Glistening waves

The leaves were falling down in the autumn park. The old sailboat sailed in between them.
For a long time the crew had been travelling and they were tired and looked for the edge of the ocean.

This far above ground the leaves were hard to avoid, as the time from when they started to fall to when they potentially would hit the boat was but a few seconds. The captain grumbled angrily under his brown beard and silently swore a few curses about lazy trees not holding on to what was theirs.

After a while they were out from under the tall giant trees of green and swerved over and down into a desolate valley with high snow covered mountain ranges on both sides. The wind picked up and started to pull on the small mouse's clothes where he stood at the bow of the ship. She pulled them close and shivered slightly.

Suddenly from up higher in one of the masts came a call:
"Ocean, Ocean I say! Wake up sea lovers, Ocean ahead!"

The deck was suddenly alive with bustle and hustle,  in just a moment the deck was filled from below with characters of all sorts.
Large elephants standing on two legs in suit and tie, snakes in socks,
crickets and crocodiles, deer in shorts and antelopes wearing crowns. All were in their proper attire.

When the deck was almost filled to the brim and the last few remaining had come up, the mountains made way on each side and the ocean spread out glistening before them. A gentle sigh of awe and light chatter of excitement went through the scene. It had been a long time coming.

As the skiff neared the blue sparkling edge with a brief headwind coming in, it dove at sharp angle silently with a firm hand. Slowly they neared the alluring surface, smiling at each other and talking excitedly.

There was no sound as they broke through the water. The vessel seemed to not react to the change. It continued to glide down through the depths with old familiarity. The deck was alive with cheers. There were hugs and pats on the back. They were back in their element they were home.

The little mouse standing alone at the bow looked up at the surface of the bubble around the ship that had appeared when they broke through the water. She smiled with a tear in her eye and said to herself that she was never going to leave again.

Deeper and deeper the vessel went back to where they came from, back to what was home.

The little mouse touched his hat, nodded amiably to the light above and then slowly moved over to the others and joined in the festivities and celebration.