I want to feel this way always.’ ‘We have lots of time ahead of us after we get into our hiding place. I made one call to arrange every thing, I h...pe you like to fish.’ ‘I love fishing, Daddy used to take me all the time.’ ‘We are going to spend two or three weeks in the middle of the Everglades. Then perhaps a week on a house boat in the Keys. Then we travel to New York. Then you will be free of me.’ She looked at him in surprise, ‘You want to be free of me?’ ‘It is what you want, sweetheart,. "I don't believe this." Lisa said in astonishment. "Believe me, I know.", the hovering mass replied, "Not to put too fine a point on it, I am called into existence by your collective disbelief." "I thought it was meant to be faith," Lisa replied. It was all too confusing. What had begun as an Internet prank gone viral had unexpectedly turned into a debate on metaphysics between a naked girl and a talking plateful of spaghetti. "Something to do with symmetry," the spaghetti replied, "Belief and. Looking out across the water, you knew that there were things there. Ships and towers, docks and mills, but in the blackness, it looked like the last step in the universe.You eyed me sideways, wondering if I really was thinking what you both hoped and feared I was. I inched over slightly, until my arm, hands resting in my lap, rested along the length of yours. You could feel the goosebumps rising on my bare skin, definitely not in reaction to the warm weather. Feeling a burst of confidence, you. I'm so proud of you. Now work on that Prokoffiev for next time, okay? See you then. Off you go." He ruffled the top of my head, and I got up from the bench, gathered together my books, and slipped into the hallway, where Beverly, with a wan smile and a soft hi, passed me on the way in to her lesson.If only it had been sunny out.If only it had been mere gloom.If only my mom had somehow got her errands done early and been out there, waiting at the curb, windshield wipers wagging. But the rain was.