Second Helpings by Anthology

Author:Anthology [Anthology]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: ! Yes
Publisher: Internet
Published: 2010-12-21T06:00:00+00:00

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H A L F W A Y T H E R E F R A N W A L K E R

tucked in her pocket the seashell Sarah had given her.

Sarah picked up another shell, sniffed it, then handed it to Yvonne. Yvonne held the shell to her nose.

“I can’t smell anything.”

“To me, it smells of home. It tells me where I am. It reminds me who I am.”

Yvonne put the second shell in her pocket. She looked at Sarah. Pretty brown eyes.

Winsome smile. Intelligent, insightful, confident. “Take risks,” shrinkie-lady had said.

“I really enjoy your company. Will you have dinner with me tonight?”

“I can’t,” Sarah said.

“Perhaps tomorr—”

Sarah shook her head. “I like you, Yvonne. And you’re very attractive. But I’ve come home to be myself. I could probably fall in love with you, but I’d have to wear someone else’s skin to do it. I can’t do that again. I won’t.”

“I don’t understand.”

“I need to walk a bit farther down the beach,” Sarah said.

“May I come?”

Sarah nodded. As they walked, Sarah occasionally picked up seashells and handed them to Yvonne. She slipped each one into her pocket. Sarah seemed distracted, her gaze continually flicking out to sea.

Yvonne wondered what it would feel like to reach out and take Sarah’s hand. She was decades away, oceans away, from the young Yvonne who had innocently held hands with her school friends. Yet that same Yvonne had returned, as unnoticed as a seal camouflaged against the rocks, offering a skin that fit better than any disguise.

What would other people say? How would Heather and Raewyn react if their mother suddenly announced that she’d become a lesbian?

Yvonne didn’t care. Not about her cold ankles, or her sweaty underarms, or her mother-in-law’s inevitable squawking. The breeze cooled her face, now free of its mask.

“This is where I have to say good-bye,” Sarah said.

“Good-bye?”

“I’m not like you,” Sarah said. “I’m not one of the once-born. In each lifetime, I have to make a choice, to live as a human, or to live as a seal, permanently, until I die and am reborn. This is the time for me to make that choice. And in this lifetime, I need to be a seal. I can’t change that. The tides are in my blood.”

“A seal?” Yvonne stared at Sarah, at her round eyes, her crew-cut pelt of brown hair, her solid body.

“They’re here for me.”

Yvonne turned and looked. On a pile of nearby rocks, seals basked. One reared up to watch them. Several more slid across the rocks and plopped into the water.

“You’re joking, right?”

Sarah shook her head. “I hope you find your happiness.”

She touched Yvonne’s cheek, lightly, then walked into the waves. Her skin wavered, darkened, furred over. Within moments she was absorbed into the seal colony, one ReadTheseLips.com

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