Sea Spirit and Painted Lady
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Story by R.T. Mason from Janus 40 It was the last day of their Whitsun holiday: a perfect English late spring day with the sun shining out of a clear blue sky and just enough breeze off the sea to keep the little seaside town fresh and sparkling. Yes, a beautiful June day and as it turned out a uniquely memorable one for 16-year-old Emma Watson. Her parents had rented a cottage at the quiet Devon resort and it had been a very pleasant week, though perhaps, for Emma, just a little unexciting. At 16 she was not a child anymore but at the same time not exactly an adult either. Perhaps it was because she was at that so-called awkward age that Emma had wanted to go off by herself on this last day rather than stay with her parents as she had for most of the rest of the week. Being with her parents all the time meant she hadn’t met anyone else much. No girls her own age. And also no boys. So on this last morning she said she felt lik...