an elongated pupil like honey dripping off a spoon; someone said it looked like a tiger eye, which was how he got his nickname.
Tiger has a high-school diploma and one semester of college at Framingham State. He listens to Led Zeppelin and the Who; he loves fast cars. He dreams of someday racing in the Indy 500.
And then, without warning, Kate is sucked back in time. Tiger was born a week past his due date and weighed nine pounds, twelve ounces. He took his first steps at ten months old, which is very early, but he was intent on chasing after Blair and Kirby. At age seven, he could name every player on the Red Sox lineup; Ted Williams was his favorite. At age twelve, Tiger hit three consecutive home runs in his final game of Little League. He was voted class president in eighth grade and then quickly and wisely lost interest in politics. He took up bowling as a rainy-day pastime in Nantucket and won his first tournament soon after. Then, in high school, there was football. Tiger Foley holds every receiving record at Brookline High School, including total receiving yards, a record Coach Bevilacqua predicts will never be broken. He was recruited to play at Penn State, but Tiger didn’t want to travel that far from home, and UMass’s team wasn’t exciting enough—or at least that’s what Tiger claimed. Kate suspects that Tiger just ran out of enthusiasm for the game or preferred to go out on top or just really, really disliked the idea of four more years of school. Kate would have liked to point out that if Tiger had gone to college, any college, or if he had stayed at Framingham State part-time, he would not be in this position right now.
“Don’t forget, you promised to check in on Magee,” Tiger says.
Magee; he’s worried about Magee. Tiger and Magee went on their first date the day Tiger got the letter and they’ve been inseparable ever since. Privately, Kate thought it was unwise to jump into a relationship only two weeks before going to war, but it might have been the distraction he needed. Kate has agreed to check in on Magee, who Tiger says will be very upset that he’s gone, but there is no way a girlfriend of two weeks will be as upset as the soldier’s own mother.
A tour of duty is thirteen months, not a lifetime, but some of the mothers here outside the recruitment office are unknowingly saying a permanent goodbye, and Kate feels certain she’s one of them. The other mothers didn’t do the terrible thing that she did. She deserves to be punished; she has enjoyed every happy day of the past sixteen years like it was something she borrowed, and now, finally, the time for payback has arrived. Kate had thought it would be a cancer diagnosis or a car accident or a house fire. She never considered that she would lose her son. But here she is. This is her fault.
“I love you, Ma,” Tiger says.
The obvious response to Tiger is I love you too, but instead Kate says, “I’m sorry.” She hugs Tiger so tightly that she feels his ribs beneath his spring jacket. “I’m so sorry, baby.”
Tiger kisses her forehead and doesn’t let go of her hand until the last possible second. When he finally goes in, Kate hurriedly gets back into the car. Out the window, she sees Tiger heading for the open door. A gentleman in a brown uniform barks something at him and Tiger stands up straighter and squares his shoulders. Kate stares at her fingers gripping the steering wheel. She can’t bear to watch him disappear.
Part One
June 1969
Both Sides Now
They are leaving for Nantucket on the third Monday in June, just as they always do. Jessie’s maternal grandmother, Exalta Nichols, is a stickler for tradition, and this is especially true when it comes to the routines and rituals of summer.
The third Monday in June is Jessie’s thirteenth birthday, which will now be overlooked. That’s fine with Jessie. Nothing can be properly celebrated without Tiger anyway.
Jessica Levin (“Rhymes with ‘heaven,’” she tells people) is the youngest of her mother’s four children. Jessie’s sister Blair is twenty-four years old and lives on Commonwealth Avenue. Blair is married to an MIT professor named Angus Whalen. They’re expecting their first baby in August, which means that Jessie’s mother, Kate, will be returning to Boston to help, leaving Jessie alone with her grandmother on Nantucket.