Two weeks after I'd graduated from Northwestern, my sister Irene called me from her summer home on Martha's Vineyard and requested my company for a long weekend on the island.
"Can you make it by Friday?" she asked. "There's somebody I'd like you to meet."
The following morning, I traveled by Uber from my parent's house in Greenwich, Connecticut, to Woods Hole, Massachusetts, where I boarded the Steamship Authority ferry. I spent the six-mile passage standing in the ship's bow while the sea breeze brushed away the June swelter.
On our approach into Vineyard Haven harbor, I spotted Irene on the dock waving, and as I came down the gangplank, she greeted me with a clutching hug and a robust air of confidence. We were soon seated across from one another in The Little House CafΓ©, her favorite restaurant on the island.
"So, tell me about your friend," I said.
"Bunny and I met during our residency in Chicago. We're opening a practice together."
"Radiology?"
"That's the plan."
"And how goes it with Kyle?"
"Our divorce is complete," she explained. "I got the island house and alimony. Kyle and his millions are tucked away in Nova Scotia. I do hope he'll stay there permanently."
"So, it's over for good?"
"Yes," she said firmly.
Her self-assurance astonished me; at that moment, I understood she'd reached her prime in the three years since I'd last seen her.
The murmur of patron's voices and the clink of toasting wine glasses gave way to the woosh of a flambΓ©. I felt the first sips of wine going to my head. Waiters lit candles, and the room took on a flickering ambiance as evening approached. Irene was very excited as our food arrived. She'd picked for the two of us, and we dined on pan-seared Ahi tuna with a light lemon caper sauce and bowls of clam chowder.***
Night had fallen by the time we piled into Irene's Audi for a thrilling drive to Edgartown. We pulled into the driveway of her colonial-style home.
Fireflies flashed green-yellow, and constellations glimmered in the crystalline night as I grabbed my suitcase from the trunk and followed her down the flagstones to her front door.
"This is some light show, so many fireflies," I said.
"Aren't they adorable? Bunny and I played night crochet to their little flashes on occasion. We can do it tomorrow evening if it pleases you."
"Can you see well enough in the light of fireflies?"
"Of course not. It's silly good fun, is all."
She pushed the door open.
"Wow," I said, looking around the living room. "You've made changes."
"The walls are pecky cypress. The rug is Persian. It adds weight to the room."
"And the American flag box kite?"
"It belongs to Bunny."
"She's patriotic?"
"After a fashion."
"You mean to say imperfectly patriotic?"
"Precisely, you're in your standard room on the second floor. I've got work to do. Let me know if you need anything."
"Ok," I said.
By work, I assumed she meant teleradiologyβreading X-rays from home, a common practice among radiologists attempting to avoid the recent plague. Outbreak monkeys aside, I took my suitcase upstairs and squared away my travel kit before sitting in a wicker lounge chair and falling asleep.***