”“I heard,” Kat had said.“He’s in critical condition,” Maggie had said.“Oh my God!” Kat had exclaimed.It was only then when Kat realiz...d she had been crying. At the time, she didn’t understand her reaction to the news. The last time she had felt that same sense of loss was when she had learned Jimmy had died. Burl was just a neighbor. Maggie had agreed to watch Herbie while Kat went to the hospital.She recalled the chaos at the hospital. The hospital had swelled with personnel to handle the. They rode way up into the hills with Salma leading the way, letting Seb watch her ass as she peddled. Two hours later and his hard-on had not given up. It was painful and he needed to stop. “Hey, let’s take a break," he called to her. Salma braked hard and the bike slid across the gravel onto the grass lining the dirt road they were on. Her face was shiny with sweat when she turned to him. “What is it, wee-wee break?” “Nah, I just need to rest a bit.” She frowned. “I thought you were in better. I have a birthmark the size of a dime on the inside of the upper part of my right thigh. Standing there I realized Nancy and I were essentially naked together. Before I could say it Nancy said,"I think we need to go up to your room Peter and take this a bit farther before Alice gets home." I stuttered a little, "A...b...bit farther?" "Of course silly. Don't you want to see how close to right your view of me is," she asked coyly. "I won't tell if you won't tell," she continued.I walked. .. or so I thought. My friends and Ihad already spent a good deal of the day jumping waves, playingvolleyball and throwing frisbees, and we were now combing the rockierpart of the upper beach looking for anything of interest to our curiosityand imagination.But nothing could have prepared me for what I found. It was a largeclosed clamshell, brilliant pearl white with an otherworldly sheen to itssurface. I found it in the bottom of a tide pool, which curiously hadlittle else inside of it, in.