Jakki, lost in thought, didn't say much as she walked along the water. She would skip practice today, or least some of it. After all, she'd just found her dad's favorite flowers. With everything that had happened today, she'd almost forgot. [i]Stupid stupid![/i] she cursed herself, holding the bunch of orchids in one hand and her bat in the other. The flowers hung limply at her side, while her bat rested on her shoulder, held in place by her right hand. [i]Dad wanted me to try and play softball, so he bought the bat.[/i] she remembered. She caught herself in those thoughts and shook her head.

She would not be going all sappy today. So she stuffed the emotions back down in the glass jar of her heart and smiled. She must have missed some because her eyes were welling up again. Instead of keep walking to the spot, she sat down on the edge of the canal. It smelled bad, but if you ignored the garbage and smell, you could she the sunset reflected perfectly on the water. The orange flecks dancing between the gondolas and the boats. Her feet were so close to the water she thought a stray wave might make her sneakers soaked, but it didn't happen. Her bat was close, but the flowers sat farther away, as if they were trying to be some kind of replacement for him.

Nothing ever happened here if she was lucky. It was always quiet and out of the way. Most people avoided it because they thought it held some kind of magnet for troublemakers. The troublemakers avoided it because the police came through regularly. So she was relatively alone here, which was good. She just let the tears flow out. There was no need to sob or close her eyes. The tears just welled up inside of her and poured out. Once they stopped, she closed her eyes and wiped them away. Enough of that. She stood and continued walking, moving faster in case some random guy came up to her again.