It really was starting to resemble a dragon; I only noticed because one day a sailboat was standing off the point, and the people on board were looking at it and taking photos. I hid out until they went away. When I turned around, Jen was beside me. She said quietly, her hand on my shoulder, “You need to go home, honey. Something’s happened.” I looked at her, and something in her face made me turn to stone. I turned and ran off toward home along the beach, the first time the tide was still out.
Take a deep breath. Stand still for a minute and look. Turn to stone. I know what I expected, that my mother had just had a call and my father was dead. When that finally rose up high enough in my mind I reeled and almost ran into a tree. Of course that had to be what it was; Jen had said she knew
