Tiny buckled her belt, stared through the airplane window, and thought of the many adventures that lay ahead. It was her first time visiting the Small Sisters, and she could barely contain the beans that bounced in her belly. The kitten triplets—Sully, Suki, and Lex—were legendary on the lush tropical island they called home. They cast their nets by day, hawked their wares at the night market, and couldn’t wait to show Tiny around their pocket-sized boat, the Fishercat.
Tiny stood on the bow of the ship and gazed across the great, vast ocean. This strange new world was so full of life; pelicans dive-bombed, dolphins danced, and turtles blew bubbles beneath the glistening waves. As Tiny watched up in wonder, Mother-the-Sun prepared for her final show of the evening, streaking the sky with her glorious ribbons of light, as though painting the ceiling of the world’s largest candy shop.
“Isn’t it puurrfect, Tiny? mewed the kitten sisters, “Are you ready for a tale?” Their eyes were filling with the fire of the setting sun. Where were Tiny’s words? She couldn’t find them anywhere. She imagined they had wandered out onto the deck to marvel at the beauty before her.
One by one, they began to sing with voices of sweet angels. Three cascading voices lapped gently over another, a deep and endless harmony with no beginning and no end. It was a love song to the ocean that sliced through the orange skies, and skimmed across the silver waves.
A large black dome rose out of the water. Was it a submarine? A sea-monster? Tiny couldn’t tell. When it emerged again, it was clear. A majestic humpback whale, tumbling and breaching and flipping its tail high into the air.
“Aloha!” cried the kittens, as they continued their siren-song. The whale gave a final wave of its tail, and disappeared beneath the surface, silent as a shadow. Tiny took a deep breath. The words ‘thank-you’ had returned. This was a tale she would remember for ever.