Staying Together

  Billy Wonder. Min, who was now sitting on the couch, taking her turn at holding Janie, turned the name over in her head. That can’t possibly be his real name, she decided. She clasped Janie’s hands in her own and watched, fascinated, as the auction began.

  “Let’s start with three hundred dollars,” said Billy, gesturing at one of the quilts.

  Three hundred! Min would never have had the nerve to start with a figure so high. Which was exactly why, she soon realized, she would not make a good auctioneer. Almost immediately, Mr. Pennington’s hand rose tentatively, and Billy Wonder cried, “Three hundred! Thank you, sir. Do I hear four hundred? Remember, this is for the community center.”

  At this point, Min closed her eyes. She felt terrible for Mr. Pennington, who had instantly been outbid, and at the same time both fascinated and grateful as she heard Billy Wonder ask for — and receive — bids of five hundred, then six hundred, then seven hundred fifty, and finally one thousand dollars.

  “Min!” said Flora in an excited whisper, squeezing her grandmother’s arm as the bidding continued. “You have to open your eyes. This is amazing!”

  But Min couldn’t look.

  Not until Billy Wonder had sold the first quilt for three thousand seven hundred and fifty dollars and finally exclaimed, “Sold! The second quilt is yours, ma’am, for a cool five thousand dollars!” did Min manage to open her eyes again.

  “Who bought them?” she asked Flora.

  “I don’t know the guy who bought the first one, but Mrs. DuVane bought the second one.”

  When the long day was at last over, when the sun was setting and pale shadows fell across Main Street and the air grew cooler and shopkeepers moved their wares back inside their stores and hosed down the sidewalks, Min and Gigi, alone in Needle and Thread, smiled tiredly at each other.

  “What a day,” said Gigi.

  “The quilts raised almost nine thousand dollars,” remarked Min. “It never occurred to me that they could pull in that much money. When the rest of the stores add their donations …”

  “It was a good day for the community center,” agreed Gigi. “And imagine, Sheila DuVane giving her quilt to the center so that it can be displayed there.”

  Min sighed. “She may be one of our more ornery customers, but she does have a good heart.” She smiled again at her friend.

  “Can I give you a lift home?” asked Gigi a few minutes later.

  “Thank you, but I think I’ll walk. It will give me a chance to clear my head.”

  Gigi left, and Min stood once more at the door and looked out at Main Street. She waved to Mrs. Grindle, who was closing up Stuff ’n’ Nonsense. She caught sight of a balloon trapped high in the branches of a maple tree. She turned and looked behind her at the neat aisles of fabrics. Then she switched off the light, locked the door, and walked home to the Row Houses.

  School was over. Report cards had been sent out. The long days of vacation had arrived. With July came Flora’s first summer jobs. She was working three afternoons a week at Three Oaks. On the in-between afternoons, she was baby-sitting for Janie.

  But her mornings were free, and so were her weekends, and on this Saturday her mind was busy with the event that would take place that evening: a Row House party.

  “And we can hold it outdoors after all,” she said to Ruby over breakfast. “The weather guy said it was going to rain today, but look outside. It’s beautiful.”

  “What does the weather guy know?” remarked Ruby cheerfully. “So what are we supposed to do today to help get ready for the party?”

  “Min wants us to organize something for the kids to do.”

  “How about a costume contest?”

  “People need time to get ready for that,” said Flora.

  “A pet show?”

  “I think Min meant something simpler.”

  “We could put on a skit.”

  “Well, maybe …”

  “Yes! We could!” exclaimed Ruby, warming to the thought. “We have all day to rehearse. We could sing songs and then I could tap-dance. Then we could put on the skit, and then I could dance again. After that —”

  “I don’t know about the dancing,” said Flora, “but the skit is a good idea. And maybe the songs.”

  “What’s wrong with the dancing?”

  Flora eyed her sister.

  “I know. I know. It isn’t all about me.”

  Flora smiled. “Come on. Let’s go see who wants to be in the skit.”

  By late afternoon, the Row Houses were bustling. In the yard of every house, tables and chairs were being set out.

