Page 22 - SAMPLE Talking the the Moon

And I especially don’t know how she can do it smiling. But she does. She looks like she’s splashing in a bowl of perfectly warm hot chocolate. Like she’s in absolutely the best place in the world.
“Come on, Iris,” she shouts. “It’s fine once you’re in.” I follow her down to the shore, kick off my flip-flops and tiptoe into the sea. When it’s up to my waist I take a deep breath and plunge in. Water shoots up my nose and down my throat. When I’m not screaming out loud I’m
screaming inside.
“Keep moving!” shouts Mimi. “You’ll warm up.” She’s laughing. “You’re made of water,” she shouts.
“This is where you belong!”
(It doesn’t feel like it.)
I swim over to her, my whole body shaking. It’s so
cold it hurts. The only thing I like about this moment is being next to Mimi. Everything else is horrible – the cold, the hugeness of the sea, the way it gets deeper and deeper and I can’t see what’s underneath.
We swim together for a while, not far from the shore. I keep close to Mimi in case something’s hiding under the water but after a while I stop thinking about the sea monster and whether my feet can touch the ground and for a few minutes something nice happens. I can’t exactly say I warm up, I just get used to the cold, but suddenly
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