Bone Deep by Gina McMurchy-Barber Read Free Book Online Page B

punctuality — it’s the early worm that catches the bird.” A few of the students tittered. I looked at TB, who was doing his best to muffle his laughter.
    â€œDon’t you mean it’s the early bird who catches the worm?” I answered, trying not to laugh myself.
    â€œWell, whatever, it’s a virtue to be on time, right?”
    â€œTrue, but you know what they also say — better late than never.” I could see he was trying to add that one up.
    â€œYah, that’s true, man. Hey, you took sailing lessons with me last summer, right?” I nodded guiltily. “You see, I never forget a face. Never forget a name either — it’s Patsy, right? No, Pammy. No wait, I know it’s …”
    â€œIt’s Peggy,” I asserted, ending the familiar and slow torture.
    â€œOh yah, Penny.” Argh! Well at least he didn’t call me Piggy like my bratty little cousins did. “Well girl, don’t just stand there. Go and get suited up and we’ll see you back here in the pool.” I skulked off, glad to be out of the spotlight.
    Before we actually got in the pool Tornado gave us the rundown on what we would learn in the PADI diving course. We were going to learn safety procedures — like how to check all our gauges, how to get water out of our masks, buoyancy control, how to make a safe descent and ascent, and some emergency skills like sharing air with a dive partner. He said after two weeks in the pool we’d be ready for our first supervised open-water dive. That was the part I was most excited about.
    â€œOkay, newbies, let’s get in the pool and I’ll go over proper buoyancy control and the four main points on your personal dive list — depth, air, time, and area. We call that your DATA. Some people write it on their hands so they don’t forget. Me — I’ve got a mind like a steel trap — never forget a thing.… Right, Pammy? I mean Patty!” Oh brother, what a doorknob!
    That first day I felt like a stuffed sausage in my wet suit, but it wasn’t long before it started to feel more like a second skin. And with help from my flippers I loved the feeling of gliding up and down the length of the pool like a sleek black seal. There was no doubt about it, scuba diving was my thing and I was going to be even better at it than sailing.
    The day Aunt Margaret and Uncle Stewart left on their cruise was bittersweet. It took no time at all for life at home without them to take on a predictable routine — school, diving lessons, then evenings of torture by Great Aunt Beatrix. Besides setting the table and reciting grace before every supper, I had to learn about the history of that stupid china that Duff broke.
    â€œDid you know that the Chinese exported porcelains, such as this, to Europeans as far back as the 1600s?” asked Aunt Beatrix one evening just before suppertime. “It was held in such high esteem that the English word for it soon became china — for the place it originated.”
    â€œFascinating.… Now can we eat?”
    â€œOh, pishposh. We’ll eat in a few minutes. Now one special thing about our family’s china — besides the fact that it came directly from China by traders — is its pattern.” She pointed to the dainty blue -on-white pattern. “This is cobalt blue and was very valuable. It was first used more than a thousand years ago. The other thing you’ll want to notice is this small symbol on the bottom … each artist had his own unique mark or sign. It was important for the good artisans to identify themselves. The really gifted ones were invited to the palace to make pottery for the emperor. Isn’t that fascinating?”
    â€œMind-numbing.… Now can we eat?”
    â€œPeggy, are you not hearing me? This very porcelain, which belonged to your great great great grandmother, is some of the oldest china in the country.” I could