  “Our yard is going to be, like, the playground,” Alyssa Morris announced. “We got a waterslide yesterday, so wear your bathing suits over here.”

  “Which yard will have the desserts?” asked Ruby.

  “Mine,” Olivia replied. “Mom and Dad have been baking nonstop.”

  The party was to begin at six. At five-thirty, Flora stood on her back stoop. The promised rainy weather had continued to hold off. Flora looked to her left and saw, at the very end of the row, the waterslide in the Morrises’ yard, as well as a softball and two bats, a stack of hula hoops, and several badminton rackets.

  Next door, the Hamiltons’ yard was quiet, but a folding table had been set out and covered with a blue checked cloth. The Hamiltons’ first Row House party, thought Flora. She hadn’t seen much of Mrs. Hamilton since she’d returned, and Willow had been pale and quiet lately, but the table was a good sign, and so was the fact that Cole had agreed to play a dog in the evening’s skit. (Willow had said that she preferred to be a member of the audience.)

  Flora sat on the stoop, and a few moments later she heard the door open behind her. “Hi, Min,” she said without turning around.

  “Hi, honey.” Min groaned. “Oh, these old bones.” But she managed to lower herself onto the stoop next to her granddaughter. “What are you thinking about?”

  “The party, I guess. Well, really, I’m just thinking.”

  “I’ve always thought that this is the perfect time for thinking. The day is winding down, birds are returning to their nests. It’s settling-in time.”

  “Not tonight it isn’t!” exclaimed Ruby, and she hustled through the door and joined Flora and Min. “Tonight it’s time to par-tay.”

  Min smiled. “What were you thinking about, Flora, or is it private?”

  “My thoughts were sort of everywhere,” Flora admitted. “I was thinking about tonight, but I was also thinking about the first Row House party we went to. Remember, Ruby?”

  “Yup. People gave us presents.”

  “Ruby. Is that all you remember?”

  “No. It was fun. It was the very first time we were all together. I mean, every single person in the Row Houses.”

  “It was only two years ago, but things were pretty different then,” said Flora. “The Willets still lived here, and Mrs. Willet came to the party, even though she was confused.”

  “Mr. Pennington still had Jacques,” said Ruby.

  “Grace Fong hadn’t been born.”

  “Robby didn’t have a girlfriend.” Ruby turned to Min. “Is it always like this?”

  “Always like what?”

  “Do things change all the time at the Row Houses?”

  “Things change all the time everywhere.”

  “I know …”

  “Did you have Row House parties when our mom and Aunt Allie were little?” asked Flora.

  “We certainly did. And they weren’t very different from the ones we have now. Except for the cast of characters.”

  Ruby smiled. “I like that. The cast of characters. Like we’re a play and the Row Houses are the set. Except that every time one of the characters changes, the play changes, too. In a real production, if someone left the play a new person would come in and take over his role and the same show would go on and on and on. But not in life. In life a new character changes everything.”

  “We’re new characters,” commented Flora
. “You and I. We changed things when we moved here.”

  “You certainly did,” said Min. She put her arms around her granddaughters.

  “I’m really sorry about the owl,” said Ruby suddenly.

  “Now, where did that come from?” asked Min.

  Ruby shrugged. “From things changing, I guess. And talking about Mom. Min? Do you think it’s okay if I miss Mom and Dad every single day of my whole life? Even when I’m old?”

  “Heavens! I know I’ll miss them every single day of my life and I’m already as old as the hills.”

  “Can you believe I’ll be in eighth grade this year?” asked Flora.

  “And now where did that come from?” was Min’s reply.

  “More things changing. I’ll be in eighth and Ruby will be in sixth. When we moved here, I was going into sixth grade.”

  “My land, such a lot of ruminating,” said Min.

  “Hey, Ruby!” yelled a voice from the direction of the Morrises’ yard. “Go get your bathing suit!”

  Ruby jumped to her feet and peered down the row of houses. She saw Lacey standing by her picnic table, clad in a rather skimpy bikini. “Okay!” she called back. She headed indoors. “Come on, you guys,” she said to Min and Flora. “It’s party time.”

