Jaeger Adventures & the Tale of Seaside Exploration

For my family, my love for you is the wind in the leaves

Jaeger Adventures!

&

The Tale of Seaside Exploration

by Nicholas



Chapter 1

The cerulean blue shimmered like shattered crystals against the sky, the dense
forest parting just enough for the young Jaeger family to see the ocean around the
trunks of the mighty fir trees.

“I see it! I see the ocean first!” They all shouted at once as the blue Jeep
Cherokee hummed along the highway descending out of the mountains.

Cynthia adjusted the radio, turning up the church station. She looked back at her
three kids, smiling, “We’re almost there! We’ll have three days at the coast while I have
my conference… A BABY COW!!”

Pointing suddenly out the window, Jessica, Paulina, and Nicholas followed their
mother’s gesture to see a host of cattle grazing placidly in the fields on the side of the
highway. Indeed, several baby cows were adorably trying to follow their parents, lagging
behind, and cantering around with legs too long causing them to tumble into the grass,
their parents licking them encouragingly to try again.

Paulina tugged on Jessica’s sleeve in the front seat, “What are you most excited
for at the beach?”

Jessica adjusted the seatbelt and turned slightly to face her siblings in the back
seat, “Oh I don’t know, everything! Maybe looking for seashells and rocks together in
the sand! What about you?”

Paulina thought for a moment looking out the window, then checking her small
fanny pack, “I’m excited to look at the local shops and maybe buy something! What
about you Nicholas?”

“VIDEO GAMES AT THE ARCADE!!!” He exclaimed, but this was already known.
The arcade had been a favorite location for these three at Seaside for many years.

“What about you mom?” the three asked.

Cynthia thought about it for a moment, “I am most excited for family time
together.”

“That doesn’t count, you have to choose something!” the kids retorted.

“Oh yes it does!” their mother replied, “And I am most excited about it.”

The girls looked at each other and turned back to their mother, “Do we really get
to stay for three days?” Jessica asked.

“Yes, three days for my conference. You three will have the daytime to
yourselves while I am in meetings. Explore the town and stick together and we’ll meet
back at the hotel cottage each day at 4pm. Oh look, here we are now.”

The tires of the Jeep rumbled over the lip of the driveway leading to a sparse
parking lot in front of a few small cottages. Cynthia popped the trunk and the kids
collected their belongings, walking them up the wooden ramp to where they were
staying. Hydrangea and cedar crowded the pathway and filled the air with amazing
fragrances among all the other flowers lining the way.

“Wow this place is awesome!” Nicholas exclaimed, dropping his bag onto a
couch and stuffing away his Gameboy.

“I call top bunk!” Paulina shouted as she ran into the side bedroom tossing her
small bag repeatedly towards the top bed.

“Bottom bunk!” Jessica smiled as she placed her things on it and went out to help
their mother with dinner.

“What are you looking at?” Paulina asked as she joined Nicholas looking out the
window.

“The water looks so cool at night, look you can see it light up almost glowing
every time the wave crests.” Nicholas replied.

“A CAT!” Paulina pointed, bonking her finger against the window as the cat
turned sharply at the sound as if insulted. It hopped up onto the railing of the back porch
overlooking the ocean and cleaned its paws looking every so often back at the two in
the window.

“I’m going to go pet my new friend,” Paulina said decidedly and turned on the
spot and walked out of the room. At the sound of the sliding glass door, Nicholas turned

back to the window to see the cat leap lithely off the banister and flick its tail
affectionately as Paulina scratched gingerly behind its ears.

After a wonderful, healthy meal, the four settled into their sleeping spots and
leapt into dreamland, excited for the next three days of adventure.

Chapter 2

Early the next morning, sounds could be heard from the kitchen as Cynthia
prepared breakfast. Nicholas was up first, groggily sitting at the table sipping hot
chocolate.

“Are your sisters up yet, Nicholas?” Cynthia asked.

“I think so, I can hear them giggling.” Nicholas replied.

The two girls came out fully dressed and ready for the day, they looked at
Nicholas’ pajamas and disheveled hair smirking to each other. “Would you like any help,
mother?” They said together.

“You two look absolutely beautiful! And I think I have it just about ready if you
would like to set the table. Nicholas, would you choose a flower from outside for the
table?”

“Oh yeah!!” Nicholas’ chair skidded back suddenly and he raced outside, Cynthia
following with a pair of scissors.

Cynthia returned as the girls finished setting the table, a few moments later the
door could be heard swinging closed and Nicholas raced in with three different colors of
Hydrangea.

“Oooo! Three different colors,” Jessica admired.

“Different levels of acidity in the soil changes the color of the flowers!” Cynthia
informed them all.

“Wooowwwww,” the three kids marveled as they took their places at the table.

“Jessica, you are eleven years old now, I want you to look after your siblings
while I am at my conference. You three need to stay together at all times. If you have
any trouble or need anything just call this number," she pointed to a scrap of ripped
stationary on the countertop. "It will ring the front desk at the conference building. Any
business will let you use their phone, just ask them.”

“We have to stay together the whole time?” Nicholas asked incredulously. “How
close are we talking?”

“Maybe we should tie a string to Nicholas so we don’t lose him,” Paulina
muttered to Jessica.

