More of the fairy talk! Malachi could not tell from the girl’s tone if she was serious or not. Did she actually believe there were fairies, or was it just a part of her game?

He gave a hum as he considered this – though it surely must have seemed like his thoughtful look concerned the question of whether or not fairies lived on beaches, instead – and looked down at her again when he felt her arm squeeze his waist.

A quiet laugh escaped him as she deemed his imagination ‘colorful.’ Was it any more so than thoughts of little fairy creatures?

“There’s no reason why we can’t do both,” said Malachi. “Once we finish the sand-mud-soup, we can play your pebble game. Oh! We could play it with whatever we find on the beach – shells?”

He had not actually been down to the beach yet. Hadn’t had the time nor the reason to. There had to be shells and stuff like that.