The
SNOWFLAKE
and the
STARFISH


~~


742
// 27+7
Syld
To the three children,
Lee Sharon, Tommy, and their Aunt Shirley.
The
SNOWFLAKE
and the
STARFISH


The sea-witch came in on
the tide, riding on the waves like
foam, and her hair floated out behind
her like seaweed. She came to the
beach and lay there breathing
slightly, and her eyes searched every-
where like a hungry gull. And
Michael Doyle's little daughter Vicky,
walking along the beach in search of
colored shells, turned to her brother,
Little Thomas, and said, “It’s time we
went home to supper.”
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answer was no help to her. Little
boys always seemed satisfied with
something ordinary, whereas little
girls always had to look for something
curious and rare. A secret treasure
that nobody else knew about, a
strangeness, a difference—a little
moon to wear in her hair, a star of
her own, a personal snowflake—they
were such lovely dreams. That was
what a hope chest was for: to hold
dreams. That was why boys didn't
have them.


Next morning, when the children
woke up, there was a tiny, silvery
starfish lying at the foot of Vicky's
bed; and on Little Thomas's counter-
pane, a small stuffed eel.

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Because it was a lovely warm day,
the two children went down to play
On the beach; and as they were play-
ing there, in the bright sunny foam,
the sea-witch looked out of a wave
and saw them.
Her feelings had been hurt at
seeing her gifts swept out along with
scraps of paper, old bottle caps, bits
of string, and a stocking with a hole
in it, and it was some time before she
could bring herself to speak to them.
At last, however, when it was almost
time for lunch, she took a deep
breath, and came out of the water
onto the sand, dressed in striped
bombazine like somebody's nurse.
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which opened onto the porch, and
peeked out. "You go first,” said Vicky.
"You go,” said Little Thomas.
“You’re the oldest.”
“But you're a boy,” said Vicky.
“Well,” said Little Thomas, "you're
a bold girl and unafraid of mice.”
So Vicky slipped out of doors into
the gray dark misty damp night, fol-
lowed by Little Thomas; and right
away they began to run as hard as
they could, which was a great mis-
take, because the minute they started
to run, the piggy bank began to
jingle, and the witch heard them and
was up and after them like a shot;
whereas if they had gone very quietly
she might never have known they
were there.
[34]


“To eat?” asked Little Thomas,
backing away and dropping his space
helmet in the sand, so that he had
to bend down to look for it. But the
sea-witch gave a silvery laugh that
sounded the way a school of minnows
looks when it flashes by, this way
and that, in the clear water. “What-
ever gave you that idea?” she cried.
"I only want to play with you.”
"Oh,” said Little Thomas, “in
that case. . . .”
“We'd like that very much,” said
Vicky politely.
The sea-witch jumped to her feet,
and at once began calling in her
spells from up and down the beach.
[46]


-> ***.- - -
2...…t. . .”
...:”


past schools of sheepshead, Croakers,
minnows, mackerel, bass, Zebra fish,
goldfish—fish of every size, color,
and shape—past Squid and Octopuses
waving their weed-like arms, whales
going by like battleships, tiny shrimp
bobbing about in country dances. And
every once in a while the sea-witch
would point to a great heap of pearls,
or a big lump of amethyst, or to piles
and piles of golden doubloons, and
ask hopefully, “Is this what you
want? Will you buy it?” And every
time, with a little gasp, Vicky would
say, “’No, thank you,” and clutch her
hope chest tighter.
[56 ||