 Even though I was worked like an indentured servant, giving every penny of my earnings to Mrs. D., even though I made no friends, and even though I only made it to the beach but once, where I sat on a mildewy boarding-house washcloth, exhausted and pale, that whole summer felt like some big fat vacation, just because I was sixteen and away from my parents for the first time. When I got back home, I didn't end up going to yeshiva. I didn't bring home any pen pal's money or happy romantic memories.