WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:00.540 align:middle line:90% 00:00:00.540 --> 00:00:03.630 align:middle line:84% --did not want to fish for crappies and bullheads, 00:00:03.630 --> 00:00:06.960 align:middle line:84% to make loom pot holders or drive go-karts 00:00:06.960 --> 00:00:10.980 align:middle line:84% or play miniature golf or endless games of Michigan Rummy 00:00:10.980 --> 00:00:12.480 align:middle line:90% and Monopoly. 00:00:12.480 --> 00:00:16.560 align:middle line:84% To crew on the sailboat of the girl from down the beach. 00:00:16.560 --> 00:00:17.760 align:middle line:90% No. 00:00:17.760 --> 00:00:20.970 align:middle line:84% And quick, now, she stepped from the curb 00:00:20.970 --> 00:00:24.480 align:middle line:84% and between two cars moving up Lakeside. 00:00:24.480 --> 00:00:26.910 align:middle line:84% And there was no time to quake at the honks 00:00:26.910 --> 00:00:28.890 align:middle line:90% and shouts at the drivers. 00:00:28.890 --> 00:00:34.080 align:middle line:84% Just time to try to look cool and stay alive. 00:00:34.080 --> 00:00:35.670 align:middle line:84% From the other side of the street, 00:00:35.670 --> 00:00:39.240 align:middle line:84% she turned to wave to Rosamund, who shook her head 00:00:39.240 --> 00:00:42.630 align:middle line:84% but grinned just as she had the night she found Kristy 00:00:42.630 --> 00:00:46.200 align:middle line:84% Strawberry and Franny smoking on the second story window 00:00:46.200 --> 00:00:48.270 align:middle line:90% ledge of Franny's room. 00:00:48.270 --> 00:00:50.550 align:middle line:90% An admiring smile. 00:00:50.550 --> 00:00:54.270 align:middle line:84% Maybe Rosamund had heard that shout from a passing car, 00:00:54.270 --> 00:00:55.860 align:middle line:90% "Hey, buttercup!" 00:00:55.860 --> 00:00:58.890 align:middle line:84% which might have been meant for Franny because 00:00:58.890 --> 00:01:01.590 align:middle line:90% of her yellow shorts and shirt. 00:01:01.590 --> 00:01:04.590 align:middle line:84% Peg had told Franny she should change before going to town 00:01:04.590 --> 00:01:07.200 align:middle line:84% but Rosamund said, "Oh, she's fine, Mom." 00:01:07.200 --> 00:01:10.500 align:middle line:84% And now Franny was glad, glad, so glad 00:01:10.500 --> 00:01:13.810 align:middle line:84% she had to hold her face down to conceal her smile 00:01:13.810 --> 00:01:17.580 align:middle line:84% as she joined the line in front of the Dairy Queen. 00:01:17.580 --> 00:01:21.090 align:middle line:84% Oh, that song that poured from the Dairy Queen speakers-- 00:01:21.090 --> 00:01:23.040 align:middle line:90% it took her by the shoulders. 00:01:23.040 --> 00:01:25.590 align:middle line:84% It shoved her and her broken heart out 00:01:25.590 --> 00:01:28.110 align:middle line:90% into the cold, dark night. 00:01:28.110 --> 00:01:30.720 align:middle line:90% Oh, both delicious and terrible. 00:01:30.720 --> 00:01:32.760 align:middle line:90% Though who had broken her heart? 00:01:32.760 --> 00:01:34.680 align:middle line:90% Who? 00:01:34.680 --> 00:01:38.160 align:middle line:84% Misty-eyed she surveyed the Dairy Queen patrons: 00:01:38.160 --> 00:01:42.150 align:middle line:84% the poor acne-pitted girl behind the service window. 00:01:42.150 --> 00:01:45.150 align:middle line:84% At the back of the stand, the chubby owner 00:01:45.150 --> 00:01:48.240 align:middle line:84% shuffled around with a bucket and mop, 00:01:48.240 --> 00:01:51.120 align:middle line:84% a cinnamon-colored dachshund underfoot. 00:01:51.120 --> 00:01:52.980 align:middle line:90% A sweet thing. 