Death and Love at the Old Summer Camp

by Dolores Maggiore

“No, but it felt good,” I said.

  “I don’t understand anything.” Katie searched the sky for answers.

  “I think you do.”

  “Now you are reading my mind.” Katie was still looking at the sky, not at me.

  Maybe I’ve said too much. Does she really not know?

  “Remember the first time I saw something in the latrine? Someone was kind of protecting Billy,” I said.

  “More like fighting with Roger who was calling him Romeo, but we don’t know for sure that that was Butch,” Katie said.

  “That’s why we have to go back to the latrine.”

  We left the lake to trudge up the hill behind the rec hall. My Bermudas were almost dry by now. They’d be drenched with sweat, bites, and blood by the time we made it to the latrine.

  Getting up that first cutaway bank around the shooting range was tricky. Katie took a running head start with her long legs, and once on top, reached out her hand to help pull me up. We scooted through the somber woods to the rec hall, and dashed across the old softball field to the latrine.

  Chapter Twenty-one

  NEW MYSTERIES

  We didn’t stay long at the latrine. There was no further writing hidden on the wall, nor answers to be discovered. Besides, we had to get back for lunch. After our Salisbury steaks, salads, and brownies, we wandered off to play croquet. No one could get angry with us for being less than five yards away from the dining hall and it was a perfect game for the mid-afternoon humidity.

  Jostling each other through the pine saplings on our way to the lawn, we spotted a small, stooped over, older man, kind of slinking around. He was no New Englander, what with the flashy gold necklace around his flabby neck, a diamond pinky ring, and a flower in his lapel. We figured he would drive a pink Cadillac, but there was no car in sight. Katie joked that maybe he was like an Italian Leprechaun. He seemed to appear from out of nowhere, weaving his way in between the thick yellow pines between the dining hall and the main house.

  We started and stopped our croquet game several times to check out what this man was up to. I was winning and two shots away from the post, but I dropped my mallet and crept close to the path to the cabins, where I’d have a better view of this guy.

  It was then we saw the letters Fifi spelled out in big loops on the gold necklace. We had heard so much about this man. He was Regina’s father. We just had to follow him.

  Fifi had stopped. He was standing still in front of my father. Fifi had found what he was looking for. My father just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, trying to fade into the scenery to avoid irritating guests with his smoking.

  “Scusi, can you light me?” we heard Fifi say to my father.

  “Oh, sure. You want a match.”

  “You speak no Italiano?”

  “Come again? Oh, not since I was a child. Why do you ask?” My father’s tone seemed both curious and hesitant.

  Fifi touched the side of his nose, and eyed my father with a certain authority.

  Katie and I just casually strolled past them, greeting my father. Fifi tipped his hat, mumbling something in broken English about my face being the map of Sicily. He called me “Bella.”

  I turned briefly to smile at him and he asked me where I was from. I shot a quick look to my father to see if I should answer.

  When I told him Queens, New York, he said, “No. Which town, Giuliana or Chiusa Sclafani in Sicily?”

  My father answered, “Giuliana,” with pride and a good accent.

  As we walked off, I distinctly heard the word for police, polizia, and an even louder no in my father’s voice.

  When we circled back away from the main house, some hundred feet away, we saw Fifi and my father shake hands. Fifi clapped my father on the back, then casually threw his jacket over his shoulders. My father walked robot-like directly back to our cabin. The ground vibrated with the bang of the door.

  I told Katie to wait for me while I ran back to my cabin, supposedly to pee. My father was sweating profusely in the cabin although the thermometer only registered sixty degrees today. He had already lit his second cigarette in the few minutes since leaving Fifi. He held his head with his cigarette-free hand.

  I asked my dad if he wanted some water. His only response was a scowl and a warning to stay away from that man.

  I ran back to find Katie sitting on the lawn at the edge of the croquet game. She was leaning against the main house, playing with some kittens. I told her something was definitely up with my dad. His meeting with Fifi had not been good, and Fifi was nowhere to be seen.

  Katie smiled. “An Italian Leprechaun, I told you.”

