The Tiger In The Ocean

“Have you ever heard a tiger sing?” Grandma asked as she sipped her tea.

Constance shook her head, shaking off the sugar from her fingertips.

“But have you ever seen a tiger swim?” Grandma persisted. Peering into the settling green tea leaves in the hand-painted tea-cup.

Constance thought for a moment. Then shook her head.

She had certainly dreamt of the tigers, the tigers said to reside the shores of their coastal home. But alas, she had never seen the tigers. Let alone singing or swimming ones.

“How old are you?” Grandmas eyes dragged away from the tea and peered curiously at Constance.

“Six and three quarters” replied Constance proudly.

“Soon to be seven. A wise old age.”

That night Constance pondered over grandma’s words. Singing tigers? Swimming tigers? Could they truly be real?

She wriggled back and forth in her duvet until the silvery moon shadows upon her bed rippled like water. This was not the hour to be sleeping.

She peeled herself from her nest and knelt down at the window edge. Opalescent waves kissed at the shoreline. A milky haze floated just above the surface. The glassiness of the water was hypnotic.

Just as her eyelids began to soften a harsh breeze shook her awake. She must go down to the water.Not wasting a second, she pulled on her warmest stripy jumper and two pairs of socks.

Tip-toeing along the corridor she could hear Grandma snoring. Through the dim candlelight she spied Walnut, their overweight marmalade cat, curled up beside Grandma.

Down the stairs and into the hall she reached for her Wellington boots, giving each a good upside down shake in case of spiders.

Turning the cold brass handle of the door, she slipped out into the night.

The cool night air engulfed her, the scent of salt and late autumn filling her lungs. Pausing for a moment, Constance listened for the whisper of the sea. The push and pull of the waves sung to her.

Then off she went! Climbing over the stone wall and running through the windswept meadow. The buzz of bugs didn’t distract her, though a couple of bats came to dance and flit beside her as she ran, ducking and diving, twisting and turning.

Then in no time at all, she had arrived.

Constance kicked off her wellington boots, and unwrapped her toasty feet. The cold sand was a shock, but she didn’t mind. Anyway, it twinkled how she imagined diamonds would if crushed to powder and sprinkled over the sand. And anyone who had the chance to walk on a carpet of diamonds should certainly take off their shoes.

She skipped and danced all the way to the water’s edge, getting faster and faster and faster.

But just before the frothy foam could reach her toes, she froze. No matter how many times she had met the sea, it was never a moment to be rushed. She took a deep breath in and allowed the icy water to rush about her ankles. She was home.

Lost in sheer delight she gazed at the gliding reflection of moonlight as it beamed along a silver path out to sea. The path appeared more definite than usual. Fluid, but somehow in line with the shore, it seemed to hold on to the water’s indistinct edge.

Constance gazed in delight out at the waves, not paying attention to the numbness spreading through her toes. The longer she watched, the more the moonlight seemed to distort the waves. Each crest rising, then softly melting back down. Never breaking. She felt entranced by the illusion. Taller and taller they seemed to rise, softer and smoother they seemed to fall. The air remained still. Until she realised, this was no trick of the light! The very path of water illuminated was truly growing more and more unsettled, though all around the sea remained calm.

Something was moving along beneath the water.

The undulating waves seemed to grow impatient, as the crests began to break and fragments of moonlit water shattered in the night air.

And then she saw him.

First, a great white paw broke through the froth.

Next, two rounded ears pierced the surface.

Next, the elegant arch of the creature’s shoulders broke the watery shell. A silhouette began to manifest in the moonlight. With each rush of water the creature emerged from the chalky sea, until eventually, there it was, right before her eyes.

The creature slowly began to lift its head. Constance watched as the sea water ran off its whiskers. She admired its icy breath freeze the air in ghostly clouds, dissolving into the moonlight. And then, it opened its eyes.

She almost forgot to breathe.