“I want you three to always be in sight of each other," their mother continued. "If
you ever look around and can’t see both of your siblings, you are in the wrong spot!”

“It’s okay! We can do this!” Jessica said assuredly. “We love to be together and
have done this sort of thing many times!”

They hadn’t. This would be their first time together in a town without their mom or
another adult, ever. To add to it, there were times where they didn’t get along very well
at all, and feelings could be hurt which could lead to unexpected actions from any one
of these three children.

“We’ll be fine!” She reassured them, “Just stick together and be kind to each
other.”

“That’s right!” Cynthia replied. “Now I have to head to the meeting, so just put
your dishes away and I will see you this afternoon!”

Giving each of them a hug and a kiss on the head, she opened the door part way
as light beamed into the room along with the bird sounds of the morning.

“Oh yes! That’s right, I almost forgot! Here is twenty dollars. This is for lunch and
spending money for you three today. Use it wisely and make sure you get a good lunch!
Healthy!”

With that she gave each an extra quick squeeze before closing the door behind
her, leaving the children in a state of mixed excitement and bewilderment. Were they
really free to do whatever they wanted all day? Seaside is a big town for a couple kids,
did their mom really trust them this much?

They finished clearing away the dishes. Nicholas dashed into the back room to
pull on a pair of pants, a t-shirt, and a baseball cap before meeting the girls in the
entrance way as the two buckled their matching Jelly Sandals. Jessica pulled open the
front door and the three walked into the world of sunlight and colorful flowers beyond.

Locking it behind them, she handed the key to Paulina who placed it in her fanny
pack at her waist.

“Our adventure starts now!” She said to them with a grin.

“Let’s go!!” They exclaimed as they raced down the path towards the road, the
town of Seaside rising before them as if being unfurled in a cascading wave of small
cottages, shops, neighborhoods, parks, and the ever present, energetic vibrations of the
ocean.

Chapter 3

Leaving the safety and comfort of the hotel cottage felt like floating on air as the
three children crossed the road to a bench to plot their next move.

“Let’s go to the beach!” suggested Paulina.

“Let’s go to the video arcade!” grinned Nicholas.

“Let’s plan our day so we can do everything we want to do.” Jessica
recommended sagely, “The beach will get warmer as the day goes on, we’ll need to
stop for lunch around noon. Let’s walk around town a bit to decide where we want to eat
lunch and check when the arcade opens!”

This sounded like the best idea to everyone, and with Jessica as their lifelong
leader, it made the decision even easier. The park bench left behind and the hotel
cottage growing ever more distant, the three set off to discover the Seaside town
together.

“Ooo look! They sell shells at this shop!” Paulina gasped, running to the window
and peering in, hands cupping her face against the glass.

“Let’s find our own! It’s the BEACH!” Nicholas countered, frowning at the price
tags beside each shell. “We only have twenty dollars for all day, including video games!
And lunch!”

“I brought my own spending money, actually,” stated Paulina with an elfish air.
Even at her young age of seven, she had quite an ability for saving money and buying
things she liked.

“How much will lunch be?” Nicholas asked.

“Probably around five dollars each,” Jessica determined.

“That leaves about two dollars each for us after lunch,” Paulina summed up.

“That’s nothing! I’m not going to eat anything so I can have more for the arcade.”
Nicholas plotted.

The two girls looked at each other doubtfully. If they knew their brother, and they
knew him well, he would change his mind about food by the time lunch rolled around, so
they smirked and let it pass.

“There’s the arcade right there!” Nicholas exclaimed, running suddenly across the
road.

“Mom said we need to stay together!!” Paulina shouted after him.

“Nicholas, wait! We’re coming, too!” Jessica called. The two girls held hands,
looked both ways, and walked across the street like the civilized children they were.
Smiles broadened as onlookers waved from their cars at the cute girls in their dresses
on a summer day at the coast.

Their brother stood dejected in front of a locked glass door, the sign hanging in
the window read, “CLOSED.” An overflowing trash can stood beside with a few cigarette
butts crushed against the top in a sand trap.

“Why did we even come to this stupid beach?” Nicholas moaned, kicking dirt into
a spiderweb at the base of the trash can.

“Nicholas, look, it says it opens at 10am. We are just a couple hours early!”
Jessica discovered, putting an arm around his shoulders. At this he immediately perked
up and shoved his face against the glass, placing his hands as Paulina did earlier,
however leaving a much grimier mark.

“Look at all those games!! I’m so excited!” Nicholas beamed, “Okay, we have a
little before they open. What should we do till then?”

“We don’t have to come right when they open…” Paulina remarked.

“Let’s go to the beach!” Jessica recommended, “We can come back around 10 to
see the arcade, then get lunch, then go back to the beach and decide from there! It
should be really warm by then.”

The trio turned around trying to orient themselves, the sun was still rising and the
sky was a clear blue. Shuffling their feet through the sandy streets, they stayed close
together and looked all around in awe as if seeing everything for the first time. The
freedom of exploring on their own felt raw and new as they found themselves leaving
the pavement and sinking softly into sun-warmed sand.

