Island of Lost Girls - Jennifer McMahon [36]
Would you guys grow up? said Peter, glancing back over his shoulder at the figure high up in the tree.
THE GRILL WAScrammed with burgers and hot dogs, and the picnic table was laid out with potato and pasta salads and a sheet cake that saidHAPPY BIRTHDAY CLEM in Justines careful script. There were two bowls of punch, one of them for the kids, and the other one was having another cup of dark rum added by Aggie, who insisted it was still too weak.
Some of the men who worked at the mill were there with their wives, talking about pulp wood prices and the Red Sox and whatever else it was men talked about. Rhonda was only half-listening. She was watching Peter sneak three cups of rum punch.
I dont want any, Lizzy said when he handed her a paper cup.
Oh, come on! What kind of a pirate are you?
She accepted the cup, as did Rhonda. The girls took tentative sips. Peter took a long gulp. Ahhh! he said. Shiver me timbers, thats good. Itll put hair on your chest, me mateys! He left the girls and went sidling up to where Daniel stood talking with a group of men from the mill. Daniel put a hand on Peters head and Peter laughed at some dumb joke about the president, which Rhonda only half-heard.
Do you think Wendys in love with Peter Pan? Lizzy asked.
What?
I mean its pretty obvious, isnt it? She loves him, but he doesnt love her back.
Rhonda took a big sip of punch. I think he loves her back. He just doesnt know it.
Lizzy shook her head. Stupid! Its not like theyre going to end up together. To get married and everything. Its impossible.
Rhonda took a long sip of punch, reached into the pocket of her white Wendy nightgown, and touched the photograph of her father and Aggie that she carried to rehearsal every day. She wanted to show Peter and ask him what it meant. Ask him if it was possible that her father and his mother were once married. But she could never bring herself to do it.
As she let the rum seep into her, she knew what she had to do. It wasnt Peter whod have the answers. It was her father. Shed simply show him the photo and ask for an explanation. And today, she decided, was as good a day as any. She finished her punch in two big glugs, left Lizzy, and ran off into the house. Shed seen Clem head inside just minutes before. She went straight to her room and pulled theHunley drawing from its hiding place in the suitcase under her bed. Her mother had taken her to the art store in St. Johnsbury and paid to have it professionally matted and framed. Rhonda had wrapped it in blue paper with silver stars. She tucked the drawing under her arm and went searching for her father. He was not in the kitchen or the living room. She turned left and went down the hall to his study. The door was open a crack and she pushed it the rest of the way, holding out the present in front of her while she yelled, Happy birthday!
And there was her father, kissing Aggie, their arms moving over each other like they were one giant pulsating octopus.
SHE DIDNT KNOWwhere she was going. She was running through the woods in her white Wendy nightgown and bare feet. Shed dropped the drawing on the study floor and heard the glass crack like a gunshot before she turned and ran out. She raced through the party, past Peter and Lizzy and her mother, who was putting out more clam dip. She felt like she was underwater. Sounds didnt reach her the way they should. The landscape was blurry and strange. Even her feet werent listening to what her head told them to do. She stumbled, ran into the trees. But on she went until the path led her to Martin Cemetery; then she slowed to a walk. Her feet were cut from sharp rocks. Her lungs wheezed. She walked beside