Dear readers: Thank you again for all your comments. Before you begin reading the story below, let me apologize for my brain. I don't know whether to blame excessive creative energy or insufficient discipline, but memories surge out of me without immediate respect to connectivity. The burden of patience is forced upon the reader, while the author whimsically panders to her selfish needs.
I beg your indulgence as strands of this web are spun. They are interwoven inside my head, and will coalesce in time.
The Summer of '95 draws on experiences from my early adulthood and is, as always, a slurry of memory and fantasy. Your comments are welcome and encouraged. Enjoy!
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When you are young, friends with rich parents make for amazing summers. I met Lisha in homeroom the first day of junior high. Drawn to one another initially by our black curly hair (Lisha was also of Mediterranean heritage, but had olive skin and deep brown eyes) we quickly became best friends. I soon learned that Lisha's parents were divorced and lived in different parts of the country. She lived with mom during the school year and dad during selected holidays and summer. Mom liked snow and winter and lived in Michigan, Dad lived in a bay house on the Gulf Coast.
As April approached that first year, Lisha complained that spring break would be SO BORING without her best friend. Arrangements were made (Lisha's parents paid my airfare and everything) and spring break was transformed from watching snow melt to laughing, giggling, swimming, tanning, and exploring the water and sand with the joyous abandon of young teen girls. The week went so well that Lisha's mom asked my mom if I could spend the entire summer at the bay house. I didn't think mom would go for it, but looking back I have realized that mom as a single parent (Dad was military and had been killed overseas) was stressed, overworked, and lonely. The opportunity for personal time was tempting and when Lisha's mom assuaged mom's guilt by explaining the four of us could spend three weeks together at the bay house, all expenses paid, while Lisha's dad was in Europe on business (did I mention Lisha's family was crazy rich), all resistance dissipated.
That was how the bay house became my summer home for the next five years. But as the sixth year approached I wondered if summers with Lisha had come to an end. We were seniors, turning eighteen in May. I didn't know if next summer would be one last time together or the beginning of our new, and separate, adult lives. Lisha abolished my doubts in early December as we watched the first real snowfall silently cover the ground.
"I can't wait until next summer, Ash!"
She had started calling me "Ash", short for Ashley, my middle name, during the summer between ninth and tenth grade.
"At the bay house again?" I asked with weakly veiled trepidation.
"Absolutely silly, it will be the summer of our lives!"
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The first day of the "summer of our lives" did not go so well. Lisha's mom had a flat tire. We missed the shuttle to the airport, which caused us to miss our flight. Our new flight arrived in Chicago too late for our original connecting flight. It was almost noon and our new flight wasn't until 2:04. We killed time by eating revolting airport food and window-shopping at overpriced stores.
When we finally boarded and took our seats, we exhaled together across the empty middle seat in a collective sigh of relief. Our hope was premature. As the doors were about to close, an elderly woman entered and shuffled down the aisle, dragging a large carry-on. She stopped at our row.
"I think I am in E," she smiled.
The bin above our seats was nearly full and the woman looked around perplexed and concerned. Lisha, sitting on the aisle, offered to put her small bag under the seat to make room in the overhead. The woman thanked her profusely, apologized for this being her first time flying, then sat down and began to talk.
Forty-five minutes later she was still talking. Lisha and I listened patiently, politely smiling at the stories of grandchildren, her husband (gone six years now bless his soul) and concerns about leaving her cats (three) behind alone with only a neighbor to feed them.
I took a deep breath. "Only two more hours," whispered a small voice in my head. It was wrong.
Half an hour before we were supposed to land, the captain announced that a violent summer storm was buffeting the airport and that we were going to circle for half an hour while it passed.
We finally landed, but by the time our taxi approached the bay house, the sun was setting. The house was unlit and seemed empty. We paid the driver and lugged our bags to the door. Lisha opened it with the hidden key and we went inside.
As I headed upstairs to my room, Lisha's voice called out, "Looks like daddy won't be here tonight. He left a message on the machine. Project troubles are going to keep him in the city."
Mr. D'Amico kept a condo in the city that he lived in during the week. Usually he spent weekends at the bay house, but occasionally work interfered. Lisha and I had grown accustomed to having the house to ourselves most of the summer.
After carrying suitcases to our rooms, we met back in the kitchen. A couple sandwiches and diet cokes later we felt our humanity returning.
Lisha smiled.