Lily and Dunkin

Lily’s best friend, Dare, returns from summer camp. Thrilled, Lily wraps her in a big hug. When Dare observes that Lily is “still playing the Tim game” (57), Lily tells her about going outside in her mom’s dress and meeting a boy. Dare is exasperated when Lily tells her about her dad’s reaction, unable to understand Lily’s inability to get past his lack of acceptance. 

Dunkin and Bubbie run into Tim and Dare at Dunkin’ Donuts. Bubbie calls him Norbert, and Tim and Dare both assure him they will call him Dunkin if he prefers. When Dare laments the ways that parents mess up their kids, Dunkin feels himself start to think about his dad, so he shows them his new magic trick to change the subject. 

On a shopping trip with his mom, Dunkin wonders where they got the money to buy new school clothes and remembers his dad’s denture debacle. Dunkin describes the day his dad came home, disheveled and full of positive energy. Dunkin’s mom was immediately concerned, and when his dad revealed he had a plan to make them rich, she dropped to the sofa. Dunkin was infected by his dad’s enthusiasm, but when he claimed that he would become the “Denture King of South Jersey” (66) and sell dentures to the whole world, Dunkin realized that his dad, standing there in his rumpled suit, wasn’t making much sense.