  Later, when Flora looked back on the evening of the party, she liked to take one particular moment and relish it for its very ordinariness. She chose the moment just before the skit was to begin. By that time, a number of things, both ordinary and wonderful, had already taken place.

  The evening had started punctually at six o’clock. That was when neighbors began to carry their supper contributions outside. A casserole was set down on the Hamiltons’ table. Robby’s father placed the first piece of chicken on the grill in the Edwardses’ yard. Mr. Morris carried an enormous fruit salad past the waterslide and was nearly knocked over when Ruby tumbled to a stop at his feet. Mrs. Fong edged through her back door with a pitcher of iced tea. Olivia, concentrating furiously, set a pan of peach cobbler on the Walters’ picnic table. Flora watched as the tables filled with lasagna, grilled vegetables, lemonade, ice cream, watermelon, hamburgers, chocolates, sodas. Someone even provided a plate of biscuits for the five resident dogs.

  For more than an hour, every resident of the Row Houses wandered from yard to yard, chatting and laughing and eating. The children tried out the Morrises’ waterslide and, to Olivia’s horror, so did her father. Flora played badminton with Margaret Malone. Lydia sat on her stoop and sent text messages to someone. Robby approached nearly everyone at the party and said, “Did you know I have a girlfriend?”

  Just before eight o’clock, Olivia said to Flora, “We’d better put the skit on now before it gets too dark.”

  So Flora gathered the audience in her backyard, where they sat on lawn chairs waiting for the show, while Ruby gathered the kids in the kitchen, which had been designated backstage. And this was the ordinary moment that Flora chose to sear into her memory. Once again she stood on her stoop, and this time she looked at the faces of the expectant audience.

  There were Willow and her parents sitting in a row, Mr. Hamilton in the middle, Willow edging her chair to one side to create as much distance from her parents as possible. Mr. Hamilton waited solemnly for the show to start. Mrs. Hamilton grinned broadly and gestured widely, but Flora didn’t think she was talking to anyone.

  There were Mr. and Mrs. Morris, holding hands and smiling fondly at Alyssa, who ran to them, exclaiming, “Ruby says I have natural talent!” before returning to the kitchen.

  There was Mr. Pennington holding Variety in his lap and speaking softly to Min. He stroked Variety’s ears, and Variety’s feet twitched as he dreamed.

  There were the Fongs, Grace perched in her father’s lap, swinging her legs back and forth, Mrs. Fong smiling to herself. Earlier, she had shyly told the Row House neighbors that she and her husband were expecting another baby in November.

  There were Olivia’s parents murmuring to Min and Mr. Pennington.

  There were Dr. Malone and Margaret, smiling at something Mrs. Edwards had just said. A little distance away from them, the only member of the audience seated on the ground, was Lydia, still sending texts and still looking as though she would rather be just about anywhere else.

  There were the three Edwardses, waiting patiently. Robby had been invited to take part in the skit but had declined, politely saying that he was tired, but Flora knew the truth: He felt too old for such things. She supposed that one day she would feel too old, too. She hoped that day wouldn’t come anytime soon. A part of her wanted to remain a Row House kid forever.

  She turned and glanced at the nine cast members wiggling nervously in the kitchen and signaled to Ruby. It was time to start the show.

  Have you ever been to Camden Falls, Massachusetts? If not, and if you’re planning a trip there, you’re in for a treat of the most ordinary kind — like vanilla ice cream when you have a choice of Moose Tracks and Rocky Road and Tropical Sunset. You chose vanilla because it’s exactly what you want, and when it’s exactly what you want, it doesn’t seem ordinary at all.

