A House in the Hamptons: Gloria Nagy
A House in the Hamptons
The highway is called by some, Route 27, and by others, the Montauk Highway, but by most, just “the Highway,” because it is the only way in or out of the Hamptons. Leading down to the very tip, the Montauk point-the end of the line. The slender tip followed by sightseers and day trippers for decades, like the Pied Piper's mice and children, ending in the sea.
On this highway between Southampton and Bridgehampton is a deserted Carvel ice-cream store. It has been there, deserted, for years. An eyesore. Inappropriate. Like a burn in a fine neighborhood. Neglected. It stands there. The CREAM after ICE- rubbed away. A lost dream. A remnant of hope, of days when hot and eager families stopped on the way east or west. Bare feet flapped across the threshold toward the delights. Swirling soft cream cones, Chocolate sprinkles. Summer sweet. Now it is a tiny ghost town.
Each summer sometime in July, a strange thing happens. Suddenly, there are young bare-chested men in work boots in front of the Carvel store. Trucks with plywood and paint appear, HELP WANTED signs go up, Hope rises among the summer residents and locals alike.
