"Treat them with respect," Elias said, wiping his hands on his apron. "They were swimming while you were still dreaming."
The salt spray was still damp on Elias’s wool sweater when he propped the chalkboard outside his stall. In jagged, hurried script, he wrote the words that usually brought the village to a standstill: buy fresh herring
The boy nodded, clutching the parcel like treasure. The chalkboard was wiped clean, but the scent of the sea lingered on the cobblestones long after the silver was gone. "Treat them with respect," Elias said, wiping his