Rowing in Eden (37 page)

“It's amazing we survived, when you think of all the crazy stuff we did,” Martie said gaily.

“You were lucky,” Peg said. “A person shouldn't count on her luck holding out.”

Taking the long way home meant driving through a good deal of cropland on roads set far from sight of Pynch Lake. For several miles, the family passed fences and fields and the occasional gravel road that led to farmhouses and barns and outbuildings for animals and machinery.

Franny lay her head back against the seat while they drove. How many more times would she and her sisters ride together in the back, like this, the way they had always ridden, Brick at the wheel, Peg in the front passenger seat? Franny always ended up between Rosamund and Martie—unless, for a change, on long trips, she rode between Peg and Brick, up front.

“I think people who grow up in Iowa are lucky,” Franny said, not to anyone in particular. “Some people drive through here, and they say it's flat and boring, but, really, it's subtle. It helps you to see things if you grow up someplace subtle.”

“So, let's hear it for Iowa!” said Martie, and began to sing, very loud, the boisterous state song—

“Martha!” Brick said. “For Christsake, knock that off!”

Martie looked startled. “Hey, I'm doing what you guys want, aren't I? I thought you were happy with me.”

Peg gave Brick a look of warning, then said, “We are, honey. Just—wait till all this is over. We seem tense now, but when all this is over, we'll be our old selves again.”

ELIZABETH EVANS
is the author of six books of fiction, including
As Good As Dead
,
Carter Clay
and
Suicide's Girlfriend
. The recipient of numerous awards for her writing, Evans makes her home in Tucson, Arizona.

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Carter Clay

The Blue Hour

Locomotion

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

ROWING IN EDEN
. Copyright © 2000 by Elizabeth Evans. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.

FIRST EDITION

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Evans, Elizabeth, 1951–

Rowing in Eden : a novel/Elizabeth Evans—1st ed.

p. cm.

ISBN 0-06-019550-9

EPub Edition July 2015 ISBN 9780062434395

1. Summer resorts—Fiction. 2. Teenage girls—Fiction 3. Middle west—Fiction. 4. Sisters—Fiction. I. Title

PS3555.V2152 R69 2000

813'.54—dc21

00-025952

00 01 02 03 04
/RRD
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

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