  We played with the kittens, our hands brushing occasionally as we both stroked the same cat. We froze when we saw Doc. We had to think whether he had explicitly forbidden us to be here.

  Someone else was walking with him on the broad front lawn in front of the main house. Katie said this had to be Joe Gallo. She actually remembered seeing a picture of him in her dad’s study. They had their arms around each other in the picture. But guys back then, they did that…didn’t they?

  Katie and I invented something we would ask her father, interrupting his conversation with this dark, handsome guy. Doc would have to introduce us.

  As we approached, we caught Doc saying to Joe, “Same charmer, Joe, but I’m still not charmed. You’ve got to be here for your father.” He sneered. “Your sister must have accidentally tipped him off.” Doc paused upon seeing us. “Excuse me,” he said, stepping a bit to the side of Joe.

  “Yes, Katie?”

  Katie explained that we wanted his permission to hang out and play croquet on the nearby lawn. He hadn’t seen us there twenty minutes before. Doc hastily agreed, but did not introduce us.

  Although Doc and Joe moved off to the side a bit, we managed to catch bits and pieces of the story.

  Joe was clearing his throat. We heard him say something about his sister. “Regina…you…hers…no…mine.”

  Doc mumbled, “Sounds adolescent…”

  “Talked about…the future, you two…just killed me.” We heard Joe sigh extra loud.

  “Me?…her boyfriend, not yours…too confused…ashamed.” Doc coughed that strange cough.

  “You know…you wanted it…” Joe snorted.

  We barely heard Katie’s dad say, “Yup.” He cursed and mumbled, “I…been a better boyfriend to you…”

  Katie and I exchanged a puzzled look. Joe was pretty gorgeous, for a man: wavy, light brown hair, green eyes, high cheekbones, and a really warm smile. Katie and I made flirting movements towards each other, wiggling our shoulders and our heads.

  We heard something about “your eyes on my ass” and then “sanctimonious prick.” All of a sudden, they were struggling, slapping, and attempting to punch each other.

  Neither was a good fighter, but Doc was a big man, managed to pin Joe to the ground and stared down at him. Katie and I were frightened, but we couldn’t move without making noise. Actually, it looked more like a junior high fight. It was good no other guests were around, probably still playing shuffleboard in front of the dining hall.

  Since they seemed rather distracted, we moved a bit closer, hidden by the huge yellow pine just a few feet from where they lay on the ground.

  “I’m not fighting,” said Joe. “Didn’t want to fight then either.”

  “Me neither,” said Doc.

  “You’re still holding me,” said Joe.

  “I know,” said Doc.

  This was becoming strange. Katie’s eyes were big and round, and I think she was purposely pulling her hair, strand by strand in front of her eyes. I have to admit I was curious. I had heard about girls like that, but these were grown men.

  “I’ve never done this before, not since the…” said Doc.

  We could hear Joe saying, “I didn’t understand my feelings for you. Couldn’t stand it. I wondered if you messed with my sister Regina and pinned it on Butch. Guess it was my way of pushing you away, of tr
ying to hate you.”

  Doc said, “I didn’t touch her. Butch called me queer, said he’d teach me how to treat a lady. Scared me…all the way around. Caring for you so much, holding each other that time…I did not make it with your sister. She wanted to, but I…”

  “It was a lot more than holding…and here we are. Easier to see each other as evil. So hard to admit we cared deeply for each other.” Joe coughed before continuing, “I heard about Butch’s ring. It wasn’t me; I didn’t touch Butch…don’t think my father did either.”

  Katie and I wanted to leave, but we couldn’t without being found out. Then we overheard parts of stories about their last nights at camp. Jeremiah got them booze; they got blotto drunk at a wild party with some guys running around in sheets. We had heard too much. We split in the middle of their loud guffaws.

  Katie and I retreated to the back of my cabin with a lot on our minds. The warm, pine needle beds around the cabins’ stilts were one of the kittens’ favorite spots, as well as ours when we needed to be comforted. Right now, I could tell from the look on Katie’s face she needed soothing.

