Chatham, Massachusetts, is more than a seaside backdrop in Oliver Rose and Barbara Rose’s story: its summer economy, antique auctions, and rain-swept streets bring them together. A wet Memorial Day weekend empties the town of many beach visitors, setting the conditions for an auction—and an encounter—that will become part of their shared history.

Summer Setting and Work

The town lies on Cape Cod, where the weather can be uncertain even during the tourist season. Oliver Rose spends his summers waiting tables at the Breaking Wave, a resort whose Sunday lunch business has fallen quiet after rain drives many visitors away. The downturn reaches him directly: his tips match the subdued mood of the dining room. Oliver has worked at the Breaking Wave during his summers since his undergraduate years at Harvard. When he cannot get to the beach, he passes time at antique auctions held in old cottages after their owners have died. Although he rarely has enough money to buy much, he has occasionally picked up a Staffordshire figure cheaply. The auctions make the town’s changing houses and objects part of his familiar summer routine.

The Auction in the Rain

The Memorial Day weekend weather affects who remains in town. Tourists who had arrived on Thursday and Friday for a beach holiday leave by midmorning, while the rain also depresses business at the restaurant. At an auction, one buyer appears to Oliver to be acquiring most of the furniture for very little; a nearby bidder complains that the weather has spoiled the sale and suspects the buyer intends to resell the antiques to tourists. Oliver recognizes that the rain has worked in his favor, too. Yet he becomes frustrated when Barbara Rose competes with him for a Staffordshire figure that he regards as one half of a pair. He later admits that he had only seventeen dollars and deliberately bid the price up. Their disagreement is not simply about the object: Barbara explains that she wanted it as a gift for a maid at the Chatham Arms, whose brother boxes in the Golden Gloves and who, she says, takes a lot of abuse. She had hoped the figure would be a thoughtful alternative to a tip.

A Walk Across Town

After the auction, Oliver and Barbara leave the parlor with the crowd, gathering in the hall as people open umbrellas against the gusty rain. Barbara says she got carried away, and Oliver acknowledges the appeal of her reason for wanting the figure. She works for the summer as a baking assistant at the Chatham Arms, which is on the other side of town; he accompanies her there beneath her umbrella. The walk offers a first exchange of personal details. Barbara says she is a student at Boston University and had wanted to volunteer for Jack Kennedy’s campaign against Nixon, but could not afford to do so. She likes baking and values the pay. Oliver teases her about spending it, pointing to the figure wrapped in soggy newspapers. The wind drives the rain horizontally, and the two eventually take refuge in the doorway of a closed toy store, sharing the umbrella as they walk. Chatham’s weather has first altered the auction and then forced this small intimacy: the town’s damp streets become the setting in which their competition gives way to flirtation.