00:01:52.980 --> 00:01:56.700 align:middle line:84% Could that Buttercup really have been meant for Franny? 00:01:56.700 --> 00:01:59.880 align:middle line:84% Sometimes it seemed to Franny that she did look pretty. 00:01:59.880 --> 00:02:02.400 align:middle line:84% But the next moment she might pass by a mirror 00:02:02.400 --> 00:02:04.500 align:middle line:84% and out would leave a creature so 00:02:04.500 --> 00:02:08.310 align:middle line:84% queer she might have been one of the Picasso ladies 00:02:08.310 --> 00:02:12.840 align:middle line:84% from the art books at the home of her piano teacher. 00:02:12.840 --> 00:02:17.340 align:middle line:84% Not just limbs akimbo but nose and eyes too. 00:02:17.340 --> 00:02:21.300 align:middle line:84% Her face a primitive mask from which speech would surely 00:02:21.300 --> 00:02:26.670 align:middle line:84% issue in foghorn blasts, bovine bellows. 00:02:26.670 --> 00:02:28.650 align:middle line:84% "What can I get you?" asked the girl 00:02:28.650 --> 00:02:32.040 align:middle line:84% behind the DQ's tiny screen window. 00:02:32.040 --> 00:02:34.620 align:middle line:90% "Three medium cones, please." 00:02:34.620 --> 00:02:36.840 align:middle line:84% Surely ordering Tim Gleason a cone 00:02:36.840 --> 00:02:38.580 align:middle line:90% was the polite thing to do. 00:02:38.580 --> 00:02:40.980 align:middle line:90% And if he rejected his, fine. 00:02:40.980 --> 00:02:43.890 align:middle line:84% She'd pitch it in the trash can, no big deal. 00:02:43.890 --> 00:02:47.280 align:middle line:90% No hurt feelings here, man. 00:02:47.280 --> 00:02:48.660 align:middle line:90% An odd boy, Tim. 00:02:48.660 --> 00:02:51.990 align:middle line:84% Sometimes, he was like a fish in the shallows. 00:02:51.990 --> 00:02:55.140 align:middle line:84% Holding so still you did not see him. 00:02:55.140 --> 00:02:58.950 align:middle line:84% Then, as if he did not want to be completely forgotten, 00:02:58.950 --> 00:03:00.270 align:middle line:90% he would make a leap. 00:03:00.270 --> 00:03:02.580 align:middle line:90% Show himself. 00:03:02.580 --> 00:03:04.800 align:middle line:84% Franny would have liked to have asked Martie 00:03:04.800 --> 00:03:08.220 align:middle line:84% what she thought of the boy, and of Rosamund's friendship 00:03:08.220 --> 00:03:09.510 align:middle line:90% with him. 00:03:09.510 --> 00:03:11.370 align:middle line:84% But Martie could be a whirlpool that 00:03:11.370 --> 00:03:14.910 align:middle line:84% sucked your words into her spin until your words were 00:03:14.910 --> 00:03:16.950 align:middle line:90% no longer your own-- 00:03:16.950 --> 00:03:20.790 align:middle line:84% they were just fuel for some dark momentum 00:03:20.790 --> 00:03:25.740 align:middle line:84% that Martie seemed to require to know that she existed. 00:03:25.740 --> 00:03:28.230 align:middle line:84% While the DQ girl made up the cones, 00:03:28.230 --> 00:03:32.520 align:middle line:84% Franny and watched Mike Zanias, owner of the Top Hat Club, 00:03:32.520 --> 00:03:35.640 align:middle line:84% cross the drive between his club's brick building 00:03:35.640 --> 00:03:37.650 align:middle line:90% and the Marina. 00:03:37.650 --> 00:03:40.680 align:middle line:84% Mike Zanias and Rosamund called out to each other, 00:03:40.680 --> 00:03:45.060 align:middle line:84% and Franny knew, any moment now, Zanias would give Rosamund 00:03:45.060 --> 00:03:48.510 align:middle line:84% a hug that lifted her off the ground. 00:03:48.510 --> 00:03:50.550 align:middle line:90% There. 