aldersonvk

@@@@@ 91 She laughed, sniffed, laughed againI thought to ask if she was crying, then thought againBetter not to, maybe"Ilse? I better let you go now, honeyI want to shower off the dayThen she burst out: "I hate to think of you all the way down there in Florida by yourself! Maybe falling on your ass in the shower! It's not right!" "Cookie, I'm fineThe kid - his name's Hurricanes, I thought"His name's Jim Cantori But that was a case of right church, wrong pew "That's not the same, and you know itDo you want me to come?" "Not unless you want your mother to scalp us both bald," I said"What I want is for you to stay right where you are and TCB, darlinBut take care of yourself "Huh?" "Never mind "I still want to hear you promise, Dad 92 For one terrible and surpassingly eerie moment I saw Ilse at eleven, Ilse dressed in a Girl Scout's uniform and looking at me with Monica Goldstein's shocked eyesBefore I could stop the words, I heard myself saying, "Promise"Never heard that one before "There's a lot about me you don't know I put the phone gently back into its cradle and stared at it for a long timevii Instead of showering, I walked down the beach to the waterI quickly discovered my crutch was no help on the sand - was, in fact, a hindrance - but once I was around the corner of the house, the water's edge was less than two dozen steps awayThat was easy if I went slowThe surge was mild, the incoming wavelets only inches h