That’s Bossy’s grandmother Bert lying on the beach blanket, and her sister Jenny is sitting next to her facing the camera. They are both in their teens now, and that’s Atlantic City behind them. In a couple of hours—after Jenny is the color of a boiled lobster—they will climb back on the airless bus or shove into the crowded backseat of a friend’s car and giggle the two hours home, hot and sticky with sand.
Their home life is treacherous which Jenny deals with by acting comical and Bert deals with by disappearing into books. There are a few boys their age who live on their little alley and so the street is always jammed with guys, many playing football on the adjacent sandlot. In fact, Jenny is falling in love with an Italian boy. In a handful of months she will marry him and leave Bert alone in the house of crazy.
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