00:03:50.550 --> 00:03:52.620 align:middle line:84% The Wahls had eaten Sunday buffets, 00:03:52.620 --> 00:03:55.530 align:middle line:84% prime rib, moussaka, Greek chicken, 00:03:55.530 --> 00:03:59.400 align:middle line:84% at the Top Hat for as long as Franny could remember. 00:03:59.400 --> 00:04:02.430 align:middle line:84% Her father left his law offices each noon for lunch 00:04:02.430 --> 00:04:03.930 align:middle line:90% at the place. 00:04:03.930 --> 00:04:07.830 align:middle line:84% Still, Franny could not help wondering how Tim Gleason felt 00:04:07.830 --> 00:04:09.810 align:middle line:90% about that hug. 00:04:09.810 --> 00:04:12.840 align:middle line:84% Mike Zanias might be a family friend, 00:04:12.840 --> 00:04:17.070 align:middle line:84% but Rosamund and Martie both spoke of how charming 00:04:17.070 --> 00:04:20.160 align:middle line:84% they found his blue eyes and the brows 00:04:20.160 --> 00:04:22.470 align:middle line:90% that met in an ashen smudge. 00:04:22.470 --> 00:04:26.280 align:middle line:84% The silver streaks in his dark blond curls. 00:04:26.280 --> 00:04:30.390 align:middle line:84% The way he dressed in sandals and boat neck sweaters. 00:04:30.390 --> 00:04:33.030 align:middle line:84% In addition, lately, Mike Zanias often 00:04:33.030 --> 00:04:35.970 align:middle line:84% drove out to the Wahl house after dinner. 00:04:35.970 --> 00:04:39.240 align:middle line:84% And while Rick Wahl mixed him a drink, 00:04:39.240 --> 00:04:42.210 align:middle line:84% Zanias invariably would shout up the stairs, 00:04:42.210 --> 00:04:45.060 align:middle line:84% "Hey, Roz, come on down and tell us the news of the American 00:04:45.060 --> 00:04:46.140 align:middle line:90% Youth!" 00:04:46.140 --> 00:04:47.880 align:middle line:90% Something like that. 00:04:47.880 --> 00:04:50.340 align:middle line:84% Then Rosamund would wind up perched 00:04:50.340 --> 00:04:53.400 align:middle line:84% on the arm of whatever chair Zanias sat in. 00:04:53.400 --> 00:04:56.730 align:middle line:84% And though she did not drink, she sometimes 00:04:56.730 --> 00:04:58.800 align:middle line:84% drizzled a bit of the man's bourbon 00:04:58.800 --> 00:05:01.210 align:middle line:90% onto a scoop of ice cream. 00:05:01.210 --> 00:05:04.630 align:middle line:84% And later, as if there were nothing extraordinary about it, 00:05:04.630 --> 00:05:08.290 align:middle line:84% he would take her to The Top Hat to listen to the combo that 00:05:08.290 --> 00:05:11.140 align:middle line:90% played there in the evenings. 00:05:11.140 --> 00:05:14.200 align:middle line:84% Tim Gleason stared at the lake while Mike Zanias 00:05:14.200 --> 00:05:15.880 align:middle line:90% talked to Rosamund. 00:05:15.880 --> 00:05:20.020 align:middle line:84% Poor Tim worked hard to appear detached, cool. 00:05:20.020 --> 00:05:22.450 align:middle line:84% But even from across the street, Franny 00:05:22.450 --> 00:05:25.720 align:middle line:84% could see the way bright lines of tension 00:05:25.720 --> 00:05:30.610 align:middle line:84% tweaked the corners of his mouth, his jaw. 00:05:30.610 --> 00:05:33.580 align:middle line:84% "I do worry, Roz, that people might misunderstand 00:05:33.580 --> 00:05:37.270 align:middle line:84% your friendship with Mike," so Peg 00:05:37.270 --> 00:05:39.580 align:middle line:90% had said over a recent dinner. 00:05:39.580 --> 00:05:43.060 align:middle line:84% But Rosamund had just laughed and squeezed her mother's hand. 00:05:43.060 --> 00:05:45.160 align:middle line:90% "You're so innocent, Ma. 00:05:45.160 --> 00:05:48.100 align:middle line:84% Everybody in Pynch knows Mike has 00:05:48.100 --> 00:05:50.230 align:middle line:84% a thing going on with that sleaze who 00:05:50.230 --> 00:05:52.105 align:middle line:90% sings with the combo. 