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*' thc same frcsh-watcr lcavings and dćbris — thc dcad helgramite,^:U* the wisps of moss, thc rusty discardcd fishhook, thc dricd blood from yestcrday’s catch. Wc starcd silcntly at thc tips of our rods, at thc dragonflies that camc and went. I Iowcrcd thc tip of minc ; into the water, tcntatively, pcnsivcly dislodging thę fiy, which darted two fcct away, poiscd, darted two fcct back, and camc to rest again a littlc farther up thc rod. Thcrc had bccn no ycars between thc ducking of this dragonfly and thc other one—thc one that was part of memory. I lookcd at thc boy, who was silcntly watching his fly, and it was my hands that hcld his rod, my cycs watching. I fclt dizzy and didn’t know which rod I was at thc end of.

Wc caught two bass, hauling them in briskly as though they wcrc mackercl, pulling them ovcr thc sidc of thc boat in a busi-ncsslikc manner without any landing net, and stunning them with a blow on thc back of thc hcad. When wc got back for a swim bcforc lunch, thc lakc was cxactly whcrc wc had Icfr it, thc same numberjaf inchcs from thc dock, and thcrc was only thc merest

suggestion of a brcczc. This scemcd an uttcrly enchantcd sca, thfs lakc you could leave to its own deviccs for a fcw hours and come back to, and find that it had not stirred, this constant and trust-worthy body of water. In thc shallows, thc dark, water-soaked sticks and twigs, smooth and old, wcrc undulating in elusters on thc bottom against thc clcan ribbcd sand, and thc track of thc musscl was plain. A school of minnows swam by, cach minnow with its smali individual shadow, doubling thc attcndancc, so elear and sharp in thc sunlight. Somc of thc other campcrs wcrc in swimming, along thc shorc, one ofthcm with a cakc ofsoap, and thc water fclt thin and elear and unsubstantial. Over thc ycars thcrc had becn this person with thc cakc of soap, this cultist, and herc hc was. Thcrc had bccn no ycars.

Up to thc farmhousc to dinner through thc tccming, dusty field, thc road under our sneakers was only a two-track road. The middlc track was missing, thc one with thc marks of thc hoovcs and thc splotchcs of dricd, flaky manurc. Thcrc had always bccn thrcc tracks to choosc from in choosing which track to walk in; now thc choicc was narrowed down to two. For a moment I missed tcrribly thc middlc altcrnativc. But thc way led past thc tennis court, and something about thc way it lay thcrc in thc sun reassured mc; thc tapc had loosćncd along thc backline, thc alleys wcrc green with plantains and other wccds, and thc net (installcd in Junc and rcmovcd in September) sagged in thc dry noon, and thc wholc place steamed with midday heat and hunger and emp-tiness. Thcrc was a choicc of pic for dessert, and one was bluc-berry and one was applc, and thc waitresses wcrc thc same coun-

fTrygtrls, thcrc having bccn no passagc of timc, only thc illusion of ( it as in a droppcd curtain—thc waitrcsscs wcrc still fiftccn; thcir j hair had bccn washcd, that was thc oniy diffcrcncc — thcy had bccn to thc movies and scen thc pretty girls with thc clcan hair.

Summertime, oh, summertime, pattern of lifc indcliblc, thc 8 fadc-proof lakc, thc woods unshattcrable, thc pasturc with thc sweetfern and thc juniper forcver and cvcr, summer without end; this was thc background, and thc lifc along thc shorc was thc desigń, thc cottagcrs with thcir innoccnt and tranquii design, thcir tiny docks with thc flagpole and thc American flag floating I against thc white clouds in tlić blue sky, thc littlc paths ovcr thc I roots of thc trees leading from camp to camp and thc paths leading back to thc outhouses and thc can of limc for sprinkling,

and at thc souvenir countcrs at thc storę thc miniaturę birch-bark canoes and thc posteards that śhowed things looking a littlc better than they lookcd. This was thc American family at play, cscaping thc city hcat, wondering whether thc ncwcomcrs in thc camp at thc head of thc cove wcrc “common" or “nicc,” won-dering whether it was truć that thc pcoplc who drove up for Sunday dinner at thc farmhouse wcrc turncd away bccausc thcrc wasn’t cnough chickcn.

It seemed to mc, as I kept remembering all this, that those 9 times and those summers had bccn infinitely prccious and worth saving. Thcrc had bccn jolliry and pcacc and goodness. The arriv-ing (at thc beginning of August) had bccn so big a business in I itsclf, at thc railway starion thc farm wagon drawn up, thc first 1 smcll of thc pinc-ladcn air, thc first giimpsc of thc smiling farmer, and thc great importance of thc trunks and your fathcr’s cnor-mous authority in such matters, and thc fccl of thc wagon under you for thc long tcn-milc haul, and at thc top of thc last long hill catching thc first vicw of thc lakc after clcvcn months of not sceing this chcrishcd body of water. The shouts and crics of thc other campcrs when thcy saw you, and thc trunks to be unpackcd, to givc up thcir rich burden. (Arriving was less cxciting nowadays, when you sneaked up in your car and parked it under a trcc ncar thc camp and took out thc bags and in fivc minutes it was all ovcr, no fuss, no loud wondcrful fuss about trunks.)

Pcacc and goodness and jolliry. The only thing that was 10 wrong now, rcaliy, was thc sound of thc place, an unfamiliar nersous sound of thc outboard motors. This was thc notc that jarred, thc one thing that would sometimes break thc illusion and ser thc ycars moving. In those other summertimes all motors wcrc inboard; and when thcy wcrc at a littlc distancc, thc noisc thcy . madc was a sedative, an ingredient of summer slccp. Thcy wcrc onc-cylindcr and two-cylindcr engines, and somc wcrc makc-and-