Let’s begin.
Gigi the giraffe and Starlight the unicorn were making little boats beside Pebble Lake. They had come for the afternoon with Gigi's mother and her little brother, Pip.
The lake was on the ordinary side of the river. Willow branches dipped toward the water, and dragonflies zipped over the reeds.
“Mine is going to be the fastest,” Pip announced.
His boat was a large leaf with a tiny stick across it. A yellow petal sat in the middle like a passenger.
Starlight had chosen a curled leaf with a pointed end.
“Mine looks fast,” she said.
Gigi looked at her own boat. It was a flat leaf, with a very small acacia pod on top.
“Mine looks like lunch.”
“Don't eat the captain,” Pip told her.
Mama found a small stream flowing into a shallow edge of the lake. A dry path ran beside it. Farther along, the water spread into a quiet pool before reaching the lake.
“Here's a good course,” she said. “Start at this flat rock. Finish at the white pebble. Stay on the dry path.”
Pip put his boat beside the rock.
“Ready?”
Gigi and Starlight lowered their leaves too.
“Ready!”
“Go!”
The three boats bobbed away.
Pip ran along the bank. His yellow petal wobbled but stayed aboard.
Gigi's boat spun once, bumped a reed, and got going again.
Starlight's pointed boat slipped neatly into the lead.
“Look at that!” she called. “It really is fast!”
Then the little stream curved. Pip's boat found the smooth water on the inside of the bend. It slid past Starlight's boat and reached the white pebble first.
Pip hopped on the grass.
“The yellow captain wins!”
Starlight watched her boat arrive second. Gigi's leaf floated past last, still carrying its acacia pod.
“My captain stopped for a snack,” Gigi said.
They gathered their boats from the quiet pool with a long reed Mama had found.
“Again?” Pip asked.
“Again!” Starlight said quickly.
This time, Starlight watched the water. The fastest part ran close to Pip's side of the starting rock.
“Let's swap places,” she said.
Pip shook his head. “I like my spot.”
“But you had it last time.”
“You didn't ask to swap last time.”
Gigi looked from one friend to the other.
“We could take turns.”
“After this race,” Starlight said.
She leaned farther over the starting rock and put her boat into the quick water before Pip was ready.
“Go!” she called.
Her boat darted away.
“Wait!” Pip cried. His leaf was still on the bank.
Gigi hadn't let hers go either.
Starlight followed her boat for a few steps. Then she looked back.
Nobody was racing.
Pip stood beside the rock with his head down. His yellow petal had fallen onto the grass.
Starlight stopped.
“I started too soon,” she said.
“I wasn't ready,” Pip told her.
“I know. I'm sorry. I wanted to win.”
Gigi came down the path. “We can start again together.”
Starlight turned toward the stream.
Her boat was gone.
“Oh!”
They hurried along the bank to the white pebble. No boat. They looked in the quiet pool. No boat there either.
A little splash came from farther along.
“There!” Gigi called.
The pointed leaf had slipped into a tiny channel behind the reeds. It was turning slowly in a circle.
Starlight peered through the stems. “It's going the wrong way!”
The boat drifted toward them, then swung away again.
Pip watched it make another circle.
“Maybe it's practicing.”
Starlight smiled a little. “It's very good at going nowhere.”
She reached for the long reed with her mouth, but Gigi stopped her.
“Let's find a dry place to stand first.”
Mama came along the path. Together they found a firm, flat patch beside the channel. Nobody had to step into the water.
Gigi was tall enough to see the whole little circle. Starlight could reach between two willow stems. Pip was low enough to watch the boat when it passed behind a thick bunch of reeds.
“I can guide it toward you,” Gigi said. “Starlight, can you catch it at the gap?”
Starlight nodded. She picked up a second reed.
“And I'll say when it's coming,” Pip said.
Gigi lowered her reed into the water, well ahead of the boat. The leaf bumped it gently and turned.
“Here it comes!” Pip called.
Starlight slid her reed across the gap.
Too late. The boat twirled past.
“Missed it,” she said.
“It'll come around,” Gigi told her.
Starlight wanted to reach farther. The pointed leaf looked so close. But the edge of the grass was muddy, so she stayed where Mama had checked the ground.
“Could we use a longer reed?” she asked.
Gigi looked at the boat's circle. “I think this one can reach. We need to catch it when the point comes first.”
Pip nodded. “I can see the point from here.”
They tried counting its turns together. One turn. Two turns. This time, everyone knew when to be ready.
They waited. A dragonfly landed on Pip's abandoned boat, which Mama had set on the grass.
“Mine has a new captain,” Pip whispered.
Starlight nearly laughed and dropped her reed.
“Boat coming!” Pip called.
This time, Starlight was ready. Her reed made a little fence across the gap. Gigi nudged the pointed leaf toward it, and the boat came to rest beside the bank.
Mama lifted it onto dry ground.
Starlight gave a happy sigh.
“Thank you. Both of you.”
Pip picked up his yellow petal. “It was a good boat to chase.”
“How about a different game?” Starlight asked. “Could we try to get all three boats to the finish together?”
Gigi tilted her head. “That sounds harder.”
“Good,” Pip said. “We have a lot of captains.”
Back at the flat rock, they chose starting places together. Gigi's broad leaf needed the faster water. Starlight's pointed leaf could use the slower edge. Pip waited until everyone was ready.
“One, two, three!”
They let go.
The boats bobbed around the bend. Gigi walked beside hers, whispering encouragement. Starlight cheered for the yellow petal. Pip cheered for everybody.
One boat reached the white pebble. Then another. Then the last.
They hadn't arrived at exactly the same time.
“Nearly!” Starlight called.
“Again?” Pip asked.
Gigi looked at Mama, who smiled and settled into the shade.
“Again,” Gigi said.
And this time, nobody minded who came first.