Morning Girl

Star Boy is mad at his best friend, Red Feathers, after a hurtful remark. One afternoon, the two go exploring the place on the island where the wind swept the parts of many houses. Star Boy wants to look for his family’s roof and new shells for his collections. However, halfway there, Red Feathers hesitates and tells him that maybe they shouldn’t go as far. Star Boy asks why, and Red Feathers explains he’s worried he will become hungry like the day before and eat bark like a mouse. Star Boy is stung by this, realizing that Red Feathers is repeating what others have said about him.

The next day, Star Boy is similarly upset by his father’s advice. They sit together by the fire, waiting for the fish to cook. Star Boy hasn’t eaten since the feast, so he’s excited to taste the fish now. His father gently reminds him that it’s fine to enjoy food but warns, “Your enjoyment won’t disappear if you hide the loudness of its call” (56). Star Boy tells him that he’s going swimming to a nearby island where only birds live. His father sighs and tells him he’s not a child, so he can do as he pleases.

Later, as he is looking at the night sky, Morning Girl makes him the maddest of all. She comes up to him and tells him to stop sulking, reminding him that everyone’s worried because he hasn’t eaten. She then tells him he’s being a baby just because some people laughed at him. He angrily covers his ears so he won’t hear her. Morning Girl tells him to grow up. When she leaves, Star Boy’s resentment festers. He feels that people will never forget his mistake at the feast. In the darkness of the night, with no moon and stars, he reflects on his actions. He wonders if he’s lost his way or “the day” forever: “I became the darkness. […] And, without my ever noticing the change, I stopped being mad. I became myself” (61). He falls asleep, and when he wakes up, the morning star is shining, and his mother is sitting beside him. She asks what he has learned, and he answers that in the night, you must be your own friend.

Without a roof over their heads, Morning Girl feels as if she and her family are fish trapped in a secret pool with very steep banks. After a long night waiting for Star Boy, she reflects on how much she missed his presence during their meal: “Without him, the silence was very loud” (63). After the sky went dark, she went outside, as she always did, and found Star Boy at the beach. She told him everyone was worried about him, but he refused to come back. At home, she told Father she found him, and he asked how late he would be. She said she didn’t know and went to bed. As she and her parents lie in bed, Morning Girl feels they are collectively waiting for Star Boy to return. After a long time, her mother quietly slips outside, and Morning Girl and her father begin waiting for her to come back, too. No one sleeps. Morning Girl dozes off as the sky begins to lighten, but then the sound of footsteps awakens her. She sees her mother enter the house, carrying Star Boy in her arms like a baby, softly singing a song as she lays him down on the mat. Then, her mother climbs into the hammock with her father.

Morning Girl quietly slips outside. Realizing it’s still early, she heads to the shore. She feels a deep loneliness. Her brother is mad at her, and she believes her parents are upset too because of her “unsisterly words.” She wishes she could talk to someone and thinks of the baby sister who died: “I missed the new sister who had never come home. I was sure I would never have argued with her” (67). The baby wasn’t named, as their grandmother said they hadn’t known her long enough, but Morning Girl feels as if she had known her and decides to name her She Listens. At that moment, the baby feels real to her. As she continues walking, she finds a perfect conch shell for her brother’s collection.

Morning Girl notices strangers approaching from the water, rowing toward the shore. She describes them as having every part of their bodies wrapped in colorful leaves and cotton, and she finds their round, unfamiliar shapes surprising. Morning Girl greets the visitors warmly, shouting a friendly hello and welcoming them. She tells them she will quickly return with the right people. The strangers seem anxious. Morning Girl rushes back home. On her way, she remembers to pick up the conch shell for Star Boy. She hopes she hasn’t caused the strangers to leave before she gets back and they learn their names. If they do leave, Star Boy might claim she imagined them, but she knows they are real.

The epilogue is an excerpt from Christopher Columbus’s diary, dated October 11, 1492. In this entry, Columbus writes that he attempted to gain the friendship of the Indigenous Taíno people by giving them red caps, glass beads, and other items of little value, “in which they took so much pleasure that they became our friends; it was a marvel” (73). The Indigenous people, in return, brought Columbus and his men parrots, cotton threads, and other items to trade. Columbus notes that they are very poor. They walk around naked, and most of them appear young, no more than 30 years old. Among them is a young girl. Columbus observes that they are handsome and seem unfamiliar with weapons. He speculates that they “should be good and intelligent servants” and “would become Christians very easily” (73), as they seem to have no religion. He concludes by stating his intention to take six of them back to the king, so they can learn how to speak Spanish.