"That's what a bird would feel like, Everly Anne," I said to myself. "That's what it would feel like to fly in Montauk."

The picture disappeared too quickly for my eyes to follow. I wondered what someone might think if they ever found it on the beach. Would they keep it? Would they stuff it into a bottle and send it out into the ocean with a note, hoping that it would find its rightful home?

There was a group of children playing on the beach below, running to and from the water, screaming and laughing. So young. So free. Their stories unwritten. I wondered what they would think of her picture if it washed up on the shore. What would they say about a mysterious little girl trapped inside of a bottle?

On the Fourth of July, before the firework show, the shore was lined with endless red balloons. A little girl ran up to me, eyes wide as she admired my work.

"Can I pretty please have a balloon?" she begged.

"What's your name?"

"Shannon Elizabeth Patterson!" She proudly smiled.

"You know you shouldn't talk to strangers, don't you, Shannon Elizabeth Patterson?"

The girl stepped closer, cupping her hands around her mouth. "My mom knows you. It's okay if you know my name, she knows YOUR name. Says it all the time in her sleep. At least my daddy says she does."

I glanced to her mother who sat ten feet away, cuddling another child. "I haven't ever met her, Shannon."

Still whispering her secret to me, "She said you're the most handsome doctor in Montauk."

I laughed. "Yeah? To who?"

"Aunt Margo. Then my dad heard. Then they got into a big fight."

"Well, sweetheart, I'm not a doctor in Montauk. I live in Georgia."

"Then why are you here with all these balloons?" she asked.

"I'm visiting my family for the weekend. It's been our tradition ever since I was little like you."

"Why?"

I took a breath. "Because I had a friend who had a daddy in the military, and one year his daddy never came home, and he got really sad. So MY daddy promised him every year he'd stay with us at the beach and we'd all be together. And when my friend grew up, he joined the military, too, and that made my other friend, a girl, really sad because she loved him, so I promised her I'd always be here on the Fourth with her, even if someday he didn't come home."

"You mean if he died," she said.

I smiled sadly at her. "Yes, if he died."

"Are the balloons for him? Did he die?"

"No, the balloons are for someone else."

Her eyes lit up. "So can I have one?"

"Well," I sighed, "I certainly won't mind if you take one, but be warned, it's at your own risk. I'm leaving them here for Topolina. SHE might not take too kindly to another girl stealing her rubies."

"I'm not stealing anything!" she exclaimed. "And it's a balloon! Not a ruby!"

I smiled, drawing a balloon down with me to be at eye level with the girl. "Topolina believes they are rubies. I'm trying to get her to come ashore."

"Who is Topolina?" she whispered.

"A mermaid," I whispered back. "The most beautiful mermaid in the entire ocean, with eyes like Emeralds, and a heart made of gold."

I had her. "You've seen a mermaid?"

"I have kissed a mermaid."

"And she didn't kill you?"

I laughed. "Topolina is a very sweet mermaid. Sweet as a peach."

"So why can't I have a balloon then?" The little girl whined.