The Secret Book Club (15 page)

Camden Falls, Massachusetts, has a different face every day of the year. This is Camden Falls on the evening of Labor Day, which is the first day of September. The Nelson Day festivities are over and Main Street is quiet. The cleaning crew has come through and swept up the candy wrappers and sales receipts, and the sparrows have enjoyed bits of popcorn and the ends of hot dog buns. The lampposts, still twined with gold lights, glow brightly in the dark, and so do the store windows. There's the window of Needle and Thread, now featuring back-to-school clothes made by Min and Gigi and Flora. There's the window of Time and Again, designed by Sonny Sutphin: The rows of books arranged in it have been chosen as Fall Book Club Picks. In the window of Frank's Beans is a sign introducing Pumpkin Spice Chai.

Take a walk through town to a little one-story house in front of which a
FOR RENT
sign recently stood.

“Pretty soon we can put the sign up again,” says Hilary Nelson with satisfaction. “We won't have to live here much longer. We can move back to Main Street.”

“We are very, very lucky,” says her father.

The Nelsons, all four of them, are sitting in the living room of their rented house. The oversize cardboard check leans against the wall next to the couch.

“We have good friends here,” says her mother.

“It's funny how a friend can be someone you never met,” remarks Hilary.

In a somewhat larger but even shabbier house on the outskirts of town, Nikki and Mae Sherman and their mother sit at the table in their kitchen. On the floor next to Mae, Paw-Paw is chowing down a bowl of dog food.

“Poor Paw-Paw. He had to eat late tonight,” says Mae. “And we got hamburgers, but he only got … whatever that stuff is.” She leans over to examine the contents of his dish.

“Well, he seems to like it,” says Nikki, but her attention is not really on her little sister or on Paw-Paw. She's listening for the sound of cars on the road, and her eyes are trained out the window on the drive to their house. She suspects that her mother is watchful, too. But Mae and Paw-Paw are oblivious to nighttime dangers, and Nikki is grateful for that.

Back in town, lights begin to blink off here and there. In the Morrises' home on the left end of the Row Houses, the light goes off in Alyssa's room. Alyssa, five years old, lies in bed thinking about school. “Kindy garden,” she says to herself. “Flower garden, vegetable garden, kindy garden.” In three days she will begin kindergarten, and at long last she'll be able to walk to Camden Falls Elementary with her sister and brothers.

In a little plot of land behind the fourth Row House from the right are, somewhat to the surprise of Olivia, Ruby, Nikki, and Flora, flourishing plants that still yield squash, green peppers, eggplants, tomatoes, and more. The moon shines down on the garden, but the only pair of eyes that notices it belongs to Sweetie, Mr. Willet's cat, who has been prowling behind the Row Houses ever since he slipped out the back door, unseen by Mr. Willet, whose mind is on other things.

Inside the Walters' house, Olivia is lying on her bed. She has come up with a new project for herself: She has decided to read all the other books by the authors of the secret book club selections. She decides to start with the books by Elizabeth Enright, who wrote
The Saturdays
, so propped against her knees is a copy of
Thimble Summer
. Olivia is happy to lose herself in a new story, something to yank her mind from thoughts of tomorrow's orientation at the central school.

Three houses away, Bill Willet stands on his front
stoop and looks across his yard to the object that was pounded into the lawn late in the afternoon. Mr. Willet was surprised to learn that the real estate agent worked on Labor Day and now doesn't know whether to be pleased or dismayed by the sight of the
FOR SALE
sign. He wants to be closer to Mary Lou, but this has been his home for a long, long time. He thinks of the faces of his neighbors as they walked home from the Nelson Day festivities earlier. No one was surprised by the sign, but everyone felt a pang of sadness, the way Olivia felt when she thought over her years at the elementary school, or Mrs. Morris felt when she looked at Alyssa's baby clothes.

“I can't imagine the Row Houses without the Willets,” Mr. Fong had said as he and his wife, baby Grace in front of them in her stroller, paused to consider the sign.

“I wonder who'll buy his house,” Ruby had said a few minutes later. “We'll have new neighbors.”

“The last time we had new neighbors,” Min had replied, “was when the Fongs moved here.”

Now the Row Houses are quiet. The Morrises have settled in for the night, and so have the Edwardses, the Walters, and Dr. Malone and Margaret. Lydia Malone is out with friends but has a ten o'clock curfew so should be home soon. The Fongs are singing Grace to sleep in her room. Mr. Willet takes one more look at the sign before closing and locking his front door. He
hears Sweetie meowing at the back door and opens it gratefully. Sweetie shouldn't be out at night.

One house in the row is dark. Mr. Pennington hasn't come home yet. He's sitting in the living room of Min Read's house. Upstairs, Flora and Ruby are in their bedrooms, neither asleep. Flora is looking through the items she bought at the sidewalk sale and planning her outfit for orientation. Ruby is writing up a list of musicals that feature children, specifically children her age, and planning to present it to someone at the community center. It is her dream to be featured in a musical before she turns twelve.

Downstairs, Min and Rudy Pennington sit side by side on the couch, each wondering what the autumn will bring. They are sitting in silence, but they are very, very happy. Rudy Pennington reaches for Min's hand and covers it gently, and Min smiles into his face.