  Start your tour by standing on the corner of Dodds Lane and Main Street. Look south along Main. This is Camden Falls at the end of a hot day during a summer in which everyone hopes the tourist season will bring lots of visitors to town. And so far it’s done just that. Walk along the street to the sixth store on the right. There is Needle and Thread, and at the open doorway is Min Read, one of the owners of the sewing shop. Min is gazing thoughtfully at a scene that she finds familiar and unfamiliar, constant and varying at the same time. She recalls a conversation she had with her granddaughter four months earlier. Min had remarked that Main Street looked shabby. Now she notes that lopsided signs have been rehung and fallen bricks have been replaced along with broken panes of glass. Buckets of paint have been hauled out of basements and put to good use, and with summer came flowers. Pots of them are hanging everywhere, boxes of flowers are blooming under the windows of the apartments that face Main Street, and the children of the community center’s day-care program have planted a garden in the town square.

  Even better, thinks Min, only one more store has closed, and in its place another has already opened. Surprisingly, Maty’s Magic Store, which opened in the fall, is doing well. Who would have thought a magic store could survive in this economy? thinks Min.

  Now walk back to the Marquis Diner. Dinner hour is about to begin and even on a weekday, the diner is bustling. Hilary Nelson, whose parents own the diner, is walking from table to table with a pitcher of water, filling glasses. It isn’t the most interesting work she can think of, but she’s grateful that the diner will remain open after a difficult start, and she doesn’t care what it takes to keep it that way.

  Turn around, cross the street, and walk along the other side of Main. There’s Stuff ’n’ Nonsense. Its owner, Gina Grindle, has been thinking about closing her store, but summer has brought enough customers so that now she’s considering hiring part-time help. There’s Frank’s Beans, the coffee shop, and there are Robby Edwards and Sarah. They’re sitting at a table on the sidewalk, just the two of them. Their mothers are inside sipping coffee, but Robby and Sarah are in a world of their own. Robby reaches for Sarah’s hand and says, “Do you want to go to the movies with me on Saturday?”

  Now walk by the used bookstore, Dr. Malone’s office, the post office, and the pet supply store. Turn left on Boiceville Road and ahead of you is the community center. It’s open five days a week this summer instead of six, and basketball camp has been cancelled along with dance camp. Still, the director of the center is looking forward to a busy fall. At this very minute, Ruby Northrop and the members of the Children’s Chorus are filing to the risers in the main hall, about to rehearse for another fund-raiser, which will take place the following week. Ruby is to sing a duet with Lacey Morris.

  Now, if you need some exercise, come along for a hike into the countryside. Several miles away, set back from the co
unty road, is a small house that was once far shabbier than Main Street ever looked. It, too, has had a coat of paint recently, though, missing pieces have been replaced, and crooked things have been set straight. The house belongs to Nikki Sherman and her family, and on this late afternoon, Nikki is in charge of starting supper. She wants it to be ready when her mother returns from work and her brother returns from his summer job at College Pizza. As she removes a head of lettuce from the refrigerator, her little sister, Mae, says to her, “Once upon a time a girl had a father. Then he disappeared.” She looks at Nikki. “Do you like my fairy tale?”

  “Is that the whole story?” Nikki asks.

  “No. It ends with ‘And she lived happily ever after.’ But a lot of other things happen first.”

  Find your walking stick and return to Camden Falls. In a neighborhood not far from where Min Read lives with her granddaughters is a small house on a street with other small houses and plenty of children and babies and bicycles and dogs and wading pools. Walking across the street toward this house is a man who has just left his own home. He knocks on his neighbor’s door and lets himself inside before the knock is answered. “Ready to go?” he calls. And a few minutes later, the man and a woman and a baby are strolling along the streets, calling hello to their neighbors. The man and the woman hold hands and smile at each other, and the baby calls out the second word she has learned: “Da-da!”

  It’s time to return to Main Street now. You will finish your tour at Needle and Thread, where earlier you met Min Read. The air is growing cooler as the light begins to fade. Stores are starting to close and shopkeepers call good night as they lower grates and turn keys and head for home, satisfied with the day. The door to Needle and Thread stands wide open. Inside, two young girls have flopped on the couches by the window. They are Flora and Ruby, Min’s granddaughters. The rehearsal at the community center is over and Ruby is saying dramatically to her sister, “I’m exhausted! Simply exhausted!”