“It is so beeauutifull!!” Jessica cried, stretching her arms broadly out as if to
welcome the sea. Paulina was picking up her first shell and stashing it in her fanny
pack, but seeing Jessica, she followed suit and stretched her arms out as well, hands
almost touching as they faced the ocean waves.

Nicholas, who had kicked off his shoes and was letting handfuls of sand sift
slowly between his fingers, looked up at his two sisters standing together like palm trees
with a ribbon between them. Crouching low, he took a runner’s stance, then bang! He
sprinted towards the ocean breaking through their nearly touching arms, sending them
swinging like cowboy saloon doors as they spun around and chased after him laughing.

They were off! Racing towards the crashing waves, sand flying behind them in
geysers. The three young heroes jumped over the first wave, hoisting up their skirts &
cuffs and screaming with delight as the next one crashed against their knees.

Paulina was the first to retreat, followed closely by Jessica; the two of them
began checking the shoreline for precious shells & stones. Nicholas was now
completely drenched, having been partially knocked over by one wave and decidedly
diving into the next. His t-shirt thrown into the wind in an attempt to get it to shore now
lay soggy and gently drifting in the shallows.

Grinning from ear to ear and drenched to the bone, Nicholas scooped up his
t-shirt and stretched out in the sand to dry. The girls were working on a sand castle and
laughing at some story they were making up together.

“So then Crystal said, ‘My word, David, if you’re going to eat like that we’ll need
to serve you at the puppy table!” Paulina invented, padding a sandy balcony into place.

“‘I don’t even like pie! I’m just pretending to eat, it’s mostly on the floor at this
point,’” Jessica replied in a sophisticated, deepened voice. “‘I daresay that spider is
certainly lurking above you.’”

Paulina began to tremble with giggles while narrating, “With a glance at the
ceiling, the spider descended onto Crystal’s face! Knocking the pie off the table she
exclaimed, ‘Oopsie Doopsie Pumpkin Pie! Pidey-Idey I got a PIDEY IN MY EYE!!’”

The trio erupted with laughter, Nicholas joining in as he arrived with a handful of
small shells. Filled to the brim with mirth, they continued their nonsense while placing
the small shells in the ramparts and on the walls of the sand castle.

Before long there was a deep, ominous rumbling sound that could only mean one
thing.

“Owwwww…” Nicholas said gripping his stomach.

The sisters looked at each other with a foreboding glance. Jessica suggested,
“Maybe it’s time to head back to get some lunch?”

“The Arcade!” Nicholas blurted out.

“Okay, the arcade first then,” Jessica conceded, “But let’s keep an eye out for
where we want to have lunch!”

The trio collected their things, Nicholas still a bit damp, and made their way back
up the sandy slopes towards the town.

Chapter 4

Barely able to restrain himself, Nicholas waited across the road from the Arcade
with his sisters till the cars came to a halt to allow them to pass. Sprinting across,
Nicholas yanked on the door nearly falling backwards as it awarded entrance, his two
sisters crossed the road politely, hand in hand.

“Oh my GOSH! We’re here!!” Nicholas beamed, looking around at rows and rows
of arcade games. The girls sideled in after him, peering at the view from his either side.

“Let’s see how much games cost!” Jessica suggested.

They approached the front desk, Nicholas checking the coin slots of each game
they passed. “Excuse me?” Jessica inquired, “How much does it cost to play these
arcade games?”

A mosaically pimpled late teen attendant stood on the other side of the counter.
She hopped onto her toes and pressed her hands on the glass display case, peering
over to view Paulina better who’s head nearly came to the top of the counter. Paulina
smiled up at her brightly in greeting. The attendant replied, “Most games are 5 cents,
but some take more than one.”

“Oh my gosh, we’re RICH!” Nicholas shouted, jumping and throwing a fist into the
air.

“Thank you!” Jessica replied as they stepped away from the counter. “Let’s take
only one dollar each to make sure we have enough for lunch.”

“Great! Yeah! How much time do we have?” Nicholas replied checking his watch,
“It’s 10:30am.”

“Let’s play till noon, then go get lunch,” Paulina recommended.

“Okay, sounds good!” Jessica replied, and the trio flew apart like dandelion
wishes in the wind.

About an hour passed before Jessica and Paulina found Nicholas seated in a car
racing game hooting and howling as his neon race car was boosted by rocket fire.

“Can I try?” Jessica asked after the round was over.

“Sure! It’s two-player! Just sit in this seat here and we’ll race together!” Nicholas
instructed excitedly.

After their third race, laughing and somehow out of breath and sweaty, Jessica
and Nicholas grinned at each other broadly and began recounting their favorite
moments of the race.

“Oh! But did you see it when I flew over that zebra?” Jessica asked as she
moved her hand through the air.

“Yeah! In my rear-view mirror!!” Nicholas teased, “What about when I toasted that
truck with my rocket jets?”

“That guy was right in front of me and I passed him!” Jessica said excitedly.
“Paulina what was your favorite part? ...Paulina?”

The two looked at each other, then gripped their seats and stood on them looking
behind and all around for their sister, but she was gone.

They were immediately frantic, Jessica began yelling, “Paulina! Have you seen
my sister? She is about this tall and has brown hair!”

Nicholas sprinted to the bathrooms and drinking fountain, asking a girl to see if
his sister was inside, but she was nowhere to be found.

