Chapter 9: Coney Island

"What are you doing?" I said.

Santo set the coolers down in the sand at my feet.

"Lunch."

"For forty-one kids?"

"There's more in the car."

The thin man in glasses was already snapping open the folding table.

He laid out sandwiches in neat rows, sorted by kind, with handwritten labels on index cards.

TURKEY. HAM. PEANUT BUTTER (ASK FIRST).

"He's careful," Santo said.

"He's a capo."

"He's a careful capo."

The big driver had put his coolers down and was looking at the water with his hands on his hips.

Two little boys in water wings came and stood on either side of him, looking at the water the same way.

It was like watching a bear adopt ducks.

Joanie came down the sand with her whistle swinging.

She stopped in front of Santo and looked him up and down, from his black shirt to his good shoes full of sand.

"So you're the brother."

"Stepbrother."

"I've heard about you for seven years."

"Nothing good."

"Nothing printable." She folded her arms. "What are you doing at my beach?"

"Feeding your kids."

"Why?"

"Because she won't take my money," Santo said, "but she can't stop me buying sandwiches."

Joanie looked at me. I shrugged.

She looked back at him and narrowed her eyes.

"If you make her cry, I'll drown you myself," she said. "I'm a certified lifeguard. I know exactly how long it takes."

Santo nodded.

"Who's the big one?" Joanie said.

"My driver."

"Does he swim?"

"Like a seal."

Joanie looked at the driver, at his shoulders and his ducks.

She took her ponytail out and put it back up, tighter.

"Huh," she said, and walked off toward him.

I watched her go. "Oh no."

"He's not married," Santo said.

"That's not what I'm worried about."

By ten-thirty the big driver was in the surf in his undershirt and trousers, holding two kids on their backs in the waves.

"Ears in," he kept rumbling. "Belly up. Like a pancake."

Joanie stood beside him blowing her whistle and correcting him.

He let her. He didn't seem to mind at all.

Santo stayed on the sand.

He took his jacket off and his shoes off, and he rolled his sleeves, but he didn't go near the water.

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