Nantucket Essays

An Island Point of View, Nantucket Essays

A Dog Has a Soul

In his 1960 book Travels with Charley, John Steinbeck chronicled his attempt to connect with the many parts of these great United States that he didn’t know much about. In order to accomplish this monumental task, the renowned author retrofitted a truck with a camper to suit his needs. He named his truck Rocinante, after Don Quixote’s horse, and drove it about 10,000 miles in the course of his adventures. Charley, a standard poodle, played the role of Sancho Panza for the great Steinbeck on his quixotic journey. Steinbeck describes his doggie/squire as being a mind-reader, an apt evaluator of the humans they met on their travels. Steinbeck utilized the friendly canine to break down the barriers between himself and the strangers he encountered, with great success. Dogs certainly have this ability.

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One Crazy Summer…
Nantucket Essays, Nantucket Voices

One Crazy Summer

Wow, what a week. What an absolutely crazy, bizarre week. Truth be told, this entire summer has been a lot of crazy. Wind turbine blades, beach closures, seals snapping fishing rods, astounding traffic congestion, supermarket refrigeration failures, supermarket deli meat recalls, supermarket payment system snafus, supermarket prices, gas prices…yeah, a wonderful conflagration burning up the Nantucket summer. Could it be that we’ve almost survived (oh, I hate myself a little for what’s about to happen here) One Crazy Summer?

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Nantucket Essays, Nantucket Voices

Revenge of the Goonies

It seems that Hollywood is incapable of an original thought these days. A quick review of the new movies out in theaters right now shows that the majority of new releases are, well, recycled. For example, a new Aliens movie has just been released. The original came out in 1979, the year I graduated high school. Aside from the fact that the once perky Sigourney Weaver would now most likely be using a walker to escape from the slimy alien, I’m thinking that 45 or so years would have been plenty of time to conjure up some new concepts.

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An Island Point of View, Nantucket Essays, Nantucket Voices

The Regulars

They said that they were never coming back.

Again.

For thirty-eight years running.

They had their reasons. They weren’t rich. They told everyone that. They brought air mattresses for the kids, five frozen meals in a cooler, and a full tank of gas. The bikes were tied onto the car, the sleeping bags stored in roof carrier, and everything else packed around the kids. (Tim, your feet are going to be on the Hibachi).

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An Island Point of View, Nantucket Essays

A Wasted Life

So, we were stuck. Behind me, a jeep settled, with a driver and a beach chair. In front of me, a cable truck sighed and shuddered.

I had fallen into this place through inattention and habit. Normally, at this point in the summer, I would have taken a short cut that would have sped me to my end. I might have headed up an alley, snuck wrong way down a one-way street, and rolled across a yard on my business. But as the sun had just come out, Kiki Dee had returned to the radio after fifty years, and my attention had drifted from what was necessary and important, the afternoon slipped me onto Quaker Lane.

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