The Girl Who Watched the Horizon

In a little village by the sea, where the houses were built of white stone and the fishermen's nets hung drying on palm fronds, there lived a nine-year-old girl called Layan.

Layan loved the sea more than anything else in the world. She loved the sound of the waves crashing on the rocks, the salty smell of the air, and the seagulls that screeched above the boats as they came home each morning.

Every evening, once her homework was done, she would run barefoot down to the beach, sit on an upside-down fishing basket and stare for a long, long time at the faraway line where the water met the sky.

"What's out there?" she would wonder. "Beyond the horizon?"

Her mother would call from the doorway, "Layan! Dinner's ready!" and she would call back, "Just one minute, Mum!" — and then stay for half an hour. Her mother would smile and shake her head, because she knew her daughter carried something in her heart that was bigger than she was.