A Shore Thing Read Online Free PDF

another trek along the bluffs at Otter Bay.
    Lord, please don’t let this area be fenced off from your people.
    Sheila would come down hard on me for a prayer like that. She’d say, “Prayers are for important things, not the whims of your head.”
    What made her think my quest was a whim?
    Doggy tugged at my homemade leash. His nose had been moving faster than a hungry squirrel since the moment we arrived here. “We need to find your owner, you know.” I glanced around, deep translucent blue ocean water on my left and a slow rise of land to my right. There would be chances for searching out his owner later.
    “Excuse me? Do you have the time?” The woman’s voice sounded familiar.
    I glanced back at her. “Sorry, no. Don’t have a watch.”
    The woman shrugged. “Me neither.” She stood tall and wiry and wore a floppy hat over moppish, blonde curls. Ruth. Her name was Ruth. We’d been thrown together on the library fund-raising project two years back. She had an obsession with lead ink in books and had lobbied to have testing added to the library’s budget.
    I smiled at her. “Ruth, right? It’s been a long time, but we worked together awhile back.”
    She returned a feeble smile. “We did?”
    My smile faded. “On the library project about two years ago?”
    Her mouth puckered as she squinted and began a slow nod. “Yes, uh-huh.”
    I swallowed the sigh that wanted to barrel out of me. Why didn’t I just say I didn’t have a watch and keep on moving? Even in this small community, I had somehow managed to stay invisible to so many.
    Ruth popped a gloved finger into the air. “Wait. You set up a composting system over at the library and helped build a rain garden. Right?”
    Vindicated. “That’s me.”
    She grasped my hand and gave it a few quick pumps, her glove rough and scratchy against my palm. “Sorry. Didn’t recognize you at first. It’s been a long time.”
    I put one foot in front of me to keep her at bay. She’s a close talker and I’d forgotten about that. “Yes. Long time.”
    She lifted a bloated garbage sack with her other gloved hand. “I’ve been picking up trash all the way from south of the cove. I usually do this on Mondays. Never seen you here before.”
    I shrugged. “Probably the only day of the week that I don’t make it here. I’m usually cleaning up the house after working the weekend up at Pine Ridge.”
    “The camp?” There. That’s the expression I remembered from her. Ruth’s right cheek muscle stuck in a grimace, causing one eye to remain half closed. “Bet there’s a lot of mess up there.”
    “Not really.” I considered the mouse trapped in the box with days-old crumbs. “Well, maybe a little. But teaching the kids to clean up after themselves is part of the program. By the time the weekend is over they’re able to handle KP like pros.”
    “Glad to hear it.” She dropped the bag and the doggy approached her. “Who’s this?”
    Again I shrugged. “Wish I knew. He followed me home yesterday.”
    She squatted and gave the doggy a good scrub. “He’s skinny and without a collar, so that makes him yours. Adoptees are the best kind of pets in my book. And this one’s already in love with you.” She gave him one more pet before standing. He came back to me and sat at my heel. “Told you.”
    Her comment lifted my spirit and I let the leash drop to my side. My smile widened when I thought about telling Mom how I’d finally decided to start that family.
    Far behind Ruth, a lone man paced the eastern path beneath some pine trees located at the top of the incline. His head hung forward; hands clasped behind his back. He walked to the left for several paces, and then to the right, and back again.
    Ruth followed my gaze. “We get all kinds out here. Maybe he’s one of those labyrinth walkers, although shouldn’t he be going in a circle?”
    I started to laugh, but air caught in my windpipe.
    Ruth watched me. “What is it? He an old