Practically Spiritual.

New "Not Always So" column up at BoA.

This one is called "From One Apprentice to Another."

Going Invisible

I have a good friend who is an alchemist. One night we have dinner together in Provincetown, eating at a table on a deck overlooking the ocean. It is the weekend after Labor Day. The Cape Cod town is quiet as the bay.

I am midway through my salmon when my friend says, "Hey, look at her." She points at a concrete wall shoring up the rocky beach.

I'm not seeing anything noteworthy. "Look at who?"

"Her." My friend the alchemist keeps pointing at the blank wall.

I still don't see anyone. Then, finally, I do.

I don't understand why I couldn't see this person before. Well, to put it precisely, I could see her, but I couldn't notice her.