Jun 13 2008
Summer 1928 had begun ~ Dandelion Wine No. 1
Dandelion Wine, William Morrow 2001 hardcover edition, pages 1-16.
Do you remember summer as a child? The never-ending days, the ever-expansive weeks, the eternity of the season; summer seemed as long as the rest of the year put together. And that trip to the dentist was so incredibly disruptive.
I remember the year I started piano lessons. And that was the first measurable summer. Suddenly weeks meant something; there was this mark on the time line, like some giant cement monolith casting unnecessary darkness into my days of endless sunshine. I remember being called in from playing. I remember reluctantly pulling myself up into the front seat of our blue VW Vanagon unhappy at being interrupted. It was the first year that I noticed summer passing before my eyes.
So, for this Summer 1928, Douglas, at age 12, has realized he’s alive, really alive! Not that his senses haven’t worked before, but now he is aware of them; an inward realization of what is going on outside of him. It’s a lovely moment as he takes everything in, aware that life itself is stalking him, waiting to pounce. And then it does; and Doug is growing up.
Douglas, aware that this summer will be special and extraordinary, becomes vaguely aware, then, of the passage of time. As the first “golden tide” rushes off the wine press and into the bottle, Douglas has already measured out his summer, knowing that each day must be caught and stoppered and the memories kept for later days.