“No, and I don’t care!He’s a rat!”
“I don’t know about that.”
“Are you his girlfriend now?”
“I don’t know.”
“I do,” Pam cried.“He hates it up here.If you’re his girlfriend now, you won’t be for long, because he’s leaving.”
“Well, so am I,” Hillary shot back.
That diverted Pam’s attention for a minute, though it didn’t surprise her.Everyone knew that Hillary Cox was different from most of the people in Timiny Cove.She looked different, for one thing, kind of exotic with her dark, curly hair and her light, light skin.For another thing, she kept to herself.Her whole family did.They were odd, Pam had long ago decided, because she couldn’t imagine any family in Timiny Cove that wouldn’t want to go to the annual spring picnic.Her father said that the Cox familywas brilliant, but that still didn’t explain to Pam why they kept to themselves.
“Where are you going?”she asked.
“To college in Boston.Maybe I’ll see you more often.”
If not brilliant, Pam was astute.“You’re going there to be closer to John.”
“I’m going there for an education.”
“It’s a dumb thing to do!John’s a rat.He spoils everything he gets near, and if you get near him, he’ll spoil you, too.”
“I certainly hope so,” Hillary said with a smile.
Pam was not old enough to understand Hillary’s smile.Besides, with the mention of John, she remembered that she wanted to be playing poker with her father, that the game had been ruined, and why.“Well, if you’re stupid enough to go looking for trouble, you can have him!Because that’s all John is!He’s a rat and a spoiler and I hate his guts!”Hurling Dwayne’s candy against the far wall, she bolted to her feet and sped up the stairs to cry by herself.
Pam’s tears were long dried by the following morning.She had kicked the anger out against her bed and was spent.John returned to Boston, and although Eugene didn’t have as much free time because of that, calm once again returned to Pam’s life in Timiny Cove.When the vacation ended and she returned to Boston, that peace was with her.She was glad to see her mother, and with the ease borne of practice she slipped back into the more formal life that Patricia dictated.
Pam liked that life, too—her school, her friends, shopping with her mother, going out to eat, going to parties.Her Boston life was busy and full, a fine counterpoint to the casual spontaneity of Timiny Cove.
What she wished for on the first star each night was that Eugene would come home soon.She missed him when he stayed in Maine, which he did more and more as time passed.He came home for everything important—Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Easter—and she went north during every vacation, but there were fewer times than ever when they did things as a family, just Patricia, Eugene, and her.Those were her favorite times, the times when she felt the happiest.She loved her birthdays, too, for that reason.When she turned nine, Eugene came home and took Patricia and her to a special dinner at the Ritz.When she turned ten, he came home and took them to New York.John usually managed to be away when Eugene was home, which was just as well.Pam decided she would hit him with the fireplace poker if he dared spoil her birthday.
Mercifully, he didn’t do that, and for the most part he avoided her.He had his own friends.He worked at the headquarters of St.George Mining in Boston, but on weekends he went to places like Long Island and Newport and Bar Harbor with the sons of judges and lawyers and bankers.Patricia encouraged him, and Pam didn’t mind his absences because when he was around, and when he did talk to her, his words were often cruel.
Partly because Patricia liked John, and partly because a little voice inside told her not to, she never discussed that with Patricia.Marcy was the one she went to then.
Marcy Willow was reed-thin and pale, but for all her mousy looks, she seemed to know everything about life.When Pam asked Eugene how someone who was only sixteen could know so much, he explained that Marcy had seen life at its most bare, without any of the frills and cushions Pam had.
Even without that bid for compassion, Pam would have liked Marcy.For one thing, Marcy was from Timiny Cove, and though her home there wasn’t much more than a broken-down tarpaper shack, Pam adored anything to do with the Cove.For another, Marcy was shy, unassuming, and undemanding, which made giving her little gifts and taking her places a treat for Pam.Although Marcy was in the St.George home to work as a maid, she was like a big sister to Pam.Marcy was the one to whom Pam could pour out her heart when she felt so inclined, the one Pam could count on to help understand John’s mutterings.
“What does he mean by that?”she asked.She and Marcy were sitting at the edge of the frog pond on the Boston Common.They’d just come from grocery shopping on Charles Street and were eating the chocolate-covereds that Pam had bought from a nearby vendor.“‘A five-month baby.’He’s said it before.What does it mean?”
Marcy was a while in answering, which was part of her charm, in Pam’s eyes.She had the same slow way about her that most of the Mainers did, silently mulling over her answer before offering it up.“Has your mama talked to you about that?”
“She doesn’t talk about babies at all, except to say that she won’t have another one.Does that mean shecan’thave another one?”
Marcy took a slow lick of her cone.“Could be.Could be it means she doesn’t want another one b’cause she knows she’d never get another one so good as you.”
“I’m not so good, not all the time.So what’s a five-month baby?”
Marcy leaned against the cement rim of the pond and watched the people who passed.“Has your mama told you about making babies?”
“No.But I know.”
“How do you know?”
“Melissa and I talk about it.She has a book that we’ve read.”Pam scooted close to Marcy and lowered her voice.“And another one about periods.Janice Brooks just got hers.We thought we ought to know what it was.”
