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Elsa followed Dafne into yet another shop in Lindenhurst’s modest downtown area.
“This is the last store, I promise.”
Elsa had been with the Grahams for almost three months. This morning, in mid-June, the humidity wasn’t yet heavy, but the air promised that the heat of summer wasn’t far off. She waited near the door for Dafne’s quick and fruitless pass through the racks of clothes.
Coming out of the shop, they almost collided with Glenn Streppy.
“Why Mr. Streppy,” said Dafne. “Since when have you been back? And shame on you for not calling!”
“Only since yesterday.” He removed his straw hat and nodded.
“Okay, you’re forgiven.” She beamed.
After nodding at Dafne, Elsa found her eyes connected with the gentleman’s as he looked and nodded at her. She was surprised and felt a small flutter in her chest. She was accustomed to being invisible around strangers of the upper class.
“What brings you ladies to town this fine morning?”
He even referred to her as one of the ladies.
“An errand of total futility!” Dafne said. “The Summer Days festival is this weekend. We’re having a party at our house after the parade, and I need a new dress. I don’t know why I thought I could find one here. We’ve just given up.”
“I’ll walk you both home.”
“Lovely.”
They started back. Glenn and Dafne walked side by side with Elsa following a step behind.
“I’m glad to see you again,” said Dafne. “I felt I was kind of rude that day when I had tea with you, and then I haven’t seen you since.”
“I don’t remember you being impolite.”
“You still never told me about Harvard.”
“What is there to tell? I’m not as exciting a man as you might think. While my fellows were amusing themselves with dissipation, drunkenness, and atheism, I mostly spent my time with my books.”
Elsa thought this sounded extremely exciting.
“You still have another year to ‘lose yourself,’” Dafne encouraged.
Glenn laughed. “I suppose I do.”
Dafne sighed with longing. “Oh, to have been out in the world as you both have.”
It shocked Elsa to hear her experiences being considered enviable.
“What field are you studying?” Dafne asked him.
“I’m working toward a business degree.”
“I won’t lie; that does sound rather dull.”
Glenn smiled. “Many of my colleagues at Harvard feel the same way. These days, it’s more popular to study philosophy, psychology, or other theoretical fields, and imagine yourself changing the world. This stems from a collegiate that mostly does not need to work. If a young man can count on having plenty of money for the rest of his life, why spend college years studying something practical like business or law?”
“I see. Now forgive me if this question is crass, but what makes you different? You have no pressing need to start a career?”
“Not financially. But I want to work.”
Dafne had no immediate response. Elsa felt she understood Glenn perfectly.
“Where will you go after college?” Dafne asked.
“Probably to New York, or I’ll stay in Boston at first. I do want to establish a career. But eventually I’d like to come back here.”
“But that’s incredible! Why ever would you want to live here when you could be in New York?”
“When I’m away at college I miss the simplicity of Lindenhurst. It’s refreshing to go to a dance where the turkey trot is still scandalous.”
Dafne grinned.
“Or a town where nearly grown girls are punished for going to Coney Island.”
“Hey!”
They all laughed.
“I still don’t get it,” Dafne said at length.
“If you leave and come back, you’ll learn to love this place.”
“Maybe.”
Glenn glanced toward Elsa. In their momentary meeting of eyes, they communicated their mutual love for Lindenhurst.
They walked for a few minutes in silence. The day was beginning to heat up. Elsa was now walking beside the other two. She hadn’t even realized it until Dafne took Glenn’s arm and surged a step ahead. Dafne always treated her more like a friend than a servant, and it was Elsa who made sure to retain their stations, so this surprised her. Had she seen Elsa and Glenn’s moment of understanding and felt jealous? The thought almost made Elsa laugh.
“Next week is the first of summer,” said Dafne. “I can’t wait.”
“Yes,” he said. “I had forgotten about the Summer Days festival.”
“You are coming, aren’t you?” she said, more as a command than a question. “We sent your family an invitation, but if you just returned, perhaps your mother forgot to tell you. We’ll have a band playing in the yard, with dancing, of course. It’s just a concrete slab, but we can make it work. I know you like to dance. I hear they’re even going to have fireworks this year, though we probably won’t be able to see them from our yard.”
Glenn smiled.
“Yes, I’ll come.”
They had reached Hyde Street.
“Here we are,” said Dafne. “Won’t you come in?”
“No, thank you,” Glenn demurred, “I should not impose on your family unannounced.”
“Okay. Thank you for the company. It was swell talking with you.”
Glenn doffed his cap and bowed again, first toward Dafne, then toward Elsa.
“Until Saturday, then.”
“Yes, until Saturday.”
Back inside, Elsa checked in briefly with Mrs. Graham, then excused herself to her bedroom. There was no housework that could not wait an hour or two. Sometimes she needed to take a moment to herself to reflect on how much her life had changed in this short time—as well as on the things that would never change.
