She offered to teach an art class for Seagate Seniors on Monday and Wednesday mornings at ten But then her babysitter ended up staying in New Jersey for the summer and now she needs someone to watch her son She told me that’s when he naps so you’d just be sitting in her house every morning for a few hours I can’t believe this is happening This was going to be the first real summer that Micayla Bennett and I were allowed to roam free all day and do whatever we wanted In previous summers we were allowed to go off on our own but only for a few hours at a time and we needed to check in and always tell our parents where we were But this summer was going to be different We’re eleven now going into sixth grade That’s middle school for Bennett and Micayla it’ll be the last year of elementary school for me And now I have to cut into that completely free time to watch Amber Seasons’s son On the other hand babysitting is kind of cool and something real teenagers do I guess I’m older now and my mom thinks I’m more mature I’m flattered that she thinks I can handle it Please Remy my mom says She’s sitting on the wicker armchair with her head resting on her hands and she looks pretty desperate It’s not even a favor for her it’s a favor for Amber Seasons but I bet my mom already said that I’d do it My mom has this weird thing about helping people solve their problems She gets all jazzed up and has this intense burning desire to help them like she can’t stop until she makes whatever situation they’re in a little better Helping other people makes her happier than anything else
Fine I sigh all defeated but knowing I would never get out of it Maybe Micayla and Bennett can come with me some mornings My mom considers that for a moment Well you can certainly talk to Amber and ask her if it’s okay She goes inside to finish getting ready for her afternoon swimming session and I sit back in my chair and think How bad will it really be It’s only a few hours two mornings a week My mom always says how good it makes her feel when she helps other people So maybe I’ll be like that too I’ll help Amber and then I’ll feel better About everything Being sad on Seagate is kind of an oxymoron The two things don’t go together at all But this year is different I’m sad on Seagate and I can’t seem to help it I got you two scoops Micayla tells me when she walks through the house and finds me on the back porch That’s another thing about Seagate no one locks their doors and we all just barge into each other’s homes It can be awkward sometimes like when I saw Bennett’s mom getting out of the shower but she had a towel on and we just laughed about it But the rest of the time it feels like the whole island’s our home The turquoise ice cream cups from Sundae Best Seagate Island’s oldest and best ice cream shop somehow make the ice cream taste even more delicious I always get espresso cookie and Micayla always gets cherry chip When it comes to ice cream we are as different as can be But when it comes to almost everything else we’re pretty much the same Well except that I’m white and she’s black And then there’s also the difference of our hair she wears it in braids year
round and I have thin straight boring not-quite-blonde and not-quite-brown hair that barely stays in an elastic band Hers always looks good even after she’s just woken up Her parents are both from St Lucia in the Caribbean They moved to the United States when they were kids but didn’t meet until college They have amazing accents and when we’re a little bit older they’re going to take me with them when they go back to visit Micayla’s grandma in St Lucia We take our ice cream cups and walk down the wooden stairs of my deck to the beach Even though I do this at least ten times a day I feel lucky every single time On Seagate the beach is my backyard and I’m pretty sure there is nothing better than that in the whole world Sometimes we don’t even bother with towels or chairs we just sit down on the sand We dig our feet in as far as they will go and we eat our ice cream Our plan is to meet up with Bennett when he’s done playing Ping-Pong with his dad and then we’ll decide what to do for the rest of the day I hope this will cheer you up Micayla says burrowing through her ice cream cup for a chunk of chocolate I’ve never seen you sad on Seagate before She’s right about that But she’s also never really seen me anywhere else except for the time her dad brought her to New York City for a last-minute meeting Her mom had flown to St Lucia to visit Micayla’s grandma and Micayla couldn’t stay home alone So Micayla came to New York and we spent the day together I don’t think I was sad that day so she’s never really seen me sad anywhere not just on Seagate But I know what she means I’m happy to be here I just keep picturing Danish running
on the beach And his dog bed is still upstairs I wish my parents would just throw it out but I think they’re too sad to do it And the Pooch Parade during Seagate Halloween will be so horrible without him I know she says not looking at me Well maybe we can figure out something else to do during the Pooch Parade It’s probably weird that it’s not even July yet and I’m already thinking about Seagate Halloween which takes place over Labor Day weekend But it’s one of the biggest traditions of the summer everyone participates Seagate Halloween is exactly the same every year and that’s the way I like it Bennett dresses up as Harvey from Sundae Best He wears his shorts really high and a Seagate baseball cap Micayla dresses up as a mermaid like the statue you see when you first get off the ferry I dress up as a beach pail My mom makes me a new costume every year out of painted cardboard and it comes out awesome every time And the best part was that Danish would dress up as the shovel We’d get the biggest sand shovel we could find and strap it to his back and I’d carry him so we looked like a perfect pair beach pail and sand shovel So happy together We’ve been on Seagate Island for a week and I’ve been partially sad the whole time Happy to be here but sad without Danish I don’t want to be sad here It’s my most favorite place in the universe But I can’t seem to help it Danish was my grandma’s dog so for many years I only ever saw him on Seagate Our house here was Grandma’s house When she died three years ago we got Danish and the house although it always seemed like they were partially ours to begin with
