Salt Water

It started with an octopus. It was juggling babies Johanne knew were her brothers and sisters, but she hadn’t seen a stork or a baby goblin bring them. They’d come, and then an octopus had come to juggle them, and they hadn’t even gone to the play.

The octopus babies meant they had to leave the play. Jo didn’t know how it happened, but one minute they were on the hard sidewalk and then they were on soft sandy grass with trees and flying lizards.

That’s when Jo decided she was dreaming. Or maybe she was going see-you-later with her mom. If she was here…Jo looked all around, and she started to look in bushes and up in trees and everywhere, but there was no mommy here. Just babies. A lot of babies and some kids that could be Jo’s new best friends, and a weird guy who looked like the guy who pushed mommy out of the window.

And then there was another blink. Jo was in a new dream, this one with purple water and a man Jo was afraid of, even though his hair was full of beads and Jo liked how they jingled.

“I am Evario. Do you like to swim?”

“No.” Jo started to cry. Her whole chest shook. “I not see you later.” She backed away from the water. Mommy wasn’t here. The water was too cold. The purple was too scary. Things floated in the water. Jo needed to wake up.

“I see Far now,” Jo pleaded. She looked for him. “FAR!”

“Listen.” Evario grabbed her arm. “Little girl! Shhh. Listen. You see Far soon, okay? First there is a little boy who needs help.”

Jo cried more until he let go. She held her arm tight. “No. I see far.”

“Only you can help the boy.”

In the water she thought she saw him. Someone was in the water. “He went see you later?”

“He went swimming and he is stuck in the lake. You will find many children in the lake, but you can only bring one, and it must be a boy. The others like to live there.”

Jo shook her head. “I no swim.” She couldn’t even float.

“No. You walk. And then you see your Far. Look in the water. Do you see the playground?”

Jo squinted her eyes tight and held her fingers like binoculars around her eyes. She shook her head, but then she saw a swing. “I see it.”

Kids were on the swings. They were under the water, but they weren’t swimming or drowning.

“That is where the children are. Help the little boy. Then you see your Far,” he said again.

Jo trembled. She wanted to see Far. She wanted to go home. Far said be brave all the time, but Jo wasn’t brave.

She had to be brave.

She nodded. She walked deeper into the water. It wasn’t too cold. It was nice. She kept walking. It wasn’t like the pool. It wasn’t even like a bath. The water was like soft sheets. She could breathe in the water.

She went to the playground. Maybe it wasn’t water, maybe it was mist. Jo didn’t know. But she knew there were little kids like her—boys and girls—and they were all playing and happy.

She looked. How would she pick which boy? Was it a test? 

“Hello!” A girl said. She tugged Jo towards a slide. “Are you going to play with us?”

“Ja!” Jo climbed the slide and slid down it. It was the most fun slide she had ever been on. She went again and again, and then she climbed up and up and up. The girl sat at the top of a mountain of ropes. “What’s your name? We’re playing tag.”

“Jo. What’s your name?”

“I’m Stella. This is Novio and Amaralda and Alafair and Giorgio.” Jo looked at the kids on the ground.

“Hej. I Jo.” She waved.

Novio climbed up and touched her leg. “Tag!”

Jo was too far up! She had to get down. She climbed down. Down. Down until she could run.

When she ran, she chased everyone, but then they were all fading like ghosts. She couldn’t see anything. The water was dark. It was getting cold. It was heavy. “It too deep!”

Alafair stopped beside her. He took her hand. He looked at her and said, “It’s ok. Did you fall?”

Jo didn’t fall. She flapped. The water splashed. “Too deep!”

“Look,” Alafair said. “At night you can see the family lights. On the other side of the water.”

“I want to go home,” Jo cried.

Alafair hugged her. “Okay. I know. I want to go home too.”

“I want my mommy.”

“Yes. I cried a lot at first. But we are all friends. As long as you don’t go where you can’t see the family lights, you aren’t too deep.” He pulled her towards the light, towards the shore.

“I have to go home. See you now.”

“Wait! Jo. You…you can’t go home. We’re part of the lake now.”

Jo cried louder. Jo filled the lake even more. “I go home now.” She pushed against his chest.

Alafair stumbled back. He gasped. He flapped. He swam up. His hand pulled Jo up, too, until he let go. Jo went down, deeper. She screamed, and the water flooded her. She cried.

She had to be brave. She pulled at the water trying to go up. She pulled harder and harder. She swam to Alafair.

When she felt air, Jo gasped. She coughed, water bursting out of her chest. She crawled up sand until she was out of the water. Alafair lay on the sand. “Oh. We safe!” 

“Safe?” Jo asked. She was not safe. She couldn’t find her far. She was wet and cold and afraid. She didn’t have any more bravery in her.

“Daje!” Alafair yelled. “Babo!” He got to his feet and ran.

“Mommy!” Jo wailed from the ground. “Far. Mommy.” Every tear, a whole lake of them, burst from Jo. She didn’t want to see anyone later. She wanted to see them now. She wanted to go home. To wake up.

Arms lifted Jo up. Thick fingers brushed the tears from Jo’s eyes, the matted hair from her face. “You save him?”

“I not know. I want my mommy,” Jo said louder.

Evario was there. Jo leaned away from him and hugged the woman that held her, who seemed more safe than Evario who made her swim. “Help.”

“Do you know her family?” the woman asked Evario.

“She Rhoda’s granddaughter. She is…she is new Rhoda, and she found her husband.”

“Alafair is…” The mom looked at Jo, looked at Alafair. “She is our daughter.”

“Mommy. Far. See?” Alafair said, like she had found them. She hadn’t found them. 

Jo shook her head. “No.”

Alafair reached for Jo. “Daje is Mommy. Babo is far. See?”

Jo looked out. A man stood beside Alafair.

“No!” Jo went heavy. When Daje dropped her, she ran. She ran as fast as she could. She stumbled over rocks. Her knee hurt. She ran more and more.

“Tag!” Alafair yelled running after her.

“No!” Jo tripped over a tree. She fell into a ball. “Mommy. Far.”

Alafair crouched down. He sat. “Jo?”

“I want go home,” Jo cried.

“Okay,” Alafair said. “We go home.”

“First,” Daje came over with Evario and Babo. “You have this drink. It keep you safe.”

Jo didn’t want the drink. 

“I promised your Far,” Evario said. “You will see him when you drink. You’ve done good. You will go home. I promise.”

“My far?”

“Your far,” Evario said.

Jo took the drink. It tasted sweet. She drank and drank, but then Daje took the cup back. “Now Alafair drinks.”

Alafair drank the rest. He cringed like it tasted bad.

Jo stumbled back. Her whole being exploded inside, fireworks and sleepy fingers and toes that woke up all at once. Her heart beat harder. The world was fuzzy like her eyes were full of goop. But Alafair was clear. Alafair was bright. 

Jo rubbed her eyes. Most of the world came back, but Alafair was still more.

“This your person,” Daje said. “You two will be together—best friends, life partner.”

“I see Far now?” Jo begged.

“Far is coming,” Evario said.

“Come wait by the fire,” Babo said to Jo. “We will welcome him. He is family now.”

Jo was still scared. But Alafair took her hand again. “Jo, I keep you safe.”

Jo didn’t know if she should believe him. She didn’t have a choice.

“Okay,” Jo said. Please wake up.