Oskar was no further forward in his search for the lock that matched his key, he still hadn't found anyone named Black, and nothing on this island made any sense.
Truthfully, he was lonely and frightened and he wanted his grandma, but he was trying to put a brave face on it. His dad would have wanted him to be brave and to speak to as many people as possible to find the clues, the figure out where he was and how to get home.
He'd spent a lot of time searching through the city streets, because cities were what he was used to, but today he had decided to head for the beach. He wished that he had his metal detector with him, but for today, he would have to use his eyes.
Looking to the ground, he was almost tripping over Maria by the time he saw her. He stopped, and looked down at her with his head tilted for a moment as he considered a way to strike up a conversation.
"I'm sure you're told this all the time, but if you look up extremely beautiful in the dictionary, there's a picture of you," he told her, quite sincerely.