“She painted this one for me. We were playing ocean. Can't you see what it is?" Two dark oval shapes in the middle of the page; hard, glittering shells. Two turtles stretching their heads toward the shore. The translucent sea above the flickering seabed. Brownish black mangrove trees against warm sand. The figures on the beach are tiny, with long, flowing hair. The song floats away from them, out over the ocean; in gold and lurid pink it strikes the dark shapes of the creatures in an extravagance of light. "Those are the princesses," I say. Maraia nods. "The big song is taking them up into the light.”
Book:Pieces of Happiness