Olive, Again

Denny Pelletier is going for a walk. He is sixty-nine, and his children are all grown and married, but he thinks something is wrong with them. They all married young, as he did, but he knows that is unusual in their generation. He walks past the mill where he worked when he was young and realizes that most of the men he worked with are dead now. He returns to thinking about his children, worrying that they are too quiet. They all left Crosby to live and work elsewhere, and his grandchildren are doing well. He remembers that people used to call him Frenchie because he is French Canadian, which makes his son angry. He realizes that he just accepted it, and all the bias that came along with it.

Denny remembers Dorothy Paige—or Dorie—a beautiful girl from high school. She was not only beautiful; she was also the smartest student in school. They became friends, often talking for a long time after school, nearly every week, for about two years. Denny had a girlfriend, Marie, which he and Dorie never talked about. Dorie told him she was going to Vassar, and left soon after. He didn’t remember the last time they spoke, but heard that she had killed herself after graduating Vassar.