Summer Nights Read Online Free PDF
Author: Caroline B. Cooney
sow. She wants to be nasty her whole seventeen years, she gets a nasty harvest, that’s all.
It was Kip who had done most of the work for the party. Oh, Con paid the bills, but he kept calling Kip up and wheedling her into making the arrangements for him. First it was rent the boat for him, and then it was find a little band for him, and then arrange fireworks for him. Finally get a caterer for him. “You’re so clever at this,” he would tell Kip. “You know the ins and outs, everything you touch turns out perfectly.”
“Get lost, Con.”
“But it’s for Anne, not me. Please, Kippie?”
Her little brother called her Kippie. She hated it. When she went to college she would dump that stupid nickname forever and be Katharine. She imagined a slew of handsome boys calling Katharine, Katharine! She would turn gracefully on those crowded New York streets and smile back at them. Hi, Tod. Hi, Bob. Hi, Kenny.
Con was so handsome. Every time he begged, Kip gave in. Those intense eyes and flickering smiles had been winning the girls since grammar school.
Molly’s brittle, demanding whine broke into her thoughts. “Come on, guys let’s go someplace air-conditioned and have a great time.”
“There’s a new juice bar on Michigan Avenue,” Kip suggested teasingly.
“Oh, Kip, don’t be weird. A juice bar? Get a life. Why would we want to go to a juice bar? How about the movies?”
“That’s a thought,” Kip said. She found her purse and car keys. “I’ll give you a ride home, Molly. Anne has to finish packing. Emily, you need a ride home?”
Anne got misty. “Oh, Kip, this is it. This is good -bye. I’m actually leaving. So are you. ”
“You sound like a drum roll,” Kip teased her.
They flung their arms around each other.
“Oh, Kippie, do you think it’ll all work out?” cried Anne, as if her parents’ lack of faith had suddenly penetrated. How cruel parents can be, Kip thought. Raise a child for eighteen years and then tell her she isn’t ready.
“You’ll be perfect,” Kip said softly. They hugged fiercely. “Don’t send me postcards,” Kip said. “I want you to be so busy and having so much fun you never get to a post office.”
They hugged again. The tears that came were real, and painful. It was not a sham good-bye, a false good-bye that had worried Kip, since they would do it all over again in a few hours. It was real and it hurt.
Anne kept standing by Kip’s car, crying, “Oh, we should have planned something special!”
Emily said, weeping, “Yes, this is terrible.”
Molly added, “It’s not too late; let’s all do something later on.”
I’ll have to drive over her foot to shut her up, Kip thought. This was so attractive she almost did it. Exercising control, she said, “Just get in the car, will you, Molly?”
Kip drove away, one hand on the wheel, one hand waving to Anne, and Emily passed her a Kleenex for her tears.
Kip began to get excited. There was nothing like a party. Especially a party on the Duet —a river cruise—dancing by the moonlight out on the water!
Oh, what a Saturday night!
Molly just stood there during the sickening little good-byes Emily and Kip said to Anne, with little cries of pain and loss, as if they would sob every night missing old Anne.
She got in the backseat of Kip’s huge station wagon, among the debris of four little brothers.
They’ll all go somewhere, Molly Nelmes thought. I’ll be here doing nothing. Dwindling away.
She was afraid.
The days stretched out in front, empty and useless. School was bad, but filled the days with boys and action. Even long summers came to an end. Not this year. Now there were neither endings nor beginnings.
Molly looked down at the little object she had rescued from the bottom of the pool.
Action, she thought. Either I find it…or I make it.
Chapter 8
A LL OF ANNE STEPHENS’ house was lovely, but the staircase was superb. It turned twice inside the large, open hall, each landing
It was Kip who had done most of the work for the party. Oh, Con paid the bills, but he kept calling Kip up and wheedling her into making the arrangements for him. First it was rent the boat for him, and then it was find a little band for him, and then arrange fireworks for him. Finally get a caterer for him. “You’re so clever at this,” he would tell Kip. “You know the ins and outs, everything you touch turns out perfectly.”
“Get lost, Con.”
“But it’s for Anne, not me. Please, Kippie?”
Her little brother called her Kippie. She hated it. When she went to college she would dump that stupid nickname forever and be Katharine. She imagined a slew of handsome boys calling Katharine, Katharine! She would turn gracefully on those crowded New York streets and smile back at them. Hi, Tod. Hi, Bob. Hi, Kenny.
Con was so handsome. Every time he begged, Kip gave in. Those intense eyes and flickering smiles had been winning the girls since grammar school.
Molly’s brittle, demanding whine broke into her thoughts. “Come on, guys let’s go someplace air-conditioned and have a great time.”
“There’s a new juice bar on Michigan Avenue,” Kip suggested teasingly.
“Oh, Kip, don’t be weird. A juice bar? Get a life. Why would we want to go to a juice bar? How about the movies?”
“That’s a thought,” Kip said. She found her purse and car keys. “I’ll give you a ride home, Molly. Anne has to finish packing. Emily, you need a ride home?”
Anne got misty. “Oh, Kip, this is it. This is good -bye. I’m actually leaving. So are you. ”
“You sound like a drum roll,” Kip teased her.
They flung their arms around each other.
“Oh, Kippie, do you think it’ll all work out?” cried Anne, as if her parents’ lack of faith had suddenly penetrated. How cruel parents can be, Kip thought. Raise a child for eighteen years and then tell her she isn’t ready.
“You’ll be perfect,” Kip said softly. They hugged fiercely. “Don’t send me postcards,” Kip said. “I want you to be so busy and having so much fun you never get to a post office.”
They hugged again. The tears that came were real, and painful. It was not a sham good-bye, a false good-bye that had worried Kip, since they would do it all over again in a few hours. It was real and it hurt.
Anne kept standing by Kip’s car, crying, “Oh, we should have planned something special!”
Emily said, weeping, “Yes, this is terrible.”
Molly added, “It’s not too late; let’s all do something later on.”
I’ll have to drive over her foot to shut her up, Kip thought. This was so attractive she almost did it. Exercising control, she said, “Just get in the car, will you, Molly?”
Kip drove away, one hand on the wheel, one hand waving to Anne, and Emily passed her a Kleenex for her tears.
Kip began to get excited. There was nothing like a party. Especially a party on the Duet —a river cruise—dancing by the moonlight out on the water!
Oh, what a Saturday night!
Molly just stood there during the sickening little good-byes Emily and Kip said to Anne, with little cries of pain and loss, as if they would sob every night missing old Anne.
She got in the backseat of Kip’s huge station wagon, among the debris of four little brothers.
They’ll all go somewhere, Molly Nelmes thought. I’ll be here doing nothing. Dwindling away.
She was afraid.
The days stretched out in front, empty and useless. School was bad, but filled the days with boys and action. Even long summers came to an end. Not this year. Now there were neither endings nor beginnings.
Molly looked down at the little object she had rescued from the bottom of the pool.
Action, she thought. Either I find it…or I make it.
Chapter 8
A LL OF ANNE STEPHENS’ house was lovely, but the staircase was superb. It turned twice inside the large, open hall, each landing