Unspooled

Originally written Saturday, December 24, 2005

Richard? or Patrick? One of them has a lot of explaining to do. Enough to worry about, trying to keep that thing safe. Both of them know it’s my responsibility. And both of them have either seen me get hurt, or gotten hurt, or lied about getting hurt, all because of it. This is so not the time to be trying to pull one over on me, giving me a reason not to trust them when we need to work together.

“Sweetie? You OK?” I hadn’t spoken for the few minutes I spent stewing about someone’s betrayal, wishing I at least knew whose, and Medusa’s hands on my shoulders brought me back to the present.

“Not at the moment, but moments pass.” I’d have to call Patrick whenever I had the chance and try Richard again. A frustrating thing about being a vacationing houseguest is the relative lack of privacy and free time. It would have to wait. “Things just got even more complicated. As if they weren’t complicated enough already.”

She pursed her lips and took on an expression redolent of a high school principal telling a student that she already knows, such as that no, in fact, smoking in the girls’ room is not permitted. “That ball of energy I was talking about? The one you need to untangle? I think you did it yourself. It’s all messed up because of you.”

“This whole drama is my fault?”

“How am I supposed to know that? I don’t know what’s going on that you’re all tangled up about, outside of that creepy necklace thingy; I just know you’re making a bigger deal out of it than it has to be. Just find one end of the thread, follow it through the jumble, and you’ll get to the other end. And I believe your twenty minutes are up.”

Go figure, I thought. Her one piece of actual advice, and it sounds like a complete cliché.

I paid for my session and Ian’s and collected him and Liz from the front of the store. Before I left, Medusa gave me the number of a “psychic” of the same kind as herself, one who lives near me. Most people who call themselves psychics are not energy readers, she said. Now that I’ve found the network, she suggested, I should stay within it.

When I need to switch emotional gears, I can, and not expecting to have a long enough moment to myself to call east, I decided to put aside my worries and enjoy the rest of the evening. Liz and Ian and I met up with the woman Ian’s dating and did dinner and hanging out at a bar in Santa Monica. It was good and relaxing enough to remind me that yes, I actually am on vacation.