Sag Harbor

Content Warning: The Chapter 5 Summary of this section includes depictions of domestic verbal abuse, alcoholism, and fat-shaming.

Benji’s parents finally make it to Sag Harbor for the weekend. Benji is anxious due to his father’s moods. He’s relieved when he hears his parents laugh in the morning: “Things seemed okay out there” (200). He then hears “a sound that the normal person would never notice. Poomp” (201). That is the sound of the liquor cabinet door opening when the magnet releases. Benji gets anxious again, realizing that his father has started drinking early in the morning, but then he reassures himself that he will be leaving soon to hang out with Bobby, who now has a car.

As he observes his mother, he notices how the beach makes her seem younger: “She was a different person. She’d never missed a summer the last forty years. Her friends on the beach were her friends from the old days. Her crew, like me and Reggie had our crew” (203). Benji sees how his mother’s connection to Sag Harbor is similar to his own and is happy to see her grow young again when surrounded by her friends.

Benji’s father is preparing to barbecue that day. His barbecue is beloved by all the friends and neighbors: “He was known up and down the beach as a master griller, the wind itself in service to his legend, bearing the exquisite smell of caramelizing meat through the developments” (205). Various friends stop by, anticipating the barbecue. Benji tries to hang back and not get caught up in the adults’ conversation. Mr. Turner, one of his father’s friends from college, stops in and they reminisce for a bit. The father continues to prepare the chicken, commenting on the news as he cooks. As the day wears on, Benji is aware of how much alcohol his father is consuming. When Bobby comes by, he also has NP and two girls, Devon and Erica, in the car; there is no room for Benji. Benji is stuck at home as his dad proceeds to get more drunk.

Benji’s father soon finds a reason to get angry at his mother. He becomes irate when he realizes that Benji’s mother has bought the thin paper plates that are not strong enough to support the barbecued chicken. He yells for Benji to go to the beach to get his mother. When he brings his mother back to the house, his father begins to insult his mother for getting the wrong plates. When his mother explains that the stores didn’t have the stronger plates, his father says she should have spent the time to go to another store. When Benji’s mother tries to protest that she didn’t have time, his father replies, “You have time to sit on your fat ass and talk to you friends” (228). Rather than continue to argue, his mother retreats into silence and eventually leaves to search for the right plates. Benji’s father’s effect is palpable: “This was how my mother disappeared, word by word. She got older by the second, that magical Sag Harbor effect fading” (228).

The argument triggers a memory for Benji. He remembers the fear he felt when both he and his brother were confronted by a large Doberman in “the white part of town […] It stopped two feet away, muscles vivid under the skin, bright yellow teeth snapping” (230). When his father finds out, his father drives the boys back to the yard to see the dog. The father then explains that the dog has been trained to attack Black people.

Back in the present, Benji’s father asks him how the barbecue tastes. When Benji tries the chicken, he realizes that it is very overcooked. Benji lies and tells his father that the chicken tastes “great” (233).