Charlie and Leo have occupied me now for one year. They talk about ideas like "making it" and good indicators. All I see is a couple of people who do what they love to do and sell to other people the stuff to do it all too.

Leo works at the classroom tables or sales counter on his and others' radio-controlled helicopters. He flies a small yellow one inside of me and boy does that tickle. I'm familiar with fans that blow on my walls, but my ceiling and floor itch with the unaccustomed breezes.

Charlie flits from one kind of project to another. She has three paintings in progress stacked in the class area, unfinished jewelry, card, and scrapbook projects, collections of clay, string, and paper, and a continual little stack of new projects to start. Right now, she is knitting and goes between three knitted projects.

Maybe these projects are what they mean when they talk about "making it"?

A customer just came in and asked Charlie, "Do you have mask-making materials?"

"Yes." Charlie chirped. She's always glad when someone asks for something I actually contain. She jumped up and showed the man and his wife the plastic mask forms and rigid wrap plaster bandages.

"Fine." The man said. "And where around here would we be able to buy lava?"

Charlie was really quiet for a minute. Then she replied, "Well, anywhere on the ground around here, I suppose."

"Are there any guidelines for using it?" His wife inquired.

"Well, there is a tradition of people saying that Pele doesn't want to leave the island. So if you're planning to take any of the rock to the mainland, you might reconsider."

"Oh yes," the wife said, looking at her husband as if to say I told you so, "I've heard of people's houses burning down..."

"And just having bad luck and mailing the lava back." Charlie added.

"So are there guidelines for handling the lava?" The man persisted.

Charlie got really quiet for about two minutes. Then she asked for clarification, looking at the man's eyes for the joke, "Are you wanting to make a mask out of the molten lava?"

"Yes!" He exclaimed, "I just think it would be so incredible with the stuff pouring out right here, you know?"

"Problem is," Charlie almost stuttered, "anything you might use to form the lava would get vaporized."

"Oh really?" The man looked skeptical.

"It would burst into flames, whether it contained moisture or not." I could see that Charlie was picturing a small explosion.

"Poof!" The wife said.