And then, as I began to slide beneath the sea, the pup rested its face on my palm. Its huge wet eyes bored into mine. A puff of fish breath blew out of its nose. Something ballooned inside me, something huge and uncontainable, from the pit of my stomach to the back of my throat. As it expanded I rose up, high on the wake. And in that rising moment I held on to the seal, and kept my eyes locked on his, and waited to fall back beneath the waves. But out there in the salt, that something kept swelling. It has kept me afloat ever since.
