"Ever since I could remember, ...the Cooper's annual barbecue... had been the first event of summer." "It was a neighborhood tradition, the herald of good times." "Japanese lanterns glowed in the dusk." "And warm breezes carried the smell of burgers sizzling on the grill, and the sounds of kids having the time of their lives." "But maybe the best thing about it was that it happened... the first week of summer vacation." "One day after... the last day of school." "It was kind of a solemn moment." "Eight months of relentless education... were finally erupting in a blast of summer madness." "Winnie!" "Is this great or what?" "What's the matter?" "Well, I think I'm gonna kinda miss it." "Leave it to Winnie Cooper to get all sentimental about things." "You had to love her." "Figuratively speaking of course." "So, sign my yearbook?" "Sure." "And, maybe I could sign yours?" "Give it back to me fourth period." "Gotta go." "Yep, you could feel it in the air." "Hope, potential..." "Who knew what the summer breeze might bring?" "Sign my yearbook?" "Sure." "We really had a great year, don't you think?" "Yeah." "There was one minor problem here." "I didn't have the slightest idea who this girl was." "I had to think fast." ""Have a neat summer."" "OK, it was cheap." "But it did have a certain flair." ""...boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly, ...into the past."" "Let's face it." "No one could press pages quite like Miss White." "Did you feel the sensual power of Fitzgerald's imagery?" "Yes!" "Yes!" "Hello!" "OK, so maybe she was a little old for me... this year." "Now, before the bell rings..." "But, heck, just the other day" "I" " I coulda sworn I felt a whisker coming in." "...I have an announcement to make." "So, maybe, just maybe, next year." "I'm in love with Kevin Arnold!" "And I don't care who knows it!" "Oh, Kevin!" "Miss White!" "Yes, Kevin?" "What did you say?" "I said, I'm getting married this summer." "And when I come back next year, ...you'll all be calling me..." "Mrs Heimer!" "Heimer?" "Heimer?" "What kinda name was that for Miss White?" "Class?" "Can you say "Heimer"?" "Heimer." "Oh, well." "Maybe part of loving is learning to let go." "Four more hours, one lunch period, and a few arias... were all that stood between me, Paul, and summer." "I wasn't gonna let anything ruin that." "Got your bike ready?" "OK, so tomorrow morning we have to get my tent out of the garage." "Yep, I could feel it now." "The wind in our faces, ...the open road ahead, our knapsacks on our backs." "I can hardly wait!" "Can you?" "We gotta talk." "In the history of mankind, no good has ever come from those four words." "What do you mean you're going away?" "!" "How come you never said anything?" "Well, the Schwartzes kept changing their minds." "The who?" "The people we're sharing the cabin with." "And, look, it's not that bad." "We'll only be there until Labor Day." "Paul, that's the whole summer." "No, you see, not technically." "The summer officially goes until September twenty-first." "Paul!" "OK, the whole summer." "Anyway, I'm gonna have a lousy time." "Oh, yeah?" "Where you going?" "Lake Cohasset." "So basically you'll be swimming, fishing, sailing, ...and water-skiing." "I guess." "Paul, why don't you just admit that... you're gonna have a great time?" "I was asking for the impossible." "I'd have to try another tack." "OK, tell me one thing that's gonna make it lousy." "I had him on the ropes." "Mosquitoes!" " What?" " Yeah, are you kidding?" "With all that standing water?" "Do you have any idea how many diseases are... transmitted by mosquitoes?" "The man was a master." "Well, at least we'll have the barbecue tomorrow night." "Yeah, sure." "Except I'm leaving tomorrow afternoon." "Well how about tonight then." "I gotta pack." "I was mad." "Mad at Paul how could he do this to me?" "He was ruining my summer." "Wait a minute, I still had Winnie." "Winnie wasn't the type to up and leave you, she wouldn't pull a stunt like that, she was thoughtful." "Look at her... mulling over what to write in my yearbook, ...carefully choosing her words." "Wait a second, this was serious mulling." "Something was definately going on here." "Sure, we'd had our ups and downs, our missteps... but we were older, wiser." "It was time to let her know how I felt." "It was time to make poetry." "No matter what the obstacles." "There." "I had filled an entire page with phrases like:" ""never change", "always stay the same", and "good luck."" "Still something was missing." "It needed something more." "Something..." "Ok, it was a bold and reckless move, ...but I was a bold and reckless guy, ...and these were bold and reckless times." "I'm finished." "I tried not to hog up too much space." "Me, too." "Here's yours." "Well, I'll see you later." "Yeah, see you later." "I couldn't wait another second." "To read all those wonderful things..." "Winnie had been too embarrassed to say in person." "All those secret passions, and yearnings... she'd kept bottled up inside for the past year." ""Have a neat summer"?" "I hadn't even left school grounds, and already my summer vacation was a bust." "Hey, Kevin, it's starting to clear up." "Don't you wanna get dressed, and do something?" "It wasn't