Walking home, when Dafne surged ahead with Glenn, served as a reminder to Elsa of who she really was.
Dafne had repeatedly told Elsa she was more a friend to her than a servant. Elsa loved her for it, but worked to maintain her place. It was not only more proper but also safer. The last thing she wanted was to risk her position by becoming too close to Dafne. Even her friendship to Dafne—real as it was—had an element of service to it.
Dafne herself didn’t realize how desperately she needed the attention and friendship Elsa gave her. Elsa quickly noticed, because it was a need so foreign to her prior world. Her life hadn’t provided many opportunities for friendship, and none for attention. That these things were so vital to Dafne seemed strange to her. Yet Elsa had grown up with a sister, while Dafne was an only child.
Whatever the cause for Dafne’s needs, Elsa was happy to give her devotion. She had grown to care deeply for her young mistress. Dafne considered her a friend because she knew Elsa’s affection was genuine. It made them a perfect pair, each craving what the other needed most to give.
But Dafne craved attention from others, too. Elsa had realized that the night of the dance at the grange. So today, when Glenn showed them equal attention, Dafne felt jealous. It reminded Elsa that she needed to remain careful. Her friendship with Dafne was real, but friendship across classes was always tenuous.
––––––––
Minutes before eight o’clock, Dafne stepped out to the deck above the yard and surveyed her handiwork.
Everything looked just about ready. The ragtime band was setting up on the lawn. This local band was nothing compared to the band from New York that had played at the grange, but they would do just fine. Dafne had heard them dozens of times and knew all their tunes.
Direct sunlight had just left the yard, turning the hot day into a pleasant evening. Chris and Elsa had transformed the yard into a beautiful summer garden. Chris walked the perimeter, lighting the temporary lampposts they had installed. Additional electric lights had been strung across the magnolias and hydrangeas. Six square tables had been set up, three at each side of the yard. Each table had two crystal buckets, one filled with flowers, the other with ice and champagne. Guests had already begun to arrive.
No one but Jeanette and Elsa would ever know that the Grahams’ Summer Days party was entirely Dafne’s idea. It had been a somber spring in New York and Long Island. It seemed everyone knew someone who had died on the Titanic, so nobody was in the mood for revelry.
Dafne felt it was now time to get on with life. She was dying for a party. A few weeks back she had decided to take matters into her own hands. She subtly planted the idea in her parents’ heads until they thought they’d come up with it on their own. Tonight was the culmination of her grand scheme.
Yesterday Elsa and Chris had gone to the train station to pick up six crates off the New York train. Dafne had gotten a good laugh watching in the kitchen as Elsa opened the cold crates, her eyes widening to see the small sandwiches and individual sweets, fully prepared and ready to be put on a plate. Such was the marvel of refrigerated train cars.
With the food pre-prepared, Dafne had tried to get Elsa to come to the festival and parade that morning. Elsa had refused, insisting there was much work still to be done. Preparing for a party was no simple thing. While Elsa worked frantically in the kitchen, Dafne had tried to talk her into coming with her, even as Jeanette and Glenn waited in the sitting room. That was when Chris stepped in to insist that Elsa remain at the house. Dafne knew if she became more stubborn they would go to Mrs. Graham, and she would be overruled. She gave up and left for downtown with only Jeanette and Glenn. The day had still been fun, but it would have been better with Elsa. Her servant missing the festival was the price Dafne paid to have her party.
Standing above the yard, Dafne knew she looked lovely. Her soft lavender gown enhanced the sun-kissed color of her cheeks. A daisy perched in her hair. This wasn’t a new dress, sadly, but she doubted anyone here tonight other than Jeanette and her parents had seen her in it. Her mother had objected to this dress originally. It left her upper back and most of her shoulders uncovered. Looking at herself earlier in her bathroom mirror, she thought her breasts filled out the bodice of the dress a little bit better than the last time she’d worn it. At least she wanted that to be true.
She felt both proud and shy, standing there with a smile as eyes floated up toward her from the garden. Much as she wanted to be a woman, not a child, it was a complicated desire, and an even more complicated process.
She determined to mask all her apprehensions tonight. She stood as tall as she could, excited for what the night might bring.
Jeanette stepped to Dafne’s side. The Streppy family had just arrived.
“Aren’t I a genius?” boasted Dafne.
“Who are all these men?”
“Mostly sons of my father’s clients.” Dafne didn’t need to ask which “men” Jeanette referred to. There were four handsome young men milling around among the mostly older crowd below. “I think they’ve just come back from college like your brother.”
“I wonder if he knows them.”
“I was thinking the same thing.”
Together they found and latched on to Glenn, hoping he would provide them with the social advantage they were seeking. But Glenn, while pleasant company, was hardly one to rely on for introductions.
Glenn had dressed more casually than the majority of the men, but Dafne thought he looked particularly handsome in a gray suit and long blue tie. The Grahams had dubbed this a casual summer party, but most of the gentlemen wore their evening uniform out of habit. Glenn’s attire set him apart. Yet Dafne could tell by the way he fidgeted that he felt self-conscious because of his choice. He probably wished he’d worn a tuxedo.
