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.