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H thc same frcsh-watcr lcavings and debris— the dcad hclgramite, j the wisps of moss, thc rusty discardcd fishhook, thc dricd blood i from yestcrday’s catch. We stared silently at thc tips of our rods, J ac thc dragonflies that came and went. I lowcred the tip of minę ; into thc water, tcntatively, pensively dislodging thę fly, which darted two fcct away, poiscd, darted two fcet back, and came to rest again a little farther tip the rod. Therc had becn 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 siiently watching his fly, and it was my hands that hdd his rod, my cyes watching. 1 fclt dizzy and didn’t know which rod I was at the end of.

Wc caught rwo bass, hauling them in briskiy as though they were mackcrel, puliing them ovcr the 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. Whcn we got back for a swim beforc lunch, the Jake was cxactly where wc had left it, the same number of inchcs from the dock, and therc was only thc merest

suggestion of a breeze. This scemed an utterly enchantcd sea, thfs lakc you could leavc to its own devices for a few hours and come. back to, and find that it had not stirred, this constant and trust-worthy body of water. In the shallows, the dark, watcr-soaked sticks and twigs, smooth and old, were undulating in clusters on the bottom against the clean ribbed sand, and thc track of the mussel was plain. A school of minnows swam by, each minnow with its smali individua! shadow, doubling the attcndance, so elear and sharp in thc sunlight. Some of thc other campcrs were in swimming, along thc shorc, one of them with a cakc of soap, and the water felt thin and elear and unsubstantial. Ovcr the years therc had bcen this person with the cakc of soap, this cultist, and herc he was. Therc had bcen no ycars.

Up to the farmhousc to dinner through thc tceming, dusty field, tlić raad under our sneakers was only a two-track road. The middlc track was missing, thc one with thc marks of thc hooves and thc splotchcs of dried, fiaky manure. Therc 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 l missed tcrribly thc middlc altcrnativc. But the way led past thc tennis court, and something about thc way it !ay therc in thc sun reassured mc; thc tapc had looscned along thc backlinc, thc allcys were grecn with plantains and other weeds, and thc net (installcd in June and removed in Scptcmber) sagged in thc dry noon, and thc whole place steamed with midday hcat and hunger and emp-tiness. TJicre was a choicc of pic for dessert, and one was blue-berry and one was applc, and thc waitresses were thc same coun-

riry girls, therc having bcen no passage of time, only the illusion of it as in a dropped curtain — thc waitresses were still fiftcen; their i hair had bcen washed, that was thc only difTcrencc — they had bccn to thc movics and scen thc pretty girls with the clcan hair.

Summcrtimc, oh, summertime, pattern of life indclible, thc 8 fadc-proof lakc, thc woods unshatterablc, thc pasturc with thc ^! sweetfern and thc juniper forevcr and ever, summer without end; this was thc background, and thc iifc along thc shorc was thc desigft, thc cottagcrs with their innoccnt and tranquil design, their tiny docks with thc ftagpole and thc American flag floating j against thc white clouds in the blue sky, thc little paths ovcr thc | roots of thc trees leading from camp to camp and thc paths lcading back to thc outhouses and thc can of limc for sprinkling,

and at thc souvcnir countcrs at thc storę thc miniaturę birch-bark canocs and thc posteards thatshowed things looking a little 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 covc were “common” or “nicc,” wondering whether it was truć that thc pcoplc who drove up for Sunday dinner at thc farmhouse were turncd away bccausc therc wasn’t enough chickcn.

It seemed to mc, as I kept remembering all this, that thosc 9 times and thosc summers had bccn infinitcly prccious and worth saving. Therc had bccn jollity and pcacc and goodness. The arriv-ing (at thc beginning of August) had bccn so big a business in itsclf, at thc railway station thc farm wagon drawn up, thc first I smcll of thc pinc-ladcn air, thc first glimpsc of thc smiling farmer, and thc great importance of thc trunks and your fathcr’s cnor-mous auihority 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 sccing this chcrishcd body of water. The shouts and crics of thc other campcrs when they saw you, and thc trunks to be unpackcd, to givc up their 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 over, no fuss, no loud wondcrful fuss about trunks.)

Pcacc and goodness and jollity. The only thing that was 10 wrong now, rcally, was thc sound of thc place, an unfamiliar nenous sound of thc outboard motors. This was thc notc that jarred, thc one thing that would sometimes break thc illusion and set thc ycars moving. In thosc other summertimes all motors were inboard; and when they were ar a little distancc, thc noisc they . madc was a scdativc, an ingredient of summer slccp. They were onc-cylindcr and two-cylindcr cngiucs, and somc were makc-and-

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