Page 96 of Summer of '69
“I’ll write you a wonderful reference,” Mrs. Bennie says. “And you’ll be paid for the entire week.”
Kirby sees that no amount of begging will get her her job back and she knows that Mrs. Bennie is being more than fair about the reference and the salary—probably because she wants Kirby to go quietly instead of adding more angst to this whole sordid situation.
As Kirby stands on the front porch of the inn waiting for her taxi back to Oak Bluffs, she puzzles over how things can be just fine one minute and so completely not fine the next.
She’s going to miss Edgartown—the white clapboard houses with black shutters and overflowing window boxes, the blue stripe of the harbor visible through the side yards. It feels familiar, nearly like home, which means only that she has nothing left to prove.
She will head back to the house on Narragansett Avenue to pack her things. In the morning, she’ll leave for Nantucket.
It’s only eleven miles from Martha’s Vineyard to Nantucket as the crow flies, but for Kirby to actually get there, she has to take the ferry to Woods Hole and then take a different ferry to Nantucket.
Darren offers to drive her to the wharf but Kirby insists she can walk.
“With all your luggage?” Darren says. “Just let me. Please, Kirby?”
Kirby agrees but she tells him her plan is to slip out early, before the other girls go to breakfast. She hates goodbyes, and especially in this case, because she’s leaving halfway through the summer under ignominious circumstances. The only person Kirby will truly miss is Patty—even though Patty and Luke are now more together than they’ve ever been. In fact, when the summer was over, Patty told Kirby in a righteous tone, she would be moving to New York City with him. She’s going to pursue her dream of becoming an actress the old-fashioned way—by readingBackstageand showing up at cattle calls.
“I’ll be waiting out front at seven,” Darren says. “No fanfare.”
He’s there, as promised, leaning against his car. When Kirby emerges, he rushes to help her with her bags. She climbs into the car and gives the house one long last look. She left a note for the girls, and she supposes that they will now quarrel over who gets to live in her igloo.
Darren parks at the terminal, despite Kirby’s protests, because he wants to put her luggage on the cart.Okay, okay, thank you,she thinks,now leave.Her dislike of goodbyes is especially strong when it comes to saying goodbye to Darren.
After he deals with the luggage and Kirby gets her ticket, he gathers her up in his arms. Kirby is shocked.
“There arepeoplearound,” she says.
“I don’t care.”
Hedoescare—that’s why they are where they are. What Darren means is that he doesn’t care because he doesn’t know the people here. They’re tourists, and most of them—although not all—are white. There are families trying to comfort crying children who have been awakened too early; there are honeymooners snapping Polaroids; there is an elderly black couple, the woman’s husband leaning on her as they shuffle toward the ramp.
“Darren…”
“I’ll see you in the fall,” he says.
“I’m not sure that’s a good idea.”
“Just one date,” he says. “Let me take you to Mr. Bartley’s Burgers. Okay? It’s legendary. Or if you’d rather, we can go to the Rathskeller…”
“Burgers are fine,” Kirby says. She would never admit it to him but she feels happy that he wants to see her back in the city. And one date can’t hurt.
Darren kisses her goodbye and the kiss is longer and more intense than she anticipates. Soon, they are necking; it feels so good she can’t tear herself away. She senses disapproving stares from the older black couple, or maybe she’s imagining it. Maybe it’s the summer of 1969 and things are different now and a black boy and a white girl can kiss in public and nobody cares.
“Right on!” a voice says. Kirby breaks away to see a very tall, very skinny guy about their age with a huge Afro of orange hair. He’s wearing rainbow-striped velour pants with a matching vest and a black top hat. He’s in his bare feet. He gives Kirby and Darren the thumbs-up and says, “Love is all you need.”
Kirby feels pretty good as she boards the ferry. The foghorn sounds, which always plucks a sad string in Kirby’s heart because it usually means she’s leaving Nantucket. Today, however, she’sgoingto Nantucket. She will rest her head tonight in her bed onherisland; she still has six weeks of summer left. She will get to meet her new niece and nephew; she will make herself useful driving Jessie around; she will do her best to plant some revolutionary ideas—like racial equality—in Exalta’s fusty old brain. She’ll make Exalta listen to some Bob Dylan. And maybe, just maybe, this summer will end up being one that people write songs about.
As Kirby stands on the bow of the ferry, something catches her eye. A man. A woman with the man.
She’s surprised, because she thought she was past the point where she stared hungrily at every man who remotely resembled Scottie Turbo. But apparently not, because what draws Kirby’s eye is the crew cut and the impossibly strong, square stance, like a man built from bricks. At first, Kirby isn’t 100 percent sure. She edges closer. There are plenty of people on the deck, so she can easily spy while still blending in.
He turns, and his profile is a punch to her gut. Unmistakable. Kirby grabs the railing for support. Scottie Turbo is on this ferry. Which means he was on Martha’s Vineyard. She’s surprised by this. When she told Scottie her family had a house on Nantucket, he made a face and flicked his nose.
“Snobs,” he said. “Those islands are infested with them.”
She’d had a difficult time imagining bringing Scottie Turbo to All’s Fair and introducing him to her grandmother. She’d tried to picture him complimenting the mural in the living room or appreciating Exalta’s collection of whirligigs; tried to envision Scottie at a table at the Field and Oar Club, ordering a gin and tonic. She’d come up empty.
The more socially and economically democratic atmosphere of the Vineyard must have been okay. Kirby wonders where he stayed, then conjures up a nightmare scenario in which Scottie and this woman walk into the Shiretown Inn while Kirby is working.
