I was about to set sail. Soon, I would ride on the sea in my little boat, then roam the depths on the back of a great blue whale.             My heart was racing. I turned to Mama, Papi and Livy. The rushing sound of the sea that was once to calming was now exhilarating, even frightening!             I looked at each of their faces in turn. Mama, her black hair down to her waist and her shining brown eyes and loving smile. It was hard to think that I would probably have a baby sister or brother when I returned. Papi, his broad shoulders and strong arms that had held me close for so many years when I cried. And Livy. Liv, Olivia, Livy. My baby sister. God, I would miss her. I could tell she was about to cry, she was biting her lip so hard. Her eyes were bloodshot from staying up all night, worrying.             I was about to burst. I reached out and hugged them all.             “I’ll come back, mi familia,” I said, fighting my tears away.             Papi gave me a reassuring smile. “I know you will, Maria,” he said in his calming, soothing voice.             I heard a strangled cry. I looked at Mama. She had burst into tears. “Oh, Mama!” I cried. I reached forward to hug her. Her face was in her hands.             “Maria, Maria! ¿Estás seguro?” she whispered between sobs.             “Si, Mama, si. I am sure,” I said, releasing her.             I gave a meaningful look to Olivia, and she moved over to comfort Mama.             “Te echaré de menos,” I said, looking away before I cried. “I will miss you all!” I turned on the dock, facing the sea, and climbed into my tiny boat. I had months of food, sleeping quarters and a fishing rod. I would be just fine. As I did all the last minute preparations, I almost smiled.             I was going to finally live out my dream.             I undid the knot that tied the boat to the dock, pulled in the rope, and set out onto the treacherous, beautiful land called the ocean.             The boat rocked around under me. I laughed quietly. I didn’t look behind me at my family, still. It would hurt too much.             “Careful, Maria! You can do it! Yo creo en ti!” Livy yelled from the dock. She said she believed in me. My heart swelled like an overlarge balloon about to burst. I turned around.             “I love you, little sister!” I yelled. They were almost little smudges. I wasn’t sure if she could hear me, but I thought I saw her wave as they quickly disappeared. I watched for only a moment longer at the nothingness behind me.             What if I never heard their voices again? It was a possibility I couldn’t bear.             I faced the open, monstrous sea ahead. It was beautifully frightening.             EIGHT WEEKS LATER               The boat rocked along gently under me. The sound was calming now, intimidating when I first began my journey.             It was intriguing, mysterious, living at sea. But I still wanted to see its depths. It was much too dangerous to go in alone. I had seen shark fins where I had anchored myself for sleep.             I almost laughed, and I almost pictured Liv laughing beside me, when I imagined myself the first time I anchored those weeks ago. I had been utterly horrified to see shark fins around. I even saw a small one’s body, swimming beside the boat.             But by now I was calm. Now, I wanted the blue whale I had set out on this journey to find. The blue whale that would show me what the ocean really was.             I sighed and rolled over in my sleeping bag. I was tired of the tiny quarters of my boat. And I was tired of canned food. I still had water to last me for at least seven more weeks, if I used it sparingly.             Even though it was dark, I slipped out of my sleeping bag and climbed up the mini-ladder, onto the deck. Out in the middle of the ocean, there are no limits to the amount of stars in the sky. It’s almost never actually dark.             A cool breeze drifts towards me. I fold my arms in front of my chest to warm myself, and sit down. The lapping of the sea against the boat was so very soothing…….             Boom, splash, roar. It was light outside now, and I saw my whale. It was right close by me, my heart was pounding, I couldn’t miss it!             My boat was almost tipping over with the force of the wave. I saw its giant, beautiful side flipper and…..             I leapt in the water. It was freezing, but I made my arms and legs kick hard against the force of the waves. This was what all of my swimming lessons were for. Suddenly, I was touching something. A flipper! A moving one.             It moved up higher, about to go under, and I cried “¡Oh Dios mío!”             I took one last gulp of air and let myself succumb to the water. My eyes stayed open, and to my surprise it didn’t sting. The most gigantic head I had ever seen was right ahead of me, feet away! Its flipper continued to jostle me around. I forced myself along and climbed onto the creatures back. I just barely made it.             The ocean was beautiful. Colors I didn’t know existed lived in there. Fish were darting past to move out of the whale’s way. I could have cried with joy, but I had to hold my breath.             We were going deeper. I had to let go and get back to the boat. I took a last look and the brilliant place, and let go, swimming up to the top.             Dios mío! I thought. I didn’t know we had gone so deep.             I was losing air. I gave another futile kick, then everything went pitch dark.               “Maria! Maria! Maria!” I was shaken awake roughly. Who would shake awake a dead girl?             My eyes fluttered open. Papi’s worried face was above mine. He held my shoulders. Then his face broke into a wide grin.             “She’s alive, Belita!” he cried. I heard a shout and I was soon covered in hugs.             “Get off of her, she might die anyway with all of you piled on her,” said Olivia’s voice. Livy!             I became aware as Mama and Papi removed themselves from me, and as Papi helped pull me to my feet and steady me, that I was on a lonely beach. Livy stood in the back, behind Mama and Papi, for she was holding a small baby wrapped in blue fleece. I felt faint.             “Oh dear, oh Maria,” Mama gasped, drinking the sight of me in as though she could never get enough.             “The baby? Wha- Why am I alive?” I said.             Olivia smiled. “The whale. We don’t know what happened, we were just out on the beach, like we are every day, and there was a huge splash in the distance.”             “And then we saw a body,” Papi interjected. “So I swam out to save who it was and….And….” his voice shook for the first time in my memory. “It was you.”             “Oh, Maria! You rode your whale!” Livy cried.             “It was wonderful,” I said earnestly. “But the boat..?”             Mama shook her head. “We don’t know. But we don’t care, you’re alive!”             “The baby,” I said.             Mama grinned. “Fabio. Ir a verlo, dulce niña, go on.”             “Okay,” I said, and I walked over to a beaming Livy, and looked over at the little bundle.             His eyes were open, and a deep brown like mine, and his face was a coppery tone, like Papi’s. I smiled at him, and he stared at me curiously in return.             I looked to Mama. “He’s very handsome, Mama,” I said breathlessly.             She smiled again.             We walked together along the beach, me telling them about my adventures, and they telling me about theirs.             We were together.             I still hadn’t forgotten my adventures with the great blue whale, and that stuck with me. The water rushing at me, the feeling of exhilaration, it was all magic.             Magia.             La magia de la gran ballena azul.

            The magic of the great blue whale