Jessica and Nicholas exchanged a panicked glance, then raced to the attendant
they had spoken to before.

They approached the counter at a run, Nicholas slamming his hands on the glass
a little too hard as they reached it. They both began talking a mile a minute, “Sorry to
bother you. Have you seen our sister? She was the little one. We can’t find her. She
was just right here a few minutes ago but now she’s gone! She’s not in the bathroom or
at the drinking fountain!”

The attendant smiled and stooped to pick up something behind the counter. With
a huge sigh of relief, Jessica and Nicholas looked on as Paulina was raised up and
plopped on the counter, still pointing at one of the prizes on the wall, “That’s the one,
with the unicorn.”

“Paulina we were so worried! Why did you go off on your own?” Jessica asked
imploringly.

“I could still see you two, I was watching through the glass. You were really
running around!” Paulina smiled as her siblings bristled. “Besides,” She continued, “I
found what we should get for Mom with our tickets.”

The attendant had retrieved the item Paulina had selected and brought it down to
the counter for the children to see. They crowded around in awe as they admired a
beautiful wind chime with a unicorn centerpiece.

“This,” Paulina stated confidently, “Is what we would like to use our tickets on,
Bridget.” Paulina was obviously on a first name basis with our attendant friend.

“Wow! Great choice! Probably our best item here, however it is kinda pricey...
You’ll need three-hundred tickets for that.”

“THREE HUNDRED?!” Nicholas burst out in shock.

“Is that a lot?” Jessica inquired.

“We’ve only earned forty tickets so far!” Nicholas recounted, “How will we ever
get to three-hundred?”

“We’ll just have to work at it and come back every day till we have enough,”
Paulina explained thoughtfully, rearranging a few items in her pack.

“Let’s come back after lunch and see how many more we get today.” Jessica
suggested, glancing at a wall clock behind the counter.

With that, the trio collected their things and folded their tickets neatly for Paulina
to place in her now quite full fanny pack before walking down the aisles of games
towards the sunlit street.

Chapter 5

“Let’s get elephant ears!” Paulina shouted as they walked past the shop, the air
full of the scents of cinnamon and fresh baking.

“Maybe after, we should get some real food with our money first,” Jessica
recommended.

“What about Pig ‘N Pancake?” Nicholas suggested.

“I hate that stupid piggy with the fork,” Paulina mumbled.

“No, let’s try to find a sandwich shop or something simple,” Jessica replied.

Around the next corner appeared just such a sandwich shop and the trio went in
decidedly, hunger now at its full peak.

“We can each get a sandwich for five dollars here!” Jessica exclaimed excitedly.
“This is the perfect place!”

“Good because I’m starving!” Nicholas replied, staring up at the menu.

“Do you know what you’re going to get?” Paulina asked.

“I’m trying to find the sandwich with the most food on it.” Nicholas answered,
mouth starting to water.

The three selected and received their sandwiches and sat down at a table to eat
together.

“So we have forty tickets now, and it took us about one hour to earn them,”
Jessica diagramed.

“I can earn them faster, I wasn’t really even trying.” Nicholas chimed while adding
spicy sauces to his already towering sandwich.

“That’s great, because I don’t want to spend all my money on video games,”
Paulina replied, taking a sip of her self-purchased iced tea.

“We should have enough if we save our money each day. We might even have a
little extra the last day if we play our cards right!” Jessica offered, scribbling numbers
onto the napkin next to her. “Nicholas we might need a little extra help from your video
game skills.

“THAT! I can give gladly,” smirked Nicholas, and the trio turned to their
sandwiches to dig in.

Just then, the sandwich shop's door opened with a jingle. The sound of birds and
streams of light announced the entrance of a young woman with flowing, golden hair.

"Mom!!" The three exclaimed, jumping from their seats and running to greet her.

"Hello, my sweet children," Cynthia said with a smile, squeezing each of her
children in turn.

"How did you know we were here?" Nicholas asked as they returned to the table,
their mother took the vacant spot on his side as the girls glowered.

"I think I know my children well enough to guess where they might go for lunch,"
she said mysteriously as the trio gazed up at her. "What did you get to eat?"

They presented their sandwiches, Nicholas steadying his tower with both hands
as it threatened to topple.

"These look like a good start to a healthy meal," Cynthia approved. "How about a
few extra healthy hors d'oeuvres?"

Reaching into a bag they hardly noticed before, she retrieved berries, mixed
seeds and nuts, and alfalfa sprouts and placed them on the table.

"That's better," she said looking over the newly improved luncheon. "I can only
stay for another few minutes before I need to head back to my conference."

"Awww," her children groaned through mouthfuls, pouring the snacks onto their
plates to crowd their sandwiches.

"We'll see each other tonight and talk all about your day,” she continued. “Let's
say a quick prayer before we start eating." The trio stopped dead in their tracks,

Paulina's fork falling to her plate with a clatter. "Then I will need to say goodbye for
now."

They held hands around their meal, Jessica eyeing Nicholas through a squinted
wink as they scuffled their hands into position. Cynthia asked, "Who would like to say
the prayer?"

Paulina looked up at their mother then bowed her head and began, "Dear God,
thank you for this day, please help all those who are suffering. Thank you for my family,
thank you for my mom. Please bless all the animals and plants, and bless all the hands
that brought this food to our table."