  Her chest rose and fell with sobs several times before she could find the breath to say, “Is he…? How could he be? I mean my mom, me…I think I’m going to be sick.”

  I held her hair as she leaned over and spit up. “There’s got to be an explanation,” I said. “Maybe, they’re like brothers? They didn’t kiss or anything.”

  “But you heard them talk about not doing this since ‘that time.’”

  “Well, maybe there was an accident or something, or they were drunk. Remember they were talking about being drunk? Maybe it happened then.”

  “That still doesn’t explain things. God, my father’s a pervert? He can’t…it’s gotta be Joe’s fault.”

  “Must be. Doc’s your dad. He’s a good dad. C’mere. Here, take my hanky. I know it’s weird, but he’s never done anything like this before.”

  “Like wrestle with a guy?” Katie laughed a bit. “He doesn’t have a limp wrist.”

  “You’re awful,” I said.

  “I’m serious.” She pushed me over and messed up my hair with both her hands.

  Sounds of Doc trudging through the nearby vegetable garden distracted us.

  He passed through, carrying several bottles of beer towards a couple of broken Adirondack chairs. Joe Gallo, Jeremiah, and Bud Lawyer were already back there. They were all in on it.

  Katie was preoccupied, tracking their movements and trying to catch bits of information, which left me to track my own thoughts about Doc and Joe. What they were talking about was definitely queer, but they didn’t really seem like sissies. Doc was big and strong and had longish, wavy hair like the Everly Brothers. He was married. Joe? Joe was…gorgeous. Well, he lisped…a little.

  I started to feel really nervous. A cold, bright light flashed on in my head. If Katie’s father was like that, could Katie have it too? What if her father was really involved in the murder, should I just let it go, and never find out?

  What if I was really like that? Should I just let that go too? I would be going home soon. I could just let everything be, let everything go back to normal.

  Yuck!

  Katie shook me. “See!” She pointed off in the direction her father had gone.

  I wasn’t sure what I was supposed to see, but Katie told me what she had heard. We already knew some of it. Apparently, the men all claimed they were drunk that night and that none of them remembered any violence. Now, they were convinced that that had been the plan all along, to keep them in the dark about the secret meeting.

  Chapter Twenty-two

  SHEDDING SOME LIGHT

  After our full day, Katie and I didn’t talk much before dinner. It was a bit misty and cool, and the grayness of the sky seemed to match our mood. We actually hung out in the dining hall a bit longer than usual. I studied my mother’s homemade culotte-dress, the wrong style for someone as short and plump as my mother. Her chattering allowed me to drift away.

  My father commented on the price of gas. I think he was calculating mileage when he wasn’t striking matches to light his cigarettes. Waitresses hummed snappy tunes as they passed. All was hunky-dory until I vaguely heard my father mention a date in the near future and drive home.

  I gazed across the room with all its fogged-in windows, to find Katie’s table at the other end of the dining hall. Her mom was gently fanning the smoke from the wood-stove away from their table. Her father, Doc, looked perky and fresh in his madras Bermudas and high wool socks, a strange choice for the weather. Katie tried to clear the window with her sleeve. It seemed a table of contradictions.

  Katie gave up on the window. She turned away from it and her family and flashed me some signals to meet her at the rec hall.

  I made my way in the semi-darkness, crossing the road and ducking through trees to meet Katie as planned. Fireflies more than headlights lighted my path. Katie was waiting for me outside, and we opened the rec hall doors and let ourselves drop to the floor, out of breath.

  “Katie, why are we here at the rec hall again? I don’t know why we keep coming back.”

  “We’re here,” said Katie. “Well…you know.”

  “What, so I can dream on command again?” I asked with a pout. “Like that went so well last time!”

  “Hey, you sound so angry.”

  “Well, this…this was ours…our game…our secret…just you and me. Now, it just feels like you’re not with me.”

  “Wait! What are you talking about? Not with you? Who else would I be with?”

  “You’re just trying to help your dad, not me! Katie, my dreams…they’re real. Real like the el train, and the ugly stores in Queens, and my parents talking about the price of milk in the A&P…” I was starting to ramble, I knew.

