Barefoot Girls (25 page)

Frannie had changed almost immediately once she started hanging out with Rose, switching from the island’s uniform of shorts and t-shirts to Rose’s favored capri pants and labor-intensive ironed cotton button-down shirts. Though, looking at Frannie now, it was clear the pants were borrowed from Rose and ill-fitted, practically hanging off of her. And Frannie’s shirt was rumpled and stained already, the opposite of Rose’s consistently pressed and fresh appearance.

Rose was pumping her legs to swing higher and higher on the tire swing, and Frannie was watching her open-mouthed with envy.  Rose had grown much taller over the winter, and her already long legs had stretched even longer. She had also grown more beautiful. Zooey thought Rose’s name was perfectly suited to the girl - so lovely to look at, yet ridden with cutting thorns.

Pam, who had been in front of the gang, turned around to look at her friends and started to speak, “Do you guys want to-“

“Hey!” Rose yelled, spotting them.

Pam startled and then turned around to look back at Rose and Frannie.

Zooey started to take a step backward. “You guys!” she hissed to the others as low as she could and still be heard.  But Pam and the others were already slowly stepping into the clearing.

Rose had slowed her swinging and then came to a stop by dragging her bare feet on the ground, raising up a puff of dust. “So if it isn’t the four musketeers? Or something like that? What are you kids doing?” Rose said, smiling at them.

Zooey didn’t like Rose’s smile. It was mean. Just like the girl. Rose had never forgotten the slap last summer, and although Zooey had gained some measure of protection by having her new and influential friends, Rose took every opportunity available to put Zooey down subtley in conversation, stick out a foot to trip her in passing, and pinch or push her whenever she caught Zooey alone.

Zooey looked at the other girls to see if they noticed the mean sparkle in Rose’s eyes, but they were all gaping at Rose. And of course they were.  Even though the girls knew Rose could be mean, she was also older, pretty, popular and well known as one of the best sailors among all the children, even the teenagers. Her parents had already given Rose her own Sunfish and she sailed it daily in the waters between the island and the causeway, usually with Frannie sitting beside her. Great sailors were practically gods on Captain’s.

Pam and Keeley responded in unison. “Nothin’.”

Amy blurted, “No, we don’t call ourselves the four musketeers! That’s silly!”

Zooey looked at Amy. Maybe Amy saw the real Rose, too. But Amy was blushing. She was just defending them, that was all.

Rose said, “Oh, sorry. Thought for some reason you guys had a nickname.”

Amy raised her chin. “We do! My mom calls us her “barefoot babes”.  ‘Cause we never wear shoes, not even when we go on the mainland. Mom took us to the grocery store last week and none of us would put on our shoes. We refused! It’s not Captain’s to put on shoes.”

Rose’s smile got wider and she looked over at Frannie. “Did you hear that, Frannie? No shoes, even in the grocery store! What rebels we have here.”

Frannie covered her mouth to laugh, glancing at the girls and then back at Rose. “Rebels!”

“So,” Rose continued. “What are you Barefooters doing today? Rebels like you must have a plan.”

Pam said, “We do! We’re going to sail all around the island! And we’re going to have a picnic!”

Rose’s eyes grew wide. “Really?
You’re
going to sail…
all
around the island?”

The other girls turned to Pam in surprise. “We are? Really? How?”

Rose laughed loudly. “Hey, Captain! Better get control of your crew!”

Pam’s brow lowered and her lip stuck out. She looked around at everyone. “No! Really! I learned how to sail at camp! I even sailed by myself! We can take Will’s Pico! I bet he’ll let us. It’ll be cool!”

Keeley slapped Pam on the shoulder. “Really? That’s so neat! I always wanted to sail all by myself!”

Amy chimed in, “Me, too!”

Zooey stayed quiet. She was watching the looks that Rose and Frannie were shooting each other over by the tire swing. Frannie was meaningfully tilting her head toward the girls and bugging her eyes out. Rose was shaking her head at Frannie subtly and waving her hand down low with her palm facing the ground.

Zooey said, “I don’t know, you guys. We should probably bring a grown-up with us.”