"That was beautiful, Paulina, thank you," Cynthia smiled, giving her little hand a
squeeze and concluding with the Catholic Grace.

"It started more like a bedtime prayer," Jessica mumbled to Nicholas out of the
corner of her mouth as the four young heroes tucked into their meal.

A short time later, Cynthia rose gracefully and turned to the table, "Alright my
children, I must be off! I will see you back at the hotel cottage later this afternoon." She
gave her children each a hug and floated across the room to the door. It jingled merrily
as the bird sounds returned before it closed again once more.

Chapter 6

Leaving the sandwich shop, Nicholas glanced at his watch, “It’s about 1pm now,
we need to meet mom at the cottage at 4pm?”

“Yeah, at four,” Jessica replied, “So, we have some more time. Should we keep
exploring, go to the beach, or try to earn more tickets?”

“MORE TICKETS!” Nicholas cheered.

“I’m kind of feeling done getting tickets and playing video games for today,”
Paulina stated with a sigh.

“But we need so many more!” Nicholas countered, grabbing dry leaves off the
ground and throwing them one by one into the air.

“We have time,” Jessica mused, “Let’s go back to the beach till we have to meet
mom, we can play more video games tomorrow.”

Outnumbered two to one, as was often the case with two sisters, Nicholas
grudgingly agreed as the trio set off towards the ocean front.

It wasn’t long before they were all laughing and playing together, now with
someone’s lost ball that they found in the sand, now with the dog who saw them holding
the ball, now repairing the trampled sandcastle as the dog hovers nearby with a
maniacally gleeful look.

“3:55pm! We should go!” Nicholas announced with a quick silencing of his watch
alarm.

“I said to tell us when it was 3:45pm!” Jessica lamented.

“Mom doesn’t care! Let’s go see her now!” Nicholas replied as they gathered
their things and thanked the dog’s family.

“Which way is the cottage from here?” asked Paulina, their feet still in the sand
as they watched the traffic milling through the streets.

“Nicholas, you have a good memory for directions, do you know?” Jessica asked,
tapping her brother’s head a couple times with her finger.

After the fifth poke he waved her hand off and stated, “Yeah! I think it’s just
straight up this road on the left. We can find it.”

It wasn’t a direct route, after taking a few wrong turns tempers were rising and
panic was setting in.

“If you didn’t know, you should have just said you didn’t know!” Jessica berated
Nicholas.

“I said ‘I thought’ it was this way! I’m sorry I’m not a freaking road map!” he
replied, turning away from them.

“Mom is going to be so worried about us, I hope she is okay,” Paulina said,
concerned.

Nicholas kicked the foot of a bench then sat heavily on it with his head in his
hands. The two girls looked at each other and sat down on either side of him and put an
arm around his shoulders.

“I’m sorry, Nicholas, it’s not your fault,” Jessica apologized sincerely, “I’m just sad
because mom trusted me and I really wanted it to be perfect.”

“I really thought it was this way!” Nicholas said, wiping away tears, “I visualized it
in my head and everything!” He squeezed the bench beneath him tightly with his small,
nine-year old hands.

“Wait,” Nicholas said bemused, “Wait… this bench… THIS BENCH!!” He leapt to
his feet and turned around to face the girls.

“What is it?!” Paulina said jumping up and checking her dress as if she had sat in
paint.

“No no, this bench! This is the bench we sat on this morning! We are close!
Really close!” Nicholas shouted fervently.

He leapt onto the bench and started peering around like a sea captain, “There
she blows!! Our cottage is right over there! I can see the hydrangeas!”

With shouts of joy the three young heroes skipped and ran to the cottage arriving
just as their mother opened the door with a big smile and the wafting smell of cookies
baking.

They leapt into her arms in a big group hug and began telling her all about their
day. Stories bobbed in and out of focus as they cleaned up and got ready for dinner. It
wasn’t until they had said Grace and eaten a few bites that they were able to settle
down long enough to make sense.

“So, then she wasn’t in the bathroom or at the drinking fountain or anywhere! I
mean anywhere; we looked everywhere!” Nicholas rapid fired.

“It wasn’t that bad, Nicholas, don’t make it seem like a big deal…” Jessica said,
lightly kicking him under the table.

“Oh?” Cynthia replied, amused, “And where had you gone off to, Paulina?”

“I was talking to Bridget,” stated Paulina between bites of angel hair pasta with
shrimp. “She’s the lady who owns the Arcade.”

Nicholas snorted into his apple juice, “She doesn’t own it. She just works there.”

“And you know this because you talked with her a lot and asked her?” Paulina
retorted, spinning her noodles with her fork against her plate.

“Oh… did you ask her that?” Nicholas wondered sheepishly.

Paulina moved on, “Cynthia I think you would really like Bridget, she is in charge
of all the prizes at the arcade, too.”

“That’s wonderful, Paulina, did you get any prizes?” her mother inquired.

There was a dead silence before Jessica cleared her throat, “Oh no we didn’t,
they cost a lot of tickets.”

“Well, did you at least see any prizes you liked?” Cynthia followed.

