Ailana’s Journal—2026-08-01 (and Island Kids) (Patreon)

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GOOD MORNING by Ailana Geven Keller

Yesterday, a very loyal reader commented on the absence of blankets, towels, and bathrobes from the good-morning image. Well…

Today is Saturday. I think. It’s been a blur of a week, to be honest.

Last night, after Naomi and Steve headed to their hotel, I returned home to find Emily and Kel sitting on the steps talking. I have to add that they really are lovely together.

Emily followed me into the condo. “Kel and I want to go to the beach tomorrow.”

“Sure…” I replied. “You can do that. You know… take your phones… all that.”

“We want adults to go, too.”

That seemed strange. We talked about it and… I don’t really know how to explain it. It makes sense to them. I told her she and Kel needed to explain their reasoning to you, and she said she would.

Meanwhile, Jason is in the shower. I closed the bathroom door after telling him I was going to do the good-morning post. I have mischief in mind!

I need to wrap up before he gets done, so I’ll close now. See you soon! Beach, anyone?

GOOD MORNING? by Sasha Everett

I live across the street from Ailana now. Imagine my surprise when, while sipping my hot coffee, I looked across the street and saw my dear friend working on her good-morning post.

I’m trying to decide if I wish I were a better photographer… maybe not.

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All characters in this story are fictional characters, their images generated with AI for AGI Stories. They do not represent any real person, nor is their appearance based on any real human.

PAYBACK TIME by Jason Keller

I really wanted to title this “Playback Time,” but I thought people would think it was a typo or that I was trying to be a DJ.

Let’s be honest. Ailana and I act the way we imagine middle schoolers would act if they were married. Furthermore, Kel and Emily probably act more mature than we do at times!

While I was in the shower…

Today turned out, by virtue of being Saturday, to be boxer-hiding day. Given that we are limiting our nonsense to our bedroom and bathroom, and that I was in the bathroom… It shouldn’t have been very hard.

I found them. In finding them, I also counted to make sure I got them all. I have 15 pairs. Do you know how many pairs of shoes it takes to conceal 15 pairs of boxers if one pair is stuffed into the toe of each shoe?

Seven and a half.

I need help thinking of some play-back ideas! It has to be funny, not hurtful, and something that won’t cost money.

Suggestions welcome!

ABOUT LAST NIGHT by Ailana Geven Keller

Exclusive Content for Patreon

Earlier today, I told you that last night, after Naomi and Steve headed to their hotel, I returned home to find Emily and Kel sitting on the steps talking. When I reached the steps, they stood and hugged, and then Emily followed me into the condo.

“Ailana, can we talk for a minute?”

I said, “Of course.”

Jason realized we needed some space, so he went to the bedroom.

Emily looked at me and said, “Kel and I want to go to the beach tomorrow.”

“Sure…” I replied. “You can do that. You know… take your phones… all that.”

“We want adults to go, too.”

I looked at her, a little confused. “You want supervision?”

Emily hesitated. “You know… wet swimsuits. Playing in the water. Being close and touching… If it’s just us, we might be tempted.”

I raised an eyebrow. “You complained when I mentioned Jason and me chasing each other around the condo. Now you want to talk about you and Kel touching each other?”

Emily laughed. “That’s different! I’m a kid and shouldn’t be thinking about what my sister and her husband do when I’m at a sleepover.”

“But is it really different?” I let the teasing fade and eased back into her serious question.

She raised an eyebrow. “In some ways, a lot. Kel and I… we want to stay out of trouble. We listen at Youth Group when they talk about purity. It’s hard.”

“I know.” My expression softened. “And I’m glad you want to talk about it.”

“We haven’t been perfect. Nothing bad! Nothing…”

“You can tell me.”

“Outside the clothes. And not, like, on purpose… Nothing bad… Just, like, oops… did that just happen?”

“Well, I guess you’re figuring things out. How not to sit on the couch… How to change positions without the oops.”