Pam turned to her, her brow furrowed again. “No! That won’t be any fun. And I can do it.”

Keeley said, “If Pam says she can do it, she can do it. Come on, Zo! Don’t be a scaredy-cat!” She put her hand on Zooey’s arm and smiled at her encouragingly.  God, Keeley was pretty. Zooey still couldn’t believe they were friends.

“Yeah, Zooey!” Rose called. “Don’t be scared. It’ll be fun!”

Frannie stepped forward, away from Rose, who jerked with surprise. “You kids are too young to go by yourselves! And the currents in the back of the island-“

“Oh, don’t listen to her!” Rose shouted above Frannie’s voice as she leapt from the tire swing to join Frannie where she stood. “She doesn’t know a thing about sailing!” Rose grabbed Frannie by the arm and said in a low voice, “Come on Frannie, you can’t even tie a decent knot.” Rose yanked Frannie’s arm a little when she said the word “knot”.

Amy looked at them and then at Zooey. “Maybe Zooey is right. We should probably bring a grown up. Will may not even let us take his boat out all by ourselves anyway.”

“Then we’ll take my parent’s sailboat. It’s a little bigger, but I can handle it,” Pam said.

Amy rolled her lips tightly together, clearly biting them from the inside. Then she shook her head. “I don’t think my mom will let us go on our own.”

Zooey’s parents wouldn’t let her do half the things she did each day with her friends, they were so over-protective. She told them she and her friends played dolls and put together puzzles and stuff like that. She didn’t tell them about their adventures at the Lion’s Den or crabbing with Mr. Dougherty or their swimming races where, more often than not, all the girls grew so tired they could barely climb out of the water at the end. But this time she would say something. She had a bad feeling. “My parents won’t let me go either.”

Pam was starting to look doubtful. She turned to Keeley and started to shrug when Rose spoke up, “What are you guys, chicken? You guys are chicken, aren’t you? That is so funny! Rebels without a backbone! Ha! Ha!” Rose elbowed Frannie, who started nervously cackling along with her friend.

Pam and Amy’s faces fell with embarrassment, but Keeley’s eyebrows came together and her face turned a bright red. She spun around to face the two older girls. She yelled over their laughter, “No, we’re not! We’re not! We’re going to sail all around the island today. You’ll see!”

Pam and Amy joined Keeley in a wall of solidarity, facing the two older girls across the clearing. “Yeah! You’ll see! We’re going to sail all around the island!”

Zooey held back for a moment, but then Keeley glanced back at her and she was forced to join them in their protests. With one last shout, the four of them turned and left the clearing to go in search of Will to ask for permission to borrow his boat.

An hour later, they set sail in Pam’s parents’ Bahia, a larger daysailer than Pam was used to handling, but she was certain it would be okay. After Will refused their request without hesitation, they knew their parents’ reaction may be the same if they asked permission to sail on their own, and rather than risk it, they simply didn’t ask.

Their picnic of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches was also obtained at Pam’s house. Generally, although Amy’s house was their haven, when it came to getting away with things, Pam’s house was the place to go. Pam’s father spent most of his weekends there fishing on his motorboat with his friend and next-door neighbor, Frank Mulligan, and several six-packs of beer. Pam’s mother, who was around all week, was usually tucked away on a couch on their screened-in back porch with a book or taking a nap, usually oblivious to her two children’s comings and goings. Pam’s brother, Jeff, was a year younger and ran with the wilder boys on the island and spent most of his time either at the Lion’s Den or goofing off in the marshes in the back of the island, so he was rarely home to tattle on his older sister. It was perfect.

The four girls pushed off the beach and steered the boat north along with the tide that was going out. Pam was confident at the helm and a bit bossy, going out of her way to give orders to her little crew. Everyone played along, shouting “Aye, aye, captain!” every time they received an order. They made a big show of waving dramatically at any of the kids they saw on the boardwalk. Whenever an adult was sighted, the first one to see them would shout “Thar she blows!” and they’d all duck low to avoid being identified while they passed in the boat.

