shivering.
I cling to Daddy’s leg, wondering if Mommy is up from her nap yet and if she ’ll be mad at us. Daddy doesn’t talk as we rush through a huge airport. There are so many people and suitcases, so many lines. I fall asleep on his soft gray coat. When I wake up again, we’re inside the biggest airplane I’ve ever seen. It goes back and back and back to a pair of curtains like in a living room. The windows are dark. I’m crawling out from under Daddy’s legs when he stops snoring and grabs my arm.
“ Not so fast, love. Where are you going? Stay here with me.” He pulls a tiny bottle out of his pocket and drinks. “It’s the middle of the night. You need your sleep.”
“ So do you,” I tell him. “Is that your medicine?”
He laughs, his breath tickling my hair.
And suddenly…oh God!—a terrible noise shakes the sky. I cry out. Is that thunder? Will the plane crash? I press my face against the cold glass of the window at blackness, trying to see. I’m not scared, though. I’m not afraid of things.
Somehow I fall asleep again. I feel us moving, speeding: whoosh ! Voices are talking. Daddy’s carrying me over his shoulder like Santa’s toys, from plane to taxi—a funny taxi with the steering wheel on the wrong side—and finally this boat.
“ It’s a ‘fairy boat,’” he says.
Fairies! I like boats with fairies. When the sky explodes some more, booming like crashing cars and planes, I don’t hide under my coat anymore. I don’t crawl behind his leg or bury my face in his lap.
I stand on tippy toes searching for Tinkerbell. “She’s not here,” I tell Daddy, and he answers: “No worries, love, we’ll ring her tomorrow.”
I want to call Tinkerbell! I’ll tell her about the Giant making thunder by clomping along in his big shoes. I know the giant needs rain. If giants need permission to come down out of the sky and land on our fairy, then what—
— There’s another bang . I fall to my knees.
Somebody screams.
Is it me? Did I scream? Am I afraid of things? Am I afraid of Daddy?
“ Don’t worry, sweetheart,” he whispers, helping me back up. “The water is rocky because of a storm, but soon we’ll be there.”
I wonder how the water can be rocky instead of liquid and if this means that the rocks will cut the boat in half so it will sink. And if the boat sinks, what will happen to Tinkerbell? Maybe we’ll never reach Daddy’s island and that’s why he’s so cross.
We ’ll never ever see Mommy again…
He’s talking into my ear:
“There’s no car noise on the island, just the whistling of the wind and the sea gulls cawing night and day. When I was a boy, I used to watch them dive for fish. I’d ride over every inch of Sark on my bicycle. There was always more to explore—the hills and the fog and the town. You’ll see it too. You’ll have a view of everything from your bedroom window.”
I stare up at his red eyes while he places his palm against my cheek. All around us people lie under their coats and talk or sleep.
There are no fairies , I realize. Just all these people—-and no Mommy.
She’s crying now; I can hear her calling my name. She’s screaming for Daddy to bring me back. “ Pilar! Pilar! Oh my God, baby, are you okay? Come home !”
Where is Mommy? Why didn’t she come with us? I’m climbing over the railing when I feel Daddy’s hands pull me back.
“ Let me go ! I want to go home!” I yell, pounding my fists against his face, his coat; his big hands.
He keeps holding me until I stop. Until I fall down on the deck floor, staring up into the eyes of a man who is not Daddy.
Stranger Danger?
Where am I?
“ Ca va, Chérie?” the Stranger says.
CHAPTER FIVE
I
I could n’t speak; couldn’t figure out where I was, or who this man was, and why I knew him and didn’t know him. Was I lost? Mad?
“ Pilar,” he said.
My name.
“ Ca va pas ?”
Ca va pas , indeed. I understood the French though I wasn’t sure how I understood
I cling to Daddy’s leg, wondering if Mommy is up from her nap yet and if she ’ll be mad at us. Daddy doesn’t talk as we rush through a huge airport. There are so many people and suitcases, so many lines. I fall asleep on his soft gray coat. When I wake up again, we’re inside the biggest airplane I’ve ever seen. It goes back and back and back to a pair of curtains like in a living room. The windows are dark. I’m crawling out from under Daddy’s legs when he stops snoring and grabs my arm.
“ Not so fast, love. Where are you going? Stay here with me.” He pulls a tiny bottle out of his pocket and drinks. “It’s the middle of the night. You need your sleep.”
“ So do you,” I tell him. “Is that your medicine?”
He laughs, his breath tickling my hair.
And suddenly…oh God!—a terrible noise shakes the sky. I cry out. Is that thunder? Will the plane crash? I press my face against the cold glass of the window at blackness, trying to see. I’m not scared, though. I’m not afraid of things.
Somehow I fall asleep again. I feel us moving, speeding: whoosh ! Voices are talking. Daddy’s carrying me over his shoulder like Santa’s toys, from plane to taxi—a funny taxi with the steering wheel on the wrong side—and finally this boat.
“ It’s a ‘fairy boat,’” he says.
Fairies! I like boats with fairies. When the sky explodes some more, booming like crashing cars and planes, I don’t hide under my coat anymore. I don’t crawl behind his leg or bury my face in his lap.
I stand on tippy toes searching for Tinkerbell. “She’s not here,” I tell Daddy, and he answers: “No worries, love, we’ll ring her tomorrow.”
I want to call Tinkerbell! I’ll tell her about the Giant making thunder by clomping along in his big shoes. I know the giant needs rain. If giants need permission to come down out of the sky and land on our fairy, then what—
— There’s another bang . I fall to my knees.
Somebody screams.
Is it me? Did I scream? Am I afraid of things? Am I afraid of Daddy?
“ Don’t worry, sweetheart,” he whispers, helping me back up. “The water is rocky because of a storm, but soon we’ll be there.”
I wonder how the water can be rocky instead of liquid and if this means that the rocks will cut the boat in half so it will sink. And if the boat sinks, what will happen to Tinkerbell? Maybe we’ll never reach Daddy’s island and that’s why he’s so cross.
We ’ll never ever see Mommy again…
He’s talking into my ear:
“There’s no car noise on the island, just the whistling of the wind and the sea gulls cawing night and day. When I was a boy, I used to watch them dive for fish. I’d ride over every inch of Sark on my bicycle. There was always more to explore—the hills and the fog and the town. You’ll see it too. You’ll have a view of everything from your bedroom window.”
I stare up at his red eyes while he places his palm against my cheek. All around us people lie under their coats and talk or sleep.
There are no fairies , I realize. Just all these people—-and no Mommy.
She’s crying now; I can hear her calling my name. She’s screaming for Daddy to bring me back. “ Pilar! Pilar! Oh my God, baby, are you okay? Come home !”
Where is Mommy? Why didn’t she come with us? I’m climbing over the railing when I feel Daddy’s hands pull me back.
“ Let me go ! I want to go home!” I yell, pounding my fists against his face, his coat; his big hands.
He keeps holding me until I stop. Until I fall down on the deck floor, staring up into the eyes of a man who is not Daddy.
Stranger Danger?
Where am I?
“ Ca va, Chérie?” the Stranger says.
CHAPTER FIVE
I
I could n’t speak; couldn’t figure out where I was, or who this man was, and why I knew him and didn’t know him. Was I lost? Mad?
“ Pilar,” he said.
My name.
“ Ca va pas ?”
Ca va pas , indeed. I understood the French though I wasn’t sure how I understood
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