by Mike Heppner
At the last chorus, Brian asked the audience to sing along, and while most people were still unfamiliar with the song, the chorus was simple enough for them to catch on. As Pike slow-danced on stage with his wife, the guests of his wedding joined the band in singing:
Love and Mercy, that’s what you need tonight
So, love and mercy to you and your friends tonight
When the song ended, Brian launched the musicians into a tight rendition of “Be True to Your School,” “Do It Again,” “Surfin’ U.S.A.,” “Little Deuce Coupe,” “409,” “Fun, Fun, Fun,” “I Get Around,” “All Summer Long,” “Surfer Girl,” “Wouldn’t It Be Nice,” “California Girls,” “Barbara Ann,” “Good Vibrations,” and, last, “God Only Knows.” Closing out the show, he wished Pike and Sarah a happy life together, then followed his handler around the side of the piano and off the stage. And everyone went home with a smile.
Three days later, on election night in Rhode Island, the Allison Fund won a narrow victory, passing with 51 percent of the vote. In a crowded room on the first floor of the Biltmore Hotel in downtown Providence, an elated Gregg Reese gave a televised press conference, where he said, “There are so many people I have to mention. I’d particularly like to thank my wonderful daughter, Allison, who’s stuck with me through a couple of hard years—thanks, hon. Also Celia Shriver, for her untiring commitment to the Reese Foundation. And my mother, Keeny Esther Reese, who is no longer with us, but whom we remember for her vision, her love of life and her leadership of the Reese Foundation for nearly four decades. Senators Chafee and Reed, and Representatives Kennedy and Langevin. And my good friend Donald Kress, and the many volunteers who helped make this possible—too many to name, but you know who you are. My deepest thanks. You have no idea what this means to me.”
7
By 1760, development around the Great Swamp had increased to the point where few people could afford more than half a dozen acres for their crops and livestock. On the site where a Benny’s Home and Auto Store now stands in South County—Summer Special, Goodyear Tires, Free Alignment—the shanties and cabins and homesteads were already crowding one another, as the duplex condos and public housing projects would later crowd the streets of Peace Dale, Kingston and Wakefield. A great change, something epochal and large scale, was imminent. In another fifteen years, Americans would unite to fight their British overlords and declare their belief in their own sovereignty and the equality of all men. The age of European imperialism was coming to an end.
By the time Sander Reese was old enough to take charge of the family business, it had become something of an anomaly in southern New England. His mother had left him with a considerable fortune and the means to sustain it, but Sander had no intention of following in her footsteps. Recognizing the changes taking place in the colonies, he sought to make his own contribution. How could a people who believed in brotherhood and equality condone the actions of the Reese family? In the name of democracy, a lasting change was in order. From now on, the Reeses would devote themselves to public charity rather than their own hideous, selfish pursuits. This was meet and right. This was American.
In the meantime, the problem of what to do with the slaves still on the property remained. Setting them free would’ve been unfair, as most of them lacked the skills to survive on their own. The quickest solution was to put an end to the poor girls’ lives and make a fresh start from there.
And so on a stormy day in 1760, the thirty-seven Native American girls whom the Reeses had abducted, exploited and robbed of their innocence were rounded up and summarily executed. Following this carnage, a hole was dug in the middle of the stone pen, and the bodies were dumped into it. Sander didn’t participate in the killing himself but watched from a vantage of a hundred feet away. His only counsel was an old soldier named Burt, who was sympathetic to the cause against England. Sander later described the scene in his unpublished autobiography:
“You did the right thing, sir,” Burt said to me. “It’s a bad day, sure, but necessary. Only good times from now on, yea?”
I nodded but couldn’t share Burt’s enthusiasm. Damn this confounded chill, I thought, and tightened my great-coat around my shoulders.
When a young cadet came by to report on the progress, I told him, “You make sure that hole is well filled, do you hear?”
The boy clicked his heels and scampered to do my bidding. Once he was safely away, I said to Burt, “As soon as we’re through here, I want a carriage waiting for me at the main house. I don’t wish to spend another night in this place.”
“Where are we going, then, sir?”
I stared at the soldier, thinking him mad. “Where else, man? To Providence!”
Endnote
On September 28, 2004, Nonesuch Records released Brian Wilson Presents Smile, a newly recorded version of the Beach Boys’ “teenage symphony to God.”
Acknowledgments
Thanks to my family, both new members and old, and Gary Fisketjon, my amazing editor. Thanks as well to Richard Abate, Susan Aylward, Regis Behe, Nayon Cho, Claudia Cross, Wieland Freund, Joshua Furst, Evan Gaffney, Gina Gionfriddo, Gordon Haber, Victoria Häggblom, Gabriel Haman, Edward Kastenmeier, Kate Lee, Matt Lee, John Malicsi, Adam Mansbach, Joseph McElroy, Peter Mendelsund, Dean and Marianne Metropoulos, Joe Michaels, Sheila O’Shea, Chuck Palahniuk, David Plante, Peter and Susan Straub, Alex Suczek, Virginia Tan, Liz Van Hoose and Curtis White.
MIKE HEPPNER
Pike’s Folly
Mike Heppner lives in Watertown, Massachusetts.
ALSO BY MIKE HEPPNER
The Egg Code
FIRST VINTAGE CONTEMPORARIES EDITION, APRIL 2007
Copyright © 2006 by Mike Heppner
Vintage and colophon are registered trademarks and Vintage Contemporaries is a trademark of Random House, Inc.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
The Library of Congress has cataloged the Knopf edition as follows:
Heppner, Mike, 1972–
Pike’s folly / Mike Heppner.—1st ed.
p. cm.
1. Eccentrics and eccentricities—Fiction. 2. Wilderness areas—Fiction.
3. New Hampshire—Fiction. 4. Millionaires—Fiction. 5. Rhode Island—Fiction.
6. Land tenure—Fiction. I. Title.
PS3608.E67P55 2006
813’.6—dc22
2005044589
www.vintagebooks.com
www.randomhouse.com
eISBN: 978-0-307-42725-0
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