speech, “I just wanted to tell you that I’m sorry about my girl acting up yesterday night. She’s been surly like that since infancy. Takes a while for her to warm up. So, to make amends, I made this here wind chime. You all can dangle it from the porch roof in the wind and it’ll bring the most pleasing ocean sound to your ears.”
The chime was an old basket turned upside down, with long strings of shells attached to its edges. My heart squeezed as I thought how long it must have taken him to collect all those shells, each a different shade, size, and kind, and to thread and knot the string through the shells one by one.
In spite of its rough quality, it was hands down the most beautiful present I have ever received. “Apology accepted. I like it very much,” I said, fingering the shells gently. “But you don’t have to apologize for her. It was my fault, for coming down there.”
He looked down at his dirty feet and spoke so softly I could hardly hear him over the noise of the beach. “I’m glad you did. Come down there.”
I smiled, not daring to look directly at him. “I shouldn’t have. I lied to my daddy about where I would be. And I took you all by surprise. It’s not like me to act so … devil-may-care.”
“How
do
you act, then?” he asked, a little smile playing on his lips.
That was a good question. When I was a young girl, I pretty much ran wild. But the older I got, the more rigid I became. Life pinchedme so tightly now. Yet here in Nags Head, I couldn’t deny that I was loosening. In truth, I could feel my whole family unspooling.
“I’m not sure anymore,” I said.
Ben gazed at me curiously, as if he were looking at something etched on my forehead. I forced my eyes to the curling waves.
I asked tentatively, “Say, is Eliza still angry?”
He snorted. “She’s always angry. She takes after her mama’s sour nature.”
I wondered what Ben saw in her, if she was always so unpleasant. “She can’t like the thought of you coming out here. Sitting with me …” I said.
“Ain’t that the truth. She’s jealous as a she-cat. But the heart of the matter is, she don’t like the idea of me learning. She wants me to stay ignorant forever.”
“You’d think she’d want you to learn, for the opportunities it could bring. If you were to marry, she’d benefit, too.”
He nodded sadly. “She don’t see it that way a-tall. She’s happy doing what she’s doing. Don’t want nothing to change. She wants everything out here to stay the same.”
Even I knew that nothing on such a slender land of sand and wind could possibly stay the same.
Before he left the session, Ben hung the chime from the roof overhang with a hammer and a hook that he had brought along. The chime stirred a little in the light breeze, its long extensions of shells barely touching one another as they swayed.
That evening Daddy said his farewells for the week and departed on the packet schooner back to Edenton. It being Sunday, the hotel wasn’t open for meals, so Winnie prepared a scrumptious friedchicken and sweet potato dinner. We ate on the porch, now our preferred dining room.
Mama didn’t eat much of the fine fare, though. And when the tired and whining Charlie and Martha were shepherded to bed by Hannah, Mama started to cry. I didn’t think I’d ever seen her cry a single tear. The pitiful sobbing sounded as if it were coming from some foreign animal, lurking wounded under the cottage.
I hurried over to her chair. “Mama, what on Earth is the matter? Don’t cry, please,” I soothed, searching for a handkerchief in my reticule.
Her pale face was mottled with pink splotches, and her robin’s egg blue eyes were bloodshot and puffy. She couldn’t look at me, and even tried to shake off my awkward caresses.
“Haven’t you figured it out yet?” She dabbed at her cheeks with my handkerchief.
“No, Mama. Figured out what? Are you ill?”
She laughed heartily at the question, a harsh sound
The chime was an old basket turned upside down, with long strings of shells attached to its edges. My heart squeezed as I thought how long it must have taken him to collect all those shells, each a different shade, size, and kind, and to thread and knot the string through the shells one by one.
In spite of its rough quality, it was hands down the most beautiful present I have ever received. “Apology accepted. I like it very much,” I said, fingering the shells gently. “But you don’t have to apologize for her. It was my fault, for coming down there.”
He looked down at his dirty feet and spoke so softly I could hardly hear him over the noise of the beach. “I’m glad you did. Come down there.”
I smiled, not daring to look directly at him. “I shouldn’t have. I lied to my daddy about where I would be. And I took you all by surprise. It’s not like me to act so … devil-may-care.”
“How
do
you act, then?” he asked, a little smile playing on his lips.
That was a good question. When I was a young girl, I pretty much ran wild. But the older I got, the more rigid I became. Life pinchedme so tightly now. Yet here in Nags Head, I couldn’t deny that I was loosening. In truth, I could feel my whole family unspooling.
“I’m not sure anymore,” I said.
Ben gazed at me curiously, as if he were looking at something etched on my forehead. I forced my eyes to the curling waves.
I asked tentatively, “Say, is Eliza still angry?”
He snorted. “She’s always angry. She takes after her mama’s sour nature.”
I wondered what Ben saw in her, if she was always so unpleasant. “She can’t like the thought of you coming out here. Sitting with me …” I said.
“Ain’t that the truth. She’s jealous as a she-cat. But the heart of the matter is, she don’t like the idea of me learning. She wants me to stay ignorant forever.”
“You’d think she’d want you to learn, for the opportunities it could bring. If you were to marry, she’d benefit, too.”
He nodded sadly. “She don’t see it that way a-tall. She’s happy doing what she’s doing. Don’t want nothing to change. She wants everything out here to stay the same.”
Even I knew that nothing on such a slender land of sand and wind could possibly stay the same.
Before he left the session, Ben hung the chime from the roof overhang with a hammer and a hook that he had brought along. The chime stirred a little in the light breeze, its long extensions of shells barely touching one another as they swayed.
That evening Daddy said his farewells for the week and departed on the packet schooner back to Edenton. It being Sunday, the hotel wasn’t open for meals, so Winnie prepared a scrumptious friedchicken and sweet potato dinner. We ate on the porch, now our preferred dining room.
Mama didn’t eat much of the fine fare, though. And when the tired and whining Charlie and Martha were shepherded to bed by Hannah, Mama started to cry. I didn’t think I’d ever seen her cry a single tear. The pitiful sobbing sounded as if it were coming from some foreign animal, lurking wounded under the cottage.
I hurried over to her chair. “Mama, what on Earth is the matter? Don’t cry, please,” I soothed, searching for a handkerchief in my reticule.
Her pale face was mottled with pink splotches, and her robin’s egg blue eyes were bloodshot and puffy. She couldn’t look at me, and even tried to shake off my awkward caresses.
“Haven’t you figured it out yet?” She dabbed at her cheeks with my handkerchief.
“No, Mama. Figured out what? Are you ill?”
She laughed heartily at the question, a harsh sound
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