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Another thread linking past and present is T S. Eliot‘s line about hearing the mermaids sing. Kate and Cecie read poetry to each other in the sorority dorm. Late in the week on the Outer Banks they take a boat at twilight to watch the doiphins at play If all of this sounds like the elements of one of Fig s schlocky romances, they are redeemed by Siddon s careful development of characters with depth and spirit. As in the tradition of Southern Gothics, death haunts all of them. Kate‘s dad The architecture of the beach house is more than mere setting. Paul and Kate had partnered a design for their own dream house among the dunes. Kate is rescued from her misery at losing Paul by Alan, another architect in the same firm and together they become famous designing summer houses on the Hamptons and Long Island The week revolves around nostalgia for their sorority days, fueled by Fig‘s diary. Fig was the ugly duckling they all made fun of. Now she‘s a bestâ€" selling romance writer whose attractiveness is thanks to plastic surgery. Ginger has grown fat and alcoholic knowing that Paul married her for the money. Cecie was Kate‘s roommate and bosom buddy. She married a Boston cop who was killed on the job and now nurses her motherâ€"inâ€"law. As Kate struggles with the painful decision to reconnect with her past she recalls the depth of fnendship she had with Cecie, Fig and Ginger. Finally she agrees with her husband to go back, silently plotting her own death before the cancer PAGE B2 â€" WATERLOO CHRONICLE, WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 21, 1991 Explore Outer Banks Anne Rivers Siddon joins the ranks of Harper Lee and Pat Conroy as a solid Southern talent with her sixth novel, Outer Banks. Kate Abrams, the narraâ€" tor, is facing 50 and the fear of cancer‘s return whensheisinvitedtoareunbnofthrsecoflege roommates. She has kept out of touch with all of them since graduation when her fiancee ran off with Ginger, the rich heiress whose summer home on the Outer Banks of North Carolina is the setting for the reunion. Paul was the architect wunderkind whose job at a top New York design firm was assured. Kate, an interior design graduate, would precede him to the Big Apple BOJANGLES DANCE STUDIO Congratulates KATHY OSTROM, Miss Dance Canada 1991 KAHLIL CALDER, Mr. Dance Canada 1991 cau. 884â€"5730 Paul comes back and Kate must face his magnetic attraction again. As an Atlantic gale assaults the banks, she rendezvous with her first lover knowing that she will leap from the bridge afterwards. The novel climaxes in a sexual storm that finally purges the past. My only frustration with the book is realizing | have yet another author deserving my attention. King‘s Oak and Peachtree Road are both out in paperback. Ah well, so many books . . . so little time. Outer Banks, Anne Rivers Siddons, Harper Collins, he $27.95 Chuck Erion is a Waterlioo bookseller and freeâ€" lance writer tragedy . She confronts the unreality of their lives: ‘‘I hate death as much as any of you . . . but | hate this kind of nonâ€"life more. It is a death. It‘s a chosen death. And that‘s a sin. That‘s a sin against the people around you, who have to live a harder reality because you won‘t live yours at all . . .‘ Ginger has denied the reality of death from her wellâ€"protected childhood" onwards: ‘‘I thought if 1 was sweet and cute enough, | would have a good life, and be a good mother, and keep Paul." Fig, in a surprise twist, has vengefully manipulated all the Registration: Aug. 27, 28, 29 Sept. 3, 4, 5 :00 p.m. â€" 7:00 p.m. Ages 3 to Adult JAZZ BALLET JUNIOR KINDERGARTEN â€" FULL DAY â€" HALF DAY e "The Alternative LA KJ e ” In Bilingual Education Sll_s:hl‘glOR ‘l’!n‘JDERq‘Aer'ls‘EN TO GRADE El?fl!.'ll]‘ 3 igh academic standards encourage mastery subj in both French and EnFIish. Emph.::is is placed on deve’ig';-‘ ing the full potential of each child: intellectually, sociall and emotionally. Curriculum includes drama, music ang computer literacy. GRADES ONE TO GRADE EIGHT Some places available in all grades SENIOR KINDERGARTEN â€" FULL DAY â€" HALF DAY 3 years on September 1, 1991 The Kitchenerâ€"Waterloo Bilingual School, Erb St. W. at Erbsville Road > 4‘ years on September 1, 1991