Chapter One
?But if you bought me a car now, it would be yours
when I go away to school in two years. Still practically
new,? Helen said optimistically. Unfortunately,
her father was no sucker.
?Lennie, just because the state of Massachusetts
thinks it?s okay for sixteen-year-olds to drive . . .? Jerry began.
?Almost seventeen,? Helen reminded.
?Doesn?t mean that I have to agree with it.? He was winning, but
Helen hadn?t lost yet.
?You know, the Pig only has another year or two left in her,?
Helen said, referring to the ancient Jeep Wrangler her father
drove, which she suspected might have been parked outside the
castle where the Magna Carta was signed. ?And think of all the gas
money we could save if we got a hybrid, or even went full electric.
Wave of the future, Dad.?
?Uh-huh,? was all he?d say.
Now she?d lost.
Helen Hamilton groaned softly to herself and looked out over the
railing of the ferry that was bringing her back to Nantucket. She
contemplated another year of riding her bike to school in November
and, when the snow got too deep, scrounging for rides or,
worst of all, taking the bus. She shivered in anticipated agony and