Where Did It Go?

The week that is....

My little pal, Johnny, and I went to one of Chris's sumptuous lunches last Sunday and then later to The Palace. We were digesting the meal and thoroughly enjoying ourselves when a decided commotion on the beach drew our attention. Shouts, police sirens, and lifeguard whistles were disturbing what had been a calm afternoon when we saw the reason. Gliding across the ocean was an enormous waterspout (Miami's version of a tornado). It was an awesome sight that I had never witnessed; all you could do was admire the power of it all. It dissipated into the distance and celebrated our brush with death with more drinks.

On Monday there was a storm that stranded everyone where they were for three hours. After a certain amount of rain in a short amount of time, the water has no where to go and the pressure creates five-foot gushes from the storm drains. Fortunately, I was stranded at the bar and not at the supermarket.

Sometimes you enter a room and can smell a story; on Wednesday I walked into the north bar and eyed a couple with extremely pale skin. "Ah", I thought; "They are either from Minnesota or are vampires". I proceeded to sit next to them and, being a lady of social skills, engaged them in conversation. As it turned out, I was wrong on the first count, but damn close on the second. They were card-carrying WITCHES from Salem, Mass. down to celebrate the Summer Solstice. We had a devilish conversation as a full, orange moon rose over the horizon. Master WITCH, Shawn Porier, spoke of Salem's Ms. Firefly's School of Spirit Conjuring and her dear friend Auntie Rattlebones and showed me an ad saying, "...Auntie Rattlebone will even teach your child how to conjure up The Spirits with a Rattlebone." I love this life, I really do. Shawn talked about a group that specialized in Horror Burlesque and how they continually rattled the nerves of Salem's old, New England ladies. (Images of my grandmother wringing her hands at the sight of some of the bizarre students I brought home danced in my head.) We talked about Elizabeth Bathory, Hungary's Blood Countess, and how I hand-made a 15th Century gown to dress up as her four years ago. He directed me to the site of a friend of his at
www.bathoria.com. His sites of www.festivalofthedead.com and www.witchesofsalem.com rounded out my evening's surfing.

Yesterday, a strong wind off the ocean kept the thunderstorms over the mainland where they belong and South Beach was awash, absolutely awash in gorgeous bodies. Chris returned from Texas yesterday and Johnny has the weekend off, so we will stay awash ourselves. I am going swimming right now, heading down to The Palace with Chris and little Johnny and proceed to engaged in what would generally be best described as bad behavior.