It takes only a few seconds sometimes, a few moments, to turn the world from a day of rainbows to a day of thunder and storms.
Where was the lake's manic when I had needed it the most? I thought mournfully.
3
Into the Night
.
Despite the incident between Harley and Chase,
the party was wonderful. Chase milked sympathy from all the girls and even some of his buddies when he emerged from the house with an impressive bandage on his hand. I knew Daddy would do as good a job as any doctor.
Daddy rang a cowbell to indicate we should all get out of our bathing suits, dress and come to the tables where a sumptuous lunch consisting of lobster, shrimp, roast beef and turkey dishes was served family style. Mrs. Geary complained there was enough food to feed a small village in Ireland.
"Just what's left over will do," she muttered to Mommy, but clearly well in Daddy's range of hearing. He and Mommy exchanged smiles.
While we ate, the band played and most of my friends got up to dance. Chase made it seem like he was enduring great pain in his hand just to ensure that I would have a good time. At one point Aunt Alison came over and fawned all over him. She deliberately leaned so far over the table that all the boys could feast their eyes on the sight of her breasts, exposed nearly to the nipples. I saw the boys peering and then looking at each other, some even reddening.
"Look at this poor boy's hand. You've got to protect him better." she told inc.
The others at the table laughed.
"He's pretty good at protecting himself. Aunt Alison." I said, glaring at him and the way he was sucking up all her attention.
"Men are not as strong as they make out to be. Summer," she lectured, directing herself mostly at my girlfriends, who listened wide-eyed, "They need us more than they care to admit. They need us to tell them when they're making fools of themselves. especially.
"You've got to keep the reins firmly on your boyfriends, girls, or they'll go kicking and banging into everything. You know I'm right, don't you?" she asked them. Some of them nodded. Some laughed nervously. Amber looked shocked for me and kept glancing my way.
Aunt Alison turned back to Chase.
"The only reason to fight, honey, is to protect your lady. You don't want to do anything to spoil that handsome face of yours, do you?"
"No ma'am," Chase said. gloating.
"You won't forget my good advice, will you, sweet thing?" she asked him.
Chase never skipped a beat. "No ma'am," he said, winking at his buddies. "I won't forget a thing about you."
I saw their smiles and their laughter, Aunt Alison didn't see what a fool she was making of herself. She thought she was the cat's meow and sauntered back to the adults' table.
"Wow!" Chase said, dabbing his forehead with a napkin. "If I had an aunt like that. I'd really look forward to Thanksgiving."
Everyone laughed but Amber and me. I knew Aunt Alison had already had too much champagne and I knew my grandmother Megan and my
grandfather Grant thought so, too, but she was hard to stop once she got started. Minutes later she was on the dance floor with two of Chase's buddies, moving so suggestively, she could have been in an X-rated club.
Finally. Grandfather Grant got her to sit down, only that turned her bitter and sarcastic, which only made them more uncomfortable. Mommy often told me she was their burden for life. Now I understood.
The highlight of the party was Mrs. Geary's birthday cake. She had Mr. Lynch help her bring it out. It really was a spectacular sight, all candy-pink and in tiers like a wedding cake. She insisted on cutting the pieces herself. Everything about cooking and serving was an art to her, but the extra tender loving care she put into it all warmed my heart.
"Happy birthday, dear," she told me when she handed me the first piece. I hugged and kissed her, which embarrassed her, but pleased her. too.
After the cake I opened presents, looking toward Harley's house occasionally. I saw the present with his name on it and I didn't open it. I put it aside. Only
Mommy seemed to catch my action. smiling and nodding.
I was really surprised at the gift Uncle Roy and Aunt Glenda had bought me. Uncle Roy had chosen a very expensive pearl necklace with a gold heart locket at the center. In it he had placed his and my mother's pictures. I was overwhelmed by the gift. of course, but the idea of having a locket with Mommy's picture and Uncle Roy's and not Daddy's beside it struck me as odd. When Mommy saw it, her smile stopped just before it completely formed, but her eves darkened a bit. She glanced at Uncle Roy. who was staring at me and smiling.
