Inn and when I mentioned that I was friends with Darren, he said his wife’s sister was married to the judge’s cousin.” Kirby feels a small sense of triumph, as though she has just plugged the last piece into a jigsaw puzzle.
“Yes!” Cassandra exclaims. “You’re the young lady from Nantucket, then? Cal raves about you.”
“That’s very nice to hear,” Kirby says. She checks to make sure that Judge Frazier has taken note of this, that his cousin’s wife’s sister’s husband raves about Kirby.See?she wants to say.Someone you know, even ever so tangentially, thinks I’m worth raving about.
The judge says, “And you’re here to see Darren?”
“I am,” Kirby says. “We’re going to the beach.”
“The beach?” the judge says, as though he’s never heard of the place. He turns to face the doorway. “Darren! You have a visitor!”
Kirby wants to compliment the room—it’s socool,with all the art deco flourishes, so unexpectedly fun and fresh. She wants to take a mental picture of the fruit plate so that at some point in her own adult life, when she has money for that kind of exquisite produce, she might re-create it—pale green slices of honeydew melon, brighter green kiwi, fresh pineapple, pale disks of banana, strawberries cut into fans, a pile of blueberries and blackberries in the center. She wants to ask Cassandra where she got her scarf and her bracelets. Is the scarf from Paris? The bracelets look vaguely African; were they purchased at a market in Nairobi? Kirby also wants to ask about the music. She usually listens to rock ’n’ roll but the clarinet has a cheerful cadence that makes it perfect for a summer morning. Is it Benny Goodman? Basically, Kirby would like to be invited to be a part of this world, but she’s afraid of sounding pushy, and so she says nothing, and the four of them stew in awkward silence until Darren comes down to the kitchen. When he sees Kirby, his expression is one of unadulterated alarm.
“What are you doing here?” he says.
Kirby tries to smile. “We’re going to the beach…right?”
“I didn’t know your friend works with Cal at the Shiretown Inn,” Cassandra says. “You should have told me.”
Darren gives his aunt a distracted nod. To Kirby he says, “I thought I said Tony’s.”
“You did, but I was in the neighborhood.”
“You’re off to the beach?” the judge asks.
“The nudie beach?” Hank crows.
“Lobsterville,” Darren says. “We’re meeting people there.”
They are? This is news to Kirby.
The judge takes his time folding the newspaper and everyone watches as he does so. Kirby can tell he’s deliberating over something. What will his verdict be?
“Go on, then,” he says. “Get out of here before your mother gets home.”
They head out to the car in silence. Kirby feels she owes Darren an apology; it was rude of her to show up unannounced. She wanted to prove something, but what? That she wasn’t afraid? That she could hang out with Darren’s family and fit in? In the end, she has proved nothing and now Darren’s angry. He parks the Corvair in front of Tony’s Market and runs in without a word. Kirby nearly calls out to offer him money, but in the end, she just folds her hands in her lap and bows her head.Get out of here before your mother gets home. It doesn’t take a Rhodes Scholar to figure out what the judge meant by that.
When Darren emerges from the store, he’s grinning. He’s himself again. He puts the ice and beer on the floor in the back seat, starts the engine, turns up the radio. It’s Dylan singing “Lay, Lady, Lay.”
“Let’s get out of this town,” he says. “I want to relax.”
It’s Kirby’s fourth time up-island and she’s beginning to recognize landmarks—the Ag Hall and Alley’s General Store in West Tisbury and then the long stretch of Middle Road. They pass the turnoff for Tea Lane, where Rajani nannies the demon twins in the beachfront castle with the Warhol, and then, once Middle Road turns into State, Kirby recognizes the driveway to Luke’s compound on Nashaquitsa Pond. They pass through Menemsha, turn right, and end up at Lobsterville Beach.
“I’ve heard about this beach from guests at the inn,” she says. “One man got such a bad sunburn, he renamed it Turned-into-a-Lobster-Ville Beach.”
Darren laughs and it sounds genuine. The day started out a little topsy-turvy, but Kirby feels it righting itself.
