Doctor Beck says, Mila, you need sleep.

She says, You listen to music all the night when you should sleep. The others in the house hear the music also. We need sleep.

I know Justin hears the music. Sometimes he comes in and sits in the corner of my room and listens with me. His hair is in his face and his skin is creased like the new dolphin just born and his chin falls down, but the music is inside him.

Doctor Beck says if I do not stop playing the music all night, she must take the music to another place where I cannot have it.

I remember she took the whale song from me.

I hold the tape in my hands.

My music, I tell Doctor Beck. My music.

In the tried eyes of Doctor Beck I see something danger.

Sandy says, Mila is learning.

Doctor Beck makes a hard face.

Sandy says, We can give Mila something to hear the music in her ears only.

Doctor Beck says, Perhaps. But she still needs to sleep.

I go to the window. Sandy comes to the window with me. Outside the trees have new colors and the wind blows a leaf up and up over the water.

Sandy asks, Does it make you sad to see the river, Mila?

I remember a warm sea. With many dolphins. I have a hunger to eat the good fish, to swim with the fast dolphins. I cannot forget my dolphin mother. The good strong touch of her. I cannot forget my dolphin cousins.

But I love this life too. I love the life with so many things to do with hands and eyes and nose and mouth and ears. We make food in the big kitchen. We wash the dishes. We go to the store and the bank. We write words and draw pictures. We walk and ride and swim and play.

Doctor Beck says, Do you remember a time before the dolphins, Mila?

There is no time before the dolphins.

Doctor Beck says, There is something you need to know. Many years ago a mother and two children were sent from a place called Cuba. They went on a small plane, the mother, a little girl, and a baby boy. The plane was lost at sea. We think the little girl on that plane was you.

Doctor Beck says, If this is true, your real name is Olivia. Your mother was American; your father is Cuban. The man we think is your father sent you a letter. Would you like me to read it to you?

I stand at the window and listen.

My dear Olivia,

There is so much to tell you. I don’t know how to begin. I have a new family. We live in a small apartment in Havana.

Sadly, I am not free to come to the States to visit you. Nor, I’m afraid, are you permitted to come back to me. I am sorry. I must wait to hear from your American doctors and the American and Cuban governments about what I am to do next.

Until then I will look forward to the time when I see my little dolphin girl.

Yours sincerely,

Papi

Inside, I am shaking.

Sandy says, Mila, if you are this girl, you have a father, you have family.

I don’t remember this Papi.

I know only that family is people you love and care for, people who love and care for you.

Who is this man who lives in a place where he cannot leave and I cannot come?

Sandy stands so close. I can smell her good smell. It is a smell of salt and sweet fruit.

I say, Sandy is family. Doctor Beck is family.

Shay is family. Who is this Papi? I don’t know.

I only know I want to stay here with you.