"It's very beautiful, honey." she said quickly. "Roy, you shouldn't have spent so much."
Uncle Roy pressed his lips together and nodded.
"It's my pleasure. I mean, our pleasure," he replied. "Happy birthday again. Princess."
"Princess?" Chase whispered in my ear. "I knew I should be at your feet, licking your toes."
"Stop it." I warned him, but he laughed and promised he would tickle my toes with the tip of his tongue.
After I opened all the gifts, the dancing continued into the early evening. When the first stars appeared in the twilight sky, some of my friends began to leave. Everyone said they had the best time. No one even made a passing reference to the incident with Harley and Chase.
"How about we go for that ride now so I can give you my special present?" Chase asked me.
"I can't," I said. "I can't leave the family and I'm tired anyway. Chase."
"You're kidding. They won't care. They'd understand. It's your special day and night. Summer. You want me to ask your father's permission? I'll do it," he offered.
"No."
"Why not?" he snapped angrily. He hated ever being disappointed because in his world it happened so rarely. He stared at me, waiting for a response. "You're not mad at me for what happened on the raft with Hardly Do Good, are you?"
"You did start it. Chase, when you threw Amber off the raft. and I told you I don't like you calling him that."
"I was just having some fun. He didn't have to go be Mr. Macho Man and then bite me. Why are you taking his side anyway? You saw it all."
"I'm not taking any side."
"Yes you are. You like him, don't you? And I don't mean as a cousin only." He jumped at my hesitation. "I'm right. aren't I?"
"Stop it. Chase."
"That's it," he said. "That's sick. It's like all the jokes they make about people marrying their sisters."
"He's not really related to me," I moaned. "so stop that." He nodded.
"Are you going out with me now or not?" he asked in the tone of an ultimatum.
"I told you I have to stay with my family. I want to stay with them," I added. "It's only right. My grandparents have come far to be here and they're leaving early in the morning."
"Fine," he said. He looked over at the others. "Maybe I'll make it up to Amber." "What do you mean?"
"I'll show her a good time to make up for embarrassing her. Consider it another birthday present to you," he said, and swaggered toward her.
"Chase, don't!" I cried. He stopped and looked back. smiling. "Coming with me or not?"
"You bastard." I muttered, and turned away from him. My heart was pounding.
When I turned around again, he was talking to Amber. She looked at me and then at him. He had underestimated his charm and power when it was confronted by our friendship. She shook her head and walked away from him and I let out a trapped hot breath.
Even more frustrated and angry now, he did what Amber had predicted he might. He headed for Catlin Staffer, who had been flirting with everyone, especially him.
"You won't believe what Chase just asked me." Amber said.
"You don't have to tell me. I know what he asked. He's angry because I refused to go off with him," I said. "I'm glad you had sense enough to refuse him. too."
We both watched him walk toward his car with Catlin. "They deserve each other," I said.
> Amber looked sorry for me.
"To break up with your boyfriend today of all days." she moaned.
"It's all right. Cupid gave me a birthday present, too. He shot Chase's poison arrow at someone else."
Amber laughed and then looked sadly toward Harley's house.
"I feel bad for him. If I hadn't screamed and carried on, he might not have gotten into the fight and into trouble. Tell him I'm sorry." she said.
"I have a feeling he would have gotten into a fight with Chase no matter what. Amber. Don't blame yourself." I said. "And don't worry about Harley blaming you."
We hugged and she left with the others. I decided I would bring Harley a piece of my birthday cake and open his present with him beside me.
"Where are you going. honey?" Daddy asked me when I put a piece of the cake on a plate and started toward Uncle Roy 's house.
"I'm bringing Harley a piece of my cake. Daddy."
