"Do you want to talk? You know, about everything?" Evan asks. He's staring up at the star-covered sky as he holds our brown bag of French fries. I finish my sip of my vanilla milkshake despite not wanting to stop and follow his gaze. The stars twinkle against the black and wish I had brought my camera. Somehow I thought that bringing it on our maybe-maybe-not date wasn't appropriate. "I don't know," I smile, "everything seems like a lot of talking." Alabama Reed has fooled herself into thinking that this could work and she knows it. With an accident she's trying to downplay and a loss she can't seem to forget, things aren't looking good. So Bam's parents do the only thing they can think of; they take their daughter and drive her halfway across the country to sleepy Mermaid Bay to live in an empty cottage for the summer. Things quickly start looking up when Bam realizes the newspapers don't cover news that happens hours away, but as soon as she starts making friends and secrets of her past start unraveling, Bam finds out that you can't always run from your past - even if you actually run away. Spiritual #18 May 16th, 2013

A dialogue short story about the things we wake up to that remind us there are still things in this life worth waking up for. ante meridiem - [adv. & adj.] "before noon;" Abbr: A.M. Or a.m. [credit to owner of image (not me)]

Sometimes all you really need is a place to call home. * * * Being re-written completely as of May 14, 2021