Nantucket Penny

by Steven Axelrod

  “I will fall in love with you again a tiny bit every time you volunteer to pump the gas.

  “I will always listen with adoring, undivided attention when you tell me your police stories and thrill at your courage and admire your patience and love your doubts. And then I’ll steal all the good parts for my books.

  “I will try to be the best stepmother ever to your kids and hope I can hold out long enough for us to be friends.

  “I will stupidly break every nice wineglass we ever buy.

  “I will accept your compliments with no argument.

  “I will kiss you as long and deep as you want in a minute or so in front of all our friends and family, despite the fact that I hate public displays of affection.

  “I will walk our fabulous dog alone when you’re too busy and will walk him together with you when you’re not, and I will show you every great secret walk on the island before we’re too old to enjoy them.

  “I will grow old with you.

  “You are my favorite person over the age of eleven.

  “I will choose you, every day, forever.”

  Bethany pronounced us husband and wife and told me, “You may kiss the bride.”

  But I was already doing it.

  Acknowledgments

  Thanks to Nantucket Chief of Police William Pittman, for putting up with Henry Kennis, to Ginger Andrews for her crucial knowledge of local wildlife, to Annette Rogers and Barbara Peters for the stringency and surgical skill of their editing. And to Larry Page and Sergey Brin, for creating the greatest research tool a writer could ever have. Don’t know who they are? Google them.

  About the Author

  Photo © Cary Hazlegrove

  Steven Axelrod holds an MFA in writing from Vermont College of the Fine Arts and, as a former Hollywood screenwriter, is still a member of the Writers Guild of America. A father of two, he lives on Nantucket Island, Massachusetts, where he paints houses and writes.

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