that if she was closer she might have reached out and touched my arm Rusty I answered My name’s Rusty She nodded Okay Then Rusty will you take me sailing Please I’m done with work for the day I’d love to go I haven’t been in years By the way my name is Hazel Like the color Without waiting for an answer she went right on See those boards over there She glanced toward the end of the dock and a small stack of 2 6 inch boards each about four feet long that Jack the maintenance man at the marina was using for repairs If we bring some of them over here she said we can make a ramp for my wheelchair We’ll put the boards side by side We’ll set the ends of each on the edge of the dock and the other ends in the middle of your boat Then I’ll do the rest She had this way of using the word we as if she and I were on some team together her team and I had the feeling that she’d thought all this out before she’d even asked me But it was totally crazy No way was she getting into my boat That’s not going to work I said Plus I have to get home for supper 6
It could be a short sail Just a half hour Why don’t we sail out to Half-tide Rock and back The weather’s perfect It’d be grand Why was she being like this If I wasn’t standing in my boat I’d have just walked away from her I shook my head No She gave me a long hurt disappointed look as if to say I expected so much more of you Where is your sense of adventure At last she seemed to give in Oh well She let out a sigh her shoulders lifting and falling I tried Then she brightened a bit But at least you said you’d take me sometime So I suppose that could be tomorrow or the day after or even next week But sometime we’ll go sailing Right kid So much for giving in She turned and rolled herself back down the dock her elbows sticking out like chicken wings her narrow tires thunk-thunking over the planks Twenty feet away she stopped and seesawed her wheels so that before she’d go on her way she could peer at me over her shoulder Her eyes twinkled in a way that held your own eyes on hers Sometime Rusty I’ll remember that 7
CHAPTER 2 An Extra Spoon Even when the summer people are here life on our island is a lot slower and more old-fashioned than on the mainland which I guess is why they all come Fishermen still go out in wooden boats called dories You get your hair cut at Mickey’s barber shop Some of our streets are made of cobblestones And it’s easiest to get around town by walking or by riding your bike which is what I was doing about a half hour after I’d finished bailing According to the six o’clock whistle from the fire house once again I was late for supper not because the bailing had taken so long but because I didn’t much feel like sitting at our table I pedaled slowly out of the marina passed the beach the summer people’s big houses the ferry slip and then turned right on 3rd Street where I came to the old bungalows like ours I parked and trudged up the porch stairs 8
You okay Russ Dad said when I came into the kitchen In his wrinkled khaki pants and blue True Value shirt that he wears to work at the hardware store he was already eating at the table with Lizzy Across from her my chair was empty and as it’d been for exactly twenty days in a row Mom’s chair across from Dad was empty too I’m fine I said in a way that probably didn’t sound all that fine Spaghetti and sauce were already on my plate so I went to sit down Go wash your hands Lizzy said disgusted You’re a mess She had recently finished eighth grade just three years ahead of me but since Mom had gone you’d have thought she was a lot older in charge of everything like she was running a camp Take it easy Dad said to her and puffed out a breath He was trying not to lose his patience Russ you can warm up your food if you want If it’s cold it serves him right Lizzy said and turning to me with her dark dagger eyes Can’t you tell time Don’t they teach you that in Grimacing like she had soap in her mouth she trailed off without adding summer school while letting me know that for such a brilliant straight-A student like herself summer school was a dirty word meant for kids who 9
