“They kept that bottle because they liked listening to the sea sometimes. And also, and this is just a rumor, some say that Sister Ruby Rosarita Mermaid continued to cook using the bottle. She’d fill it up with water and leave it sit until she needed it. If she wanted to feed a lot of people—or if the dish did not taste the way she wanted it to no matter how she tinkered with it—she would get out the bottle. It worked every time: the dish was magnificent. And every time, people came from miles around to eat with the Old Mermaids.”
Dolores nodded as she put money in the cigar box. “I do need to remember that I have everything I need right here,” she said, tapping her chest with the fingers of her right hand. “Don’t need to be pining for the good old days. And I could really use a little he
