French Braid

The narrative shifts back to the summer of 1959, when the Garretts take their only family vacation. Alice, the chapter’s protagonist, is 17, Lily is 15, and David is 7. After taking over the management of Wellington’s Plumbing Supply from Mercy’s father, Robin refused to let anyone else run the store until Mercy persuades him to take the family, reluctantly, to Deep Creek Lake for a week. Alice, newly licensed, drives the half-day-long route. Along the way, David sings happily. Lily pouts because she could not invite her boyfriend, Jump.

Arriving at the Sleepy Woods cabins, Robin and David change clothes to walk to the lake. Alice brings up Lily’s grumpy attitude, but her mother is unconcerned: “Mercy just gave an airy little laugh. She seemed to view Lily as some belle from Gone with the Wind, with boys galore lining up to ‘dance attendance,’ as she called it” (28). David plays on the beach, avoiding the water. Mercy asks Robin to watch David while she takes her sketchpad into the woods. Robin replies that he will teach David to swim.

Because Mercy never liked to cook—the only foods she enjoyed preparing were special desserts she served to her “gentleman callers” as a young woman (30)—Alice began preparing meals for the Garretts at an early age. Robin is grateful that someone cooks but distrusts the experimental dishes Alice sometimes prepares. Robin and David return to the cabin and find Alice making supper, using odds and ends left by previous campers. Mercy is still in the woods sketching. When Alice asks David to tell Lily to come to the table, he responds that Lily has gone somewhere with a boy.

As they finish supper, Lily shows up with her new college-student boyfriend, Trent, whose family is camping nearby. Lily announces that she and Trent are about to leave again. Robin asks him if he is a safe driver, embarrassing Lily. Alice distrusts Trent immediately. She marvels at how easily Lily attracts the attention of boys, as well as grown men.

When Alice asks Lily Trent’s age the next morning, Lily casually replies that he is 21. She states that she will go boating with Trent and his family all day. Alice and David walk to the lake. David avoids the water, playing instead with his toy soldiers, to whom he gives elaborate dialogues. Robin appears, wading into the water. Alice recognizes that he dislikes vacationing.

Alice observes Mercy working on a painting. Like so many of her paintings, it is an amalgam of realism and impressionism. Most of the painting is ill-defined, with one particular image rendered in hyperrealist detail. Alice does not understand this technique and what it represents.

Lily confides to Alice that Trent does not have a steady girlfriend. She believes they share a deep, romantic connection. When he shows up, complimenting everyone on their appearance, Alice and David surmise that Trent is a player intent on taking advantage of Lily. Alice can’t understand why their mother doesn’t recognize this, especially since David does: “It was strange, Alice reflected, that a grown woman couldn’t see as clearly as a seven-year-old. But then, David often seemed weirdly smart about people” (37).

When Lily returns, only Alice is awake. Like a nervous mother, Alice quizzes Lily about her actions. Lily smells of cigarettes, her mouth is swollen, and her cheeks are flushed. Lily asks Alice to tell Trent where she would like him to propose to her, assuming he decides he wants to marry her. Alice scoffs and says Trent is an older boy trying to take advantage of a young, impressionable teenager. Lily accuses her of jealousy.

As the days pass, Robin complains that David has yet to swim. Robin compares him to Charlie, the 12-year-old son of Bentley, a contractor whose family is also vacationing. Robin and Bentley stand waist-deep in the lake while Charlie continually swims around them. Alice recognizes that her father expects more of David than of his daughters.

Against her wishes, Lily goes into town with her mother and Alice. Mercy describes the area as a playground for wealthy tourists. They go to the one dress shop in town looking for swimwear and find only a rack of old-fashioned suits. As they leave, Mercy decries the small, ill-supplied, and overly expensive quality of the resort area: “‘Oh my,’ Mercy said wearily. Then she said, ‘Sometimes I think, is this it?’” (43).

Back at the cabin, they see Trent’s red Chevy; Lily is upset that Trent has had to wait. Upon finding Robin still clad in a wet swimsuit and T-shirt, Mercy and Alice recognize something is wrong. Robin says David had a little incident that caused him to think he was drowning. Mercy rushes into the bedroom, where David lies on the bed, refusing to come out. She demands that Robin tell her what happened. He says David went under while he and Bentley stood watching. Mercy asks if Robin threw David into the water, which he denies. Despite this family drama, Trent is sprawled on their couch, unconcerned. Lily says she is going to Trent’s house. She gets no response from Mercy, still focused on Robin. Robin complains that, while David was never in danger, now his shoes and socks are soaked. Alice responds to the back-and-forth by asking if she should prepare lunch.

That afternoon Robin goes to Bentley’s cabin. Mercy sets up her paints on the kitchen table. Alice invites David to go to the lake with her. Instead, he naps on the couch as Mercy paints. She tells Alice that she is an interior rather than an exterior painter. The vacation has confirmed this rather than encouraging her to paint the surrounding environment. Alice assures her mother that she likes her interior work best, but in truth she doesn’t like any of Mercy’s paintings. Lying to spare her feelings causes Alice to reflect, “She had the sudden peculiar feeling that she had somehow become older than her mother” (49).

Rain falls the next day. Robin complains that they are wasting a day inside; Mercy counters that it is not a waste, since they are enjoying being together as a family. Alice notices that for all the time Lily has spent swimming with Trent, she has no tan or sunburn. Lily wants the weather to clear tomorrow; there is a gazebo at Trent’s family’s site, and she hopes he will propose to her there. Trent arrives and whisks Lily away. Alice asks Mercy if she thinks anyone chaperones them. Mercy responds that since Trent’s family is so big, someone must always be around them.

Friday, their last day, is sunny. Lily leaves with Trent. Alice and Robin swim. David and Mercy build an elaborate sandcastle city. When the Bentley family arrives, Alice and David walk back to the cabin, leaving Mercy to continue the sand city. Alice sets out food for lunch. After they eat, Robin and Mercy go for one last swim, while Alice plays “crazy eights” with David. Together they plan out what they want for supper and drive to the grocery store. Returning, they see Trent’s car at the cabin. Alice decides Trent and Lily must be at the lake. She goes to her bedroom to put away her purse and finds the door locked. Hearing movement inside, Alice twists the knob again. This time it opens from the inside. Trent emerges, tucking in his shirt, says hello to David, and walks outside. Alice finds Lily sitting on the bed, buttoning her blouse and averting her eyes. Alice flies out of the cabin and warns Trent never to come back. Trent gives a curt response and drives away. Back inside, Alice finds the bedroom door shut again. She sets about preparing supper, using her trick of pretending someone else is narrating her life in a book to establish some distance from the chaos.

Lily remains in the bedroom through supper. Robin complains about her absence, since this is a special dinner. Mercy responds that Lily is heartbroken. Robin cynically says Lily will fall for a new boyfriend before the week is out.