Page 61 of On Fire Island

“I swear! I was getting them for this kid back in Bay Harbor.”

She couldn’t let it go, shouting back toward him, “Because there are no condoms back in Bay Harbor?”

Ben ran to catch up with her. She was still trudging along. He kept up with her anger-fueled pace, explaining in a pleading tone, “Well, there are, but it’s a small town, and the kid wants to lose his virginity with the ferry captain’s daughter. If you saw the ferry captain, you would totally believe me—even I have to look up at him.”

Josie took a few more steps, each landing a little lighter than the last. The moonlight briefly caught her smile. He saw it too and smiled as well, relieved.

“You believe me?” he asked hopefully.

“I guess. I’m sorry. It was really none of my business, anyway. I don’t know why I got so upset.”

“That’s OK. I don’t know why I had such a need to defend myself.”

She began to laugh, and Ben joined her.

“That was pretty funny?” he offered.

“Now it is.”

After a beat, Ben admitted, “Well, I was promised a laugh tonight, so thank you. It was good to meet you.”

“You too.”

They were both still walking in the same direction on an empty beach. After a few more awkward in-pace steps, they couldn’t help but laugh again. Ben explained, “I’m gonna walk back home from here.”

“Me too.”

“Aren’t you staying in the other direction?”

“No, Point O’Woods, believe it or not. I just spent the day with some friends in the Grove.”

Point O’Woods and the Grove were polar opposites in nearly every way imaginable. Point of Woods was a gated community where you needed an actual key and a decades-old Waspy pedigree to get in or out, whereas in the Grove, you just need to be out.

“I’ll walk with you for a little—till I get to my friend’s street,” she said.

“OK... sure.”

Ben and Josie and I walked along in the moonlight. They stayed about a foot apart, but somewhat in sync. They were silent, but it was a graceful silence. In another time, years from now I imagined, Ben might have thought it romantic. Right now it seemed obvious that the only one crushing on the smart, sweet, beautiful Josie was me. Time and space seemed to blur, and neither of them realized they had gone too far until the clouds shifted and Ben noticed the American flag that waves like a beacon from Keith Fogerty’s deck, signaling that he was close to home.

“You forgot to stop at your friend’s block,” he said.

“Oh my. I did.”

“It must’ve been the dynamic conversation.”

They both laughed until Ben admitted, “You were probably worried I would drown myself.”

“The thought entered my mind.”

“I’ll walk you back.”

“But then I’d have to walk you back, and we’d be out here all night.”

“Come to my house. I’ll give you a bike and you can ride back.”

She paused and dismissed the idea, but Ben insisted, nudging her toward the steps to our street.

“Come on—they’re calling for rain. Julia would want you to use it.”

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