Wheeling Gull Isle And I am confident

Summer is the best season yet! The sun is out all day and Judah does nothing but play! His face is dirty and so are his paws, he jumps erratically at scuttling little creatures and paws at holes that bubble in the absence of the gentle surf. The air is so fresh, a perfect cooling breeze, and the dried salt on his lips is a pleasantly tingly taste!

He is growing stronger, he can do so much now! He can jump off ledges and roll into the sand and hop the waves as they threaten to ground him. But they can’t, God has made him invincible!


Games and laughter will last all summer long!

Anathema watched him play.

She wanted to join him, but wasn't sure that she could. Something in the way the older children looked at her kept her away, hidden, uncertain. But she watched everything.

The darkling gathered her courage and after a little while she walked up to Judah shyly. She didn't get so close, though. A few quiet clicks announced her presence in the only way she knew how.

“Thema!” He greets with an incessant swirl of tail and falls onto his forelegs in a coaxing playbow. His tongue dangles, he hasn’t spent so much time with his little sister outside the den, and he is overwhelmed to see her here on the shoreline!

As much as he wants to dart and pull her up into his arms, he knows well now to be patient. His baby siblings are quieter, prone to spooking, and Judah is very sensitive to this. He reels in his play to prop himself up like a sphinx in the sand.

He takes a massive gulp of marine air then gives her a sweeping, boyish grin.

“Do you smell that, Thema? It’s the sea! Extra salty today! Take a wiff!”

His eyes were so warm. Ana was startled by that. She only stood for a moment, looking equally as if she might cry and burst out laughing at the same time. She stared at him.

Then with a shrill shriek she pitched forward to slam her forelegs into the ground in a wild imitation of his playbow. And it felt wonderful. She beat the sand over and over with her legs, having the time of her life while giving every appearance of attempting to murder the sand in a fit of rage.

He barks excitedly, tongue flapping from a broad grin at seeing how eagerly she takes to the sand! She likes this game! With each pummel he attempts to bite the sand right out of the air, wheeling and spinning to do little tricks for her amusement- though he trips up a few times, he’s right back on his feet again.

When at last his breathing is too ragged to keep it up, he tosses his snout towards the gentle roll of tide in the surf.

“C’mon! Let’s hop waves!”

Judah took to her outburst as swiftly and naturally as if it had been his own. By the time they'd both lost their breath, Ana was shrieking and wheezing with laughter, trembling from her exertions. She'd never done anything like this before! The darkling was quiet by nature, but found for the first time that there was joy in being loud, too.

She didn't know what it meant to hop waves, but would have followed Judah anywhere in that moment. She followed his eyes to the water and hesitated only for a moment. Then Ana took off running, bolting right for the sea. It didn't occur to her to stop before she reached the water —

So she plunged right in and disappeared from sight.

He thinks at that moment that Anathema is undoubtedly adorable and undoubtedly as sharp as a clamshell, and he giggles at the thought as she dives away into the low tide. He is quick to trot along into the surf and snatch her up by the shoulder to reel her back onto the sand.

“Nooo silly! You hop them like this!” He demonstrates, skipping as a tumble of wave rolls towards them. “Let’s see who can jump highest!”

Fading <3

Ana came up coughing and sputtering a bit, but was quickly distracted from her woes by Judah's bright, cheerful energy. She only stood and watched for a moment, catching her breath. He was good at this! Much better than her.

Then she leapt into the water to join him, this time doing a much better imitation of his movements. For a time they played like that, until both children were too tired to continue. Even then Ana did not leave her brother for some time to follow.

For a brief, shining stretch of time, she felt as if she belonged here.