“Sure. We had them in school. They’re the oldest living things.”
“Now just imagine that you’re never going to see them in your whole life. I suppose if they were cut up into boards, they’d be worth a lot of money. Would you care if some men bought them and cut them all down?”
Alicia frowned and bit her lip. “And I wasn’t going to see them anyway? Well... I guess I wouldn’t like it. I mean it’s nice knowing they’re there.”
“You own part of those trees, dear. If they were all divided into a hundred and eighty million parts, one part would be yours. Your part might be just a twig and a couple of leaves.”
“That’s silly!”
“And you own a part of Grassy Bay too. It’s what is called an undivided interest. You don’t know what part you own and I don’t know what part I own, but if it was divided up, our parts wouldn’t be worth very much. Maybe a little sand and a shell and a fiddler crab apiece. But with everybody’s parts of it left together there, it’s a beautiful thing, isn’t it?”
“I guess so.”
“Now, listen carefully, dear. This is hard to understand. If those redwoods were sold, or if the bay is sold, you won’t get any part of the money, even though you own a part of both of them.”
“That would be cheating, wouldn’t it?”
“Clever men can use the laws to cheat all of us and make it sound as if they’re doing us a big favor. That’s what we’re trying to keep from happening. Colonel Jennings and Mr. Sinnat and Jackie Halley and all of us. Do you understand?”
“I... I guess so.”
“Now do you care if they fill up Grassy Bay and put houses there?”
Alicia frowned. “It wouldn’t be right. No, I guess I wouldn’t like it.”
“Now, you run along, honey, and figure out what we’re going to cook up for three tired beachcombers.”
When she was alone, Kat looked at herself in the bathroom mirror. How can you know if you’re doing it right? she thought. How do you know exactly what you’re doing to them with the things you say? You could have done these things so much better, darling. You’d have the right words. They’d understand and remember. I don’t think they really pay much attention to anything I say.
Tom Jennings’ voice was not as forceful as usual over the phone. He sounded remote and windy and indecisive.
“I’ve been trying to get hold of you, Katherine. I don’t know if you can help or not. I hope so. This is very upsetting.”
“What’s the matter, Tom?”
“Di Sinnat phoned me about three o’clock. He was... almost formal. It was as if he was talking to a stranger. He said he had decided not to get involved in committee work this time. He said he was resigning. He said he was sorry to have to withdraw his offer of financial assistance to the committee. He wished us luck. I tried to find out why, but he was very terse and strange.”
“I can’t understand it!”
“Neither can I. I was counting on his help. I never thought he’d... Anyway, I called him back a half hour later to ask him if I could come over and talk to him. I got the housekeeper. She took my name. She came back to the phone and said Mr. and Mrs. Sinnat were gone for the rest of the day.”
“But what could have happened, Tom?”
“I don’t know. I really don’t. I can’t imagine him changing because he’s gotten in with Burt Lesser and those people. And I can’t imagine him being frightened off. I just don’t know, Katherine. You’re as close to them as anybody I can think of. I must tell you he did sound as if there’s no chance of his changing his mind. But one always hopes. At least, maybe you can find out why this has happened. Without the two thousand dollars he promised for our campaign fund, we’re going to have financial difficulty. It will... weaken our effort to have to spend time and energy raising money when we should be stirring up public opinion.”
“Who else knows about this, Tom?”
“I decided that the fewer people who know about it, the easier it would be for him to change his mind back again. I don’t know who he has told, of course. But aside from Melissa and me, you are the only one who knows about his phone call.”
She looked at her watch. “I’ll see what I can do. You understand, Tom, I can’t get... rough about it. Di and Claire have been too good to me. I mean, if he doesn’t want to talk to me, I can’t get insistent.”
“Of course I understand that. Of the eight on the committee, he’s the one I didn’t want to lose.”
“I have to feed the kids and stow them away, and then I’ll see what I can do. I’ll let you know.”
“Phone me right away, please, no matter how late it is.”
The kids were in bed by quarter to ten, their faces dark against the pillows. As she was wondering whether to phone, or whether to walk to the Sinnats and leave the children alone for a little while, someone rapped on the glass of the patio door. She turned the outside lights on and saw Nat Sinnat silhouetted there.
She opened the door and said, “Come in, Nat. Listen, dear, you’ve come along at just the right time. Could you stay here for a little while while I hurry up to your house and talk to Dial for a little while, if he’s home?”
“What about?” Nat said, walking in. The tone of voice was so flat as to be almost rude. When the girl moved into the light, Katherine saw the compressed lips, the puffy eyes, the dark patches under the eyes.
“I want to talk to him about the committee.”
Natalie walked slowly to a big chair, sat in it and looked toward Kat. She kicked her sandals off and pulled her legs up into the chair and said, “Then maybe you better listen to me. My father isn’t going to talk to anybody, Kat. Not even Claire. And somehow I can’t talk to Claire either.” She lifted her chin slightly. “And I’ve God damn well got to talk to somebody or start beating my head on the trees. Do you mind?”
Kat sat down near the girl. “It’s about the committee? I don’t understand.”
“Some person or persons got in touch with Dial this morning. They told him that his darling daughter was a tramp. They named the times and the place and they had it right, damn them. They told him they didn’t want to interfere with any fun his little girl was having, but unless he severed every connection with Save Our Bays immediately, said little girl was going to be in the middle of such a stinking public mess, decent people would probably tar and feather her.” Natalie Sinnat began to cry.
Kat went to her quickly. “Please, dear,” she said.
“I keep c-crying because I get so d-damned mad. He’s taking it so seriously.” She started furiously at Katherine. “What the hell kind of a human being does he think I am? Certainly, people could make it sound ugly and horrible. I’m not a tramp! I don’t feel messy! He should realize I don’t care how anybody tries to make it sound. I don’t feel as if I’ve done anything so terribly wrong.”
“I can’t believe you have.”
“But now I don’t know what to think. Maybe it was wrong. I have to tell you about it. And you have to promise to tell me if I was wrong. Will you?”
“Of course I will.”
“Please go back over there, Kat. Could I have a drink? A strong one. Gin, if you have it.”
“And tonic?”
“Please.”
Katherine made drinks and brought them in. Natalie blew her nose and got her cigarettes out of her purse.
“You have to know how it started,” the girl said. “When I first came down here, the second week in June, Jigger started sort of following me around. It was funny and it was annoying. I don’t like the sort of boy I thought he was. Big and powerful and beautiful and arrogant. I thought he was trying to rack me up for a summer score, so he could brag to his seventeen-year-old friends how he made it with a college girl. It seemed as if every time I looked around, there he was. And I was waiting for a chance to chill him. After I was here about ten days they put on that big end-of-school beach party for all the kids in the Estates. I went because I didn’t have anything else to do. He wanted to walk down the beach with me. I thought it was a good chance to clobber him. We walked a long way. I wondered when he was going to make the pass. He didn’t. We’d started back. The bonfire was a long way off. I stumbled on some driftwood. He caught me and he didn’t let go. His hand was here and he was trembling and it was as if he couldn’t let go. That was my chance, and I let him have it. I’ve got a mean mouth, Kat. I chopped him right down to nothing, and I left him there. He didn’t follow me. When I was about sixty feet away he made a terrible sound. A kind of anguish. I kept walking, but I kept remembering that sound. I’d said some truly horrible things to him. Finally I stopped and went back. I realized I hadn’t been fair. I was taking out on him some of the pain and the heartbreak of the terrible year I’d had.