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When Tuesday’s Ranger III had docked, Chris and Ally had been on it. “We needed to be at One with Nature,” Chris had said but she’d come because A
A
“I wish I were gay,” she said over Alison’s head. Literally over the little girl’s head, not figuratively. At five Ally was more sophisticated than A
“Would you marry Ally and me?” Christina asked.
“In a second.”
“No good.” Christina laughed, caught a crab with her paddle, and splashed her daughter and A
“Et tu, Brute,” A
“You haven’t met Bertie.”
The bicycling friend: A
“Don’t worry, Aunt A
“We’ll adopt you,” Chris said.
“Paddle,” A
“An-oh-wreck-see-ah,” Christina said. “No one in the Walters family will ever be ski
A
“How much further?” Ally asked after a few minutes.
“When do you bring it up?” Christina said at almost the same instant. “It” meant De
Once A
“Three quarters of a mile and Friday,” she answered cheerfully. Even dark thoughts and tedious practicalities took on a different air when shared.
“Do you have to dive so deep?” Christina asked.
“Yup.”
“Are you scared?”
“Yup.”
“Are you par-ah-noyd?” Ally asked.
“Yup.”
“Do you want to talk about it?” Chris asked.
“Nope.”
“Nope,” Ally echoed, popping the p so it sounded like a cork coming out of a bottle.
The weather held all day. The water stayed smooth and flat. Inland it would be humid, buggy, but on the water it was cool. The shoreline in McCargo Cove was just warm enough for a little cautious sunbathing. Christina worked on matching her old tan with her new bathing suit and getting through Ryan’s Daughter because Bertie had recommended it. A
Midafternoon they launched the canoe and paddled back up the long narrow cove. Sailboats moved slowly in McCargo’s protected waters, their sails as colorful and delicate-seeming as butterfly wings. Three miles long and no more than an eighth of a mile wide, McCargo was a favorite anchorage.
A
A more prosaic reason was because fires were allowed on Birch. Open fires had been ba
A thin line of smoke drifting out over the water a
“We’ll eat down by the water,” Chris said. “That way we can see better. Besides, it’s always less buggy on the shore out of the trees.” She knew A
Alison sulked while A
“That and a dollar won’t even get you a cup of coffee here,‘’ Chris returned. She excused herself to find the ”ladies’ room“ and left A
A
“Anybody want to come eat supper by my fire?” she invited.
A
“Two very nice people said we could share.”
A
“It’s like Disneyland,” Ally reported, ru
Alison had never been to Disneyland but A
Lugging the cooler, A