Summary

The first story in the collection is titled “The Summer People.” Fran, who has the flu, is asleep when her daddy wakes her up. He tells her that he is leaving for a few weeks and that she needs to take care of the summer people. She asks, but he does not tell her where he is going. He shows her the monkey egg, one of her old toys, reminding her that he does not like them. She asks that he stay and look after her, but he tells her he cannot because he needs to go away to get right. She asks about his drinking and he tells her that he is “talking about a lifetime” (6).

Fran has a fever of 102.3. She returns to school on Friday and sees Ophelia Merck, the daughter of a wealthy family who used to summer at...