Dog Beach Unleashed (21 page)

She's called me that since I was a baby, apparently, and I'd never admit it, but I love it. It means she knows me. Really knows me. There's something so special about a person who has known you since you were a baby and has more memories of you than anyone else does.

“Hey.” I smile as I walk in. Their house always smells like cranberry scones. Morning, noon, and night. They're Mrs. Newhouse's favorite, and she's constantly baking on Seagate.

I wonder when they got back. I wonder how she already had time to bake. But maybe baking calms her down. “Is Bennett home?”

It seems quiet here. Too quiet for Bennett and Asher to be home, and it's too early for them to be asleep.

“I think he's out back,” she says.

I walk through their den, where Bennett's dad is sleeping on the couch. I go out to their back porch. The furniture is gone, and the porch is covered with branches and sand and seaweed.

Well, this could be a good place to start the cleanup process.

I walk down the few steps to the beach. They don't have a pool, but they have a dock, and that makes up for it.

Bennett's on the dock, sitting forward on an Adirondack chair, bouncing a ball. It seems funny to only see one chair out here. The dock is usually covered with kayaks and rafts.

“Hey,” I say quietly.

“Remy,” he answers, sounding as if he's reading my name off an attendance sheet. “I didn't know you were back. I was just taking a cleanup break. I'm exhausted.”

I sit down next to him on the dock. I pull my knees to my chest and look out. The ocean is so choppy that it almost frightens me. It's as if the sea is mad at someone and needs
to take its aggression out on all of us. I always thought the ocean was calmer after a storm. Maybe not.

I stay quiet, wondering what to say. I'm not even sure why I came here exactly. Only that I needed to talk to Bennett. I need his calm reassurance. I need him to tell me that everything is going to be okay. That we're going to be able to clean up the island and bring it back to life.

“I'm sorry,” I begin.

He looks at me. “For what?”

I shrug. “For being weird all summer. I think I took my time and my friends here for granted, which I never want to do. Putting off our swim lessons when I should have cherished every one. I thought I had more time than I did. And then, when we were gone, you felt so far away.”

“That's kind of the way life is,” he says, laughing a little. “We don't appreciate what we have when we have it.”

“True.” I bite the inside of my cheek. “Why is that?”

He shrugs. “Dunno.” He throws a pebble into the water. “Sorry the whole carnival didn't happen. I know you were excited about that.”

Truthfully, I'd kind of forgotten about it. It seems like such a small thing now.

There's so much to say and nothing at all to say at the same time. So I stay quiet. Being next to Bennett is comfort enough.

“So, what have you been doing since you've been back?” I ask.

“We just got here yesterday. I'm helping my mom clean up and, you know, just hanging. Thankful that I can even be here.”

I nod in agreement.

“You planning to get the doggie day camp up and running?” he asks. “I haven't seen any of the dogs yet.”

“I don't think so,” I say. “Maybe next summer. But for now, I think we should focus on helping clean up the beach and doing whatever else we can.”

“Sounds good.”

“So you'll help?” I ask.

“Of course I'll help,” he scoffs. “Like you even had to ask.”

I smile. “So, where to start?”

“Right here.” He laughs. “Get a broom!”

And just like that, things feel back to normal.

Claire texts me to let me know they're coming
back to Seagate. She said she begged and begged and begged. And her grandpa had to go back anyway, and her mom didn't want him going alone. So it all worked out.

I text her back to say I'll meet them at the ferry.

I sit on the bench and wait for them, and it feels as if popcorn is popping in my stomach. In reality it's only been a few weeks since I've seen Calvin, but it feels like forever. We had that FaceTime chat, but we haven't talked since.

And seeing Claire is always a little nerve-racking, too. You never know what kind of mood she's going to be in.

I'm picking sand out of my flip-flop straps when I see them coming. Even though I'm nervous, I'm so excited that I start waving both arms.

“Remy!” Claire screams.

“Hey!” I yell back.

“It's so good to be back.” Claire runs to me and gives me a hug. Then she stops and looks around. “Sheesh, it's depressing here. Everything is closed!”

“Well, not everything,” I tell them. “A few things are open. Like Pastrami on Rye. How's your family?” I ask.

“I'm better,” Claire says. “But Calvin hasn't been doing so great.”

I look over at Calvin, who's pulling his suitcase off the ferry.

“Oh” is all I can manage to say. “We should wait for him to catch up.”

“I've accepted the whole situation,” Claire continues. “There's nothing I can do to change it. Now I want to try to enjoy what's left of the summer.”

“We will,” I say. “And we'll help others enjoy it, too.”

“Wait, you said Pastrami on Rye is open?” she asks me, excitement in her voice. “I have to go get my mom and grandpa their favorite sandwiches! It will totally cheer them up!”

