She sat back on her heels and tilted her face up to the clear blue sky. A trio of seagulls swooped over them, and Rosa looked away. Mamma used to have a lot of superstitions. Three seagulls flying together, directly overhead, are a warning of death soon to come.
Until Mamma, Rosa had never known a person who died. She used to think she knew what death was: a bird fallen from the nest. A possum at the side of the road, buzzing with flies. She had grandparents who had died, but since shed never met them, that didnt count. They were from a place in Italy called Calabria, which her parents called the Old Country.
One time, she asked Pop why he never went to Italy to see his parents while they were alive. You cant go back, hed said dismissively. Its too much bother.
Rosa didnt really care. She didnt want to go to Italy. She liked it right here.
What school do you go to? asked Alex.
St. Marys. She wrinkled her nose. I think classes are boring, and the cafeteria food makes me gag. When they had to say the blessing right after Second Bell, she used to give extra thanks for her mothers sack luncheschicken salad with capers or provolone with olive loaf, sometimes a slice of cake and a bunch of grapes. There was always a funny little message on the napkin: Smile! Or Only 12 more days to summer!
I like sports, she told Alex, not wanting him to think she was a total loser. I can run really fast and I like to win. My big brothers taught me everything they know, which is a lot. I play soccer in the fall, swimming in the winter, softball in the spring. Do you play sports?
Not allowed, he said, trailing his hand in the crystal clear water. Makes me wheeze. Then he was quiet for several minutes. Rosa watched the way the breeze tossed his shiny white-blond hair. He looked like a picture in a book of fairy tales, maybe Hansel, lost in the woods.
He turned those ocean-blue eyes on her. Your mom died, didnt she?
Rosa felt a quick hitch in her chest. She couldnt speak, but she nodded her head.
Mrs. Carmichael told me this morning.
Rosa drew her knees up to her chest, and as she watched the waves exploding on the rocks, she felt something break apart inside her. I miss her so much.
I was scared to say anything, butits okay if you want to talk about it.
She started to shake her head, to find a way to change the subject, but this time the subject refused to be changed. Alex had brought it up and now it was like the incoming tide; it wouldnt go away. And to her surprise, she kind of felt like talking. Well, she said. Well, its a long story.
The days are long in the summer, he reminded her. The sun sets at 8:14 tonight.
She rested her chin on her knees and gazed out at the blue distance. Usually she tried not to bring up the subject of her mothers death. It made her brothers all awkward, and Pop sometimes cried, which was scary to Rosa. Now she could feel Alex staring right at her, and it didnt scare her at all.
When Mamma first got sick, she said, I didnt worry because she didnt really act sick. She went for her treatments, and came back and took naps. But after a while, it got hard for her to act like she was okay. Rosa thought about the day her mother came home from the hospital for the last time. When she took off her bright blue kerchief, she looked as gray and bald as a newborn baby bird. That was when Rosa finally felt afraid. The nuns came
Like Catholic nuns? Alex asked.
I dont think theres any other kind.
Are you Catholic, then? he asked.
Yep. Are you?
No. I dont think Im anything. I want to hear about the nuns.
They used to sit and pray in the bedroom with my mother. My father got really quiet, and his temper was short. Rosa wasnt going to say any more about that. Not today, anyway. My brothers had no idea what to do. Rob went to Mammas garden, which she didnt plant last year because she was too sick, and he mowed down a whole field of brambles using only a machete. Rosa pictured her brother, sweat mingling with the tears on his face even though it was the middle of winter. Sal lit so many candles at St. Marys that Father Dominic had to tell him to put some of them out to avoid starting a fire.
None of it helped, of course. Nothing helped.
Mamma said it was a lucky thing, to be able to say goodbye, but it didnt feellucky. Rosa pressed the heel of her hand into the rock hard enough to hurt. Her mother had been too weak to prop up a book, so Rosa got on the bed and lay down beside her and read Grandfather Twilight, and it felt strange to be the one reading it.
She died on Valentines Day, Rosa told Alex. A week after my ninth birthday. All kinds of people came, and the neighbors brought food, but mostly it just spoiled in the refrigerator and then we threw it out because nobody was hungry. Some of the women got right to work on my father. They wanted him to marry again immediately. She shuddered.
