Second Bloom
EmmelineT
She has been coming here since the birthday trip fourteen years ago, and it has never disappointed her, and she does not expect it to start now.
Clara is at her side. Seven years old, reading a book — she brings a book everywhere now, in the pocket, ready — with the focused absorption that is entirely hers. She stops occasionally to look at the sea with the Jordi watchfulness, the specific attention of a person taking information in rather than simply looking, and then returns to the book.
"What are you reading?" Valentina asks.
"A book about ships," Clara says. "Old ships. That went across the ocean."