The Silver Linings Playbook Chapter 17

Tiffanys Head Floating everyplace the WavesWhen Ronnie picks me up in his minivan which has triad rows of seats Tiffany is already buckled in next to Emilys car seat, so I climb into the very back, doing the footb both and the bag my come packed me, which contains a towel, a change of clothes, and a bagged lunch, however though I told mommy that Ronnie was bringing hoagies from the local deli.Of course my mother feels the need to stand on the front porch and wave, as if I were five years old. expeditewell, who is riding in the front passengers seat, leans oer Ronnie and yells to my mother. Thanks for the wine and flowers My mother calculates this as an invitation to whirl to the minivan and receive a conversation.How do you manage the prohibitedfit I bought for hip-hop? my mom says when she separate outes Ronnies window. She ducks low-spirited and removes a long look at Tiffany, simply Tiffany has already turned her head away from my mother and is looking turn up the window at the house across the street.The outfit I am wearing is ridiculous a bright orange polo shirt, bright immature floatming shorts, and flip-flops. I did non want to wear any of this, that I knew speedwell was likely to make a fuss if I wore angiotensin converting enzyme of my cutoff T-shirts and a pair of workout shorts. Since veronica and my mother stool pretty much the same taste, I allowed my mother to uniform me plus, it makes Mom really euphoric.He looks great, Mrs. Peoples, veronica says, and Ronnie nods in agreement.Hello, Tiffany, my mother says, viscid her head into the car a little more, just Tiffany ignores her.Tiffany? veronica says, but Tiffany continues to stargon out the window. clear you met Emily yet? Ronnie asks, and so he is out of the car and Emily is unbuckled from her car seat and placed in my mothers arms. Moms voice gets all funny as she talks to Emily, and standing next to Mom, veronica and Ronnie ar all smiles.This goes on for a few minutes, until Tiffany turns her head and says, I popular opinion we were going to the beach today.Sorry, Mrs. Peoples, veronica says. My sister can be a little blunt sometimes, but we probably should get going so we can engage lunch on the beach.My mother quickly nods and says, Have a good time, Pat, as Ronnie buckles Emily back into her car seat. Again I feel like I am five.On the way to the shore, Ronnie and veronica talk to Tiffany and me the same way they talk to Emily as if they are non really expecting a response, saying issues that really dont need to be say at all. Cant prolong in to get on the beach. Were going to have such(prenominal) a good time. What should we do first swim, walk the beach, or birth the football? Such a nice day. Are you guys having fun? Cant wait to eat those hoagies later on twenty minutes of non-talk, Tiffany says, Can we please have some quiet time? and we ride the rest of the way audience to the yelling noises Emily makes what her parents claim is singing.We drive through Ocean City and everyplace a bridge to a beach I do not k right off. Little less crowded round off here, Ronnie explains.When we park, Emily is put into what looks like a cross between a stroller and a 44 vehicle, which speedwell pushes. Tiffany carries the umbrella. Ronnie and I carry the cooler, each of us grabbing a handle. We take a wooden walkway oer a sand sand dune covered with sea oats and find that we have the beach all to ourselves. non another person anywhere to be seen.after a brief discussion about whether the tide is coming in or out, veronica picks a dry patch and tries to spread out the covering musical composition Ronnie demoralises digging the umbrella spike into the sand. But there is a breeze, and Veronica has some trouble, as the wind keeps folding the blanket over.If it were anyone but Veronica, I would grab a corner and help, but I do not want to get yelled at, so I wait for instructions before I do anything. T iffany does the same, but Veronica fails to ask for help. perchance some sand gets foregoed up or something, because Emily starts shrieking and rubbing her eyeball.Nice, Tiffany says.Veronica immediately attends to Emily, telling her to blink, demonstrating what to do, but Emily nevertheless screams even louder.I cant take a crying baby right now, Tiffany adds. Make her stop crying. Veronica, would you please make her Remember what Dr. Lily said? What did we talk about this morning? Veronica says over her shoulder, shooting Tiffany a serious look before bit her attention back to Emily.So now were talking about my healer in front of Pat? You fucking bitch, Tiffany says, shaking her head, and then she is walkway away from us quickly.Christ, Veronica says. Ronnie, can you handle Emily?Ronnie nods solemnly, and then Veronica is running play after Tiffany, saying, Tiff? Come back. Come on. Im sorry. Im really sorry.Ronnie flushes Emilys eyes with bottled water, and after ten min utes or so, she stops crying. We get the blanket spread out under the shade of the umbrella, weighting the corners down with the cooler, our flip-flops and sandals, and Emilys top-notch stroller but Veronica and Tiffany do not come back.After every inch of Emilys skin is coated with sunscreen, Ronnie and I play with her down at the waters edge. She likes running after the waves as they recede. She likes digging in the sand, and we have to watch to make sure she does not eat the sand, which seems weird to me, because why would anyone want to eat sand? Ronnie carries Emily out into the ocean, and we all bollix over the waves for a time.I ask if we should be worried about Veronica and Tiffany, and Ronnie says, No. Theyre just having a therapy session somewhere on the beach. Theyll be back soon.I dont like the way he emphasizes the word therapy, as if therapy were some sort of ridiculous idea, but I dont say anything.After we dry off, we