“Oh, right.Oakley.I forgot about the bird.”
She glanced at Danica and Tom.“Thank you for having me.Thank you for inviting me over.While I felt safe at home, I don’t like people thinking they can just show up andmeetme when I don’t want to meet them.I appreciate your help.”
“Anytime, sweetheart,” Danica said.“Portia really likes you.”
“That means you are good bread,” Tom said.“If the pig likes you, you are good bread.”
“I’m not bread.I am a person,” Mabel said.“That doesn’t make any sense.”
“It’s an Italian way of saying that you’re a good person,” Danica said gently.”That the pig is a good judge of character.”
“Oh.”
The adults all shared smirks and chuckles as Mabel bent down to scratch Portia’s rump.
“I like birds, but I could see myself also liking pigs.At least, I like this one.She is very clean.”
“Pigs are actually very clean animals,” Tom said.
Mabel stood up and climbed down the rest of the porch steps to stand next to me.She sniffed and wrinkled her nose.“Why do you smell like the ocean?”
“I went swimming today.”
My kid looked horrified.“Why?”
“Why not?”
“I can list ten reasons off the top of my head why not.And another ten in the ride home.One, it’s still spring and cold out; two, there are rip currents and undertows; three—”
“Thanks again, guys,” I said, steering my child toward the truck.“I appreciate your help.”
“Beer tonight?”Tom asked.
“You think she’ll be okay?Jolene won’t come snooping around again?”
Tom shook his head.“She is old.She goes to bed early.Come by at eight.”
Laughing, I gave him a wave.“Eight it is.”
“Four, all the oil, gas, and other chemicals in the water from the countless freighter ships,” Mabel went on as she climbed into the passenger seat.“Five, there are lion’s mane jellyfish in the water here and their stings are extremely painful; six, there have been great white shark sightings as far north as here.Not to mention there are six-gill sharks which will kill humans.Seven—”
“Okay, kiddo, I get it,” I said as I turned on the truck.“I get it.”
She ignored me, as I figured she would.She needed to end her list.“Seven, rockfish have poisonous spines.You could have stepped on one.Eight, you could have stepped on a sea urchin, which is painful.Nine, you could cut your feet on barnacles or coral, develop an infection and die of sepsis—”
“Well, now you’re just reaching.”I did a three-point turn and headed up the driveway, where the gate opened for me automatically.
“Ten, you could slip on slimy seaweed, hit your head on a rock, and wind up in a coma you never wake up from.”
I drove through the opened gate and glanced over at her.“I’m not going to get the other ten, am I?”
She glanced at me.“Don’t do that again.”
“Kiddo, you can’t prevent me from going swimming.You don’t have to, but I happen to like swimming in the ocean.”
Crossing her arms over her chest, she stared straight ahead out the front window.“And if you die?What happens to me?I have to move back to Florida to live with Dawn and Irv.Florida, where Kyla is now out on parole?Florida, where my psycho pedophile birth-giver could find me at any moment?”
Ah shit.
