The Summer of the Elks

Colin came home to meet his father. It was the early 80’s now, and they wanted to sell property, he told his daughter Deenie, and it struck him at once, the wood- paneled car ending, dinosaurs, and the new tourists breaking down the dreamy island, and also, all at once, his father’s white hair.

He was a tall man, with thick eyebrows, and dark hair that went white. The hair went white, once he grew older. Abe was part of the old Elk clubs. He met her young, an almost famous beauty on the Island called Riley Smart.

The perfection of the rich white folk. And the mark of the Great Santini lingered with Abraham. Or Abe, as he was called with the Elk friends. He yelled, silvery eyes glittering: the Scotch were tough as butchers. And he was a Swede too, with the passion of the ideology, downing his scotch with a glance, living in the ranch house at the end of a tree lined South Jersey street on the Island.

They all watched that Woody Allen’s movie Stardust Memories. They weren’t big Woody Allen’s fans. But some cute 23 year old boy clerk behind the desk, sullenly recommended it. And so they watched it that Indian summer night, with crickets and bugs a buzz somewhere, transfixed by her beauty, like the movie stars that they were.