00:05:52.105 --> 00:05:56.860 align:middle line:84% Believe me, whenever I go to the club, she comes by to paw Mike, 00:05:56.860 --> 00:05:59.740 align:middle line:90% so people can see he's hers. 00:05:59.740 --> 00:06:01.840 align:middle line:84% Peg had seemed surprised by this, 00:06:01.840 --> 00:06:05.350 align:middle line:84% and asked Franny's father, "Is that right?" 00:06:05.350 --> 00:06:07.870 align:middle line:84% And Brick had looked up from picking at his dinner 00:06:07.870 --> 00:06:09.970 align:middle line:90% to say, he guessed so, honey. 00:06:09.970 --> 00:06:13.810 align:middle line:84% He guessed Roz meant that brunette with the green goop 00:06:13.810 --> 00:06:16.690 align:middle line:90% all over her eyes. 00:06:16.690 --> 00:06:19.630 align:middle line:84% So Rosamund was not in love with Mike Zanias. 00:06:19.630 --> 00:06:21.520 align:middle line:84% But maybe she was a little in love 00:06:21.520 --> 00:06:25.360 align:middle line:84% with the Florida guy, Turner Haskin. 00:06:25.360 --> 00:06:27.100 align:middle line:84% "Hey, look who we found," Rosamund 00:06:27.100 --> 00:06:30.700 align:middle line:84% called, as Franny returned with her triangle of ice cream 00:06:30.700 --> 00:06:31.450 align:middle line:90% cones. 00:06:31.450 --> 00:06:34.300 align:middle line:84% Should she have gotten a fourth cone, perhaps? 00:06:34.300 --> 00:06:37.300 align:middle line:90% One for Mike Zanias? 00:06:37.300 --> 00:06:40.660 align:middle line:84% As if he were a grave courtier, Mike Zanias 00:06:40.660 --> 00:06:42.160 align:middle line:90% bowed toward Franny. 00:06:42.160 --> 00:06:46.360 align:middle line:84% She smiled but felt grateful that the cones in her hands 00:06:46.360 --> 00:06:49.570 align:middle line:84% prevented the possibility of a hug. 00:06:49.570 --> 00:06:52.480 align:middle line:84% It seemed to Franny that like herself, Zanias 00:06:52.480 --> 00:06:55.780 align:middle line:84% is now considered her too big for hugs. 00:06:55.780 --> 00:06:58.270 align:middle line:84% It was awkward, however, to stop doing something 00:06:58.270 --> 00:07:01.180 align:middle line:84% you had done for years, especially when he 00:07:01.180 --> 00:07:03.790 align:middle line:90% and Rosemund kept it up. 00:07:03.790 --> 00:07:06.760 align:middle line:84% "Hey, Roz," Tim Gleason jerked his head 00:07:06.760 --> 00:07:08.260 align:middle line:90% toward the Marina dock. 00:07:08.260 --> 00:07:11.020 align:middle line:90% "You want me to gas the boat?" 00:07:11.020 --> 00:07:14.020 align:middle line:84% Rosamund grimaced, perhaps in memory of the conversation 00:07:14.020 --> 00:07:15.850 align:middle line:90% with the Marina clerk. 00:07:15.850 --> 00:07:18.640 align:middle line:84% "We'll stop at Moore's later," she said. 00:07:18.640 --> 00:07:23.410 align:middle line:84% Then with a wink at Franny, she took two of the ice cream cones 00:07:23.410 --> 00:07:25.750 align:middle line:84% and presented one to Mike Zanias. 00:07:25.750 --> 00:07:27.970 align:middle line:90% "Farewell gift?" she said. 00:07:27.970 --> 00:07:29.860 align:middle line:90% "Why, thank you, ma'am. 00:07:29.860 --> 00:07:32.890 align:middle line:84% Mike Zanias gave the cone and amused inspection 00:07:32.890 --> 00:07:35.860 align:middle line:84% and raised it high in the air like a standard 00:07:35.860 --> 00:07:40.000 align:middle line:84% and hummed a bit of vaguely martial music, while Rosamund 00:07:40.000 --> 00:07:43.600 align:middle line:84% and Frannie and Tim Gleason made their way down the now 00:07:43.600 --> 00:07:46.460 align:middle line:90% empty dock. 00:07:46.460 --> 00:07:50.180 align:middle line:84% Was it possible that Franny had seen Mike Zanias's singer 00:07:50.180 --> 00:07:54.350 align:middle line:84% girlfriend at some time and not known it? 00:07:54.350 --> 00:07:56.240 align:middle line:84% Rosamund had called her a sleaze, 00:07:56.240 --> 00:08:00.530 align:middle line:84% which probably meant that Mike Zanias had sex with the singer. 