MiQuay

One day, Papa woke Tinkle up very early, when everything was still sleeping, and said:
- Tinkle, wake up!
Tinkle immediately waved her water and asked, very worried:
- What happened, Papa/ Why do you wake me up so early?
Papa smiled sadly:
- Look around, look around Tinkle. Can you feel the fresh air around here? Can you taste the dew drops? Can you?
Tinkle laughed suddenly and loudly, her water danced on the surface:
- Oh, Papa! You wake me up very early just to ask those silly questions? Of, course I can feel the fresh air around here. Of course I can taste the dew drops. Ok, what else do you want to ask me?
Papa seemed to be angry, but his voice was still gentle:
- I asked you for a reason, tomorrow I’ll tell you. And now, go back to your dreams, I won’t say anymore!
Tinkle cried a little, then she fell asleep.

On the very next day, Tinkle went to Papa and said:
- Papa, I’m so sorry about last night. I was so sleepy and I don’t know. I’m really sorry, really. So, can you tell me the reason?
Papa smiled, he was so happy because his pretty lake could realize that. He explained slowly:
- Tinkle, you are 3 now, you should discover the world outside. Every lake has to do that. That’s the reason. You should remember this place, ‘cause you’ll leave it.
Tinkle cried:
- Oh no, Papa! I don’t want to leave you, no, I won’t leave you, never!
Papa smiled again:
- Tinkle, you must leave this place. One day, the wind, the sea breath will come here and explain for you the way you have to go. Do you know where you will go?
Tinkle shouted and her water angrily beat the ground:
- I don’t care! I want to live here, just here.
- Don’t be so sad. You will go to the ocean. You will meet many friends there. It’ll be fun! And you will also meet the ocean, who is as old as me. Then, you’ll understand something.

Tinkle didn’t say anything. Her pain was so deep, deep as the ocean…
Tinkle lived in silence day by day. She tried to remember everything around her: Papa, the grass, the fresh air, the dew drops, everything. Papa just looked at her, smiled.

And the wind came. Tinkle felt something verry strange. She felt happy, extremely happy, and she shouted:
- I feel the wind, Papa! I feel it! Goodbye, Papa, goodbye!
And she flow as fast as she could, to somewhere that the wind called ‘ocean’. After a few hours, she stopped. Then tears came down, she tasted them, they were salty. Tinkle asked the wind:
- Am I crying?
- No, you’re not. That’s the ocean.
Suddenly, the lake whispered:
- I understand it, Papa. This is the ocean. Where the sky begins.

by Mí Lác - Hanoi, 4th July 2009