fair." "I was doing something." "I was hiding out." "Well the barbecue tonight'll cheer you up." " I don't think I'm gonna go." " What?" "Why?" "I just don't feel like it." "Wild horses couldn't drag me to that party, ...not after I'd made a total fool of myself... all over Winnie Cooper's yearbook." "I just wanna stay home, OK?" "I think you should go." " Mom." " Honey, they're expecting us." "It really means a lot to them." "Especially this year." " Mom!" " Kevin" "You're gonna go, that's all there is to it." "OK?" "Great, first my best friend walks out on me, ...now I have to die of embarrassment... in front of thousands of party-goers." "I couldn't take it." "Why can't we go on vacation?" "Maybe next summer." "Well it's not fair." "I have nothing to do." "What was that?" "I'm not exactly sure, but I believe he said," ""I have nothing to do."" ""Nothing to do"?" "All right, start in the corner, you clean out the junk, ...then you work your way to the center." "Then you sweep it out, and hose it down." " That's all?" " After that we'll see about the attic." "Well, so much for madcap vacation plans." "I had finally hit bottom." "Hi, Kevin." "What are you doing here?" "I was just taking a walk." "It's a little hectic at my house right now." "Do you need any help with this?" "No, that's OK." "I can handle it." "It's part of my "really neat summer"." ""Oh"?" "I'm dying of embarrassment and she gives me "oh"!" "Well maybe we can talk about it tonight." "At the party." "Yeah, well I don't think I'm gonna be there." "Boy, now she was really makin' me mad." "Well?" "Did you show it to anybody?" "Show what?" "Well, the yearbook." "You know what I wrote?" "Yeah, well you can just forget about it, ok?" "'Cause I didn't mean a word of it!" "You can just rip out the page... and throw it in the garbage because..." "It was amazing." "It was our first kiss since that day last fall in Harper's Woods, ...the day Winnie's brother Brian died." "I'd been waiting to kiss her again all year." "And now that it had happened, I felt as confused as ever." "There was only one thing I was sure of..." "I was a man on fire!" "Welcome to my summer of love." "There was the usual crowd of people... at the Cooper's that evening." "But to me, it was strictly a two-person affair." " Hi." " Hi." "What do you say after a kiss?" "What's that smell?" "It smells like a saddle!" "I guess it's my after-shave lotion." " Really?" " Yeah." "Well, I mean, I didn't actually shave, I just, sorta, put it on." " I" " I can go wash it off" " No, that's OK." "So, wanna sit down?" "Winnie!" "Can you take this to my dad?" " Sure." " Thanks." "OK, so she was busy, that was understandable." "After all, it was her parents' party." "Hi, Mr. Cooper!" "OK, so everybody was busy." "No problem, the evening was young." "Mr. Ermin would like to talk to you." "Oh my gosh, Mr. Ermin." "The Genghis Khan of lawn care." "He had a lawn the size of Wyoming." "I understand you're looking for work, son." "This evening was heading nowhere and fast." "Winnie." "Hi." "Do you wanna take a walk with me somewhere?" "I can't, I have to help out." "Come on, only for a minute." "Winnie, would you take these to your father?" "Mom, I'm changing the records." "Honey, please!" "I'll change the records!" "Don't mention it." "Just here to help." "In the course of the next hour," "I watched Winnie wear a groove in the patio between her parents." "There was only one possible explanation... she was avoiding me." "Wait a minute." "Hi!" "Yeah, we'd already said that." " Listen..." " Did you have a burger?" "Winnie, are we gonna have some time alone or not?" "Winnie!" "OK, I promise, in a few minutes." "I gotta go." "Five burgers and three hot dogs later, I was finally fed up." "She wasn't helping her parents, she wasn't doing anything," "She was just standing there." "OK, enough was enough." "The game was over, let's lay out the cards." "What is with you, huh?" "!" "One minute you like me and then the next minute you don't!" "First you kiss me, and then, you act like you don't even know me." "You've been doing this all year!" "I mean, if you like me, then say so." "But if you don't then don't act like you do, OK?" "OK?" "Kevin, I have to go away this summer." "What?" "With my mom." "We're going to my aunt's in Maine." "I don't believe this!" "I mean, what about my summer?" "Paul's going away with his parents and now you're going away with your mom and..." "And then, for the first time that night, I looked around." "The music was playing, couples were dancing." "Holding each other tight." "But not everybody." "And suddenly I began to understand." "I wanted to tell Winnie I understood what was... happening to her family." "I wanted to say something that would give her comfort." "Something incredibly wise." "Sorry." "Will you write to me when I'm away?" "Sure." "I miss my brother." "Yeah..." "That summer, kids everywhere swam, water-skied, and sailed... while Winnie Cooper struggled to keep her head above water, ...in a family torn apart by anger, and grief." "I pretty much stayed close to home." "I mowed Mr. Ermin's lawn." "I went fishin' with my dad." "I watched a man walk on the moon." "I considered myself pretty lucky." "Revised by Taurus Mind"