June 18, 1995
Dear Diary,
The boys are building a platform.
A FLOATING PLATFORM, that is, with rope handles around the edges and plywood on top.
The whole thing is supposed to be anchored fifty yards out in the Gulf so we can swim out to it and lie on it and sun.
This was Eli’s idea, of course. The future architect, just like Dad, must build things and show off his drawing talents.
He appeared at the breakfast table with a sketch on graph paper and a pencil behind his ear, and Kate went the particular shade of pink she goes when she is trying very hard to pretend she has not noticed something.
Kate, I love you, but you have a tell.
We do not talk about it, oddly enough. We talk about Peter, but she is exceedingly private about her unrequited love for my brother.
Anyway. The build.
Peter showed up at ten in a backwards baseball cap and gym shorts and immediately took off his shirt, because life isn’t fair.
A couple other guys came, too, like Dustin Mathers who had a boom box, so Tessa got her box of cassettes, and we had a dock-building party with Tessa in a red bikini because, have I mentioned that life isn’t fair?
Kate and I sat on the boardwalk steps with iced tea and watched, cataloging it all. What I noticed? Peter has the kind of forearms that should be illegal in the state of Florida.
Kate observed that Eli measures twice and cuts once and quotes our father every single time. (I thought Dad would come down to help or opine, but he really is always gone this summer.)
Around two o’clock the platform was half-done and propped on sawhorses on the beach, and Tessa decided to test it.
She jumped on it. The whole thing went out from under her sideways and dumped her on the sand, and the three boys lost their minds laughing.
Tessa somehow managed to make the most ungraceful and embarrassing moment of her life look adorable.
Life. Isn’t. Fair.Anyway, the platform floats now. We are planning to spend all day tomorrow tanning and swimming in the Gulf.
Love,
Viv
P.S. Is there anything quite as appealing as a sweating man with a hammer? I think not.