“Her name is Anna Maria, she’s eight”

The mother handed the picture back to Eric. “She must be around your age.” Eric said.

“Emily, here is five”

“Five and three quarters” Emily interjected with a smile.

“I’m sorry, five and three quarters. Your daughter is lovely.” Emily’s mom continued

The plane took off. Emily colored quietly as her mother read one of the in flight magazines. As soon as the seat belt sign turned off, Emily’s mother turned to her and said “Okay sweetie, time to go to bed.”

“Mom, I’m not tired!”

“You need to sleep, it’s a long flight and otherwise you’ll be grumpy when we land. Do you really think Daddy wants his Em to be grumpy?”

“No!” Emily crossed her arms and pouted. 

“Sorry to interrupt, but maybe I can help. There’s a story I always tell my daughter that puts her to sleep.” Eric said quietly. 

Emily’s mother made an inquisitive face at Eric, trying to read if he was sincere. He just smiled back softly, almost as if his mind was off somewhere else.

“Do you want a bedtime story Em?”

“Yea!”

“She’s all yours…uh…”

“Eric”

“Nice to meet you Eric, I’m Felice.”

“Nice to meet you too. Okay Emily, so the hero of this story is a girl named Anna. And…”

“Can her name be Emily?” Emily interrupted, staring at Eric with big eyes.

“Sure, for you she can be named Emily. So, Emily lives in Chicago. Do you know where that is?”

“Ill-i-noise?”

“Very good! So Emily lives in Chicago, right on the lake. Her window faces the water so when she wakes up, she can see all the boats leaving. There’s one little boat she really likes. It’s called the Bright Sea. The Bright Sea is a little sightseeing boat that takes tourists on coastline tours. Emily watches it go out every morning and come in after its last run every night.” 

“What color is it?”

“What color is it? Um…well it’s a light red, almost pink, with black outlines and pretty blue and green sea horse drawn on the outside.”

“That’s pretty.”

“It is very pretty. Emily would wave to it as it went out every morning and when it came in every night. Well, one Saturday, Emily’s parents decided to take her on a walk out into the city for the day. So Emily put on her favorite dress, light blue and green with gold trimmings, and left with her parents. She held her mom’s hand tightly and with the other hand she held her favorite toy. It was a little wooden sea horse with wheels and a string. The sea horse trailed behind her as she walked down with boardwalk with her mom and dad. When she reached the canal she saw it. The Bright Sea was chugging slowly along the canal with its regular load of tourists. The guide on board was happily explaining the architecture of the surrounding buildings. Then Emily saw the captain. He was tall, wearing a white shirt and navy captains hat. He had a big scruffy beard. Emily tugged on her mom’s hand and pointed, but her mom didn’t notice and kept on chatting with Emily’s dad. The family kept walking and soon…”

Back on the plane, Emily snored loudly.

Eric chuckled, “I guess it works.” 

“Go on,” Felice whispered.

“I’m sorry?”

“I want to know how it ends?” Felice let out a light airy laugh, a little embarrassed. 

Eric chuckled again and flashed a bright smile. “Of course. Um, okay, they were walking right?”

“Mhm” Felice nodded.

“So they continue walking and the canal fades out of view as the family enters a big square, filled with people. Emily continues to tug and pull on her mom, but to no avail. However, she spots stairs close by.  They lead to the canal. She breaks away from her mom and runs towards the stairs, the sea horse bobbing behind her.  Her mom yells after her and he dad runs and grabs her before she reaches the stairs. This causes her to drop her sea horse and some stranger accidentally kicks it off out of sight. Emily bursts into tears into her fathers shoulder. Her mom and dad look around for the sea horse but it’s nowhere to be found. They start to head back, Emily still in tears when a man with a scruffy beard and a captain’s hat taps Emily’s dad on the shoulder. 

‘I think your daughter dropped this’

Emily’s dad put Emily down and the man with the beard and captains hat crouched down and showed Emily her sea horse! Emily’s sobbing stopped, save for a few sniffles and her eyes widened. She took the toy lightly and then held it tight. Suddenly she recognized the man. He was the captain of the Bright Sea! 

‘Boat’ Emily said to the captain. The captain gave her a confused look so she pointed at her toy and then he realized.

‘Yes, I drive a boat, how did you know? Wait…well I’ll be. You’re the little girl who waves to me every morning and night’

Emily nodded. Emily smiled. She then held up her toy to the captain. 

‘For me? No it’s yours’ Emily offered again ‘Well thank you, dear. That’s very sweet of you.’

Emily hugged the captain. His beard was a little scratchy and she giggled. 

‘Well I have to go, thank you for the gift,’ the captain walked back down the stairs to his ship.

From then on, every morning and every night, Emily still waved to the Bright Sea, except now, the captain, and everyone on board, waved back. The toy sea horse sitting proudly over the steering wheel.”

Eric looked up at Felice and then down at the sleeping Emily. 

“Thank you” Felice said quietly.

Eric just smiled.