Chapter 5 – Entry #27

Nadia got a faraway look on her face. “Zizi had just graduated from high school. She and a group of her friends were going to Ocean City for a week to celebrate their freedom. Even though I was still a junior and wouldn’t graduate until the following year, her friends invited me to go along. Zizi and I were always pretty much inseparable, so her friends treated me as one of their group.”

Ilona looked surprised. “Grandma let you go? I believe your exact words to me many times when referring to grandma’s rules goes something like this. ‘The word “strict” cannot fully convey the entire essence of grandma’s laws. Once her final word was decreed, unquestioned obedience followed.’ She allowed you to go to Ocean City for a week? You were only, what? Seventeen?”