The kid part of the summer really started with Hughie's arrival. I could hear them calling to each other and playing while I started the Mulish water pump. It seems that moments of extreme frustration register more clearly in my memory. I admit to hitting the gas tank with my fist that morning. I would have picked up the whole congregation and thrown them into the river if I had been as strong as the folk lumberjack hero Paul Bunyan. It took no longer than usual to get the pump working and the water pressure up enough, but it seemed like it took three times as long. I remember rushing next door after finishing my chores to find five boys playing softball in the large apartment between the two houses. Hughie said something like, “This is Tad. He lives in the ghost house next door. Let's play. » There was no formal introduction other than that. Hughie was the oldest and leader of the pack. He moved me to right field, which put me last in the batting order. The left fielder turned out to be a cousin named Mickey Bliss. He and I were the same age and Hughie was a year older. I was tall for my fourteen years and about the height of Hughie, who was taller than his brothers and cousin. Hughie's brothers included, John who was a year or two younger than Mickey and me. Eddie was next and Steve was the youngest. My memory of the rules is vague, but from what I remember, the guy only brought out one. However, if he made it safely to first base, he would return to home plate and strike out again. The rules were unimportant. The challenge was getting that rare shot that sent the ball out of play onto the outcropping where the house was perched. The house was out of reach, but the cooler and the bushes on either side of the bank were in the middle of paper...... to collect our fishing gear, I remember Hughie informing me: "Our L' The far end of the island is known as Nemahbin Lodge. “I was a teenager and had heard a lot about the traditions of the island before we arrived. I knew that there had been a break between the two islands that had been made into a channel with a stone wall covering that followed each side down to apartment level. Apparently a corpse floated into the canal around 1890. Great-grandmother Clark was horrified by this development and she demanded that the canal be filled in immediately. A steel stake was driven into a stone at either end of where the canal was to mark the property line. Hughie pointed to where the shallow gap between the islands ran. I looked where he had pointed, through an opening across the apartment, and saw the main canal. Then he showed me the iron peg near the boathouse, which marked the end of the stern canal..