5
THE BLUE FEATHER
After a few minutes Tomás said, “Ah yes, now I recall some
more. After that strange light, I looked up into Bardala’s eyes.
They were always a pretty light brown, but were deep, cobalt
blue. How would that be possible? That can’t physically
happen…but it did. I saw it with my own two eyes.”
“Did the strange man give his name to you?” asked Tital.
“Yes, the man said his name was Pancho. He started speaking
in a strange language that we did not understand, but somehow
Bardala seemed to understand what he was saying. She told me
that she did not want to go with him. That is when I stood up,
and asked him to leave. He stood up, and Bardala broke into
tears. That is all I can…remember right now. We need to find
our children!”
“What do they look like?” asked Tital.
“I have some recent photos, and they are in my new photo
album. I am a professional photographer. I do work for the
magazine National Geographic. We were camping next to the
sea, because we were taking underwater photos of the local sea
life,” Teresa informed Tital.
“And I’m a marine biologist. I was studying the marine life on
this part of the coast. There is a great underwater reef out there.
While Teresa gets the children’s photos from the tent, I will tell
you more about our three children. Bardala is sixteen, about
your age, I would think,” said Tomás, trying to stand up with
Tital’s help. “Whoa! I sure felt sick, I’m dizzy. Hold onto
me...that’s better. How old are you?”
“I am sixteen, but will be seventeen soon,” Tital answered.
“Where was I...oh yes, Bardala is studying very hard in school,
as she wants to be a marine biologist like me. She loves all the