Songs From Friday Afternoons [Bellarke]

September 2, 1965

September 2, 1965

      On Ark Island, it has rained for the entire day, and is only just beginning to let up. On the hillside to the West of the island, the ocean is nearly invisible through the misty rain. Through the rain on that hillside is the house known as Summer's End. It is home to the Griffin family: Jake, Abby, and their only daughter Clarke. All three have been inside since the rain began.

      Clarke sits cross-legged in the high window of the third story, peering out the window through a pair of junior binoculars. She does this quite regularly—she's never seen without them; they're always hanging from her neck or up against her eyes. She watches through her binoculars as the rain finally slows to a stop, and the mail truck bumbles up to the mailbox and deposits the mail. She lowers her binoculars. This is what she's been waiting for. She sits up, letting the binoculars fall against her chest, and picks up a shoe box labeled 'PRIVATE'.

      Clarke carries the box down the stairs and out of the house. She goes to the mailbox, opening it and taking out the letters inside. She sets them on top of the box, flipping through them until she finds the one she's looking for: a letter from her pen pal. Clarke smiles to herself, placing the other letters back in the mailbox, and carrying hers over to the bus stop as to read it privately. She sits at the bus stop, carefully undoing the seal of the envelope and removing the letter. Her eyes scan the paper, her expression settling on seriousness, before she folds the letter back up, opens the shoebox, and places it inside.

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      This is the island of Ark. Sixteen miles long. Forested with old-growth pine and maple. Criss-crossed by shallow tidal creeks. Treikrew territory. There are no paved roads but instead many miles of intersecting footpaths and dirt trails and a ferry that runs twice daily from Stone Cove. The year is 1965. We are on the far edge of Black Beacon Sound, famous for the ferocious and well-documented storm which will strike from the east on the sixth of September—in four days time.

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     Meanwhile, at Camp Walden, Scout Master Sinclair is running through routine inspections with his Troop members. A Scout named Wick follows Scout Master Sinclair around with a small, spiral-bound notepad. He continuously makes notes as Scout Master Sinclair checks with all the Scouts. Scout Master Sinclair lights a cigarette, holding it up to his mouth.

     "Miller—latrine inspection," Sinclair announces, approaching a dark-skinned boy with short-cropped hair. Miller pulls a series of ropes, complying to Scout Master Sinclair's order. A bucket tips down a chute, emptying the water from the bucket and causing a yellow flag to pop up on the side. Scout Master Sinclair nods in approval, and then continues on.

     "Wells, how's that lanyard coming?" he asks as he passes the boy.

     "Terrible." Wells holds up a brutally knotted brown and yellow cord with a rabbit's foot attached at the end of it. Wick makes note of this.

     Wick and Scout Master Sinclair continue on through the clearing, approaching a large pile of lumber near a thin-trunked tree. A blond-haired boy approaches the two of them, carrying logs in his arms.

     "Sterling. What's all this lumber for?"

     "We're building a tree house," the boy answers cheerily.

     "Where?"

     "Right here."

     Scout Master Sinclair, Wick, and Sterling look upwards at the thin-trunked tree. A tree house sits at the very top, swaying slightly in the breeze.