A Million Miles From Boston (11 page)

e planned to meet Mei’s family fifteen minutes away, at the Dunkin’ Donuts near the highway, and bring Mei back to the Point. We got there first. I couldn’t wait!

When she arrived, we jumped out of our cars and hugged. She was dressed just like me, in flip-flops, shorts and a T-shirt. She bent over and held out her hand to Superior, who sniffed, then moved next to me.

We said good-bye to her family, then climbed into our car, Superior between us. Most of the times when Mei came to our house, Dad was working, so they didn’t really know each other.

For some reason, I felt nervous. Maybe she was, too, because we couldn’t stop laughing at little things.

When Superior squeaked as she yawned, we doubled up, hysterical.

“Am I missing something?” Dad glanced in the rear-view mirror.

That cracked us up, too.

But when Dad turned onto the dirt road and we drove through the tunnel of pine trees, Mei lowered her window, watching, quiet. I pointed to the Grahams’ cottage, and the Dennises’, then the Debacle.

When we rounded the bend, I said, “There’s our cottage.”

She squeezed my arm. “There’s the ocean! Lucy, it’s so awesome!”

Dad turned and grinned at me. He liked Mei; I could tell.

We dumped Mei’s stuff in my room and packed lunch into my backpack. Then Superior and I showed her the Big House, the swampy woods, the path to town and the beach. We climbed over the rocks, looking for crabs and running our fingers over the snails.

The wind was so strong that it blew our hair sideways. Superior barked at the waves that splashed onto the rocks at our feet. We sat and tried to eat lunch, although the wind nearly tore the sandwiches from our hands.

Mei stood and spread her arms wide. “It’s gonna blow me away!”

I laughed. “You’re too heavy.”

“I can pretend.” She closed her eyes and tipped back her head. The wind tangled her hair and puffed out her shirt. “Come on, let’s be birds.”

She flapped her arms up and down, like wings. I glanced around; no one was here except us. I stood and started flapping my arms, too. Then a big wave hit the rocks, sending a cold spray all over us, and we screamed and burst out laughing.

Finally I picked up my backpack and we started toward the shore.

“Show me Ian’s house, up close,” she said.

I shook my head. There was nowhere to hide if he caught us in his backyard. We walked up the beach to the path.

“I can’t come here and not see his house,” Mei said. “And the new dock.”

If we went through the Dennises’ backyard, maybe we could avoid him. “Okay.”

We walked down the road, turning at the bend. The Debacle stood ahead, covered in shadows from nearby trees. We passed it, then circled back behind the Dennises’ cottage. We stopped at a birch tree that bordered the two properties and watched.

“I don’t think anyone’s home,” I said. Mei walked around the tree and into Ian’s yard. I followed. The windows were closed, blinds drawn.

“The dock is huge,” she said. “And look at all the windows.”

“Yeah, but do you think it fits in?” I asked.

“Hello? Not!”

We giggled.

“Let’s go,” I said. This time we walked up Ian’s yard and along the side of his garage. I was so close that I dragged my fingers on the shingles. The garage door opened just as we started around the corner.

We screamed, then pressed our backs against the wall. Superior barked at us and wouldn’t stop.

Ian walked around the side. “What are you doing?”

Mei pulled away but I sank to my knees, holding Superior, who licked my face.

“Oh, hi, Ian,” Mei said.

“Why are you here?” He glared at me.

“I’m visiting Lucy,” she said.

“No, I mean, what are you doing at my house?”

“I was just showing her around.” I stood. “The beach, the Dennises’ cottage, your new dock and stuff.”

“Oh.” We just stood there, not looking at each other.

“We should go,” I said. “Bye.”

“Bye!” Mei said.

“See ya,” Ian said.

We walked down the driveway. Once on the road, we ran, trying not to laugh, and didn’t stop until we rounded the bend.

“Whoa, that was awkward.” I sucked in big breaths.

“Yeah, but he was okay.”

I looked at her. Annoying. Jerk. Back home, those were just two of the names she called him. But she was right. We’d been spying and he could have been awful about it.

Later Dad cooked lobsters out back, next to the picnic table. Bucky showed Mei how to crack the shells—she’d never had a lobster before—and we all cracked up when she accidentally flung a claw across the table at him.

Then we roasted marshmallows over the fire pit and
looked for shooting stars. Mei and I were exhausted when we finally crawled into sleeping bags. Superior, her back squished to mine, fell asleep instantly. Mei and I listened as the wind stirred the boats and the trees and shook my screens.

“I could pretty much live up here,” Mei said. “Even with Ian.”

“He was okay today.”

“But usually he’s
so
annoying. Right?”

“Right.” I sighed and thought about the last time Mei and I had talked, on the bus while visiting the middle school. “Are you still dreading Duggan?”

“My parents are getting me a math tutor, so I guess that’ll help.”

Up here I hadn’t thought much about school. But it was only six weeks away.

For now, everything was perfect.

In the morning I had just enough time to show Mei one more place.

We ran past the swamp, through the parking lot, then up the wooden stairs to the deck outside the marina store. The air was warm, and the salty smell so strong you could almost taste it.