Mrs. Carmichael thinks he looks like Syvester Stallone. I heard her talking to somebody about it on the phone.
Rosa made a face. He just looks like Pop.
The chill water sluiced in, breaking over Rosas feet and Alexs checkered Vans sneakers.
Tides coming in. Wed better go back, he said.
All right. She stood up and offered her hand.
I can make it, he said.
As they headed back along the public beach, she glanced at the sky. It wasnt that late yet. Do you think we should hurry?
No, but my mother doesnt like me to be late for dinner. At least when were at the shore, we dont have to dress for dinner like we do in the city.
You mean you eat naked? Rosa fell down laughing, landing in the sun-warmed sand.
Ha-ha, very funny, he said, trying to act serious. But he fell down next to her, clearly not in a hurry anymore. They watched Windsurfers skimming along, and families having picnics and feeding the seagulls. Alex found a piece of driftwood and dug a deep moat while Rosa formed the mound into a castle. It wasnt a very good one, so they werent sorry when a wave sneaked up and swamped it. Rosa jumped up in time to avoid getting wet, but Alex got soaked to the skin.
Yikes, thats cold, he said, but he was grinning. When he stood up, he had something in his hand. He bent and washed it in the surf. A nautilus shell. Ive never found one before.
It was a nice big one, a rare find, not too damaged by the battering waves. Alex couldnt know it, but it was Mammas favorite kind of shell. The nautilus is a symbol of harmony and peace, she used to say.
You can have it if you want, he said, holding the shell out to her.
No. You found it. Rosa kept her hands at her sides even though she wanted it desperately.
Im not good at keeping things. He wound up as if to throw it back into the surf.
Dont! If youre not going to keep it, I will, Rosa said, grabbing it from him.
I wasnt really going to throw it away, he said. I just wanted you to have it.
When they got back to Alexs yard and Rosa saw what awaited them, she closed her hand around the seashell. I hope this thing brings me good luck. Im going to be needing it, she said.
Mrs. Montgomery and Pop stood waiting for them, both their faces taut with worry and anger. Before either of them spoke, Rosa could already hear them. Where have you been? Do you know how worried weve been?
Mrs. Montgomery and Pop stood waiting for them, both their faces taut with worry and anger. Before either of them spoke, Rosa could already hear them. Where have you been? Do you know how worried weve been?
Where on earth have you been? demanded Mrs. Montgomery. Rosa was speechless at the sight of her. She had flame-red hair and wore a straight white summer dress and white sandals. Her long, thin fingers held a long, thin cigarette. Mrs. Montgomery herself looked like a cigarette. A giant human cigarette.
What are you thinking, eh? I told you to stay out of trouble, said Pop.
And youre soaking wet, Mrs. Montgomery declared as though being wet was the crime of the century. From her shiny white handbag, she took out a bunch of what appeared to be first-aid gear. Honestly, Alexander, I cant imagine what you were thinking. Come over here and let me take your temperature.
He dragged his feet, but submitted to her with the resignation of long habit. Mrs. Montgomery didnt check for fever like a regular mother, by feeling with her hands. She stuck a cone-shaped thing in his ear and then took it out and read the number.
All right for you, Pop said, marching Rosa toward the truck. Were gonna get you home, talk some sense into you.
As their parents separated them, Rosa and Alex caught each others eye. Neither of them could keep from grinning. They both knew this wasnt the end of their adventure.
Eight
Summer 1984
During the second summer Rosa and Alex spent together, she saw him suffer a full-blown asthma attack, and it made her weep with terror. She had never seen anything like it before. She had stopped thinking of him as being sick at all, because the medications and breathing apparatus kept his condition under control.
But not always. On a bright August day, they convinced his mother to allow them to fly kites on the beach, something thatincrediblyAlex had never done before. Rosa showed up with a kite her brother Sal had sent from Hong Kong, where the destroyer he was serving on had made port. She and Alex spent an entire morning putting the kite together, then headed for the beach.
At the long shoreline, isolated from the public beaches by a dense salt marsh, the wind was perfect for kite-flying. It blew strong and steady, a warm current up from the south. Rosa held the kite for Alex to launch. He got so excited and ran so fast along the beach that at first she had no clue there was anything wrong.
