Gulls were laughing and the sun was on her face as she lay on my deck surrounded by tiki torches burning citronella to keep the mosquitoes at bay. I thought she looked like a heroine in a movie about Rome in its heyday. As I watched, she snorted herself awake from a dream. She told me much later that the dream had been about parachuting out of a World War II era plane. She sat up sharply. It was obvious that she had no idea where she was. A pelican sat on a railing a few feet from her, sunning its wings ...