I nod. “Good idea!”

“Hi, Calvin,” I say as soon as he gets to us. My stomach flips over.

All he says is “Hey.”

“I'll see you guys later,” Claire says. She runs off in the other direction, while her mom and Mr. Brookfield start walking to their house with the luggage.

“Claire went to get sandwiches at Pastrami on Rye for
your mom and grandpa. Which are their favorites?” I ask to break the tension.

“My mom's is turkey with coleslaw and Russian dressing. Like yours.” He smiles. “My grandpa's is literally pastrami on rye. With mustard.”

He laughs. I think he's perking up a little bit.

I laugh, too. “Good to know.”

“Want to take a walk?” he asks.

Seagate might look a little different, but I'm still happy that we can take a walk through it. As we stroll through town, I see that the bench outside Novel Ideas is back.

Mr. Aprone must have returned to the island. Lester's going to be so happy when he sees this!

“Let's sit for a minute,” I say.

Calvin and I are on the bench, side by side, and I wait for him to say more.

“It's okay to be sad,” I say.

He half shrugs. “Yeah.”

“You've gone through so much this summer. And you've kept it bottled up inside for a long time.”

We stay quiet for a while. But it's nice to just be together, sitting on the same bench, thinking about things. Maybe that means we're comfortable with each other. Maybe that means we don't have to talk a lot for things to be okay.

“I still like you,” he says, breaking the quiet. “Just so you know.”

“Okay.” I laugh. “That's good. I still like you, too.”

“Well, that's something to not be sad about.”

I'm glad to make Calvin happy, even if only for a moment.

“I should get home. Walk with me?”

I stand up, and he takes my hand.

Calvin and I walk together. Hand in hand. Block after block. Past empty stores and empty restaurants and fallen trees. I can feel my hand getting sweaty, but I don't want to let go.

We spend the next few days cleaning up debris
as best we can. Mrs. Pursuit, Mr. Aprone, and the rest of the Seagate Community Council organize a meeting so they can go over what needs to be done and where volunteers should focus their efforts. Everyone seems really dedicated.

We try to help as much as we can, but people tell us that some areas aren't safe for kids, and we shouldn't be lifting heavy stuff. Hearing this again and again, it feels as if they don't really want our help.

Atticus and Rascal are the only dogs that are back. And Paul and Andi don't really need us to watch or entertain them. Josh and the Improvimaniacs are also back, and they're running theater classes for the few little kids who are here.

“We're just improvising,” Josh says whenever he sees me, and then he laughs. He finds that comment really funny.
Improvising their way through the rest of the summer. Improvising their way through life. “That's what life is, Remy. Improvising.”

He tries to be so deep, and it always makes me laugh. But then I get it. The Improvimaniacs
love
change. Their job is to react to it, to create a little magic from the unknown when it gets thrown their way. Suddenly I see their sketches and jokes in a whole new way.

I'm sitting outside Novel Ideas, feeling bad that we can't help more with the cleanup. Feeling sad for Calvin and Claire, sad for Seagate. And sitting here makes me miss Lester. He loved this spot. Underneath this bench was his favorite place on the island. It's weird without him here. I wonder if the Decsinis are coming back.

“Hey, Remy.” Mrs. Pursuit sits down next to me. “You okay?”

“Yeah.” I shrug. “I guess.”

We sit there quietly, and I wonder how long she's going to stay. It feels funny, just Mrs. Pursuit and me on this bench, not talking, not even reading something we just purchased at Novel Ideas.

“I had an idea,” she says finally. “Tell me what you think.”

“Okay.” I perk up. I'm always happy to listen to someone else's thoughts. It's good to have a break from my own.

“You were really helpful with all the Centennial Summer planning, even if it never happened. The island feels pretty empty now. I think we all need something to help us cheer
up.” She looks at me. “Should we try to get organized and see if we can pull off some smaller kind of celebration?”

“Really?” I ask.

“Yeah. What have we got to lose?”

“That's true.”

“Will you and your friends help?” she asks.

“Absolutely!”

“Josh! I have an idea!” I shout when I get to
the old Seagate Hotel, our former rainy-day headquarters. Thankfully, it didn't suffer any damage from the storm.

Standing in the doorway, Josh rubs his eyes with his palms and grumbles, “I just woke up.”

“Oh. I'm sorry.”

I give him a second to wake up, regretting that I didn't think to call first. Or at least text.

I tell him about Mrs. Pursuit's idea for a small Centennial celebration and explain that we need a place to have it. “The stadium's roof is damaged, and . . .”

“Uh-huh.” I can tell his mind is wandering. I think he wants to go back to sleep.

“So, can we have it here?”

“Here?”

I nod.

“Hmm.”

Please say yes. Please say yes.
It's such a small thing, really. But right now it feels like a very big thing.