Nicholas began hiccuping like mad after swallowing angel hair too fast and
excused himself to refill his juice.

“There are some nice gifts, I mean prizes there! We just didn’t spend a ton of
time there today.”

“That’s good, I hope you all are staying safe and spending lots of time outside on
these sunny summer days. Now who wants to help me clean up before bed?”

All three kids helped and before long were tucked into their beds. Cynthia came
by with holy water and said prayers, blessing each of them before saying goodnight.

“Sweet dreams, my children, and be sure to get a good rest because tomorrow is
another big day,” their mother called as she began singing a hymn:

Spirit of God in the clear running water
Blowing to greatness the trees on the hill
Spirit of God in the breaking of morning
Fill the earth, bring it to birth and blow where you will
Blow, blow, blow till I be the breath of the Spirit

Blowing in me

Chapter 7

The next morning they awoke in much the same manner: Nicholas rising first to
join his mother in the kitchen, the girls coming out after and all breakfasting together at
the table. However, midway through breakfast a huge, rolling drum of thunder shook the
room.

“My goodness,” Cynthia remarked, “I wonder if we’re going to have a
thunderstorm today.”

The four went to the sliding glass door to see dark clouds over the ocean, flashes
of light illuminated patches from within like fireflies in a dense fog as rain flecked the
window.

She continued, “If you need to stay inside today, that is fine too. There is a phone
here if you need to call me. I will see you after my meeting. I love you all!” With that, she
handed Jessica a crisp twenty dollar bill, squeezed them all tightly, and left as another
flash of lightning lit up the room around them.

After their mother’s car drove away, Nicholas turned to his sisters, “The wind
chime! The tickets! How are we going to earn enough now?”

They were at a loss. All they could do was turn to the sliding glass door and
watch the storm as it loomed ever closer, lightning arcing like the spreading roots of a
giant electric tree.

After a few hours of reading quietly inside, the rain appeared to be lessening.
Nicholas stirred and returned to the window.

“I think it’s stopping,” he announced, not taking his eyes off the clouds.

“We don’t want to get caught out there in this,” Jessica advised looking up from
her copy of Nancy Drew.

“But the wind chime!” Nicholas implored.

“I don’t want to get all cold and wet in the rain,” Paulina stated, pulling her blanket
closer around her ears, feet kicked up behind her as she lay belly down on her bed.

“It’s for Mom!” Nicholas insisted, turning away from the window to look at them.

“Okay, if it lets up for ten minutes, we’ll make a dash for the Arcade.” Jessica
planned, glancing at Paulina.

“Now we’re talking!” Nicholas said, returning his gaze to the window and setting
his watch to its timer setting. “Come on sky, let’s open up!”

Another hour passed before the sun shone through, but as soon as it did,
Nicholas started the timer and waited, staring at the sky. Ten minutes passed and they
got their shoes and jackets on, locked the door behind them and raced towards the
Arcade.

“Oh no! It’s going to start again!” Jessica predicted as the sunlight dimmed,
becoming blotted out by deep purple, grey clouds. “There wasn’t enough time!”

Down the road, a sound like gravel being poured into an empty swimming pool
began to grow louder and louder as the trio looked for its cause.

“Get inside! It’s our only chance!” Paulina called out as pebble-sized hail started
pelting the ground on the other side of the street.

They ran for the Arcade door, swinging it open and closing it behind them, hail
cascaded against the glass like many small birds furiously tapping their beaks,
seemingly trying to break in. The three young heroes crowded together looking outside
at what they had just escaped, not noticing the floating smells of scented smoke & oils
surrounding them.

A weathered, oily voice called to them, “And to what do I owe this great honor,
three young children have barricaded themselves in my shop. Turn around and let me
have a look at you.”

Eyes wide, they gripped each other’s arms as they turned around as one
three-person unit. This was not the Arcade, that was for sure, and this was definitely not
Bridget.

Before them sat a tall, thin woman with long feathery hair that had many
individual braids with beads suspended in the weavings. Bangles of many metals
clinked musically around her wrists as stones of every kind hung on many loose chains
and knotted ropes about her neck. Her hands were worn yet supple, as she finished

spinning the yarn she was working with her bejeweled hands to rise and approach
them.

“Our mom is waiting outside for us,” Jessica blurted out as the woman danced
towards them.

“Oh is she, in this downpour? What a poor thing,” replied the woman. “Better call
her inside as well.”

“She’s at a meeting,” Paulina stated matter-of-factly, looking up at the woman
with interest.

“And letting her children wander the streets on their own no less, my oh my, and
with a hailstorm outside, what luck.”

“Who are you?” Nicholas inquired, gazing at the tattooed bare feet of the
mysterious woman.

“They call me Esadowa and you have wandered into my shop.”

“What do you sell here?” Paulina asked, looking around at all the stones and
crystals.

“I sell objects of mysticism & spirituality,” replied Esadowa, “Among other things.”

The fragrant air felt disorienting as the trio made another glance out the door, still
a wall of falling ice rocks. Looking at one another they decided together to take a
chance on Esadowa and this shop of mysticism. Paulina quickly counted her money in
her fanny pack as the other two went further inside.

“I’ve made one of these before!” Nicholas exclaimed pointing at a hoop
interwoven with string like a spider’s web.

