Social Issues
"Don't touch," Mom said. "I think it's a dead seal."
But Kyle lifted one more handful of seaweed. "It has an ear," he said. "It looks like a dog."
"Poor dog," Mom said. "It must have drowned in the storm last night."
Kyle pulled away more seaweed. He uncovered the dog's face. "Its eyelid moved! It's alive!"
The storm threw down a curtain of rain.
"FINN!" screamed Sheila as she lost sight of him.
In heaving swells, Finn's boat floundered. The wind howled, freezing his hands. The rain became blinding sleet. "Which way?" he cried.
On the beach, Sheila sang, "Eeeeiiiiii, eeeeiiiiii." A magic song. A seal song.
The piercing notes reached Finn. He rowed toward her voice, but the wind shifted.
This was not how he'd imagined today would go, but he wouldn't let anyone, not even his mother, tell him what to do. Like his hero, Tom Sawyer, Henry would seek his fame and fortune in the wide world. Maybe he couldn't hitch a ride on a Mississippi riverboat, but he could take a page out of Tom's book and live by his wits and by his own rules.
I just stand there, listening to the blood pounding in my head. I'm aware of Daniel beside me, can almost hear him breathing. We're dead quiet, but the gang must sense us. The short one has been crouching, looking at the person on the ground. Now he straightens up, turns in our direction. In a low voice, he says something I can't hear. For a second, he steps into the light, and I catch a glimpse of his face. It's angular and bony. Skull-like. I know who it belongs to. His name is Damien Sykes. Lots of people know him. I just pray he doesn't know me.
He's seen us. "Hey! You!" he shouts. Somehow his words break the spell, and we can move. Beside me, Daniel has finally found his feet. He slams into me as he wheels around and takes off in the same direction we've come from. I am right behind him.
