Tourist Season

The Ocean Breeze was fairly slow for the first few weeks of tourist season, with only two elderly couples to fill the twelve rooms. In truth, those first few weeks ran at a slight loss, but management felt that it helped to build customer loyalty and spread the good word about low rates and a beautiful view.

The hotel was sized to fit the island; small. There were perhaps twenty families who called it home, most of them fishermen or retirees who had no taste for so-called civilized life. There was ample space and little in the way of commerce. The hotel and the Black Rock Cafe made up the entirety of downtown Pequot. There was no mayor, and most inspections were carried out by dour government officials shipped in from Shaferton. Mail came once a week during the summer, and twice a week in the winter. There were no cars, and no proper roads for them to travel on, but everyone owned at least one boat.

Sadie looked out over the ocean from the second floor of the Ocean Breeze. The two old couples had gotten up with the sun to go walk along the rocky beach, and she cleaned up their rooms and made their beds. It was unlikely that they would return anytime soon, but management felt that swift cleaning was one of those small touches that people noticed. Management also felt that uniforms were the sign of a professional place, which is why, underneath her thick wool sweater, Sadie was wearing a polyester robin's-blue number that always looked faintly ridiculous.

Management had an inflated idea of how difficult the housekeeping at the Ocean Breeze was, in part because of how often Sadie took these long moments to stand near one of these windows and look out on the water. Sadie loved the early weeks, when it was more spring than summer, and the wind was still cool. Even as a child, she had liked the spring goose-bumps. It felt like her very skin was getting excited for the touch of the titular breeze. Pequot was far enough north that it never quite got hot in the summers, but all the same the warmth didn't play well with Sadie.

Sadie heard a polite cough from behind her, and turned around to see management staring at her.

"Have you finished with both the Carters and the Johnsons already?" asked management.

"Yes mom," replied Sadie, in a tone that smelled vaguely of irony.

"Well," said management with a sniffle, "your father has left with the ferry to go get another couple from the mainland. So we'll be needing rooms 6 and 8 aired out."

"Yes mom," replied Sadie again.

Sadie had been making beds since she was sixteen, by now it was automatic, just something that her hands did while her brain was elsewhere. The hotel had originally been a mansion, built by someone in the 20's and re-purposed after the original owner went into default during the Great Depression. Sadie opened the windows a crack to get the musty smell out, then went into the bathrooms and ran the water for a few minutes until it was no longer rust colored. She always felt better after airing out a room.

From the window of room 8, which had once been a baby's room and tended to have a slight draft from the southern wall, Sadie watched as the euphemistic ferry (really just a simple outboard motor on a boat that seemed small amongst the waves) came around the side of the island.

Though Sadie enjoyed the solitude of the winter months, and the quietness of the island during that time, guests meant something different was coming. Summer always felt like an expansion of the family, as though the guests were relatives who came to visit and let you catch up on what they'd been doing. Some of the repeat guests had been coming to the Ocean Breeze for so long that they had practically watched her grow up.

Sadie stared out at the small boat coming in, and waited until it was right up to the dock before turning away from the window and going down to greet them.