“Ah yes, the dreamcatcher,” mused Esadowa, “Whoever showed you this was a
true mystic.”

“It was my mom.” Paulina stated, suddenly at Esadowa’s elbow.

“Our mom,” Jessica & Nicholas corrected with a sigh.

“Well well, your mother sounds like a very interesting person indeed,” determined
Esadowa.

“What’s this?” Jessica asked, holding up a glossy blue item with holes in it.

“Ahh, the ocarina, it is a wind instrument. I can play it for you if you would like,”
offered Esadowa.

“Please!” requested Jessica as the three of them joined together and sat on the
floor in front of Esadowa who lowered herself into a hanging basket chair and pressed
the ocarina to her lips.

The music was hauntingly beautiful, somehow two separate sounds were coming
from the instrument as the notes rose high into the ether, spiralling with the incense and
oil fragrances, seeming to reach up all the way through the clouds to grace the sun with
its gentle tones.

“That was beautiful…” Jessica admired, hugging Paulina closer.

Esadowa replied, “Thank you very much, the ocarina is a sacred instrument; I
think of myself as only a vessel of wind, much like the ocarina itself, and my wind
provides flight to the song which is eternal.”

The three gazed up at her open mouthed for a few moments before Nicholas
exclaimed, “The hail stopped!”

“Oh has it? That is too bad, I was starting to enjoy myself,” Esadowa said with a
smile. “Come visit again, will you three?”

“Yes we will!” Jessica replied, and she and Nicholas headed for the door and
looked into the street as if it was covered in snow in the summer. They turned to see
Paulina catching up to them, stashing something in her fanny pack.

“Thank you, Esadowa! See you again!” They called as she waved from the door.

“Did you get something, Paulina?” Jessica asked.

“Yeah, look! She gave it to me for half price, too!” Paulina announced as she
retrieved a palm sized dream catcher from her pack.

They all stared down admiring it before looking back to the shop where Esadowa
was still watching them smiling. They waved to her and walked to the next door on the
block which just so happened to be the correct entrance to the Arcade.

Chapter 8

Having lost so much time, the trio worked feverishly trying to earn as many
tickets as they could. Very soon they were lost in the joy of the quest and in the
excitement of the video games. They took a short lunch at the same sandwich shop, but
before long Nicholas’ watch alarm went off for 3:45pm and the three young heroes
gathered together at the air hockey table to count their tickets.

“Good job today, everyone, we are at one hundred-fifty tickets now!” Jessica
encouraged, neatly folding the tickets and handing them back to Paulina to stash.

“We’re only halfway there! And it took us two days to get this much! We only
have tomorrow left!” Nicholas decried.

“Yes, but we had a lot of distractions today. I think we can get the last one
hundred-fifty tomorrow if we focus,” Jessica foretold, scratching out more numbers on
the back of her hand.

“Let’s go meet mom and figure it out tomorrow,” Paulina recommended, as they
made for the exit.

The walk home was much more straightforward this time after almost getting lost
the first day. By the time they made it back, their mom’s car was just rolling into the
parking lot and they ran to meet her.

“I expected to find you inside reading, were you really out in this storm all day?”
Cynthia inquired, looking with a loving smile at each of her children in turn.

“We stayed in at first, but then we went to a misty ladies place and she played a
song that made the hail stop.” Paulina summarized, hugging her mom around the
middle. Her two siblings began recounting the day’s events in a rush, explaining all
about timing the storm and the hail chasing them into the shop.

“It does sound like you’ve had an adventure,” Cynthia said lovingly, “Who’s ready
for a good dinner? We can talk about it all in more detail then.”

The four young heroes walked up the flower garlanded pathway and entered
their cottage, working together to prepare for dinner and sitting around the table
together laughing about the day well past the time the plates were clear.

“And you still didn’t find any prizes you liked?” Cynthia inquired, looking slightly
surprised.

“Ahh… well Paulina got something! Show Mom what you got, Paulina.” Jessica
suggested, giving her sister a knowing look.

“Well.. I bought it with my own money, and it wasn’t from the Arcade so…”
Paulina stated, holding up her palm with the tiny dreamcatcher displayed for their
mother to see.

“Ohh, a dreamcatcher! Remember when we made these?” Cynthia held the
miniscule dreamcatcher up to the light where it glimmered with tiny crystal fragments
spun in its webs.

“Yeah! We told her you made them with us and she called you a misty, too!”
Paulina said proudly, gazing in awe at their mother holding her prize.

“A misty?” asked Cynthia.

“A ‘mystic,’” Jessica clarified. “What is a mystic?”

Cynthia reflected for a moment, “A mystic is another name for someone who is
spiritual, someone who is in tune with life and can use spells and rituals to communicate
with the earth and with life itself.”

“Ooooooooooooo,” replied her children in awe.

“Esadowa said you were a mystic too,” Paulina stated, beaming up at her.

“I would have to agree with her, but instead of calling them spells, I would call
them prayers.”

“Is it the same thing?” Nicholas asked with wide eyes.

“It is the very same thing, do you know why?” She asked her children. They
shook their heads.

“Because the prayer or spell comes from your heart, your very own spirit; it is a
dream or hope of yours that you are asking the world & life & God to help you make
come true. It doesn’t matter what we name it, the essence of it is the true magic.”

