The Whale and the Moon

A young whale named Blue thought the moon might be swimming beside her. When she came up to breathe, there it was on the water. When she dipped down, it broke into a hundred little pieces and vanished.

Blue asked her aunt where the pieces went. Her aunt floated quietly until the water grew still. The pieces slid together again in one long silver path. “Sometimes,” she said, “a thing comes back when we give it a little room.”

Blue tried swimming along the path without breaking it. That turned out to be a very slow kind of swimming. She could see the shadow of a seabird on the water and smell a little rain in the wind. Far off, a lighthouse turned, sending a bright window across the bay.

At the far end of the bay, her aunt showed her a place where the waves were almost asleep. Blue breathed in and listened to the water run down her back. Breathed out and watched the white mist blow away.

Her aunt sang a low note. Blue answered in a whisper of a note, just enough for her aunt to hear. They stayed there together while the silver path grew wider and the lighthouse made another turn.

Soon Blue's breathing slowed to match the water. The moon was still there each time she opened her eyes, and she didn't need to check again. She let her eyes close and drifted into a gentle sleep beside her aunt.