  Katie looked confused. “Huh?”

  “I’m not making this stuff up. These dreams are real, and they’re terrifying, and they hurt! You’re just in this to help clear your dad. You don’t even care! If this were back in the real world, away from here…you wouldn’t even talk to someone like me!”

  “Jeez. What is up with you? I have to figure out what’s going on with my father, and you’re saying I’m superficial? What is your problem?”

  “I, I don’t think you care about me,” I said, “I think you’re just in this to help your dad, and then you’re going back to your private school life without me.”

  “I love you. This is ours. I want to help my dad, yeah. But I wouldn’t even be doing this if it weren’t for you. We’re in this together. I want us to find out what happened to Regina, and I want us to get Butch and…whatever happened, I want there to be justice.”

  “But the important thing…” I said.

  “Yeah, is us, our stuff,” said Katie.

  I didn’t know what to think. It felt like Katie was saying the things I wanted to hear, but the summer was almost over, and there was still all this business with my dreams. It was too much to think about, and we were running out of time.

  “I’m, I’m so…I didn’t want to cry.”

  “What’s wrong?” Katie stepped closer, concerned.

  “Well, it’s almost over. I’ve gotta go home.”

  “Oh?”

  “That’s all you have to say?” I practically yelled.

  “I wasn’t…I hadn’t been thinking about it. The end of summer, I mean. I lost track of time.” Katie turned away, and through my tears, I saw her wipe at her eyes. She couldn’t stop either.

  “When?” Katie lifted her watery eyes to me.

  “Next week, I think.”

  Katie put her arm around me. I melted, letting myself feel all mushy and weak.

  “I just don’t want to think,” I said.

  “Come here,” said Katie. “Come snuggle.”

  We melted into each other’s arms. The last thing I remember was Katie softly snoring, and the soft double thud of her heart beating in rhythm with mine.

  Then, the voices:
<
br />   “Awake?”

  “Tonight?”

  I heard myself responding. I tried to fight it, but I was lost, lost in the boys’ voices. I tried to see faces, but it was no use. Just black and blacker…

  “Get up. We’ve got the others out of sight…just us—”

  “We’ll get the bastard. Ron deserves this from us.”

  “We’ve got to keep them out of this. You know their plans.”

  “Okay. Okay,” said Billy.

  “We’re ready to get him.”

  There they all were, gathered behind the crafts cabin. The fire had been lit in front of the shooting gallery, and they were ready to go.

  “I said, ‘just scare.’ Besides, Ron’s really your friend, you and Peter’s,” Billy said.

  “Yes, but Wolfie and us, we’ve kept old Roger away from you.”

  “Sounds like you’re saying I owe you,” said Billy.

  “Well, not exactly.”

  “Yeah, yeah, I’m just scared, I guess.” said Billy.

  “Hey Billy Boy, I’m here. We’ve got the other guys out stone cold,” said Peter.

  “So your stuff really works.”

  “C’mon, we got the fire going, and Butch should be coming. Here’s your sheet.”

  “Wha? It’s too long; I’ll trip,” said Billy.

  “Hey Wolfie, show him how – and put this mask on.”

  I remembered clutching my face, clawing and tearing. I was definitely in my dream, but it was as if I wanted to see as me, as the Pina in 1959, not Billy or whoever’s body I was inhabiting.

  “My face, I can’t…” I said. “I can’t breathe.”

  “Pina, Pina, wake up.”

  I snapped upright, totally alert. “Quick, let’s go to the science cabin. We’ve got to see about those sleeping beauties,” I said.

  “Slow down. What are you talking about? What sleeping beauties?”

  “Sleeping pills, or chemicals! A formula to knock people out, like they’re dead drunk. Like your dad and Joe Gallo were saying.”

  Still bleary eyed and raw from the dream, I pulled Katie off the rec hall porch and half-dragged her to the science cabin. We slid our way to the basement, and I tried to focus in the darkness. I knocked over a bunch of vials and tiny bottles in my rush to find what I was looking for.