Earthquake in the Early Morning - Mary Pope Osborne [9]
Before Jack or Annie could speak, there was another blinding flash.
Then they were home again, in the tree house, in Frog Creek, in the early morning.
“I can’t believe we took a trip to Morgan’s library,” said Annie.
Jack smiled and nodded.
“It was incredible, wasn’t it?” said Annie.
“Yeah,” said Jack.
A strong breeze gusted through the tree house window. It blew open their research book about San Francisco. Annie reached for the book.
“Jack!” she said. “Look at this!”
She pointed to a photograph in the research book. It showed a boy and a girl covered with dirt. The boy held a sign. It was the poem about hope.
Annie read the caption aloud:
After the earthquake, while fires raged through the city, two brave children tried to give hope to others.
Annie laughed.
“Those brave children are us!” she said. “That’s the picture Fred took of us before we left San Francisco!”
Jack laughed and shook his head with amazement.
Annie closed the book.
“I guess we are two brave kids who try to give hope,” she said. “We just gave some to King Arthur, didn’t we?”
“King Arthur?” said Jack.
“Yeah,” said Annie. She started down the rope ladder. “That was the mystery of Morgan’s library. We had to give four special writings to King Arthur so he could get his hope and courage back and save Camelot.”
“That wasn’t King Arthur,” said Jack. He threw on his pack and followed Annie.
“Sure it was,” said Annie, stepping onto the ground. “Didn’t you hear him say, ‘I’m just an ordinary king’? Get it? King.”
“But King Arthur’s not an ordinary king,” said Jack.
“Well, he thinks so,” said Annie. “I know it was him. I feel it.”
She smiled. Then she started through the Frog Creek woods.
Jack stared after her.
King Arthur!
As birdsong filled the early-morning woods, Jack thought about their visit to Morgan’s library. He remembered the sad king and how their writings seemed to give him strength.
Maybe Annie was right. Maybe they really had helped King Arthur save Camelot. And maybe someday they would go back.
“Hurry, Jack!” Annie called. “Before Mom and Dad wake up!”
“Coming!” Jack shouted. And he took off after her, running for home, finally.
FACTS ABOUT EARTHQUAKES
An earthquake is caused by a sudden shifting of the rocky plates that make up the earth’s surface. When the plates pull apart, push together, or slide past one another, the movement causes shock waves. The place where the plates of the earth meet is called a fault. One of these faults, the San Andreas Fault, runs almost all the way through California.
Every year, millions of earthquakes occur around the world where plates come together, but most are too small to be felt.
The study of earthquakes is called seismology. A person who studies earthquakes is called a seismologist. Seismographs are instruments that detect the motion of earthquake waves.
Since the big earthquake in 1906, Californians have become better prepared for earthquakes:
• New buildings are built to strict building codes that make them more earthquake-proof.
• Fire and police departments and emergency services are better able to handle earthquake problems.
• Citizens are better educated about how to protect themselves from earthquake hazards. Many households have prepared earthquake survival kits and keep emergency supplies on hand.
In a Magic Tree House book, true facts are often worked into the story. Some of the true facts about the 1906 San Francisco earthquake in this book are:
• A banker named Charles Crocker saved his bank’s money by sending wagonloads of money down to the bay.
• A private library called the Sutro Library contained up to 200,000 books. The books were destroyed after they were moved from the Montgomery Building to Mechanics’ Pavilion, which burned down.
• The words on the sign that Peter and Andrew lent to Jack and Annie were written on a sign tacked to a crumbling building on Market Street.
Here’s a special preview of
Magic Tree House #25
Stage Fright on a Summer Night
Available now!