“It’s only three feet long!”
“It’s her newborn,” said Simon.
The baby seal reached its mother and nestled close. The mother seal twisted her whole body around her little one. Sylvie felt close to tears.
“We never had that,” said Simon. “Neither of us, did we?”
Sylvie and Simon watched the mother and baby. Simon put his arm around Sylvie. The rain fell, lightly.
“What is it?” Cleo came close and bent down. Sylvie helped Cleo adjust her binoculars and peer through them. (The Peacock family had not owned binoculars.)
“Do you see?” said Sylvie, pointing.
“Aw, look,” said Cleo. “Look at that baby all cuddled up.”
“Yeah,” said Sylvie.
“Reminds me of us,” said Cleo.
“What?”
“Remember? You and Emma used to come cuddle in my bed at night. We were all warm and cozy and it snowed outside. We’d play the Once Upon a Time game.”
“Lucky sisters,” said Simon.
“Yeah,” said Sylvie. She took Cleo’s hand. “I wasn’t alone. I had you.”
“You’ll always have me,” said Cleo.
2
Cleo
Once Upon a Time,thought Cleo,Sylvie will fall in love with a kind man named Simon and live happily ever after in a castle…and Cleo will become a professional birder and go for long walks with Isaac around the Central Park Reservoir….
Maybe it was time for Cleo to admit it. She wished Isaac were here. It wasso greenhere in the Lake District. And although Cleo spent hours a week toning her physique, she hadn’t gone for a hike outdoors in a long time. And this was such a stunning adventure, despite the rain…or maybe even because of it.
Isaac would love it here: the wide vista to the crashing waves below, the flocks of birds and the sweet baby seal and its mother, the way the air was chilly and fresh, smelling of mud and grass and feral, outdoorsy things…. She’d forgotten about the power of nature. How wild the natural world was, howvast,and how nourishing! “Look,” said Simon, the perfect guide to this place. He paused and pointed to a pile of rocks on the beach. “Ringed plover.”
Sylvie and Cleo raised their binoculars. Cleo laughed, delighted, as she saw baby chicks perfectly camouflaged in a nest—tan-and-white heads that looked just like stones, black masks,little orange beaks jutting out when they popped up to look around.
“What’s the teeny one there?” said Emma, joining them. They peered at a round bird with a dark mask around its eyes, hopping and pecking at the ground.
“Northern wheatear,” said Simon. “And see the ducks over on the sand, next to the tidal pool?” The sisters swung their binoculars. “Common eider ducks,” said Simon. “Aren’t they pretty, big ducks? The males are white and black with pistachio on their necks, and the females are barred with brown and black.”
“I see rabbits!” said Guinness.
“Indeed you do, son,” said Simon.
“Nice eye, Guinness,” said Penelope, copying her father’s schoolteacher affect.
“What’s the one flying, with the red beak?” said Rich.
Simon looked up. “Shelduck,” he said.
Rich looked pleased with himself.
“Birdwatching is cooler than I thought,” said Guinness.
