Lumi: Welcome
to the Water

1. A hello with a missing middle

Coro had squeezed a whole welcome into one breath.

“Hello-Nesa-Pevo-Kuvi-Bali!”

The little fish stopped. That had come out more like a hiccup with names in it.

Come close, little one. I'm Ori, and today we're visiting Coro's home beneath the water. Coro wanted to make a welcome that every friend could join. When it was ready, they could use it to start their hiding game.

Lumi the dolphin swam beside him.

“I want a bit of everybody in it,” Coro said. “Then we'll know we're all here.”

“I'm ready to hear it,” Lumi said.

But Coro had only his own voice. He needed to find the others and ask them for a sound.

2. Nesa's little sweep

In the coral garden, something brushed across a flat stone.

Shuff.

Nesa the starfish was smoothing a little patch of sand with one of her five arms. She made a resting spot beside her, just big enough for a visiting fish.

Coro settled there.

“Nesa! Will you put that sound in our hello?”

Nesa swept the stone again. Shuff. Then she lifted her arm and waited.

“That's your part!” Coro said. “Mine is hello!”

He called his word right over her next sweep. He could hear himself perfectly. He couldn't hear Nesa at all.

So Coro tried a smaller voice. Nesa's sweep came through this time, but his word was gone.

Lumi stayed beside the stone while Coro thought. Across the sandy shore came a crisp little answer.

Tick-tick.

“Maybe we need a sharper sound,” Coro said.

3. Pevo makes it bigger

The sound belonged to Pevo the crab. He was tapping an empty shell with a claw. He shuffled sideways to make room, moving the shell along with him.

Coro followed sideways too, although a fish doesn't have to. Pevo took another sideways step. Coro followed again. At this rate, their conversation would travel halfway across the sand.

“Stay there, Pevo! Your shell can be in our hello.”

Pevo gave it two neat taps. Tick-tick. Then his claw stopped above the shell.

Coro brought Nesa over. She settled beside another flat stone. Now there would be a sweep, a tap, and his own hello. Surely everyone would hear that.

He swam a little starting circle.

“Ready? Hello!”

Shuff-tick-hello-tick!

It sounded as if the hello had fallen into a drawer of spoons.

Coro tried a faster circle. Pevo tapped faster. Nesa swept faster. Coro's tail hurried to keep up with his mouth.

When they stopped, he couldn't tell whose bit had come first. He had made their welcome bigger, but he still couldn't hear his friends inside it.

4. The space after Kuvi

A soft rattle reached them from the seaweed meadow.

Kuvi the seahorse had curled his tail around a sturdy stem. Beside him, a loose shell held a pebble. Kuvi gently nudged the shell with his snout.

Rrrip.

The pebble rolled to the other side. Kuvi waited for it to settle before nudging again.

Coro opened his mouth to add a hello.

But the pebble was still rolling. He closed his mouth and waited too.

Rrrip.

From the blue lagoon came a low, soft hum.

Mmmmmm.

Bali the whale was answering Kuvi. The hum had room to finish because Kuvi wasn't rattling his shell anymore.

Coro's fins went still.

“Lumi. I heard both of them.”

Lumi drifted closer. “Which bit did you hear?”

“Kuvi's rattle. And then Bali! There was a space.” Coro turned toward the others. “I kept putting my hello in everybody's space.”

He tried the new thought aloud.

“Your turn. My turn. Room for you.”

This time, he left a little quiet after the words.

5. Room for a whale

Coro led the friends into the lagoon, where Bali could join their circle without squeezing between rocks. Pevo carried both shells, keeping Kuvi's pebble tucked inside. Nesa found a flat stone beside them. Bali moved one great flipper slowly so the smaller friends could settle beside him.

Coro wanted to begin at once. His hello was right there, pressing behind his mouth.

Instead, he faced Nesa.

“Your turn. My turn. Room for you.”

He waited.

Nesa swept her stone. Shuff.

Coro turned to Pevo only when the sweep had finished.

Pevo tapped. Tick-tick.

Coro turned to Kuvi.

Kuvi nudged his shell. Rrrip.

There was a little quiet. Coro nearly filled it.

But Bali's hum was only beginning. Coro held his fins still and let the whale take his whole turn.

Mmmmmm.

Then Coro added his part.

“Hello!”

Nobody's sound had disappeared. Coro had heard Nesa, Pevo, Kuvi, and Bali, each in a different way. And there was still room for his own voice.

Lumi began a happy little whistle, then stopped himself.

“Is there a space for me?”

Coro swam a circle around the dolphin.

“A dolphin-sized space! Right here.”

Lumi whistled gently. Whee-oo.

Their hello hadn't needed a bigger sound. It had needed little spaces inside it. There was room for a tiny shell rattle and a whole whale.

6. A turn for you

Now their hiding game could begin. Nesa slipped behind the coral. Pevo went sideways around a stone. Kuvi curled his tail among the seaweed. Bali waited beyond a broad rock, with a great deal of whale still peeking out.

Coro almost called to all of them at once.

Then he grinned.

“Your turn. My turn. Room for you.”

He called Nesa's name and waited for her little sweep. One friend, one answer. Lumi stayed with him as they followed the sounds through their water home.

When they came back to the lagoon, Coro saved one more space in the welcome. He didn't put a word in it. He didn't put a rattle in it either.

That space could hold a sound of your own.

And that was a very good place to begin another hello.

Little one, when you want to hear everyone, leave a turn for each friend.