“Wooowww,” her children replied with mouths hanging open. “Can we be misties
too?”

“You already are, my children,” she replied with a loving smile.

Chapter 9

The next morning the sun shone clearly through the windows sending sunbeams
across the floor of the hotel cottage. The four young heroes rejoined for breakfast and
gave hugs before Cynthia took off again for her last day of meetings.

“I can’t believe we are already leaving today,” Jessica said glumly, looking out at
the ocean. “I feel like we just got here.”

“And we have so many more tickets to earn! Let’s get over to the Arcade, pronto!”
Nicholas said, grinning at Jessica.

The team worked with furious speed as they churned out ticket after ticket.
Paulina turned into the full time counter and organizer as they grew more and more
numerous. They ate their lunch as fast as they could and returned for the final stretch.

Finally it seemed their goal was in reach. “We only have 30 more tickets to get
and we’re done!” Paulina exclaimed.

“Good, I never want to play another video game again after this,” Jessica said
looking defeated.

“I’m just getting started!” Nicholas said with a smile, dumping another handful of
tickets on the “to count” pile.

“Oh no,” Jessica said, looking concerned, “That was the last of our quarters. How
many more tickets do we need, Paulina?”

“Um, with those last few added on… it looks like we are short twenty tickets!”
Paulina calculated, looking up from her notes.

“Ahh twenty tickets! We are soo close!!” Nicholas groaned, “How are we going to
get the rest?”

“Let’s take a break and sit outside for a moment to think,” Jessica recommended.

The three walked dejectedly down the aisles of consoles yet again towards the
glass door. Once outside they sat on a bench together looking at the endless ocean and
the waves crashing in.

“Why do we even want this unicorn thing?” Nicholas groaned, repeatedly tossing
a fir cone into the air and catching it.

“It’s for mom!” Jessica reminded him, looking at her brother with surprise.

Nicholas turned to her with a look of concern, “Yeah, but will she even like it? Will
she like, keep it in her backyard for 30 years or something? I mean does she even like
unicorns?”

“WHO DOESN’T LIKE UNICORNS?!” The girls shrieked as he cowered back and
fell off the bench.

“Okay, okay! Fine! She’ll like it! I’m sorry! I just, just how are we going to get
twenty more tickets, we’re so close!” Nicholas moaned, regaining his feet and standing
up to look at them.

“Well, I do have my own personal money that I brought for me to spend on my
own personal things,” Paulina revealed, again.

“Oh my gosh, Paulina, can we please pay you back fifty cents to get these last
few tickets?” Jessica pleaded, looking at her sister with mixed elation and reserved
hope.

“Okay, I guess that’s fine, if you pay me back,” Paulina allowed, handing Jessica
two shiny quarters unearthed from her fanny pack.

“Paulina, you are the best!!!” Nicholas yelled as Jessica tossed him a quarter and
he ran inside.

After only a few minutes, he ran back out again, Jessica threw the second
quarter to him as he dashed back in, tossing it into the air as he ran. Very soon after, he
burst back out to his sisters once more with a full twenty new tickets spiraling around his
upraised hand.

“WE CAN BUY MOM THE WIND CHIME!!!” Nicholas roared to the street as
people walking stopped to look, bikers hit their brakes, cars came to a standstill, and
birds flew in every direction as all looked on our three heroes holding their tickets aloft
as if light was beaming from them.

“Let’s go buy mom a present,” Jessica shined, and the three marched in to see
their good friend, Bridget, to be knighted with their trophy.

Chapter 10

On their way back to the hotel cottage, they stopped at the Elephant Ear Shop so
Paulina could buy one with her own personal money that she brought for her own
personal things. However, she shared the elephant ear kindly with her siblings.

Once they arrived, Cynthia was not quite home yet, so they quickly went and
made their beds and collected their things to be ready to head back to the city when she
arrived.

The click of the front door alerted them to her arrival as they threw down their
books and ran to meet her, telling her all about their day and the elephant ear and the
triumph of it all while leaving out the most important detail.

“It sounds like you had an extraordinary adventure, but I feel like there is part of
this story that you are leaving out. Did you really not get any prizes all this time with the
spending money I gave you?” Cynthia inquired, looking between her children, one by
one.

“Well…” Jessica began, “We actually have been keeping a little something from
you, but it is for a really good reason!”

“We bought you a PRESENT!!” Nicholas erupted, beaming so bright he might
float out of his seat.

“We worked all three days trying to earn enough for it,” Jessica continued, smiling
at her brother.

“I even used some of my own money to help!” Paulina announced, squeezing her
fanny pack against her cheek lovingly.

“Here it is, mom! We love you!” They all said in their own ways.

From beneath the table emerged a gift bag with tissue paper lightly placed inside,
Cynthia received the gift and had her own turn to be surprised.

She opened it gracefully and held it before them all. The unicorn shimmered in
the light of the setting sun and the glistening ocean. The tinkling, musical notes
sounding for their first time, rebounded off the walls of their hotel cottage and into the

halls of history in their hearts and minds, binding them together ever more closely in a
Great Love that spans across time and space forevermore.

To be continued...

love always
:.
Nicholas