It was an exciting mission and they were all enjoying themselves immensely. The only disappointment was that they hadn’t seen Rose or Frannie on the boardwalk, missing their chance to show off. They hoped that, after they circled the island, they’d see the two girls walking on the southern part of the boardwalk before landing again on Pam’s parents’ beach.

Pam brought the boat around beautifully when they passed the northernmost tip of Captain’s and started tacking back and forth to traverse the back part of the island. At first, Pam had difficulty making any headway, and they all started to look worried, but then the tide shifted, dragging them along with it around the island. All the girls relaxed then, watching the marshes and inlets of the island’s back side glide slowly by and leaning back to gaze at the hawks circling above.

“Chow time!” Pam announced, and they unpacked their picnic. Tucking into their sandwiches and sipping from the cans of warm 7Up they had also taken from Pam’s pantry, they smiled at each other with delight at the success of their mission.

“That Rose!” Keeley said, smiling. “She’s stupid! We’re not chickens! We’re fearless rebels! Barefoot rebels!”

Amy raised her emerald-green can of soda. “Yes! To us! The Barefoot Babes!”

Pam shook her head and swallowed, before raising her soda can, too. “Not ‘babes’ - that sounds like we’re babies. No offense, Amy.  Let’s just say, to the Barefoot Girls! We’re the coolest rebels of them all!”

They all raised their cans and knocked them against each other. “Aye, aye, Captain! To the Barefoot Girls!”

Their new name still ringing in her ears and stamping their friendship as official, Zooey looked around and smiled at her friends. It was impossible to be happier than in that moment. Nothing could rival this – an adventure, a beautiful day, and knowing that they would be best friends forever and ever.

That was when she saw it.

In the distance, just beyond where the sun was shining down on the water and making it sparkle with sun pennies, the sky had gone black. Zooey swallowed her bite of half-chewed sandwich with difficulty, chasing it with some soda to get it down. Finally able to speak, she pointed and said, “Hey? You guys? Do you see that?”

Keeley was chugging the last of her soda, her head tipped back. She finished, wiped her mouth with the back of her hand, and looked.  Her smile disappeared. “Uh, oh. Pam?” she said. “I mean, Captain?”

“Yes, matey?” Pam answered, rummaging below her legs looking for something to use as a napkin.

Amy saw it then, too. She gasped, “Oh, no! We’ve got to go back!”

Pam looked up to see what all the fuss was about. “What? What is it?”

“Look!” the girls said in unison and pointed.

Pam, seeing the black thunderheads approaching, looked less worried than Zooey expected. “Oh, a storm. Well, we’ll get back before it comes. Don’t worry. Hey, Amy? Do you have any more Jiffy Pop at your house?”

Amy’s eyes were still wide, staring at the horizon before turning to Pam. “Uh, yeah?”

Pam said, “Let’s go to your house after? We can watch the storm with popcorn – like a movie!”

Keeley smiled, her face relaxing. “Great idea! Amy? Will your mom let us?”

Amy smiled too, though with more uncertainty. “Oh…of course. Sure!”

Zooey wanted to be reassured, but the black clouds seemed to be growing closer very quickly. She wanted to be safely on shore and inside, popcorn or no popcorn. But Pam seemed unconcerned. Maybe it was okay? Zooey glanced again at the approaching thunderheads.

They had reached the southern end of the marshes on the back of the island and Pam started tacking again to get them around to the front of the island. The first turn went well, bringing them close to the abandoned and rotting shack at the end of the island that stood just above the marsh on pilings. Zooey looked up at the house as they passed it. This was the real haunted house on the island, she was sure of it. Something inside watched her whenever she passed it, making her neck prickle. Now she could feel that prickling watched feeling again. She looked away quickly, afraid she’d see something looking back at her through the salt-coated windows.

It was with the second turn that they started to realize that the incoming tide, that had been their friend before by pulling them around the back of the island, was now dragging them away from the island. It was when Pam stopped talking that Zooey really knew something was wrong.  Now, the only time Pam spoke was to let them know they were coming about so they would drop their heads to avoid the boom. Zooey exchanged worried looks with Amy and Keeley. The sun that had been dancing on the water suddenly disappeared behind swiftly approaching dark clouds and the wind picked up.