That Summer

The narrative returns to the past to describe the events of the young Diana’s life, seven years after the night of the bonfire in 1987. In this time frame, it is the end of the summer, and Diana returns to Provincetown, where Michael was working on the cottage and left flowers for her on the porch. He also sold all of her decorated oyster shells. Diana phones him, and he comes to the cottage to cook her dinner. He asks her the real reason she left for the summer, and Diana tells him the story of the summer when she was 15 and worked for Dr. Levy.

The narrative flashes back even further to the night of the bonfire party in 1987. In this past moment, Poe continues to hand Diana drinks until she feels tipsy and walks into the dunes, where she lies down and falls asleep. When she wakes up, there is a boy lying on top of her.

The narrative pulls out of the flashback and returns to the moment that Diana and Michael are spending together at the cottage, seven years later. Diana tells Michael how on that night, one boy held her down while another boy raped her and a third boy simply stood by and watched.