The calm before the storm

Today was a good day.

I spent it down at the beach, fishing and collecting rocks. I got up very early in the morning because I wanted to see if I could catch an anchovy after I'd learnt the right bait for it. I tend to give myself these little challenges from time to time, to test myself, to see what I'm capable of.
I managed to catch the anchovy I wanted. But before that, I caught something else.

A jellyfish!

Immediately afterward, I wanted to make peanut butter & jelly. Seriously, I never knew that was made with jellyfish. Oh well, the saying you learn something new everyday certainly applies here.

Running along the beach, breathing the salty air, feeling the ocean breezes in your hair -- I really can't describe it.

My brother and soon-to-be-sister-in-law put yet another announcement in the paper that their wedding was imminent. I can't honestly say my mind was actually on the wedding, though -- I was busy trying to avoid telling my father what I've really been up to.

However, I couldn't actually hold the secret -- so I went over to Ari's house and told her. Everything.
"Ari, you have to totally promise me that you will not tell anybody."
She laughed. "What are best friends for?" she asked.

I went into detail how when I broke curfew as a teenager, I hadn't been out partying like most kids. I was either in the library or the catacombs beneath the cemetery. I told her how I'd been speaking to the ghosts of my aunt and grandparents.
"Vanna, if you like that kind of thing, you shouldn't be trying to hide it," Ari said. "That's what I was telling you. You can't hide what you like, it's gonna come out anyway."
"I know -- but -- I mean, dad is gonna be freaked out if he finds out his daughter spends more time talking to ghosts than live people."
"I've heard the cemetery is hiring folks," Ari suggested. "Have you thought about actually working there?"
"Oh, gosh, no, never really thought about it. I had the bookstore job, which I liked, but I got bored with it after awhile --"
"Think about it, Vanna. Most of us are afraid to go in there, you're not."

"There's not too much that scares me, actually," I told her. "I was doing the catacombs when I was a child. I'm an old pro at it."