Emily looked down. “You’re not mad?”

“No. I’m proud of you for living according to what you believe and for telling me.”

She looked up and smiled a little. “We’re really trying not to get in trouble. I know Jason stood up for purity when he was our age. And Jenna, Brooks, and I… we’re all sort of holding each other accountable… not in a creepy way, you know?”

“That probably would be helpful, if you don’t turn it into truth or dare.”

She looked at me, let that sink in, and then lowered her eyes and nodded. “Right…”

I went on, hoping I was saying this in a helpful way. “Being attracted to Kel is normal. Your body reacting to him is normal. Those feelings have a place in life. But you’re sixteen, and you’ve chosen boundaries for a reason. Asking for help keeping them is responsible.”

“We don’t think we’d plan to do anything.”

“I believe you. Most bad decisions aren’t scheduled in advance.”

Emily gave me a smile and a nod.

“Here’s the thing,” I said. “You don’t have to put yourselves in the hardest situation possible just to prove you can handle it. You don’t have to test your limits. The farther you stay from the edge of the cliff, the less likely you are to fall.”

She smiled at that. “We could skip the beach or wait for the other kids to go.”

“You don’t have to do that,” I said. “We’ll go to the beach with you.”

“Just being there, you know… You don’t have to stare at us the whole time.”

“I promise to blink occasionally.”

BEACH TIME by Ailana Geven Keller

The Ryans joined us for beach time with Emily and Kel. We packed lunch today so we don’t have to go back.

I mentioned earlier that Emily and Kel wanted adults to come with them today. I said their reasoning made sense to them, so I’m going to pass the mic to Kel and let him explain it.

There are a lot of layers here…

ACCOUNTABILITY by Kel Ryan

Ever since that one time Ailana caught Emily and me sitting on Emily’s bed talking, we’ve tried to be extra obvious about what we’re doing—maybe even more obvious about what we’re not doing.

I guess you’d agree that being alone together at the beach is probably fine. But we figure it's best not to leave things to chance or speculation. We don’t want the adults wondering if… anything.

So we wanted them to come to the beach with us so they’d know we weren’t doing anything they’d disapprove of. And knowing they’re watching kind of helps us think a little more about what we should and shouldn’t do.

It’s not that being alone is a problem for us. And I’m not saying we’d plan on doing anything wrong. The opposite, really—we know what’s right and wrong for us at our age. It’s even something that the leaders talk about at Youth Group.

But knowing they are watching—or could be—helps us stick to it.

The worst-case scenario is that one or both of us would get grounded and we couldn’t see each other. We’re doing everything we can to prevent them from thinking they have a reason.

Josh says I’m thinking about it wrong.

“You’re thinking about things as a way to avoid negative consequences. It would be better if you thought in terms of what you do leading to desirable outcomes. What do your morals tell you to do? What do you want for your future?”

Emily and I don’t see much difference. I want to be part of this family. I don’t want to lose out on this. Same thing, right?

I don’t know if it makes sense to anyone but me and Emily. We just know things are way too awesome to risk messing anything up, and we’re determined to keep things the way they are.

CLINIC UPDATE by Vanessa Lenen

I’m in a supply closet at Shoreline. I’m restocking the mobile clinic for tomorrow’s trip to San Benito. We were over in South Padre Island this morning.

I don’t want to bore you with a laundry list of programs, staffing, and grant status. I’ll keep things brief.

Izzy and Olivia are officially working the new post-trauma follow-up program. Izzy also does some aftercare casework for clinic walk-ins. Olivia is also taking some PRN shifts in the ER at the hospital where David works.

Min, Olivia, and I, along with our PRN drivers, run Shoreline Mobile nearly every day. We’ve got a regular schedule and serve communities by bringing basic primary care directly to them. We also provide walk-in care for minor urgent needs wherever we set up.

