Backyard Agains

Long before we were lounging by the pool, long before there was a pool, we had a gorgeous pecan tree in our backyard. One of the branches arched out perfectly to support a hammock. Since we didn’t have air conditioning, long summer afternoons often found someone in the hammock reading, a bowl of frozen grapes slowly turning soft on the makeshift brick patio.

Such afternoons were perfect for Ann Tyler: Accidental Tourist, Breathing Lessons, or my perennial favorite, Saint Maybe.

Bee and Doug Bedloe have successfully raised three happy and healthy children and are looking forward to retirement. When their son Danny unexpectedly dies, they are reluctant to start all over in raising his infant daughter and two young step-children. But after Danny’s brother Ian wanders into the Church of the Second Chance, he realizes he must drop out of college to be the one to raise the children. Twenty years fly by and as Ian turns out tables as a woodworker, the tables turn on him. Although he still worries over the children, they start worrying over him.

Whether it’s a day spent at vacation bible school, a long walk to seduce the typewriter salesman, or a disappointing Christmas visit home, Tyler’s descriptions aptly evoke the skepticism of childhood, the despair of young motherhood, and the maddening quirks of family members long set in their ways. Mundane, yes. Engrossing, definitely.

More hammock reads for kids and teens can be found here.