Below us an old fishing boat was tied to a post. Pete, the marina owner, and Jake Ramsey stacked lobster traps on the dock. Mei watched, her mouth falling open.

I laughed. “Those are just lobster cages.”

“No.” Mei shook her head. “Who’s that cute guy?”

“Jake Ramsey, Henry’s brother.”

Jake stood straight and stretched. He wore jeans and no shirt and his tan muscles glistened in the sun. He
was
great-looking, even though he was old. He went to college and had a summer job in Boston, so he was only here on weekends. I used to imagine that he and Kiki would get married someday but Dad said they were just good friends.

I walked over to the window and looked into the store. Kiki, the real reason I’d brought Mei here, stood behind the counter. I whispered, “Kiki’s here.”

Mei hurried over. Kiki was making something with red tissue paper. She wore a blue Pete’s Marina T-shirt and her long red hair was pulled into a ponytail.

Most kids on the Point wanted to work at Pete’s when they got older, but only a few ever got the best job: manning the counter. You had to work your way up, cleaning traps and doing yard work.

Kiki turned her head toward us and we dropped to the deck, giggling.

“Let’s go in,” Mei said.

It was the perfect chance. Kiki was alone. “Okay.”

I told Superior to sit—she wasn’t allowed in—and opened the door. A blast of cold air from the air conditioner blew back our hair.

“Hey, Lucy!” Kiki looked down at the flower she was making out of tissues.

“Hey.” Buckets of candy lined the shelf under the counter. When I was younger, I loved filling a bag, then eating the candy as Dad, Mom and I walked back to the cottage.

“What’s going on?”

“This is my friend Mei. She’s visiting from Boston.”

“Hi.” Kiki smiled. “Is this your first time at the Point?”

Mei nodded.

The door opened and an elderly man came in. “Hey, Kiki.”

“Hey, Mr. Selfors. You get something down below?”

“Yep, five lobsters, one pound each.”

Kiki rang him up at the register. “I heard your wife’s sick.”

“She’s better,” he said. They talked about his wife and the weather. Then he thanked her and left.

I didn’t exactly know what I wanted. I just felt good around Kiki. “What are you making?”

“Don’t you think we need some color? I’m going to put them on the shelves.” Kiki held up the flower. It was thick and full, like a blossoming rose. She put it on the shelf behind her, next to the mousetraps and scouring pads. It looked perfect.

“Yes,” I said. “It must be fun working here.”

She nodded. Everything about her was great—her smooth skin, her green eyes, her chipped fingernail polish. I brought my hand up to my sore ears and twisted my earrings. Kiki started to make another flower.

Mei elbowed me, then mouthed,
Tell her about your camp
.

I nodded. “So, you know I’m running this camp? Well, it’s pretty fun.”

Kiki scrunched up her nose, as if she didn’t know what I
was talking about, then slowly smiled. “Oh, yeah. That’s so cool. You should feel proud of yourself.”

I wanted to tell her
everything
. That I was saving to buy a kayak for my dad. That science was my favorite subject. That someday I’d work at the marina, too.

But Mary, Pete’s wife, called from the back room. “Need you back here, Kiki. Meat to slice.”

“Coming. It was nice to meet you, Mei. Have fun.” And then she disappeared into the back room.

We started back to the cottage, my feet barely touching the ground.

“She’s nice,” Mei said. “She thought your camp was so cool.”

I grinned.

We were out of the woods and on the road when we heard Dad yell for us. We ran. Then it was time to take Mei to meet her parents.

We hugged extra hard in the Dunkin’ Donuts parking lot. As I watched the car drive away, I didn’t want her to go.

“That went well, huh?” Dad said as we drove back to the Point.

“It was great.”

“She’s a good friend,” he said. “I hope she can come back.”

“Yes!” I looked out the window. You could do so much with a good friend. Be silly on the rocks. Talk to the most annoying boy on the planet. Laugh and laugh.

Maybe the next time I saw Kiki, I wouldn’t be nervous.

sat at the computer, staring out the window. A mist hung over the water, then thickened farther out so you didn’t know what you were seeing. Could have been a pond or a river. Could have been Lake Superior.

Mom had grown up on Lake Superior, which was so big Dad said it looked like the ocean. I’d been there once, but I’d been too young to remember. Dad said he and Mom had walked the beach after a storm. The water had been so rough that it had churned up iron ore in the sand, making the waves red.

At home, we had a photo of Mom and Dad on the lake; it looked just like the open ocean off Pierson Point.

When Dad turned off the shower, I ducked into my room. I knew he wanted to talk about the PT. I grabbed my notebook and bird book, and Superior and I headed over to babysit at the Dennises’.

Lauren and Stevie were waiting at the door. After their mom left, Lauren flipped through my notebook, pointing to her favorite drawings. Then we walked down to their dock to draw. The fog had begun to burn off; the tide was high, the water still.

Lauren drew Priscilla, a magical horse who talked and lived in the woods between here and town. She colored the horse purple. “She eats corn and hay.”