Nantucket is an illusion that we all want to believe. We want to believe that we are a land apart, that we are different, that we are the Cheers bar with beaches. Therefore, most of us want Nantucket to be "better."

Now, I think most of us will admit that we share this fantasy and, more to the point, we will happily sell this fantasy to the tourists. We throw out this "far away island" claim and the next thing you know you've got ad executives coming out with the fishing rods and the surfboards. We do the Olde Tyme Yankee Vacation like noone else. Outdoor showers, four wheel drive, clamming rakes. David, what do you suppose the ratio of clamming rakes sold to clamming rakes used is?

People come here to party like the LL Bean Catalogue. Most of the older merchants have let this register and adjusted the expectations accordingly. Downyflake Donuts, Nantucket Bake Shop, Something Natural, Henry's Jr., Drug stores downtown, and the like. Give them the fantasy.

What gets most of us concerned is when something threatens the fantasy. Super Stop and Shop threatened it, so we fought back hard. Beach restrictions threaten it. Bad traffic threatens it. Chain stores threaten it. Of course, all of us see different threats to our fantasy. Hence the argument about Westmoor.

Expatriots, as I was once myself, are particularly ripe for this. Nothing like sitting in a two hour traffic jam on the L.B.J. between Denton and Dallas to get you thinking about that long drive out to the dump. Nantucket, to me, became everything that I wanted to have again. I would trade the "Container Store" for Hardy's. No problem.

Recent arrivals are also ripe for the fantasy, The dream has come true. They never have to leave. They can keep going to the Downyflake until everyone learns their name. They can, eventually, get a post office box in town. They will finally get to go scalloping.

Sergikirov, of course you are right. We are just a small town. But all small towns are the projections of fantasy. Enough people believe that we are different, so we try to act different and better. We give correct directions to lost bikers. We pick up hitch-hikers, We leave our keys in the car and the front door unlocked. It is a fantasy world, but it is the world I want to live in.

So, in the Little Prince, the Prince asks the Pilot to draw him a sheep. The Pilot tries several times, but each time the sheep is all wrong. Finally, in exasperation, the pilot draws a cardboard box and tells the Prince that the Sheep is inside the box. The Prince is over-joyed at the perfect sheep and demands that the pilot make air holes.

Nantucket is in the box.

B