“Pikah step back from there!” The woman shouted. The wind was blowing and the girl was standing there in her white dress, white hair fluttering about her. She looked like she would sprout wings at any moment, spread them out and leap off the ledge.
She turned, her cheeks pink from being whipped by the wind, and smiled at her mother. “I’m not that close to the edge.” She promised and she practically had to scream to be heard over the wind. She turned back and, as if to prove her point, took another step towards the edge.
Her mother was in a panic, cursing under her breath, as she rushed forward. It had all started off as a simple hike up the Gulf of Bothnia, but now Pikah was scaring her mother. She was always such a good girl, although a bit naïve, and now she was wandering closer and closer to the edge of granite.
“See the birds?” She smiled, pointing them out. There were maybe a dozen gulls curving around the tide mark far far below.
“Yes.” Her mother sighed, “I see them. Very pretty.” She grabbed her daughters arm, maybe a bit too rough. Pikah didn’t seem to notice though as she was pulled away from the ledge.
“Do you think people will ever learn how to fly?” she asked.
“Yes. We’ve built airplanes. So now we can.”
“That’s not what I mean.” Pikah sighed, looking down at her feet.
Still she joined her mother for cucumber sandwiches and white leaf tea. They had packed the picnic to share together up on the cliffs so they could watch the sunbathers below. Pikah didn’t like being around people, it made her nervous and afraid that she would get lost, but she liked to see them. The hike hadn’t been hard, it had been a short walk, but still, her mother was tired. She was always tired these days.
Her abdomen was round and bloated and she walked with a wide waddle. Pikah would run her fingers along her mother’s stomach, feel her brother kick from inside. She loved her brother already and she would write little songs to sing him.
She sang one of them now, a short little ditty about the waves and the wind and the birds. She hoped that he liked it, for she couldn’t wait to show them to him. He just had to hurry up and be born.
They finished their lunch and packed up. They didn’t want the gulls to steal their leftovers. Pikah didn’t want to leave, not yet, but she could tell that carrying a baby was hard on her mother and she needed a nap. They could come back another day.
That didn’t stop Pikah from rushing to the edge one last time before they left though, so she could look all the way down the granite face down to the water. Her mother wouldn’t be happy, but she knew her footing. She could hear her yelling but she was almost done. Everything was fine.
The wind was strong and as she turned, ready to go home it pushed her a bit stronger than before. She knew her footing but the grass was slightly wet and hard to keep from slipping on.
Her mother kept screaming.
