Florida

The humidity is becoming normal for Alice. She’s gotten used to wearing tank tops and flip-flops, but her father is still wearing the flannel work shirts and Levis that he wore on his construction sites in Oregon. Today she has to sweep out a house he is almost finished building, his last here in Florida. The carpet people will be coming the next day he tells her, the nails must be picked up, and the splinters swept, not to mention the stickers on the windows need to be scrubbed and then scraped. Alice is sorry she tried to run away yesterday; otherwise she could be at home, watching “One Life to Live” and eating popsicles from the freezer. Or better yet, swimming in the pool (everyone has a pool on the island.) Now she is stuck on the jobsite, broom in hand, staring at the back of her father’s flannel as he talks to the new owners, wondering if she should try to run away again tonight or wait until the weekend.