The Dragon in the Sea (19 page)

K
ATE
K
LIMO
, daughter of a merchant sea captain, grew up in the little town of Sea Cliff, on Long Island’s North Shore. Her best friend, Justine, lived in a house right across the street from the best swimming beach. Kate and Justine grew up “half-fish,” spending their summer days searching for sea glass and buried pirate treasure and pretending to be mermaids. Now Kate lives in upstate New York, not far from a babbling brook, which flows to a stream that feeds into the Hudson River, which, in turn, flows to the Atlantic Ocean. Landlocked though she now may be, she visits the shore whenever she can and still believes that there is nothing on earth quite as magical as the sea.