Page 4 of Until I Have You

“Daddy tells me not to talk to strangers.”There’s an inflection in her voice, an accent.Or is she just talking so fast and through tears that her words sound different than they normally would?

I smile at her, letting her know it is okay.“I understand, my dad tells me the same thing.”

She sniffles.“He does?”

“Oh, yes.Even though I’m a grownup, he still tells me all the things your daddy tells you.”

The little girl cracks a small smile.

“Do you remember the last place you saw your dad?”

Her smile falls.“No.”

“Mm.That’s okay.Why don’t we go talk to someone who works here, and they can get people to look for your dad?”

Her hands fly to her mouth.Then she shakes her head.

Okay, I’ve got to make her comfortable.Make her feel safe so that I can get her the help she needs because lord knows I’m not going to leave her here.“You like seahorses?”

The little girl looks up at the tanks again.“They’re silly looking.”

The more she speaks, the more I’m convinced she’s British or from a different English-speaking country than here.“Theyaresilly looking.Like teeny tiny dragons.Or horses, I guess.”

“Or really old ladies.”She looks at the display.

I laugh.“Don’t let the old ladies hear you say that.”

She laughs too, her eyes still appraising me nervously.

I push myself back to my feet and go over to one of the tanks.“Can I tell you something interesting about seahorses?”

She hesitates but comes over to join me in front of the glowing blue tank.

Inside, I watch the seahorses freefalling, their eyes goggling about and their snouts twitching and sucking.“You know moms are the ones who have babies?Among humans and every other animal?”

She gets a bit closer, and she nods.

“Well, that’s true of seahorses too, but–” I point to a seahorse bobbling around, his midsection enlarged.“The dads are the ones that actually take care of the eggs and then all the babies.That’s one there.He’s got all the eggs in a pouch and when they hatch, they’ll all explode out of the pouch.”

The girl opens her mouth.“Explode?”

“Well, not literally.It doesn’t hurt him.”

I get a pang in my heart: I love this work.I wish I could be paid to do it.Too bad behind the scenes, there’s so many politics and so much work in actually getting the job.

I guess I’ll settle for pretending…especially if it’s helping a scared little girl.“He pumps water into the pouch which displaces, um, moves the babies out into the water.“

Her eyes widen.“Strange.”

I try not to giggle at her use of the word strange.Most kids would say “weird.”

“And you know how baby animals all have specific names?Like bear babies are cubs and baby sheep are lambs?”

“And goat babies are kids, like me!”She seems excited to be able to add to the conversation.

“Yes!”I beam at her.“Do you have a guess at what baby seahorses are called?”

She pinches her lips together.“Foals?Because they’re like horses?”

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