Dolphins at Daybreak - Mary Pope Osborne [6]
His heart stopped. Something pushed at him in the water.
It was slippery and alive.
Had the hammerhead caught up with them?
Jack shut his eyes and waited for the worst. He waited and waited. Finally, he opened his eyes.
In front of him was a shiny gray head—a dolphin’s head!
The dolphin pushed Jack with its nose. It made happy clicking sounds.
“Hooray!” cried Annie.
Jack looked over at her.
She was clinging to the fin of another dolphin! Her dolphin was moving through the water.
Jack grabbed the fin of his dolphin.
Then the two dolphins swam smoothly through the water, pulling Jack and Annie toward the reef.
The sun shone on the ocean. It sparkled like a diamond.
Jack felt safe now. His dolphin was taking good care of him.
The dolphins slowed down as they neared the reef.
Jack lowered his feet. He felt the bumpy coral. He let go of the dolphin’s fin and stood up in the water.
Annie stood, too.
Then she threw her arms around her dolphin and gave her a big hug.
“Thank you, Sukie!” she cried. And she kissed the dolphin’s nose.
Sukie tossed her head and clicked at Annie.
“Kiss Sam now!” Annie said to Jack.
“You’re nuts,” said Jack.
But Sam nuzzled Jack’s head. Then he put his flippers around Jack’s neck.
Jack couldn’t resist. He threw his arms around the dolphin and gave him a quick kiss.
Sam nodded and made clicking sounds like laughter. Then he turned to Sukie.
The two dolphins chattered to each other for a moment. They nodded at Jack and Annie and swam gracefully away.
“Bye, Sukie! Bye, Sam!” Annie shouted.
“Thanks!” Jack shouted.
The dolphins leapt high into the air. Then they dove back into the water with a SPLASH!
Jack and Annie laughed. “I wish we could swim like that,” said Jack.
Jack and Annie watched the dolphins until they disappeared.
“I miss them already,” Annie said softly.
“Me too,” said Jack.
He sat down in the shallow water.
“I’m really tired,” he said.
Annie sat beside him.
“Me too,” she said.
The warm water lapped around their shorts and T-shirts.
Jack pulled off his pack. He took out his glasses and put them on. They were blurry with water.
“Guess what,” said Annie.
“What?” said Jack.
“I saw the shark when we were swimming,” Annie said. “But I didn’t tell you. I wanted you to stay calm.”
Jack stared at her. “I saw it, too. I just swam faster so you would swim faster.”
“And I swam faster so you would swim faster,” said Annie.
“I guess we swam double-fast then,” Jack said. He shook his head with wonder.
“What now?” said Annie.
“We go home,” said Jack.
“But we haven’t solved Morgan’s riddle yet,” said Annie.
Jack sighed.
He pulled his notebook out of his pack. It was soaked.
He pulled out the ocean book. It was soaked, too.
“We’ve failed,” he said. “My research is all wet. We’ll never be Master Librarians now.”
Jack put everything away. “Let’s go,” he said sadly.
He stood up. Then he started across the pink reef toward the tree house. Annie followed him.
“Ouch!” Annie said.
“What’s wrong?” Jack looked back.
“I stepped on something.” Annie bent down to rub her foot.
“What?” said Jack. “A shell?”
“Yeah, this … ” She picked up a large gray shell. “Boy, is it rough. Rough and gray as a rock—”
“And plain as plain can be!” whispered Jack. They had found the answer.
The shell looked like a clamshell—only bigger and with more ridges.
“How could this ugly shell be the answer to the riddle?” said Annie. “What about the part that says, ‘There’s great beauty in me’?”
“Wait—research,” said Jack. He opened the soaked ocean book.
The pages were stuck together. But he was able to turn a few.
He found a picture of the gray shell. He read:
Divers search for oysters in deep water. But sometimes oysters wash up on reefs or beaches. Inside some oysters you can find a pearl. The pearl’s natural beauty makes it a treasure.
“It must have a pearl inside it!” said Jack.
Annie peered into the crack between the two halves of the shell. “I can’t see anything,” she said. “How does a pearl get in there, anyway?”
Jack read aloud from the wet page: