Gino drained his glass all the way and then sat back down in his chair very heavily, sort of fell back into it. I threaded up a new movie, new for that night that is, because I had seen it many times before. We watched the movie of the tourists arriving on the bus in the communal parking lot. I knew each black and white face getting off the bus. I had them memorized and I knew that as soon as the fat Belgian lady with the canes was helped down the stairs the next person to come off would be Jennifer. In this movie she was about eight years old and was with her mother, who lifted her down from the bus steps. She always stared straight at the camera and waved and smiled. I had seen it a hundred times but all of a sudden I got a hollow feeling in my stomach as she smiled at me for the umpteenth time from Gino’s movie.

Gino put his hand on my arm and said, “That’sa you girl?”

“You know Jennifer, Gino, you know she’s my friend.”

“Yes a special leetle friend, no?”

He tried to wink at me but only managed to shut one eye and seemed to forget to open it again. Then he shut the other eye. I sat for a moment watching his cigarette go out. I took the glass out of his hand and put it on his palette on the stool next to him. Then I removed the cigarette stub from between his lips as he fell into a deeper sleep.

Chapter 22

THEN NEXT DAY WE WERE SITTING on the beach together eating our picnic when some sand landed on my sandwich as it lay on the towel in front of me. I looked around to see Jennifer standing behind me smiling and with one hand on her hip.

“You’ve eaten enough, you greedy swine,” she said. “I want to climb out on the rocks. Come along, boyso.”

Mom didn’t look very happy to see Jennifer. “Jexanifer, we’re having our lunch right now. Calvin will be along to play when he’s done eating.”

“I’m done now, Mom,” I said, as I jumped up.

“You haven’t finished your sandwich yet,” said Mom.

“Sit down and finish it,” said Janet.

“It’s got sand on it,” I said. Jennifer giggled, because she had thrown the sand in the first place.

Janet looked at her in a way that meant she thought Jennifer was intruding on our lunch and I knew if Janet had been related to Jennifer, Jennifer would have had to look out when Janet got her alone someplace.

Jennifer turned and began to run up the beach toward the rocks. I started after her.

My mom said, “Come back here this minute.”

At about the same time Jennifer called over her shoulder, “Hurry up, you greedy boy.”