“I feel like we should have some kind of cleansing ritual before everything is unpacked.  It’s kind of anticlimactic, don’t you think?”

Tina turned and cocked her head, not understanding.

“You’re moving back in.  Our things are intermingling again.  It just seems that we should mark the occasion in some way.  Even if we’re not officially a couple again, it seems like we’re back together on some level.”

“Yeah.”

“You know what?”  Bette said as she walked out of the room and down the hall to the closet. 

“What?”  Tina watched her move down the hall, appreciating the view of her butt in the black cargo pants and the cut biceps barely hidden under a tight black and white, ‘West Hollywood ***** Visibility 1994’ T-shirt.

Opening the closet, Bette rifled through the contents.  “Do you remember that trip we took to Santa Fe a couple of years ago, when I went to see that Native artist?”

“Uh-huh?”

“We bought a few bundles of sage?  We can burn them as part of a ceremony—you know getting out all of the bad energy. A purification ceremony.”  She reached behind her and turned off the bedroom light. 

“Do you know how to do it?”  Tina said as she stood up.

“Not really, but we can wing it.  I think we should just say what’s important to us.  You game?”

“Yeah, let’s do it.”

Bette brought out two bundles of sage, tied with cotton string.  “The directions say not to blow on it directly after it’s lit, but to just fan the smoke around.  And it needs to burn completely.”

She handed one bundle to Tina along with one of two large sea shells they had picked up on a walk in Malibu years ago.  She grabbed the other shell from the counter display for herself.  There were a few candles around the room that Bette quickly lit.

“Where shall we start?”

“At the front door, I think.  We’ll make our way through the house” she said as she turned off the lights. 

Tina walked across the living room, pushing boxes out of the way to clear their path.  Bette followed her and at the door, used a lighter to light both her bundle and Tina’s, then flipped the switch to turn off the main lighting in the living room.  They were using the shells as a holder for the sage.  They stood in the soft light of the candles and watched as the sage began to burn.  “Shall I start or you?”