I laughed as fell trying to run around a corner. I felt a pair of hands pick me up.
"Got you!" Daniel chuckled as he started tickling me.
"Daniel!" I whined, while trying not to laugh. "You know I'm ticklish!"
"All the more fun, little one" He chuckled again. He continued tickling me until I begged him to stop. "Alright, I'll stop tickling you on one condition."
"And what's that?" I asked.
He put me down on my two feet and kneeled down to my height, holding on to my hands to make sure I wouldn't run away. "You have to promise me to stay just as you are."
I giggled. "What is that supposed to mean?"
"It means you have to promise to never change. You're perfect the way you are and don't you ever forget it."
My huge grin got even bigger. I laughed at him for such a silly request. "You mean you want me to stay little forever?"
I shook his head and laughed. "No. Of course you'll grow up into a fine young lady...that's something inevitable. What I mean is to never let your childish ways go. All these ladies with their prim and proper ways come with a grumpy personality. Nothing exciting, and always the same. What the world needs is a lady like you. Can you promise me that?"
"Of course I can!" I exclaimed. "Who wants to be mean old lady anyway?"
"That's my girl. Now come on. I think it's almost time for supper. Shall we?"
"We shall" I agreed.
He stood back up and I proceeded to skip down the ship ahead of him to the kitchen. It has been almost 5 months since we left home. Daniel has been my best friend. Of course the others have been very kind to me as well. We even played games of hide and seek. But Daniel is my favorite. Uncle says in a week or so we should be reaching land. I'll admit that I am a bit excited. This ship is beginning to smell. There's no clean water on this ship except for the drinking water, which will be running out soon, and I'm the only girl on this ship. I cannot wait to meet children my own age. But then again, I do not want to lose Daniel as my best friend.
"LAND-HO!!" Someone shouted. All the men repeated and kept repeating it. What did land-ho mean? Everyone was running around with smiles on their faces. I'm standing there with my doll in my arms wondering what was happening. I turned and saw Daniel running towards me. He swept me up and spun me around in the air. He put me back on my feet and kneeled down to my height.
"What's wrong, little one?" Daniel asked while grinning ear to ear.
"Daniel, what's going on? Everyone keeps shouting land-ho. What does that mean?"
He chuckled. "It means we're reaching land! It means we're almost to England! It means we're almost home!!" He excitedly explained.
"We're really almost there?!?!" I exclaimed.
"Yes, little one! Here, come with me." He opened his arms and I jumped onto him. He lifted me up and carried me to the front of the ship. He put me on top of his shoulders and I was amazed. There it was...England.
