The Third Breath, page 1 of 12

Pip stands up in a puddle beside his tipped folded leaf and reports, while Dawn lays her huge head on the sand to listen, fond and patient.

The eleventh boat was a diving bell, which is a boat for going the wrong way.

Pip folded it from one leaf, waxy side in. Underneath it, air stayed air.

He tested it in a puddle two Pips deep, surveyed it like a sea, went down like a stone, and came up like a cork, reporting.

Dawn attended every launch.

© 2026 A.J.Sharpe