00:08:00.530 --> 00:08:03.080 align:middle line:84% Maybe he'd even told Rosamund so. 00:08:03.080 --> 00:08:05.420 align:middle line:90% This was not impossible. 00:08:05.420 --> 00:08:09.840 align:middle line:84% In June, while Rosamund set about unpacking her suitcase, 00:08:09.840 --> 00:08:13.430 align:middle line:84% she had revealed startling news to Franny. 00:08:13.430 --> 00:08:16.670 align:middle line:84% After Rosamund's dates, when the University took her back 00:08:16.670 --> 00:08:20.660 align:middle line:84% to her dormitory, they regularly went out for sex 00:08:20.660 --> 00:08:23.120 align:middle line:90% with town girls. 00:08:23.120 --> 00:08:25.970 align:middle line:84% "But if you like a boy, and he likes you, 00:08:25.970 --> 00:08:29.060 align:middle line:84% how can you stand the thought of him kissing somebody else?" 00:08:29.060 --> 00:08:31.160 align:middle line:90% Franny had asked. 00:08:31.160 --> 00:08:34.100 align:middle line:84% "Oh, honey, that's the way it works, is all," Rosamund said. 00:08:34.100 --> 00:08:36.650 align:middle line:90% "It doesn't mean anything." 00:08:36.650 --> 00:08:40.429 align:middle line:84% To Rosamund it did not mean anything but to Franny it did. 00:08:40.429 --> 00:08:42.230 align:middle line:84% Just like it meant something to her 00:08:42.230 --> 00:08:46.190 align:middle line:84% when the boys at her junior high asked a girl, "Are you 00:08:46.190 --> 00:08:46.805 align:middle line:90% a good girl? 00:08:46.805 --> 00:08:49.130 align:middle line:90% Or are you a nice girl?" 00:08:49.130 --> 00:08:51.230 align:middle line:84% One answer was right and one was wrong 00:08:51.230 --> 00:08:55.400 align:middle line:84% and a large part of the point of the question 00:08:55.400 --> 00:09:00.680 align:middle line:84% seemed to be to make a girl indite herself by the answer. 00:09:00.680 --> 00:09:04.020 align:middle line:84% A girl was supposed to remember that the correct response was, 00:09:04.020 --> 00:09:08.210 align:middle line:84% "I'm a nice girl," because a nice girl goes out, comes 00:09:08.210 --> 00:09:11.870 align:middle line:84% home, and goes to bed, while a good girl goes out, 00:09:11.870 --> 00:09:14.600 align:middle line:90% goes to bed, and comes home. 00:09:14.600 --> 00:09:16.910 align:middle line:84% Or maybe it was the other way around. 00:09:16.910 --> 00:09:21.830 align:middle line:84% On principle, Franny refused to remember the correct response. 00:09:21.830 --> 00:09:24.500 align:middle line:84% Nice and good, it was all stupid. 00:09:24.500 --> 00:09:27.530 align:middle line:84% People wanted to say vile things about girls. 00:09:27.530 --> 00:09:31.190 align:middle line:84% Just that winter, at one of the high school basketball games, 00:09:31.190 --> 00:09:33.815 align:middle line:84% a freckly boy Franny did not even know 00:09:33.815 --> 00:09:36.530 align:middle line:84% had sidled up to her as she made her way 00:09:36.530 --> 00:09:38.720 align:middle line:90% to the refreshment stand. 00:09:38.720 --> 00:09:41.630 align:middle line:84% "You're Martie Wahl's sister, aren't you?" he asked. 