From the diary of Griselda Vargas-Beilschmidt

56

I'm glad Fred isn't scarred for life. And Ashleigh seems to be relieved as well. She cares for Fred, just like I do. And George and Gabi do too, I know they do. And he cares for us! See, that's the meaning of family - a group who cares deeply about each member of it, though they show it in sometimes annoying ways. Uncle Prussia taught me that. Fred knows it, Vati knows it, I know it. Ashleigh knows it too.

The next days are filled with work. I once climb up to the crow's nest, as George names it. I don't look down this time. He climbs after me, and when we're there, looks around and sighs.

"I never realised how much I missed this..."

I get it. It's really amazing view from up here, you can see all of the ship, the sea, the islands, and when you look up, even the sky. It's almost the exact same colour as the sea. The nest lies between two worlds.

George takes deep breaths. (You know, full of salt ;) ) He does look like he genuinly missed this. Huh.

"George?"

"Yes, Griselda?"

"Have you ever been here before?"

"Oh," he chuckles "Actually, yes. Not here exactly, but in the Mediterrean. And in Spain of course. They tried to drown me. In a bucket of Holy water, must I add. Their faces were so priceless!" He giggled happily, while I shivered. Drown him? Why?

"Well, I was a member of brother's crew, after all," was the explanation. "And they thought drowning is a better way for a pirate to go than a noose," he rubbed his neck, where I spotted a red mark.

"Are you injured?" I pointed at it. His eyes widened.

"N-no! Wha- No! F-forget it, okay?" he waved his hands around, and pulled his shirt collar up.

"HEY! NOW'S MY TURN!" we heard Gabriel yell from all the way down. George yelled back "SHUT UP, WE'RE GOING, ALRIGHT. MIND YOUR HELM!"

We carefully climbed down after that, Gabe being all angry, but excited to go up ther at the same time, he barely even punched George. Speaking of which, his girlfriend greeted him with a kiss. Fred groaned. I know, Freddy, I know. I'm happy for them, but could they maybe... take it elsewhere?

All five of us got more or less used to the ship life for a while. I don't think I need to describe how happy Gabi and George were, or how Ashleigh beamed every time she saw her boyfriend, or how mine and Fred's skin didn't like the Sun at all and we had to put a thick layer of aloe and other sunscreen on it. That's why I wore Vati's shirt a lot. It's big and comfortable and smells good. 

We cooked together, worked together, slept in the same big bed, bonded and cared about each other.

We were really enjoying it, until it was over. It was over way too quickly. One day, we reached the beach where we started. We never noticed it was like this, that we would end up back here. It felt like we were together for the entire summer. 

There was a sweet ending surprise though. 

"Grissie!"

"Kätzchen!"

"Griselda!"

"Gabriel!"

"DADS!"

We put the anchor down, packed purple things and climbed down (me on Fred's back) and loaded aboard a smaller boat, not unlike the one we came there with. The five of us looked at each other in wonder at what all changed. We became the children of the sea, that's what. It was bittersweet to see Spamano behind us, to leave it behind, but our family awaited us. 

We hugged, hugged and hugged. I didn't realise I missed them as much as I did. Papa gasped when he saw my skin. Vati said he'll let me wear his shirt more often if I like it so much. 

Gabriel's greeting was exactly the same, but a bit more awkward in the hugging, Uncle Spain doing most of the job, yelling delightfully at how good of a job we did. 

Then I looked at the three left out, and felt bad. I mean, Ashleigh had George for hugging, but Fred had no one there, so I hugged him. He deserves it.