My sarcastic tone triggered something, and Smokey came up to my face. “I’m gonna KNOCK YOU OUT!!!”

I was somewhat confused for a second; I thought that was suppose to be my line…

“You, are NOT allowed to knock me out!” I instructed.

“But I can!!!” He assured me.

“But you won’t!” I reassured him.

“And why not?…” He asked somewhat perplexed.

“Because that would hurt, and if you hurt me, your hurting yourself because we are ONE…” I explained.

Smokey stepped back, “…but it will make me feel soooo good.”

“It will feel better for you to hug me…” I said with open arms.

There was an awkward pause, then Smokey hugged me back.

Way at the back of the marina was Justin. He did not have the joyful cheer in that beautiful face of his that I learned to love. I wanted to tell him something so that he could understand how I felt, yet he looked even more broken and devastated than me. I did manage to tell him how angry and disappointed I was, but shortly after, all I could do was comfort him. More than being disappointed with the failed mission, and experiencing a terrible loss, Justin felt he disappointed and lost “me”, and that was far worse than what we had lost. For in truth, we really didn’t lose anything; we simply suffered a heavy setback that strengthened our determination.

I hugged him and assured him he didn’t lose me; that he couldn’t lose me. And though Ad-nai may have different journeys for us all, our journeys had crossed, and we were family forever.

Justin wept.

Meanwhile, somewhere near the bathrooms, a not so lovey dovey Andre crossed paths with a somewhat intoxicated Smokey. There was no love lost between these two. In fact, Andre very much welcomed an excuse to express himself physically. So, there they were nose to nose, waiting for that blink of an eye moment…

“Come’n now, y’all might don’t want to go’n and to that!” Suggested Captain as the stand off intensified. Just then, Lisa came out of the bathroom, and in super Wonder Mom lightning speed, jumped between the two of them, bringing the near boil to an immediate cool down. Smokey apologized, and walked away.

“Mom… You don’t even know… You just saved that guy!” Mumbled Andre.

Back at the end of the marina, I continued comforting Justin, then asked him where His beloved was. He pointed, and we headed in that direction. There was Chelsea, sobbing in Lisa’s arms while Lisa comforted and caressed her hair. After much consoling and encouraging, we took them out for a meal and thus, completely failed in the mission I had to make them feel bad for our loss.

To be continued