Go, Alex, go! she called, waiting to feel the wind fill the kite so she could launch it. Faster!
But he didnt go faster. He stumbled as though tripping over a log, yet there was nothing but sand beneath his feet.
Hurry up, she urged.
He collapsed like a bird shot from the sky. His glasses flew off and landed in the sand.
Alex! she said, dropping the kite. She plunged to her knees beside him and touched his shoulder.
His face was turning blue and gray, like a ghosts. The rattle and wheeze of his struggling lungs terrified her, and she burst into tears. Oh, Alex, I dont know what to do, she said, feeling helpless and horrible all at once. She looked around wildly, but there was nothing in sight except a pair of blue herons wading in the shallows. Tell me what to do.
He shook his head and groped in the pocket of his khaki shorts. He took out his inhaler and inhaled three quick puffs. His eyes looked bright and desperate, but his coloring didnt improve and his wheezing grew worse. He couldnt seem to get his lungs working right.
Then he took something from another pocket. A black-and-yellow tube. He ripped open the plastic packaging and then, with his teeth, removed the gray cap from the end. Finally, in one smooth movement, he stabbed the black tip of the tube at his thigh and held it there for several seconds. He wheezed hard four timesin a panic, Rosa counted thembut then his breathing seemed to start working better.
He slowly removed the tube and inspected the black tip. Rosa was horrified to see a rather large needle sticking out of it. The whole business had taken only a few seconds. In the strange aftermath, Alex lay weak upon the sand, and Rosa was still crying.
Its okay, he said, his voice soft and raspy. Im all right. Cross my heart and hope
Are you going to be able to make it back home?
I need a minute.
Rosa started to scramble to her feet, but stopped when his cold hand touched hers. No, wait, he said. The kite
Youre not flying the kite.
I know. Buthow about you fly it for me? I need to rest. His voice was thin and pleading. Come on, Rosa. Shes going to take me straight to the hospital. Thats the rule.
Then I should go right now and get help.
A few minutes wont make any difference one way or another. Ill be able to walk back if I can rest a little. The shot lasts twenty minutes, and Im over the wheezing anyway. Fly the kite. Please.
I can do that. But only for a minute. She looked down at their handshers dark, his paleand felt a wave of emotion moving through her. Then she gave him his glasses. Spying a mermaids purse in the sand, she gave him that, too. For luck, she explained, closing his hand around the small shell.
It felt particularly important to get it right. Like if she didnt, if she messed up, she would be letting him down along with the kite. It was a beautiful, one-of-a-kind kite, yellow with red streamers, and Pop had given her a brand-new spool of string to use. She refused to let Alex launch the kite, because he needed to rest. Instead, she planted it in the sand to catch the wind, and ran with the string shortened until the kite spiked up. Then she put on a full burst of speed and paid out the string.
She could hear Alex saying, Go, Rosa, and that only made her run faster. Dont let him down, she thought. Dont let him down.
She managed to hoist the kite upward until it took off as though it had a will of its own, and would stay up no matter what she did on the ground. Breathless from running, she brought the string spool to Alex.
Its up, she said.
Its up, he echoed, taking hold and watching with shining eyes.
The moment they got back, there was a big fuss, just as Alex had warned her. They tried to act as though nothing had happened, but Alexs mother had an uncanny eye, and the minute she saw him, she said, You were running on the beach, werent you?
No, we just
You were running, and you started wheezing.
He stared at the floor as he held out the autoinjection tube for her to inspect. Her face turned hard as alabaster marble. I need to get my purse, she said. She brushed past Rosa as though she didnt see her at all.
Rosa and Pop stood on the porch and watched them go. Mrs. Montgomery hardly ever drove the car that was parked in the old carriage house, and when she gunned the engine, it coughed and wheezed worse than Alex. She didnt seem to be a very good driver, either, Rosa observed. The blue Ford Galaxy lurched and shuddered backward out of the driveway, and the engine banged and backfired all the way down Ocean Road.
Its so sad that hes sick, Rosa said to her father. When he couldnt breathe, I got really scared, like She stopped, not wanting to upset her father by mentioning Mamma. Do you think Mrs. Montgomery is really mad at me?