all lie down on the blanket Ronnie and Emily in the shade, and me in the sun. I doze off pretty quickly.When I open my eyes, Ronnies face is next to mine hes quiescency. I feel a tap on my shoulder, and when I roll over, I see that Emily has walked around the blanket. She smiles at me and says, Pap.Let Daddy sleep, I whisper, and then pick her up and carry her down to the water.For a while we sit and dig a belittled hole in the wet sand with our hands, but then Emily stands and chases the spark of a receding wave, laughing and pointing.Want to go swimming? I ask her, and she nods once, so I scoop her up into my arms and begin to wade out into the water.The surf has picked up some and the waves have a lot more height, so I quickly walk by the breakers to where the water is up to my chest. Emily and I begin to float over the swells. As the waves grow in size, I have to jump and kick really hard to keep both of our heads above water, but Emily loves it and begins squeaky and laughing and clapping her hands every time we floa t up. This goes on for a good ten minutes, and I am so happy I kiss her chubby cheeks over and over. Something about Emily makes me want to float over waves with her for the rest of my life, and I decide that when apart time is done, I will make a daughter with Nikki ASAP, because nothing has made me even close to this happy since apart time began.The swells get even bigger. I lift Emily up and put her on my shoulders so she will not have her face splashed by the waves, and her squeals seem to suggest that she likes universe so high in the air.We float up.We float down.We are so happy.We are so, so happy.But then I hear somebody screaming.Pat Pat PaaaaaaatI turn and see that Veronica is running very quickly down the beach, with Tiffany trailing far behind. I flummox that maybe something is wrong, so I start to make my way in.The waves are pretty big now, and I have to take Emily down from my shoulders and hold her against my chest to ensure her safety, but soon we are able to car ry on our way back to Veronica, who is now running into the surf.When I get closer, Veronica seems to be very upset. Emily starts to scream and reach for her mother.What the hell are you doing? Veronica says to me when I hand Emily over to her.Im just swimming with Emily, I say.Veronicas screaming must have woken up Ronnie, because he has run down to follow us. What happened?You let Pat take Emily out into the ocean? Veronica says, and by the way she says my name, its obvious she does not want Emily to be left alone with me, because she thinks I am going to hurt Emily somehow, which is unfair especially since Emily only started crying when she heard Veronica screaming, so really Veronica was the one who upset her own daughter.What did you do to her? Ronnie says to me.Nothing, I say. We were only swimming.What were you doing? Veronica says to Ronnie.I must of fallen asleep, and Jesus Christ, Ronnie. You left Emily alone with him?The way Veronica says him, Emily crying, Ronnie acc using me of doing something awful to his daughter, the sun burning my bare chest and back, Tiffany honoring now suddenly I feel as though I might explode. I definitely feel an episode coming on, so before I blow up, I do the only thing I can think of I start running down the beach away from Veronica and Ronnie and Emily and the crying and the accusations. I run as fast as I can, and suddenly I realize that now I am crying, probably because I was only swimming with Emily and it matte up so right and I was trying to be good and belief I was being good and I let my best ace down and Veronica screamed at me and its not fair because I have been trying so hard and how long can this fucking plastic film last and how much more do I need to make better myself and Tiffany passes me.She runs by me like a blur.Suddenly, only one thing matters I need to pass her.I start running faster and enamor up to her, but she picks up her speed and we run side by side for a time until I find that ge ar women do not have, and I blow by her and maintain my man speed for a minute or so before I obtuse down and allow her to catch up with me. We jog side by side on the beach for a long time, neither of us saying a word.What feels like an hour passes before we turn around, and what feels like another hour passes before we see Ronnie and Veronicas umbrella, but before we reach them, Tiffany veers into the ocean.I follow her running directly into the waves and the salt water feels so cool on my skin after a long run. before long we are in too deep to stand, and Tiffanys head is floating over the waves, which have calmed down considerably. Her face is a little tan and her whisker hangs dark and wet and natural and I see freckles on her nose that were not there earlier that morning so I swim over to her.A wave lifts me up, and when I come down over the other side, I am surprised that our faces are very close. For a second Tiffany reminds me so much of Nikki, I worry we might circu mstantially kiss, but Tiffany swims a few feet away from me before this happens, and I am thankful.Her toes come up out of the water, and she begins to float, facing the horizon.I lean back, look at the line where sky meets water, allow my toes to rise, and float next to Tiffany for a long time, neither of us saying anything.When we walk back to the blanket, Emily is sleeping with a fist in her mouth, and Veronica and Ronnie are lying down, safekeeping hands in the shade. When we stand over them, they squint and smile at us like nothing bad had happened earlier.How was your run? Ronnie asks.We want to go home now, Tiffany says.Why? Ronnie says, sitting up. We havent even eaten our lunch. Pat, you really want to go home?Veronica says nothing.I look up at the sky. No clouds at all. Nothing but blue. Yeah, I do, I tell him, and then we are in the minivan driving back to Collingswood.