Summertime
It was July, “Myrtis’s favorite month since school days,” when it “would seem the summer still stretched before you,” and “your tennis shoes were just the right soiled color with your toenails poking up the canvas.” Not to mention that the water “had warmed up enough that you could swim in the ocean.” The problem was that “now” she lived “inland” and there “was no nearby ocean.” She couldn’t forget how wonderful “the Fourth of July” was back then. “Strawberries ripened in July” and “bathing suits went on sale.” How she wished her daughter also saw summer “as a magical time” when “the world overwhelmed you with its bounty,” but Jocelyn seemed to notice “little if anything about the environment.” This imagery evokes a feeling nostalgia and regret.
Secrets
Jocelyn felt like “she was in Alice in Wonderland.” First of all, she didn’t have any idea of her uncle’s spur-of-the-moment “trip.” Secondly, it turned out to be that her predictable uncle had his own hobbies and interests that he didn’t even bother to mention to her. Thirdly, she didn’t even suspect that she an appointment to “the eye doctor.” “Nothing made much sense.” The girl was almost sure that soon enough “a white rabbit would appear, but until it did, she stared at the digital clock in the car.” She tried “not to cry,” but that was too complicated. “Summer school was exhausting.” T.G. was “in a hospital somewhere she’d have no way to visit,” and her mother had “Lyme disease.” Jocelyn thought, “just great.” This imagery evokes a feeling of confusion and exhaustion.
Perfect Jen
Jocelyn whined silently, “oh, please let me live through this summer,” as she followed Bettina “into the building.” The girl still didn’t have any idea why she was there and why she needed to see that eye doctor at all. She “sank into a chair and picked up People magazine,” while Bettina tried to charm the receptionist, “thanking her profusely for working her in, her sickly sweet smile at odds with her bizarre body language.” Jocelyn stared at the magazine in her hands. There was “an article about Jennifer Aniston and her new fiancé” who was “good looking, in a conversational way.” It would be “so great to be Jen with totally perfect hair and a flawless complexion and no Aunt Bettina in her life.” “So what if she’d lost Brad Pitt?” This imagery evokes a laugh, for Jocelyn doesn’t know a thing about real life of the actress. We just know what is published in the magazines. Not to mention that there is no one with a totally perfect life.
