Arnold Evans - Different -the girls of summer

In the height of their argument, Pat had threatened to go to the camp's owner and report June's sexual involvement with one of the girls. She had screamed that it would serve June right, for trying to make her believe she was through with lesbian relations for good, when all she really wanted was a clear field with Mimsy Colberg. June had countered by challenging Pat to make the report, feeling in her heart that she knew the girl who'd once been her lover well enough to know she never would do it. Until that afternoon, her belief had been justified to the point where she'd actually felt safe having further sexual relations with Mimsy. She and the girl had met several times in June's cabin while Pat was away, and three nights during the last week they'd had secret meetings in the woods after everyone else in the camp was asleep. Now June didn't know what to think – except that Pat had turned her in.

She knocked lightly on the cabin door and entered as Mrs. Marchant called out, "Come in." The woman looked up from her desk with a stern, almost angry frown creasing her thin forehead. "Oh, it's you, June."

"Here it comes," the girl thought, swallowing hard as she stared into the cold eyes of the camp owner.

To her surprise, however, Mrs. Marchant looked back down at her papers and informed her, "You have a visitor."

"What?" June was so startled that the woman hadn't said what she'd expected her to say that for a moment she didn't understand. "I beg your pardon, Mrs. Marchant? Would you repeat that, please?"

"What's the matter?" the woman snapped in her old maid school teacher voice. "Do you have a bug in your ear this afternoon? I said you have a visitor. He's waiting to see you in the other room."

"He…? A visitor…?" June mumbled in confusion.

"He says he's your young man," the woman impatiently explained. "I informed him that you were in the middle of a class and asked if he would wait until you'd finished and dismissed the girls, but he insisted it was of the utmost urgency that he see you immediately. He said he wouldn't leave my office until I had you called." It was clear by the woman's peevish tone that she was annoyed by the whole situation. "Try not to let him keep you too long, June. There's no telling what the girls might get into left alone like this."

"Yes, Mrs. Marchant," June said quickly, feeling a flood of relief run through her as she realized the worst of what she'd feared was not going to come true. "Of course. I understand. I'll only be a minute. As soon as I see what he wants, I'll get back to my class."

"Well, I hope so…" the woman muttered, as June crossed the room and opened the door of the little anteroom to the office.

Her eyes widened in surprise as she confronted Gary, her boyfriend from college. As he rushed across the room to take her in his arms, June's first thought was, "My God! Something's happened at home! Pop! He's had another heart attack!"

Her hands clutched frantically at Gary's arms, pushing him away when he tried to kiss her. "Gary, what's wrong? Is it Pop? Mother? What's happened?"

"Hey! Hey!" he laughed. "Hold on! It's nothing like that; your folks are both doing fine. I talked to them on the phone last night to tell them I was coming up here and see if there was anything they wanted me to bring you."

After the tension of her fears, the seemingly inconsequential reason for Gary's visit struck June in a way that made her as much angry as it did relieved. "What are you doing here? What do you want, Gary?" she snapped, more sharply than she'd meant to.

"Well!" he smiled. "That's a heck of a welcome from the girl I'm in love with, I must say!"

"What do you want? Don't you know I have a class waiting for me right now? Mrs. Marchant told me you said it was some kind of emergency, that you had to see me immediately."

"I just told her that because I knew if I didn't she wouldn't call you," the boy grinned. "I've got to get back for work tomorrow morning, so I can't spend too much time up here."

"What do you want?" June sighed impatiently. "Will you please tell me and get it over with?"

Gary's face went suddenly serious as he reached for June's hand and squeezed it hard. "I've got to talk to you. About us."

"Oh, God!" she moaned. "Is that all?"

"Well, it's important to me, at least, to know where we stand," the boy argued. "Maybe you feel different about it since I saw you last."

"Look, Gary," June explained, freeing her arm from his grip. "I can't talk to you right now. Mrs. Marchant is already annoyed because I've left the girls alone, and if I'm not back soon she'll have my head on a platter. It's a wonderful surprise to see you like this, but I wish you'd have phoned or written me first to let me know you were coming."

"I didn't have time. I just made up my mind to come yesterday; as soon as I got the letter."

"What letter?"

"I left it in the car. Come on for a drive with me and I'll let you read it."

"Gary, I can't. Aren't you able to understand that? This is my job you're interrupting. I'm working, but I might not be much longer if I don't get back to those girls."

"What time does your class finish?"

"In about a half-hour, but then I've got group conferences almost until it's time for dinner. I really don't see how…"

"Can I meet you somewhere later tonight? After dinner, maybe?"

"I've got to see the girls get settled down for the night."

"Well, after that, then."

"It'll be late, Gary. I really don't think…"

"You mean I drove all the way up here for nothing?" he snapped.

Without thinking first, June snapped right back at him, "Who asked you to? I didn't…"

"Okay, forget it, then."

"Oh, Gary! I'm sorry! Wait a minute; don't go! I didn't mean it the way it sounded!" She hurried after him, stopping his hand just as it reached for the doorknob to the outside, "I'll meet you at eleven o'clock. I think it'll be safe by that time."

His face brightened immediately. "Okay, where?"

June thought quickly for a moment. "Park your car close to the main gate, but out of sight if you can manage it. There's a little cabin close to the fence that used to be the gatekeeper's house when this was a private estate. It's deserted now."

"I think I saw it on my way in. Is that where you want me to meet you?"

"At eleven," she promised, leaning forward and giving him a quick kiss on the lips. "I've got to run now. See you later."

For all she was able to concentrate on teaching the class when she returned to it, however, June might just as well have gone off with the boy right there and then. Her mind was unable to concentrate on anything other than what had brought him all the way from Boston to the Summer Sisters Camp. What was this mysterious letter he was talking about, she wondered? Her first suspicion had been that it was one of those she'd written to Pat, but she quickly realized that if that were the case Gary wouldn't be half as off-handed as he'd been. He'd be hopping mad, demanding an explanation or a denial. But what else it could be was anyone's guess.

"June?" Mimsy asked when the class was over and the girls were starting down to the lake. "Can I see you again tonight? In our secret place?"

It hurt her inside to have to shake her head and tell the girl, "No, darling, I'm sorry. Not tonight. I can't make it."

"Why?" Mimsy asked innocently.

"I – can't explain."

"It's not because you're tired of seeing me, is it?" the girl asked softly. "Because if I thought that was true, June, I don't know what I'd do. You're my whole life. I'd be lost forever if you left me."

"Don't talk such nonsense," she chided, but inside herself she glowed with love and happiness for the girl and had been deeply touched that Mimsy expressed such strong feelings for her. "It has nothing to do with you. I'll see you tomorrow, in our place."