The Two Shores, page 11 of 12

Pip stands in the very edge of the water, small in a wide pale afternoon, his head lifted a little as he speaks, calm and alone.

Pip stood in the edge of the water and said the ninth boat’s name, out loud, to nobody.

One day you will say it, she had said, and the day had picked itself.

The name went as far as sounds go over water.

Out past the sandbar, Dawn lay at her surface, and did not hear it.