Follow, Follow
Shop after shop after shop, all the grownups want to do is shop! Ellie sighed in an exaggerated protest , her moms barely even noticed. "Ugh!", she huffed , while rolling her eyes and crossing her arms. This time they noticed. "El, we told you that you could have stayed behind on the ship" , her mama said casually while still examining a pair of handmade wooden earrings. She held the earrings up to her ears and looked in the mirror, then still looking in the mirror she glanced at Ellie, who stood behind her making faces. Turning around to face Ellie she said " There was nothing wrong with the kids club El." Except that it was full of kids, thought Ellie. She herself had just turned twelve, almost a teen, literally a preteen. She shouldn't have to sit in a classroom on the ship with a bunch of kids being baby sat and making colored macaroni necklaces. She wanted to explore, to do her own thing. To do something fun. Coming with Mama and Mom to see the island sounded fun at first, but they had been here an hour so far and all she had seen was a steady row of island souvenir huts. Laying upside down on her bed back at the ship would have been more exciting then this, yet she wasn't even allowed to do that because it " was against the rules of the ship. "What if something happened to you ?" Mom had said with concern. " We wouldn't be able to live with ourselves, El .", Mama had said nodding in agreement with Mom. "You seem to be living just fine." muttered Ellie under her breath. "What was that honey?' said her mom without even looking up from a display of rainbow colored crystals. Before Ellie could answer, her mom called to the shop owner, " Would it be possible to have these woven into a necklace? I've been looking for something that represents all my chakras. I need more alignment." Ellie sighed loudly again. Her mama turned to her and smiled, "I get it kiddo. It's kinda hot and packed in here right? Ok, you can stand outside the hut and get some air. BUT do not move from the entrance way where we can see you. Ok?" Ellie grinned big, it wasn't exactly what she was looking for, but she welcomed even a chance to get out of the shop and get a glimpse of the island. She nodded in agreement and hurried towards the front of the shop. " Stay at the entrance way El !", yelled her mama after her. Ellie burst out of the curtains the shop had fashioned as a door and looked around excitedly. She could feel the warm wind blowing gently across her face, smelling of sea water. She lifted her braids off of her neck, gathering them into a bun and securing them at the top of her head. She closed her eyes and let the breeze cool off her neck and the back of shoulders. The shop had been packed with tourists and she really did need the air. Just then she smelled something sweet, like warm cinnamon buns. She looked down past the rows of shops and her eyes caught the source of the delicious smell, a small street cart stacked with fresh baked pastries. Her stomach rumbled with hunger pains as she watched a small child run up to the cart, hand the old woman a coin and greedily bite into one of the pastries. It had been hours since she ate, Mama had told her to stand outside the store and stay in front of the shop, but the cart was so close and they couldn't be too upset with her if she also surprised them with a snack too. Ellie's stomach growled a third time, taking a deep breath and looking back into the shop to make sure her mom's weren't looking, she took off running towards the cart. Just as she was nearing the cart, the old woman started to push the cart further down the road. Ugh, she thought, apparently the street carts had a lot in common with her local ice cream trucks, it always seemed they drove off just as her and her friends were approaching. She started to run a little quicker, how could the old woman move so quickly with that rickety cart over the cobblestone. "Watch it!", yelled a shop owner after she almost barreled into his linen display, while trying to catch up to the cart that was now swiftly turning the corner. Ellie sped around the corner and then stopped to catch her breathe for a second. The old woman had parked her cart in front of a small shop, she unloaded the last of the pastries from the cart and carried them inside. Groaning, Ellie jogged over to the shop and stared at the door. There were no markings outside, but it had to be a bakery. She went to knock on the door and then paused, but what if it was not. What if she had followed the woman to her home and was now about to awkwardly knock on a strangers door and in a strange country at that. Her stomach gurgled, the workout she just had while chasing after the cart made her even hungrier. She had come all this way she thought, what did she have to lose. Ellie timidly walked up to the front door and tapped three times. Nothing. She listened for sounds of movement, nothing. Holding her breathe she tapped on the door three more times, this time louder. Still nothing. She sighed, she wouldn't have answered the door for a strange sweaty foreign kid either. Oh well, she thought, maybe her moms were done and they could finally go eat. Her moms! Ellie turned around frantically, while she was still "outside the shop", she was definitely not in front of it anymore. She tried to remember how she had gotten there so she could retrace her steps, but many of the shops had started to close up for the day and now the streets looked unfamiliar to her. She sat down outside of the old woman's house and put her face in her hands, her throat begin to burn and she tried to hold back her tears. What if I never see them again? What if they just go back to the ship with out me?? What if the ship leaves me??? She couldn't hold her tears back anymore, she sobbed hard into her hands. "What is this?! What do you think you are doing here with this ruckas?!", a shrill voice yelled from behind her. Ellie jumped up, almost falling over as she whipped around to see who was behind her. To her surprise there was no one behind her but a small pink pig. She looked at the pig, then looked around for the person who had yelled. The pig snorted angrily, " Are you hard of hearing, girl?!" he yelled shrilly. She stumbled in shock and then looked down at the pig. There was no way that a pig was talking to her, she rubbed her eyes, I must be delirious from hunger, she thought. "Um..", she stuttered, "Are you speaking to me?" "Well, you are the only one out her causing a ruckus and waking me from my slumber, are you not?", huffed the pig. Ellie stood there blinking in disbelief, she looked around to see if maybe she was apart of some strange street performance, there was no one else outside except for her and the pig. "Well-", she started, "I guess. I 'm sorry for waking you up." "You should be!", yelled the pig. "It's just, I'm lost.", said said starting to cry again. "No, no, no!", snorted the pig sternly, "No more of that." Ellie sniffled, she still couldn't believe she was talking to a pig, nor that she was about to ask a pig for help. "I came here on a ship", she said pointing off into the distance, "You must have seen it, it's very big. My mom's will be very worried about me. Could you help me?" "I haven't seen a ship.", said the pig. Ellie begun to cry again softly. "Ok, ok! No more of that, I haven't seen a ship...lately, but I do know where they are." sighed the pig. Relieved she dropped to her knees and hugged the pig tightly around its neck. "No, no, no!", he oinked, "Never do that again!" Ellie, stood up and dusted off her jeans, " Sorry Pig, I won't do it again." Rolling his eyes the pig responded, "The name is Emmanuel. You can call me Manny for short." Ellie smiled, "Thank you Manny."
