Lights in the Water

It's eleven o'clock on a summer night, and there's no moon. Dante and his cousin Mila are walking on the beach below their grandmother's fishing village. There are no lights anywhere. The two cousins are looking for a dark place to watch the stars.

Mila is lying on the cool sand. Dante is counting shooting stars. Then Mila sits up fast.

"Dante. Look at the water."

Out in the black sea, something is shining. It's blue, a strange, electric blue, and it's moving. It goes up and down, and up again, like an arm in the waves.

Mila's voice is very small. "Someone's out there with a light. I think they're drowning!"

Dante can't see a person, only the blue light. His phone has no signal on this beach, and the village is ten minutes away. Everyone there is sleeping. He takes off his shoes. "Stay here and keep shouting," he tells her, and he runs into the water.

Behind him, Mila is shouting, "Hello? Can you hear us?" Nobody answers.

The water is cold around his knees. Then he stops. Every time he moves his legs, the water around them is shining. Blue light is running over his feet like sparks. He kicks, and the sea lights up again. Out by the rocks, the waves are breaking, and every wave is glowing blue.

"Nobody's drowning, Mila!" he shouts. "It's the water. The water is glowing!"

Mila runs down to the water. "It's plankton," she says slowly. "We saw this in science class. They're tiny living things, and they make light when the water moves."

They forget about the stars. They walk back up the beach together, very slowly. Behind them, on the wet sand, their footprints are glowing blue, one after another, and then going dark.