Jeanette decided to press her brother. “Do you see any of your college fellows here?”
“No. None of these chaps went to Harvard. But I recognize a few of them from high school. There’s Jim Rutherford over there with the crooked tie. He was a football star back then. He went to Princeton, but I don’t think he plays anymore.”
They proceeded to the table where the football player stood with his second glass of champagne and third egg sandwich. Before the thing was swallowed, Jim had informed them all that he did indeed play football for Princeton. Another young man joined the group and “accidentally” revealed that Jim had only been on the practice team.
Scowling, Jim introduced them to Mr. Carter, who had been with him at Princeton. The football player further informed them that, as he would be returning to Princeton for his senior year, they would soon hear his name in connection with the football team.
Mr. Carter wasn’t nearly as impressive physically as Jim Rutherford, but his manners were better. At least his tie was straight, and his speech wasn’t garbled by a mouthful of egg sandwich. He had a crafty expression and twinkling eye. Having graduated from Princeton, he was preparing to apprentice in his father’s shipping business in Brooklyn. It was through this business that his family knew the Grahams.
Jeanette was interested less in one or the other of the two men as in the combined attention of them both. Dafne was already bored by them. She liked Glenn better than the others. They left the table.
Now a couple rather than a threesome, Dafne thought it appropriate to take Glenn’s arm. They shared the task of introductions as they mingled through the growing crowd. It seemed that any person who didn’t know one would be in the other’s circle of acquaintance, making them convenient partners for the festivities.
Soon they danced.
Glenn was so graceful on the dance floor. Just like when they won the turkey-trot contest, he floated with her across the patio, his feet hardly seeming to touch the stone. There would be no turkey trots tonight, obviously. But he danced the waltz and one step with equal grace. He wasn’t shy about them being the only couple dancing in front of the band, even though his usual personality was loath to draw attention. She was growing more and more interested in this man.
They danced three songs. Other people were dancing by then. Jeanette’s eyes rolled back and forth as she endured a plodding dance with the football player.
Although Glenn seemed more natural conversing with people her mother’s age than her own, Dafne chose to retain her position on his arm. There were many more people of that age group at the party than their own. That, Dafne now realized, had been the one flaw in her plan.
“Let’s take a walk,” she said. “I want some fresh air. Maybe we’ll be able to see the fireworks.”
He consented easily. Dafne wondered whether he was enjoying the feeling of her bare arm draped inside his own.
Hyde Street continued from the Grahams’ house a half mile until it reached the beach. They didn’t speak through the walk. Dafne, usually boisterous, didn’t mind the silence at all.
Reaching the end of the street, Dafne released his arm and walked out to the edge of the sand. She wanted to kick off her heels and sprint out into the foam. If she didn’t like this dress so much, she might have done it.
“I used to come here when I was a little girl and watch the ships sail past toward New York. I wonder if I watched the ship Elsa came on.” She spun around. “Have you been to Europe?”
Glenn hesitated, surprised by the seemingly random question. In Dafne’s mind the connection was clear.
“No,” she answered for him. “I don’t suppose you would have.” She looked back toward the sea. “I want to go to Europe. Vienna, I think. Everybody’s scared of Europe now. Do you think there will be a war, Glenn?”
“I don’t know.”
“If there is, I’ll go anyway. It would be exciting.”
She stood gazing at the starlit surf until a loud bang sounded behind them. She squealed and ran back to Glenn’s side as both turned toward the town.
“They did get fireworks! Oh, how exciting.”
The multicolored explosions burst, one after another, low over downtown. Dafne watched, gradually wrapping her bare arms around each other.
The short show finished. A breeze had come up over the sea.
“Are you cold?” Glenn asked.
“Yes.” She felt his warm coat close around her shoulders. “Thank you.”
“I’ll find us a taxi.”
He took her hand and led her back to the street. Although they had held hands before while dancing, feeling his hand take hers now, alone on the street at night, felt entirely different and gave her body a tingle.
Because it was a celebratory night in the town, Glenn found a car without much difficulty.
As soon as they were settled into the cab, Dafne leaned toward Glenn and kissed him. She pulled back and smiled at him, inviting him to kiss her back. He did. She wrapped her arms around the back of his neck, savoring the feeling of being kissed for the first time in her life. Even if she had to initiate it, she was happy. She told herself he had really initiated it back when he took her hand.
She didn’t know why Glenn Streppy so suddenly came to interest her. She didn’t know why she felt compelled to kiss him. But it was good; it was time she had a man.
More than half the guests had left by the time they returned to the party. The orchestra was on their final set. Nobody seemed to notice their disappearance and reentrance except for Jeanette, who looked disapprovingly at Dafne, still wrapped in Glenn’s gray suit coat.
March, 1916