"Maybe you better wait until tomorrow. sweetheart."
"I'd rather do it tonight. Daddy. be right back," I said.
The rest of our family had gone into the house. Daddy looked at me with worry in his eyes.
"Don't get too involved in this,' he warned, "He's got to work out his problems with his parents himself, Summer. You don't want to get in between."
"He's not a bad person. Daddy."
Daddy didn't look like he wanted to agree.
"He's not!" I insisted.
"Okay. Come right back, and if they're having a discussion, leave them be," he ordered.
"I will," I promised, picked up my present from Harley and started for the house.
I knocked on the screen door and waited. It was very quiet. But I thought I could hear Aunt Glenda crying softly. I knocked again and finally Uncle Roy came out to greet me.
"Princess:' What's up? How come you're not with the family?"
"I wanted to bring Harley a piece of my birthday cake. Uncle Roy, Can I see him. please?"
"I'm afraid not," he said.
"Please. Uncle Roy. I won't be able to sleep if I don't see him." He hesitated and then he looked at me and shook his head.
"He's not here," he said. "What?"
"He's done it again." he said. "'Added insult to injury."
"What has he done?"
"Hes run away."
Everyone looked up when I entered my house, but only Mommy immediately saw that I was only seconds away from bursting into a flood of hysterical tears. I still had the plate with the piece of birthday cake in my hand and my present from Harley under my arm.
"What is it. Summer?" she asked, wheeling toward me.
"Harley's run away," I said. I felt the trembling in my chin.
"That poor woman," Grandmother Megan said. "To lose one child and then have this constant trouble with her other child."
She gazed across the room at Aunt Alison, who had fallen asleep in the oversize cushion chair. Everyone, especially Grandfather Grant, was thinking the same thing. Who knew better than Grandmother Megan what it was like to lose a child and be burdened with another's bad behavior?
"He'll be back." Mommy said. but I turned away quickly to hide the first errant tear and then ran for the stairway, not looking back once as I pounded up the stairs and into my room. There. I threw myself on my bed and buried my face in my pillow to stop any more tears.
Moments later. I heard the whirring sound of Mommy's elevator chair and I felt even more terrible. I had caused her to go through the big effort it took to transfer herself and come up here. She did it faster than usual and was knocking on my door in min' utes.
"Come in," I said, turning and flicking the tears from my cheeks.
The door opened and she wheeled herself in. closing it behind her.
"I'm so sorry you're upset on this birthday. honey. Please, don't be," she said.
I nodded, took a deep breath and looked at her.
"Why does Harley have to be so... so unhappy?" I asked her. She smiled,
"He's not as unhappy as he is afraid," she said.
"Afraid? Harley? I don't think he's afraid of anything. That's his problem."
"No," she insisted, wheeling closer to my bed. "I know exactly what he's feeling. He's afraid because he sees himself in a world in which he thinks he doesn't belong. Can you imagine what it was like for me to come here when I was just a senior in high school after having lived in the projects in
Washington. D.C., a ghetto world where drugs and crime were so rampant, you could look out the front window and think you were watching television news.
"It's easier when you're younger and you have a chance to adjust, but to be dumped into another world entirely with little or no preparation..."
"Why did your adopted mother keep the secret about your birth so long?"
"Oh. I think she hoped I would never find out, but her husband was a hard man, in and out of trouble, losing jobs, irresponsible, and he revealed it all in a drunken rage one day. She had no choice. I cried a lot when I found out she wasn't really my mother,"
"I'd die if that happened to me," I said.
"I guess I nearly did, but she was a tough little lady. After Bentatha's death. my Mama was
determined to save me from that world. She confronted Grandmother Megan to insist she take on her responsibilities, which meant, to take me back. Of course, as you know, she was very, very sick, but it was like her to keep that a secret as well. She knew I would never leave her if I knew the truth.'
"It must have broken her heart to see you ao live with someone else."
