Free Shining Sea by Anne Korkeakivi Page A

own son.
    Right now, Francis is leaning against the coral tree picking on his guitar, paying no mind to Eugene or the firecrackers. Ronnie must have given the boys the money for them. He’s the one who came up with the plan for Francis and Eugene to spend the summer working for Jeanne, helping fix up her rattling old wooden house. When they went East at Thanksgiving, Ronnie saw how badly it needed painting. The college would pay for it, right? he said on the plane ride home. Jeanne just hasn’t gotten around to asking them?
    Francis and Eugene will be on a bus heading toward New York State this time on Saturday. Ronnie, of course, bought their tickets. The college will let Jeanne hire her nephew, but it’s not going to pay for his transportation across the country.
    “Me, too,” Kenny says, swaying on his chubby little legs, glancing adoringly at Eugene and Francis. “Hungry.”
    Sissy slams her book shut. “Let’s play hide-and-seek!”
    No one pays her any mind. Francis keeps fiddling with his guitar. Eugene continues fiddling with his firecrackers. Luke might as well be a corpse over there in the hammock.
    Sissy puts her hands on her hips. “Come on!”
    “I’m sorry, sweetheart. I have to tend the barbecue,” Ronnie says, forgetting again that Sissy doesn’t like being called by endearments. He can’t help it. Endearments come naturally to him. “Boys, play with your little sister.”
    Sissy glares at him, then stalks over to the hammock and pulls up hard on its side, flipping Luke over onto the ground.
    “Hey!” Luke says, coming to life, rolling up onto his knees and grabbing for her. Mike puts his beer down, ready to step in.
    Sissy jumps back. “Play hide-and-seek. Come on, Luke. Everyone here is so boring.”
    Luke wipes his hands on his legs. He laughs. “Okay, squirt.”
    Mike picks his beer back up.
    “Okay, Sissy. We’ll play, too,” Eugene says, punching Francis.
    “Yeah, okay,” Francis mumbles, looking up. “What are we doing?”
    Sissy sticks her tongue out at him.
    “No sticking your tongue out, Sissy,” she says—though as far as she’s concerned, Sissy is within her rights. Those boys . “That’s not ladylike.”
    “Hide seek,” little Kenny says.
    “You’re too small to play,” six-year-old Sissy says.
    Kenny’s tiny face crumples. He doesn’t cry, just looks down at his feet. It rips her in two. “I don’t know what you’re talking about, Sissy,” she says. “Kenny’s going to play with me, and as a team we’re going to beat all of you.” She takes Kenny’s hand in hers. He looks up at her, his eyes round and shiny.
    She gives Francis a look.
    “Oh, don’t worry,” he mutters. When it comes to hiding, Francis has them all beat when he wants.
    “You’re it!” Sissy says, tagging Luke.
    Luke laughs again and sits back down on the hammock. He covers his eyes. “One… two…”
    She scoops Kenny up onto her hip. “Come on. I have a great hiding place for us.” She runs through the grass around the house, carrying him. “Shh,” she says. She tiptoes through the front door and back toward the kitchen.
    “Six, seven, eighhhhht…”
    She places Kenny on the floor. “We’ll crawl under the table and pull the chairs in. He’ll never find us.”
    Kenny sticks his thumb in his mouth.
    “Don’t do that, Kenny. It’ll give you rabbit teeth.”
    He takes his thumb out.
    She folds a chocolate chip cookie into a napkin and gets down on her knees beside him. “There are cookies to eat while we wait. Quick.” Together, they crawl under the table. He leans against her shoulder. She kisses the top of his head.
    “Ten. Ready or not, hipsters, here I come!”
    Luke finds Eugene first. It’s easy—something in the garden shed sets Eugene off on a coughing fit. In the last few months, Eugene’s asthma seems to have disappeared, but his lungs are still fragile.
    “Aw, hell, Luke,” Eugene says.
    “Now, no need for that language, Eugene,” Ronnie says.