Read Online Summer People by Brian Groh - Free Book Online Page A

Nathan—”
    â€œHeeey, Nathan!” Ralph shouted, sounding like Nathan was an old friend he hadn’t heard from in years. “How’s the monkey?”
    â€œMonkey? Ellen?”
    Ralph ignored him to tell someone at the party that people who had parked their cars in the yard should move them to the church parking lot down the street.
    â€œActually, that’s what I wanted to ask you about,” Nathan said. He took a deep breath and explained about his conversation with Carl.
    Ralph said he didn’t know much more about the accident than Nathan, although he seemed to remember that Ellen and a couple of other people had gone out to eat, then back to the house for drinks. Eventually everyone went home, and the next time anyone saw Ellen was when what’s his name found her lying on the ground beside her car.
    â€œHow do you know about all this?”
    â€œGlen told me, I guess,” Ralph said, moving into a quieter room where he no longer had to shout into the phone. “But I think my mom told me, too.”
    â€œDo you know why she did it?”
    Ralph laughed. “I don’t know. Why does anybody drive their car into a rock? Her brain just farted or something.”
    Nathan waited a moment, wondering if Ralph was drunk. “Have you asked her?”
    â€œYeah, I’m sure I did. She’s not big on long conversations anymore, though. I’m sure if I did, she just looked at me or something.”
    â€œWhy didn’t you come up here with her?”
    â€œBecause I’m working on my photographs. I’ve got my own shit to do here.”
    Nathan paused. “Well, why didn’t Dora come up here?”
    Dora was Ellen’s live-in cook in Cleveland. She had interrupted Nathan’s meeting with Ralph and Ellen by screaming so shrilly the hair stood up on the back of his neck. When Ralph and Nathan had racedtoward the kitchen, they found that Ralph’s pet boa constrictor had escaped from his bedroom, coiling itself behind the refrigerator.
    Ralph said, “She’s a middle-aged black woman with kids.”
    Nathan listened to Ralph turning on a television and changing the channels. “Well, I just wish somebody had told me about this before I came up here.”
    â€œAbout the deal with the car?” Ralph asked. “Yeah. How come your dad didn’t tell you about it?”
    â€œWell, because he’s her estate planner. He doesn’t know that much about her personal life.”
    A silence followed, and Nathan couldn’t tell if Ralph was still mulling the situation over or was just engrossed by something on television.
    â€œYeah, you know what, though?” Ralph said, suddenly. “It’s not even that big of a deal. She just kind of forgets things every once in a while. I think that’s what happened with the car, you know? She just forgot where she was going, or how to drive it, or something. But with you driving, I don’t think you have anything to worry about.”
    Nathan wondered whether there was any point in asking the questions he wanted to ask. What if she forgets that red coils on the stove mean they’re hot, for instance? Or takes a walk and forgets the way home? What if Nathan was a former part-time librarian and deep sleeper, not a goddamned registered nurse?
    Instead he listened to Ralph inviting himself up to Brightonfield Cove. “It won’t be for a while,” he said, his voice increasing in volume as he moved back into the room where people were attempting to shout over the music. “Like in a couple of weeks or something. Just for a few days. I’ve got to visit a friend in Portland, and I figured why not spend a few days in the Cove just relaxing, you know?”

Five
    Hope at the Post Office ~ Eldwin Gives Nathan a Lift ~ An Old Video Conjures the Past ~ Glen’s Request ~ The Cocktail Party ~ A Marriage Proposal
    I n the morning, Nathan awoke to the sound of