When Laura came to visit we took the snorkel boat to Looe Key Sanctuary (she liked seeing a barracuda as big as her) and we had fun scaring up the ghosts of Key West on a nighttime tour. There we learned of an evil doll named Robert. As the story goes, in 1898 a family who bought the structure now called the Artist House in Key West, mistreated their Bahamian servant girl. In retaliation, the girl, versed in the art of voodoo, gave their son a doll that he named Robert. Friends and family began to witness strange things; they would hear giggling and catch glimpses of the doll running up the stairs or staring from the turret-room window. After Robert was hidden away in the attic, they heard footsteps overhead. The son, Gene, who insisted that Robert was in the attic, was surprised to find him in the rocking chair by the turret room window. He took the doll back to the attic, only to find it again in the rocking chair when he came back down. As an adult, Gene eventually lapsed into insanity. Robert now stays in the Martello Museum and it is said that cameras often malfunction when visitors try to take his picture. One of his favorite tricks is to black out his own photo, leaving the remaining film unharmed. My camera, however, worked fine.

While Fran and Dick were here we headed to the key deer refuge shortly after dawn but mostly saw just a few white tails running the other way.  We did, however, happen upon a couple of fierce looking alligators at a watering place known as the blue hole. Next day we went to Rob's on Big Pine Key for happy hour where we tried a Keys favorite, a huge chicken breast sandwich called a "rhodie." About a half hour before sunset we drove to No Name Key and got up close and personal with several families of the little key deer wandering through neighborhoods, no doubt searching for treats. The littlest one even walked up to me and licked my hand.

That was the same day Fran tried her hand at kayaking. A strong north wind that morning had blown gobs of sea grass up against the shoreline and she learned just how heavy it is on your paddle when your kayak gets stuck in it.