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Chapter One

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Lately, Mama’s been feeling tired and a little sick, so I’ve been doing a lot around the house. I’m only eight, but I cook, clean, and wash clothes, too. I even work on our forest farm, harvesting plantain, 

, and lots of other crops. I wish Mama and Papa would have another kid. That way, I’d have someone to help me with all these chores! And I’d have a new best friend!

You're right! This could be Daniela's house

It’s Sunday today. On Sundays, Mama usually travels about two hours by boat from our community to Leticia, the nearest town. She sells soup at the local market there, and I usually help her. But today was a little different. Mama has had a stomach ache for a few weeks now, so she had an appointment with the doctor in Leticia. Our community doesn’t have a hospital. I’m glad she’s seeing the doctor, but I’m nervous, too. It means I’ll have to work in the market all by myself.

I woke up early to make my favorite breakfast: cassava bread topped with black tucupí, a spicy sauce made with crunchy ants. In the kitchen, I lit our wood-burning stove and brewed some freshly gathered herbs to soothe Mama’s stomach. “Mama!” I called out, as the stove heated up. I heard her rising, the wooden floorboards creaking under her weight. “Hurry, or we’ll be late for your appointment.”

She told me, “Don’t worry. We’ll be on time, Dani.” Mama calls me by my nickname, Dani. It’s short for Daniela. I scarfed down my breakfast while Mama drank her tea and rested her hand on her belly. And then I got the pot of soup we’d made yesterday ready, and grabbed some serving spoons and supplies to take with us to the market.

Kids of the same age can have very different lives!

Papa was waiting for us outside by the river. It was still really early, so the sky was still dark blue, but the edges were just starting to turn pink. I like this time of day when you can hear a lot of birds chirping and flitting between the trees as they wake up. The river is really quiet and still at this hour.

Papa had been out fishing all night, which made him tired. He smiled when he saw Mama and I, and he kissed each of us on the cheek before helping us into his 

, a small motorized canoe. He wrapped a blanket around Mama’s shoulders before he pushed the boat away from the shore and waved. It’s pretty warm in the forest normally, but the mornings can be a little chilly.

I like the boat ride to the market. Sometimes it’s so early, the stars are still out, and I can connect the spaces between them, and make shapes in the sky. Once, Mama and I saw a 

, a large animal like an alligator, near the riverbank. We almost didn’t see it because it was camouflaged in the dim light of dawn.

Today, I had to pay attention, though—no connecting the stars in the sky. Mama was telling me how to run our stall at the market. She was teaching me how to talk to the customers when suddenly I saw something out of the corner of my eye, and I shouted at her to look.

There, a boat-length away, a pod of dolphins was splashing about. Much to my surprise, they swam toward us as they heard my shout. It was almost as if they spoke 

 (our language) and understood me. Quickly, we were surrounded by the entire pod.

Spanish (this is the national language of Colombia, where the story takes place)

. Papa liked to tell me how pink dolphins were a good omen for fishermen. I wondered which kind these dolphins were.

The dolphins surfaced alongside us, gliding near the hull, their bodies barely breaking the water. I leaned over the edge of the boat to see what color they were, and my movement made the boat sway. Mama grabbed the back of my shirt and told me to stay seated. She was worried the movement would tip over the pot of soup, which we needed to sell to bring money home from the market.

The story continues in the second part...

At Mama’s mention of the soup, I sat back down. Just as I did, one of the dolphins broke the surface and I saw its shiny gray back and long, beak-like nose, before it raced ahead with the rest of the pod, swimming faster than our motorized boat! We made the rest of the trip to Leticia in silence, the sun overhead now reflecting in the waveless river.

Chapter Two

Despite the early hour, the market was already filled with people. Kids were playing soccer in the nearby field, families were heading to church, and even a few tourists were wandering around taking pictures. There were also vendors like us, getting their stalls ready to sell all kinds of stuff—

Did you know that many families living along the Amazon River rely on fishing for both food and a source of income?

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Mama kissed me on the forehead before turning to head off to the clinic. “You will be ok,” she told me as she put her hand on my shoulder, “just remember what I told you to do”. I set about to get our stall prepared for business. A car horn honked so loudly, I almost dropped the pot of soup. “Will I ever get used to this noisy, smelly town?” I wondered as I flicked a discarded candy wrapper someone had left behind into the trash. It was so noisy, you couldn’t even hear the birds singing. Not like we can at home, anyway.

My hands started to get clammy when I saw the first customer approaching the stall—a man with black hair tucked under a baseball hat. My mind quickly flashed through everything Mama had told me about how to talk to customers.

The man’s eyes grew wide when they landed on me, and he told me how much I’d grown since the last time he’d seen me. I smiled, pretending I knew him, but the truth is I didn’t recognize him at all. He told me he used to fish with my Papa.

As I served him a bowl of soup, Papa’s friend, who introduced himself as Juan, told me that they’d catch fish like the one in the soup, but three times the size! Juan spread his arms wide, showing me how long the fish they caught were. I raised my eyebrows and smiled.

Arapaima, a fish native to the Amazon, can grow up to 15 feet long! 

“It isn’t like it used to be,” Juan said as he stared into his soup. Then, he added, “There aren’t as many fish nowadays. And the ones we do catch now are usually too small to eat.” With that, Juan returned to eating his soup, and I watched, silently, too shy to say much. He thanked me for the soup, handed me a coin for payment, and told me to send my parents his regards before he moved on. "That wasn’t too bad!", I thought as I wiped down some of the soup splashed onto the small table before tucking the coin into my pocket. I had survived my first customer.

That's true - you've been paying attention! Keep it up!

There are fewer fish in the river, and the fish are smaller

There are more fish in the river, and the fish are bigger

By noon, there was no more soup left. I was proud of myself for selling all of it, much like Mama usually did when she was working in the stall. I packed everything up, and walked to the small convenience store around the corner. My hair was plastered to my sweaty forehead, and my throat felt scratchy in the warm air. I grabbed two bottles of water from the store shelf—one for Mama and one for me—and I paid for them with a few of the coins I’d gotten for selling the soup.

I loved the crunching noise the bottle made and how the water gushed out of the opening when I squeezed it. After gulping down the water, I headed towards the clinic to find Mama, who was standing in front of the building, watching my approach with her hand on her belly and a smile on her face. I ran up to her as soon as I spotted her. Out of breath, I excitedly told her how all the soup was gone. As I handed her the bottle, I explained how I’d gone to the store and bought the water all by myself.

As we walked back to the stall to pick up the pot and supplies, I asked what the doctor had said, and Mama said everything was fine. She held my hand all the way to the dock where we caught a different boat back home, where Papa would be waiting for us.

She wanted to get a bottle of water for her mama

On the way home, I saw another pod of dolphins just ahead of our boat. I smiled and felt a surge of excitement when I saw that they were pink. A good omen this time. I couldn’t wait to tell Papa about it, and about how I’d met his friend, Juan.

Mama was also smiling. She said she would be all better soon, and she added that she had a surprise for me. As the boat twisted and turned down the river, I wondered what Mama’s surprise was, and imagined the giant fish that Juan described, wondering if he was just pulling my leg.

Daniela and her family are going to move to Leticia

Daniela will not go to the market next weekend

Amazon stories for kids