"I can swim."

"Good," she laughed, before asking my sign. Didn't know it. But I explained I was born in late November.

"You're half-water," she said.

"I thought everybody was half-water. More than half-water."

"That's your body," she explained. She was referring to my sign.

The Rev. Barbara: Angelica of the Angels

My literary career also came up with the Rev. Barbara Szafranski (Church of the Mediphysica) or just plain Reverend Barbara or Angelica of the Angels, who interprets visions on Central Street. "I've seen angels," she said. "That's why they call me the messenger."

First off, she gently chided me for not allowing my potential to flower. "You get in the way of you."

"I do?"

"Why aren't you a writer?"

"Well," I raised my notebook, "I am a writer."

"Why aren't you writing a book?"

"I did write a book."

"You're going to write two more," she declared, adding that this was going to make me both rich and famous.

"I don't want to be famous," I argued.