"Both our hearts, but she never shed a tear in front of me. I'm sure she cried privately," she said sighing and growing silent for a moment.
"Anyway," she continued. "when I came here. Grandmother Hudson was not what you kids would call a happy camper. She was like a tyrant with her rules and threats. but I surprised her. I guess. I did so well in school and shocked her with my good behavior. Soon, she was confiding more in me than she was in her own daughters. Eventually, she needed me as much as I needed her, which was what made her sacrifice so great."
"What sacrifice?"
"Arranging for me to go live in England with her sister so I could attend a prestigious school for the performing arts. Just as we had gotten to know and love each other, she was in effect giving me up. The last time I saw her was when she said goodbye to me on our front steps. I often wonder if she would have lived longer had I remained here,"
She was quiet a long moment and then smiled.
"But, if we dwell on the past, we're prisoners of it," she said. "The good thing was I gained selfconfidence and realized who I really was. She gave me more than just my name; she gave me my identity, my sense of self.
"That's what has to happen to Harley. Despite the bravado he puts on, he's a very frightened young man. He doesn't know where he belongs yet."
"Why is Uncle Ray so mean to him then. Mommy?"
"That's another story." she said. "Please, tell me. Mommy."
"I wish you could go to sleep with a head full of cotton candy tonight, honey."
"I can't. Please, tell me," I begged her. "I'm not a child anymore."
"No. I guess you're not." She looked down a moment and then took a deep breath and began,
"Years ago. when Roy and I discovered we weren't really brother and sister, he confessed his love for me. He wanted us to be man and wife. He carried that hope with him even after he had joined the army. Despite the fact that we didn't share blood. I couldn't think of him as anyone but my brother. I tried. but I couldn't. It was a big disappointment for him. He always blamed cruel Fate and not me. He was devastated when he discovered I had married your father, but you were already born and he realized it was meant to be.
"I was happy when he started to court Glenda. I thought maybe he had gotten over it. I think he was well on his way, too, when tragedy struck and they lost Latisha. I never doubted that if he had her, he would be a better father for Harley as well.
"So don't judge hi
m too harshly. He's still trying to find himself. too, trying to find some peace. Aunt Glenda is almost another child for him to take care of these days."
"I don't know why we're all in such a rush to get older," I said, pursing my lips. "We never knew how good we had it when we were just six or seven."
Mommy laughed.
"I mean it. When I was little, everything looked magical out there, just the way I hoped it would be today, but when you get older, you have to see reality and be mature and there goes all your pretty dreams."
"That's true, honey, but you're on your way to becoming a beautiful, intelligent young woman, and there's a different sort of magic waiting for you now, a magic you'll create in your own way."
"How can you say all that. Mommy, you of all people, considering what happened to you?"
"I have blessings. I have you to watch grow up. I'd rather be here in a wheelchair than not here at all. Yes. I lost my opportunities and my dreams, but they were quickly replaced with new ones, different ones. I guess happiness comes in different packages, honey, and when we think it can only come in one, we are a little blind."
I smiled at her. She was truly the strongest woman I knew. Everyone else would look at her and think handicapped, think she was only someone to be pitied.
"I just wanted my wonderful day to be wonderful for everyone." I moaned.
"Harley will be back and he'll find himself," she assured me. "I'd better get back downstairs."
I hugged and kissed her and then wheeled her out and helped her get into the elevator chair.
"Daddy put all your presents in the office," she said. "Take them up when you're ready. Oh, and a present arrived from England for you. from Grandpa Ward."
"Did it? He never forgets me. I can't wait to see him again," I said.
Mommy had located her real father when she had gone to England. He had left America years ago and had become a college professor. We had been to London twice to visit, and he had been here for Mommy's wedding and once with his wife Leanna and their children after Mommy had married. He had married a pretty English lady who was a poet and quite nice. I often felt our family was a little United Nations in and of itself.