Kept on this device
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Camila had visited the bay near her grandmother’s house in Puerto Rico many times, but always during the day. Tonight was different. Her cousin Diego had promised her a surprise, and they were going out in a kayak after dark.
There was no moon. The water looked black and still. Camila held her paddle tightly. “What exactly are we looking for?” she whispered.
“Dip your paddle in the water,” said Diego, grinning.
Camila pushed the paddle into the bay. Suddenly the water around it flashed with blue-green light, as if someone had scattered thousands of tiny stars. She gasped and lifted the paddle out. Glowing drops fell from it like sparkling rain.
“Is it magic?” she asked.
“It’s even better,” said Diego. “It’s science. The water is full of tiny living things called plankton, much too small to see. When the water moves, they give off light. This is called bioluminescence.”
Camila trailed her fingers in the water, and five glowing lines followed them. A fish darted beneath the kayak, leaving a shining path behind it.
“Why do they glow?” she asked.
“Scientists think the flash might scare away animals that want to eat them,” said Diego. “Like a sudden alarm.”
On the way back to the shore, Camila was quiet. She kept thinking about how something so tiny could make such a beautiful light.
At breakfast the next morning, she drew a picture of the glowing paddle. Underneath, she wrote: “Small things can shine too.”
Every year, the neighbourhood held a Food Fair in the school yard. Families cooked dishes from home and sold them, and the money helped to buy new books for the school library. This year, Seun and his three cousins, Bisi, Tayo and little Kemi, were allowed to run their own stall for the first time.
Grandma Folake gave them a budget of two thousand naira. “That is all the money you have for ingredients,” she said. “Spend it wisely.” The cousins decided to make puff-puff, soft fried dough balls dusted with sugar, because everybody loved them.
At the market, Seun wanted to buy the biggest bag of flour, a jar of honey and a bright box of sprinkles. Bisi frowned and checked her notebook. “If we buy all that, we can’t afford the oil,” she said. Seun sighed and put the sprinkles back. Tayo bargained politely with the flour seller, and she gave them a small discount.
Grandma helped with the hot oil while the cousins mixed the dough, waited for it to rise, and rolled the balls. Kemi was in charge of the sugar. She took her job very seriously and shook it over every puff-puff like snow.
When the fair opened, the queue at their stall grew longer and longer. By midday, they had sold everything. When they counted the money, they had made three times what they had spent.
That evening, the cousins sat on Grandma’s steps, sticky and tired. “Next year,” said Seun, “maybe we can afford the sprinkles.” Bisi laughed and opened her notebook to a fresh page. “I’ll start planning tomorrow.”