00:09:41.630 --> 00:09:46.250 align:middle line:84% And Franny had turned, smiling, before that boy went on to say, 00:09:46.250 --> 00:09:49.700 align:middle line:84% "My sister says your sister's a whore." 00:09:49.700 --> 00:09:53.420 align:middle line:84% He was smiling when Franny slapped his face, 00:09:53.420 --> 00:09:58.730 align:middle line:84% a mess of cheese curls mortared between his teeth. 00:09:58.730 --> 00:10:01.310 align:middle line:84% And he continued to smile as he said, 00:10:01.310 --> 00:10:03.950 align:middle line:84% "I was telling you so you wouldn't turn out like her 00:10:03.950 --> 00:10:07.640 align:middle line:90% but I guess it's too late, huh?" 00:10:07.640 --> 00:10:10.205 align:middle line:84% Franny has never told anyone that story. 00:10:10.205 --> 00:10:12.080 align:middle line:84% For one thing, she knew that plenty of people 00:10:12.080 --> 00:10:14.130 align:middle line:84% believed that if a person were called a name, 00:10:14.130 --> 00:10:16.010 align:middle line:90% the name was deserved. 00:10:16.010 --> 00:10:19.190 align:middle line:84% To complicate matters further, the only other person Franny 00:10:19.190 --> 00:10:23.390 align:middle line:84% had ever heard call Martie a whore was her father. 00:10:23.390 --> 00:10:25.550 align:middle line:84% And why was whore the ultimate insult 00:10:25.550 --> 00:10:28.880 align:middle line:84% applied to girls who were clearly not whores. 00:10:28.880 --> 00:10:32.180 align:middle line:84% Surely, her father knew that Martie was not a whore. 00:10:32.180 --> 00:10:33.680 align:middle line:90% Franny knew. 00:10:33.680 --> 00:10:36.560 align:middle line:84% Still, had Martie been a whore and that boy 00:10:36.560 --> 00:10:40.010 align:middle line:84% from the basketball game called her so from spite, 00:10:40.010 --> 00:10:43.900 align:middle line:84% Franny would have slapped him just the same. 00:10:43.900 --> 00:10:46.600 align:middle line:84% She stuck her hand over the side of the big boat, 00:10:46.600 --> 00:10:50.680 align:middle line:84% and the speed fanned the lake water cold and hard 00:10:50.680 --> 00:10:52.660 align:middle line:90% against her fingers. 00:10:52.660 --> 00:10:55.188 align:middle line:90% Just the same. 00:10:55.188 --> 00:10:56.730 align:middle line:84% There were plenty of people who would 00:10:56.730 --> 00:10:59.370 align:middle line:84% think Franny were a whore if they knew that she had allowed 00:10:59.370 --> 00:11:03.570 align:middle line:84% handsome Bob Brahaski to stick his tongue in her mouth, which 00:11:03.570 --> 00:11:07.200 align:middle line:84% meant she could not ask anyone for advice on the kiss. 00:11:07.200 --> 00:11:11.580 align:middle line:84% Certainly not her mother, who had sent Bob home immediately 00:11:11.580 --> 00:11:15.750 align:middle line:84% the day she came into the yard while Franny pitched grapes 00:11:15.750 --> 00:11:19.860 align:middle line:84% across the picnic table and into the boy's mouth. 00:11:19.860 --> 00:11:22.590 align:middle line:84% "I don't know what you're up to," Peg had cried out, 00:11:22.590 --> 00:11:23.700 align:middle line:90% "but it looks awful." 00:11:23.700 --> 00:11:26.940 align:middle line:90% 00:11:26.940 --> 00:11:30.480 align:middle line:84% She certainly could not ask Joan Harbot and Christy Strawberry, 00:11:30.480 --> 00:11:35.100 align:middle line:84% who spoke of sexual matters as if on the verge of nausea. 00:11:35.100 --> 00:11:41.100 align:middle line:84% So-and-so let so-and-so French her, feel her up on top 00:11:41.100 --> 00:11:43.100 align:middle line:90% or down below.