The Port Isabel clinic continues to grow. The doctors have established solid patient lists for primary care. There’s still room for a little growth, but it looks like the primary care side will eventually require bringing another doctor on board to meet demand. There are no plans for that yet—I’m just looking at charts and graphs.

So, I’ll stop there. David and I have the same day off coming up. We’re planning a long day on the beach somewhere quiet away from crowds.

Things with us are good—steady as she goes. We met seven months ago. Sometimes it seems like a lifetime. Other times, it seems like yesterday.

But I think steady as she goes is just right.

LOS FRESNOS LIFE by Sofia Torres

A lot has changed since I was hired by SwimFit to run their Los Fresnos cut-and-sew factory. So much has happened, but I’ll try to cover the high points.

Micah Banks calls himself the gap guy. He does a lot of logistics and makes sure the factory has what it needs. His wife, Jasmine, and I talk daily about orders and what’s where in the pipeline. Jasmine is probably my closest female friend—we really need to make time to hang out more.

I have moved to Los Fresnos. That has made getting to work a lot easier. And it has allowed me to spend more time with Ryan.

This afternoon, I’m at his house spending some time with him before we go to dinner. He bought a living room set for his previously empty living room.

“It didn’t make sense before,” he said. “I would never have used it.”

Today, we’ve been talking seriously.

“I just want you to know,” he said, “things with us are really good, as far as I am concerned.”

“Me too,” I said. “But it sounded like you stopped in the middle of a thought.”

“You know… same thing… I’m…”

“The meaning of life and all that?” I asked.

He nodded. “I think I’m trying to make it too complicated. Like there’s some secret to it. Dad said I should make a life worth living…”

“And you threw a dart at a map and decided to do that in Los Fresnos…” He had actually generated random map coordinates.

“I should be able to figure it out wherever I am.”

“What have you decided so far?”

He shook his head. “First, being with you feels perfect. Aside from that, just the Sunday School answer…”

“Meaning what?”

“Love God with all your heart, soul, and mind, and love your neighbor as yourself.”

I nodded. “Maybe that’s all there is.”

“That’s too general,” he replied. “There has to be…”

He didn’t finish the thought. “A to-do list?”

“I don’t know…” He sighed and shook his head. “Do you feel like going over to the island? We could go to someplace on the beach.”

So, that’s the plan for tonight. We’ll keep working on the meaning of life, I suppose.

GOOD NIGHT by Ailana Geven Keller

After our beach time, I had to get back to work. Naomi and Steve spent the day looking for a condo to buy. Meredith said she spent the day relaxing while Will met with Nick.

Now, we’re at the studio. Naomi has been here before, but she wanted to go over Wednesday’s modeling boot camp from the production side, not just think about being one of the models. Meredith says this is her first time in a professional studio.

Actually, I brought Meredith here to shoot a few headshots. Kara Sanchez came to do hair and makeup, too.

She joked that the pictures would prove to her daughter that she had a legitimate reason for coming here besides talking about Cloudfall.

After I got some shots—and Naomi posed, too—two people from Pay It Forward came by to pick Meredith up. One was Evelyn Chandler, who now goes to church with us and who Emily claims went on a date with my dad. The other was Rebecca Charm, who is down from NYC working on the computer systems.

Introductions were made, and Rebecca explained that Will, Nick, Paul, and Tom were wrapping things up while the women decided where to have dinner.

I looked over at Naomi and could tell her business wheels were turning, but she didn’t tell me what was on her mind. She has a great sense of business, so whenever she gets an idea that she thinks is actionable, I’m sure she’ll tell me.

Back to the point at hand, Geoni and I will take more portraits of Meredith tomorrow. They’ll be what I like to call environmental portraits—images that could go on a dust jacket or poster…

That’s all for now. I had a good day, and I hope you did, too.

May some days come to you gently, demanding little and giving you more time than you need. May those days allow you to rest, reset, and refresh, helping you become the best possible version of yourself.

Good night.

Be your best you!

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