“There it is!” Claire called out. “I saw it!”
“Where?” said Ethel.
“There!”
“That’s just a rock, Claire,” Tina said.
“It’s not a rock. It’s the whale!”
“If it’s the whale, why isn’t it moving?”
“Because it’s dead!”
“If it was dead it’d sink,” Daniel said. “And it’s bones would become a castle.”
“For mermaids!” Ethel said.
“Mermaids don’t exist, Ethel,” Claire said. “And dead things float, Daniel!”
“The whale is not dead, Claire,” Tina said. “So stop saying it is. I’ll get upset.”
“You’re always getting upset,” Claire said. She sat down on the grass with the others and started brushing her hair. “Anyway, maybe it is a stupid rock AND the whale is dead. That way we can both be unhappy.”
“Can I be unhappy?” Ethel asked.
“No!”
“Well, that’s not fair at all,” Ethel said.
They all sat there in silence, and dreamt of whales, bones, castles, mermaids.
__________
Notes:
1. Written on May 14th, 2021
__________