Before we eat, me and Mommy bless King Roland for being a great ruler, we bless our ability to make a living on making and selling shoes while Daddy's away, we bless the farmers for the veg-e-tables they give us for the strew we made tonight, and we bless Daddy for a safe return.
I do not know why we bless everything but Mommy says it's part of being grateful which I listen to.
Daddy's a sailor so me and Mommy always save his blessing for last. I do not like it when he's away and neither does Mommy but after we ate our strew, she promises he'll come home soon.
I like it when Daddy comes home because he picks me up in his arms and jokes that I got bigger when I have not.
Sometimes Daddy smells like fish and it's a yucky smell but hearing Mommy and Daddy laugh as I plug my nose is kinda funny.
Tomorrow afternoon, while Mommy closes the shop for the night, I wait for Daddy with his hat by my side.
I wait and wait until the door opened and ran, thinking it was Daddy at the door.
But it was not. Instead it was Mr. Messenger. I do not know his real name as it's too hard to say.
Mr. Messenger tells me and Mommy about Daddy when he can except he looked sad this time.
Why is he sad? Why was he only taking Mommy to the kitchen to talk in private?
I dragged Daddy's hat with me to see why. I hate it when grown ups talk in low voices but when Mr. Messenger handed Mommy a piece of paper and took off his nice hat, I felt cold.
Why wasn't Daddy coming home?
I still felt cold, hearing Mommy scream then cry. I never heard her scream like that before.
Mr. Messenger took me to Mommy who took me in her arms so fast that I almost felt out of breath.
As Mommy hugged me, I looked down at the piece of paper she dropped.
I couldn't read too good yet so I ignored the top part of the paper but froze at the bottom.
Lost at sea.
Mommy always said to be prepared if we get a note like that when it came to Daddy.
We were not prepared this time.