Then Mom got her “I’ve got a wonderful surprise” look on her face and said, “This year we’re not going to stay in the Pensione Biea at all. I made reservations at the Hotel Nazionale in Portofino itself!”

This stunned us. We had been going to the Pensione Biea for ten years. We remembered the first summer Lucrezia was old enough to help serve in the dining room at night. I knew everyone on the beach. Not just the Banini but everyone. All the families who came on vacation when we did. Suddenly it hit me. Jennifer! Because of the pain in my groin from the Gospel Walnut I had forgotten about her for a little while. Now I remembered and as I remembered I reached up and touched the hard patch in my shirt pocket where I had put the snapshot of her.

“How are we supposed to get to the beach?” I asked.

Mom said, “Why, dear, don’t be silly, you’ll just walk on the path in the morning. We’ll spend the whole day at the beach like we always do. It’s all arranged.”

“You mean I’m supposed to carry my spear gun and all my diving equipment all the way from Portofino to Paraggi every day? There and back?”

Janet said, “Talk about ingratitude!”

“I’ll help you carry it,” Rachael said.

Mom said, “Why don’t you all listen to my plan before you ask so many questions?!” So we waited and she said, “I’ve rented a beach cabin, you know, one of those little changing rooms. We’ll all keep our things in there. All you have to do is walk over, change, and there you are.”

“Well, what about . . .” I began. But Janet pulled me by the arm and so I said, “What? what?”

Janet just pulled me into the train hall. Then she pushed me in front of her up the hall to the place where the toilet door was. We could hear the toilet flushing, and a man came out pulling up his zipper. Janet waited until he was gone and then shook me by the shoulders and said, “You ungrateful boy!”

I was mystified because I might have argued a little with Mom but not much and Mom hadn’t seemed upset and it wasn’t putting Dad in a bad mood because he was just reading and didn’t seem to care where we stayed one way or another. He didn’t know anyone on the beach, so what did he care?