She put her arm around my shoulders and led me down the hall to her room. She opened the door and in the glow of the guitar-shaped nightlight, I stepped across her floor to the bed. She didn’t say anything, just pulled back her blanket, and I climbed in, pressing my back against the wall. Ruth slid in next to me and pulled the blanket over both of us. She settled her head onto the pillow, facing me. She put an arm around me and closed her eyes.

Late in the afternoon, I finally become bored with my National Geographic magazines. It hasn’t been the most eventful day of our trip, short of the morning’s explosion. I’ve come down for food, but otherwise stayed bunkered in my loft. Ruth has been on her computer all day, earbuds in. Still listening to Dropkick Murphys, which is good. Maybe, I think, loud, rambunctious music is a weapon Healthy Ruth uses to fight that swirling, tidal wave battle in her brain. And that’s much, much better than The Pit.

When Ellie, Eddie, and Darcy come back, they have a pizza for us. We load into Darcy’s car and eat our dinner on the way to the aquarium. Ruth and I don’t look at each other, but she and Darcy talk a little more about college and music. I listen to their conversation and feel somewhat calmer than this morning. I hope Ruth does too, and I’m glad right now she seems engaged.

As we drive, I look out the window for hypothetical pictures, watching the trees and redbrick churches, and by the time we stop, I’m smiling. I can’t help it. In front of us is a gray building about three stories tall. There are balconies and rounded outcroppings, and it would look like a hotel except that the bottom story is designed and colored to look like red rock and sand. There’s a fountain in the front and in the middle, two giant stone swordfish, taller than me by far, leap into the air, the blue paint gleaming. Over the entrance are the words, AN UNDERWATER ENTERTAINMENT ADVENTURE.

I don’t know exactly how my Something Old plan is going to work out, given that we’re not exactly where I planned and Ruth is probably still uber-mad at me right now. But I’ll do my best. I can’t replicate the photo from before, but I’ll still have a great Something Old picture to show Ruth when we get to the end of the Treasure Hunt.

I run over to the swordfish statue. I love how their bladed noses arch toward each other. I love the smell of the chlorinated water. I pull out my camera to take a picture. Not the best shot, but the light coming from the fountain looks pretty cool. I’ll try for some really good shots once we’re inside.