I nodded and looked away.
"You're Kenneth's girlfriend though, aren't you?" I asked, my voice shaking.
She laughed.
"As much as anyone could be Kenneth's girlfriend. Kenneth is like a comet. He can't be chained to anything or anyone, except his art, of course."
"But you're here, living with him, aren't you?" I practically spit back at her.
"We touch like two meteors passing in the universe when the stars are lined up correctly, but he knows and I know it's not permanent in the sense you mean. It's permanent in our universe though. He and I will be this way for eternity, our two spirits touching," she said.
She saw the look of confusion on my face.
"You'll understand if you let me open a door for you."
"What door?"
"The door to yourself," she said. "First, you have to free your mind of turmoil, rid yourself of negative energy."
"How do you do that?"
"I'll show you how. First, close your eyes and concentrate on your own breathing. Don't breathe fast or slow. Just tune into yourself. Go on, try it," she urged. She patted the blanket again. "Come on."
I lowered myself slowly to the blanket, still looking at her skeptically.
"Concentrate on my breathing?"
"Every time a thought tries to enter your mind, drive it away, and the easiest way to do that is to concentrate only on your breathing. Go on." "This seems very silly," I said.
"Everything new seems silly at first. It can't hurt you to try, can it? Just stare at the water and concentrate on your breathing. Go on," she urged.
I sighed and did what she said.
"It's not working," I declared after just a few minutes. All the sounds of the ocean invaded, the terns, the surf, even the wind whistling around my ears.
"You're not concentrating. Push the noise away, chase out the thoughts. Your breathing is all you want to know at the moment. Keep trying."
I did, and soon I didn't hear those other things. I felt and heard only my own breathing and a wave of relaxation and contentment washed over me. After a few more minutes, I felt her hand on mine.
"Did you do it?" she asked.
"I think so," I said, a bit impressed with myself.
"It takes practice. It's called meditation and it will allow you to travel to your inner self," she said. Then she lifted off her necklace and handed it to me. There was a deep cloudy green crystal in gold suspended from it. "Here, wear this."
"What is it?"
"Moldavite. It's from a meteorite that fell to the earth about fifteen million years ago."
"Really?"
"Yes, really," she laughed, amused by my amazement.
"What's it supposed to do?" I asked turning it in my fingers.
"It aids alignment with your higher self, channeling extraterrestrial and interdimensional sources. It's good for balancing and healing the body and the mind," she explained.
It was my turn to laugh. "No thanks," I said, trying to hand the necklace back to her.