I was always too short to reach, too little, too quiet, too shy. Standing on my tip-toes, purple sneakers with baby blue laces, edges dirty from the park mud, I was a thirsty baby - tongue sticking out like a panting dog.

Waiting for my mum to hold me up so I could lap up the water. She held me as long as I wanted, she was so patient.

She purchased 20 at once. After all, she would be here for an entire month. She tucked them safely into her change pocket, like little sticks of gum.

I dive deeply, down. The saran-wrapped glistening surface of the sea splits open as my body submerges, deeper and deeper into the beauty of the underworld. The pearl lays proudly, cradled by its translucent shell, edges strong and deliberate against the soft comfort of the pearl.

In the first breaths of morning, I woke to grey sky. A softness hung in the air, as though the sky opened up her expanse to cradle us. I stuffed my feet in banana yellow galoshes and ran out the door. The pavement was slick of fresh rain.  The streets smelled of after-rain, wafting from every corner of every sidewalk.