CHAPTER
thirty-four

Friday morning was already muggy by eight o’clock. I opened up the windows, hoping for a good breeze. All that did was let the humidity inside. By nine I already felt like a wilted pansy.

Hugo didn’t seem to mind the heat so much. He sat at the kitchen table with a book that Nick and Dick had sent over. He couldn’t quite read the words, but the pictures were colorful and told enough of a story all on their own.

Flannery had found a sun spot in the middle of the room, and I tried to remember she was there so I wouldn’t trip over her. As many times as I stepped over her, she didn’t seem to even notice. Of course she didn’t.

“Did you get enough breakfast?” I asked Hugo.

“Mmm-hmm,” he answered, not looking up from his book.

The honking of a horn in the driveway caught our attention. Hugo sat up straight, and I stepped into the living room to see who it could be.

The turquoise station wagon was parked out front, the engine idling. Marvel rushed to the front door, waving at me when she saw me looking out the window.

“Get some shorts on,” she said when I opened the door, the strong smell of her Coppertone wafting in through the screen. “And I’ve got swim trunks for Hugo.”

She peered in around me and waved at Hugo before holding up a pair of shorts. She opened the screen door and handed them to me.

“Where are we going?” I asked.

“Just come on.” She flashed her biggest smile. “It’s too hot to be inside all day. Let’s go.”

“All right,” I said. “Give me five minutes.”

“Oh, and no pedal pushers, Betty,” she called after me. “Wear your Bermuda shorts.”

I sighed, worried about showing off my chubby knees to the whole world, but I put them on anyway.

I nearly always did what Marvel told me to.

Just about everyone in mid-Michigan had the same idea Marvel had about coming to Lake Lansing to cool off. It was no easy task, finding a parking spot, and when we finally did, Nick and Dick burst out of the car doors, hopping on the grass, impatient for us to get going.

Hugo, on the other hand, waited for me to hold his hand.

“I want you to have loads of fun,” I told him. “All right?”

He nodded, his brow furrowed like he was paying special attention to my instructions.

“I’m riding the roller coaster until I get sick,” Dick said.

“Why would you want to do that?” Marvel asked. “Don’t run too far ahead, boys.”

“Did you know Al Capone used to come here?” Nick said. “Somebody told me he didn’t die like everybody thought he did. They say he works here, selling hot dogs and popcorn.”

“None of that is true.” Marvel sighed, adjusting the bag that was slung over her shoulder.

“Could be,” Nick said, shrugging. “Carl Lange told me it was.”

“And who do you think is smarter, me or twelve-year-old Carl?” Marvel asked, then put up her finger. “On second thought, don’t answer that.”

Nick gave her a smirk and skipped ahead of us, catching up with Dick.

“Are you excited?” I asked Hugo. “What are you most looking forward to?”

“The pony ride,” he answered. Then he whispered to me, “Do you think it’ll talk to me? Like Mr. Ed?”

“Oh goodness, I don’t know.” I winked. “Wouldn’t that be something?”

“Hugo,” Dick called from half a dozen paces in front of us. “Come on!”

“Go ahead, sweetie,” I said. “You know I’ll keep my eye on you all day, right?”

“You promise?”

“Of course I do.”

We let them go on the rides—roller coaster, Ferris wheel, the Fly-O-Plane—all morning, denying them cotton candy and taffy until after. Then, once they were good and sticky, we headed to the lake. They were by no means the only ones in the water, but the twins didn’t seem to mind. They splashed and wrestled and stood in line to go down the tall slide into the deeper part of the swimming area.

Hugo, though, only went shin deep, watching all the other kids run past him and dive under the surface.

I made to get up off my beach towel, but Marvel told me to hold on. She stuck her fingers in the corners of her lips, letting out a shrill whistle that could have gotten the attention of the man running the carousel clear across the park.

Nick and Dick perked up from where they were, looking our way. She waved her arm in the air and then pointed at Hugo. Those boys—those good boys—went running toward their younger cousin.

Somehow they convinced him to go in just a little deeper, patiently inching in alongside him until they were to mid-thigh and he was waist high. They let him splash them, pretending to get knocked out by the spray of lake water, and I delighted in how he giggled at them.

“You have raised two fine boys, Marvel,” I said, settling back onto my towel, the warm sand forming to the shape of my backside.

“I can’t take all the credit. Stan helped a little.” She watched the trio of boys with a smile on her face that looked the very definition of proud. “They think a lot of Hugo.”

“He’s something, isn’t he?”

Nick bent down a little bit, his arms out in front of him at a ninety-degree angle. Dick had his hand on Hugo’s back, talking to him and nodding. I didn’t know what they were up to until they helped Hugo ease onto Nick’s arms, belly down. Dick crouched so he was at Hugo’s level and showed him how to move his arms, how to kick his legs, how to keep his head above the water.

They moved forward, Hugo kicking up a whole lot of water in his wake.

“How are you holding up? It’s been a hard summer, hasn’t it?” Marvel said. “I’ve been praying for you, honey.”

“Thank you.” I took in a good-sized breath, letting it out in a long puff. “I’ve had a hard time praying lately.”

“I can see why.” She took off her sunglasses and looked me in the eyes. “Can I be honest with you?”

“Have you ever done anything else?” I smiled.

“This is how my mother raised me to be.” She winked at me. “Betty, I don’t understand what you’re going through with Clara.”

“I don’t either.”

“But even though I don’t understand, will you let me be there for you?” she asked. “Please.”

I nodded. “I won’t be able to ask, you know.”

“I know.”

I swallowed and turned to once again watch the boys. Nick kept moving with Hugo across his arms. But when he got jostled by someone who came up from the water unexpectedly, he fumbled Hugo, dipping him under the water. Dick scooped him right up, hands under his armpits, pulling him back into the air.

Hugo coughed a little, and Dick patted him on the back a couple of times before helping him onto Nick’s arms again.

“Do you think they’ll be able to help her at the . . . ?”

“Sanitarium? Oh, I hope so.”

Nick took one arm out from under Hugo, putting it behind his back, I thought, so Hugo wouldn’t know. Even without the two arms to support him, my littlest nephew stayed level, bobbing along on the surface of the lake.

“When will you visit her next?” Marvel asked.

“Maybe next week,” I answered.

“I’ll watch Hugo.”

“Thank you.”

“It’s no trouble,” she said. “He’s a good boy.”

We watched the boys for a little while, the swimming lesson continuing. The sun warmed my skin, and I hoped that it would give my pale flesh a nice glow, conveniently forgetting that it only ever turned me into a lobster.

In the water, Hugo tottered and Nick slid his arm back under his belly, saying something into his ear.

After just a little while, the three of them ended the swimming lesson, running to shore and dropping in the sand to dig a channel, using their hands for shovels.

When Hugo noticed that I was watching, he cupped his sand-covered hands on either side of his mouth.

“Aunt Betty,” he yelled. “Did you see me swimming?”

“I did!” I called back. “You were amazing.”

“It was like flying.”

“Oh, I brought the camera.” I scrambled up off my towel, with no small lack of grace. “You boys, I want nice smiles, all right?”

They posed for me, Hugo grinning brilliantly while Nick and Dick flexed their muscles on either side of him. I couldn’t help but laugh, calling for them to stand this way or that. I spent more frames on them than was probably necessary, but those nephews of mine were hams and I couldn’t help myself.

By the time we left for home I was gritty from sand, burned by the sun, and I hadn’t thought of my chubby knees once all day.