River Rescue

by Summer Waters

  “I love it,” said Antonia, settling on a cushion.

  They only had a short time to play before tea, so after they’d eaten, Jessica asked Antonia if she’d come back to the den to play some more.

  “Not tonight,” said Mum, stacking the dirty plates. “It’s time to take the den down and get in the bath.”

  “Can I leave it up?” asked Jess. “I want to play in it again tomorrow. Antonia does too, don’t you?”

  “I’d love to, but I’m going to Sea Watch,” said Antonia. “I’ll play with you when I get home, though.”

  “Is that a good idea when you’re going windsurfing with Cai?” asked Mum. “I thought you might give Sea Watch a break for a day or two. Cai’s not seen his parents for ages and he might like some time alone with them.”

  “Then Cai won’t come to Sea Watch, he’ll stay up at the house,” said Antonia reasonably.

  Dad sighed wistfully. “Lucky you! Before I started my garage business I used to go windsurfing. Those were the days…when I had time for hobbies!”

  Antonia groaned loudly. It was a family joke that Dad never had time for anything because he was always working.

  “Just don’t overstay your welcome,” said Mum. “Cai’s a good friend. He might not tell you that he doesn’t want you around all the time in case he hurts your feelings.”

  “Cai knows me better than that!” said Antonia indignantly. “We don’t have secrets from each other.”

  “What about my den?” Jessica interrupted. “Can I keep it up or not?”

  Mum hesitated. “All right, but no more playing in it tonight. Go and get in the bath.” Mum followed Jessica upstairs to get her a towel from the airing cupboard.

  Antonia went outside and stared at the bay. The blue sea shimmered invitingly and she longed to be swimming in it. She screwed up her eyes against the slanting evening sunshine, hoping she might see her dolphins. But the only things in the water were the bright-green canoes of the Sandy Bay rowing club. Disappointed, Antonia went indoors.

  The next morning, Antonia was the first volunteer to arrive at Sea Watch. Claudia was pleased to see her and handed her a warm bottle of milk, saying, “Can you feed Rusty for me?”

  “I’d love to,” said Antonia.

  “Great,” said Claudia. “I need to put in an order for supplies and if I don’t do it now we’re going to run out of things. Please can you make a note of how much milk he drinks? He took a little more last night, but it’s still not as much as he should be having. His record sheet is by the pen.”

  “I’ll do that. Where’s Cai?” asked Antonia as she pulled on a pair of disposable gloves.

  “Cai’s having breakfast with his mum and dad. He’ll be down later.” There was a catch in Claudia’s voice, and Antonia looked at her in surprise.

  “Is everything all right?”

  “Yes.” Claudia abruptly began rummaging in the cupboard, giving Antonia the strong impression she was hiding something. Remembering the conversation she had with her mum, Antonia suddenly felt uncomfortable. What if Mum was right? What if Cai didn’t want her around now that his parents were back?

  “There you go.” Claudia backed out of the cupboard and handed a towel to Antonia.

  “You know the drill,” she said, smiling warmly. “Sit Rusty on this when you feed him so you don’t spoil your clothes.”

  Claudia sounded normal again so Antonia decided she must have been imagining things.

  “Thanks.” Taking the towel in one hand and the milk in the other, Antonia went to the back room to feed Rusty.

  The cub was a little livelier today, but he took a while to latch on to the bottle and he didn’t finish the milk. Antonia sat patiently, wiggling the bottle to encourage the cub to drink more. It was peaceful in the back room. Sun streamed through the window, warming Antonia’s face and making Rusty’s coat gleam like molten chocolate. Her thoughts wandered to Cai. She was surprised that he was still having breakfast. Cai was an early riser. He must have waited to eat with his mum and dad.

  When it was obvious that Rusty wasn’t going to take any more milk, Antonia put him back in his pen. The cub clung to her, but Antonia was firm.

  “I’m not allowed to cuddle you,” she said, pushing his paws away. “Sorry, but it’s for your own good.”

  Antonia wrote down the amount of milk Rusty had drunk on his record sheet, then emptied the remainder down the sink. She washed the empty bottle and soaked it in sterilising solution. There was still no sign of Cai and none of the other volunteers had arrived either. As Antonia collected the things she needed to clean out Billy and the gull’s aviaries, she wondered whether she should have stayed away too.

  “Thank goodness you’re here,” said Claudia, suddenly looking up from her computer. “I would never have managed on my own.”

  Antonia smiled gratefully. She knew Claudia meant it. They were good at reading each other’s minds. Feeling much more cheerful, Antonia went outside to the birds. As she reached the aviary she heard footsteps behind her.

  “Antonia!”

  Antonia was pleased to see Cai and waited for him to catch her up.

  “Hi, sorry I’m late. Mum and Dad took ages to get up this morning.” Cai’s smile didn’t quite reach his eyes as he opened Billy’s aviary door for her. Arms full of mop, bucket and cleaning things, Antonia went inside. Cai squeezed in after her and when he’d shut the outer door, Antonia opened the inner one.

  “I thought you might not come today,” she said.

  “Why? Cos my parents are here? It’s brilliant having them around, but we don’t have to do everything together.”

  “I wouldn’t mind if you did.”

  “Well, I don’t,” said Cai forcefully.

  Surprised at Cai’s snappy tone, Antonia started cleaning Billy’s cage. She and Cai worked in silence until the razorbill cocked his head and said cheekily, “Urrr!”

  Antonia and Cai burst out laughing.

  “You cheeky thing!” said Cai.

  With the silence broken, Cai began telling Antonia a funny story about his dad falling asleep at dinner and getting strawberry cheesecake in his hair. Antonia giggled appreciatively. But deep down she was convinced that Cai wasn’t as cheerful as he sounded. There was a worry line on his forehead and his brown eyes had lost their usual sparkle. By the time they’d finished Billy’s cage and cleaned out the gulls, Antonia couldn’t bear it any longer.

  “Is everything all right?” she asked.

  “It’s fine,” said Cai briskly.

  At once, Antonia knew it wasn’t. It wasn’t like Cai to be so short. Her mind whirled with reasons that would explain his strange mood, but only one held fast. Cai had realised he was missing his parents more than he was letting on. Then another thought struck Antonia. What if he wanted to go back to Australia and live with them?

  That’s mad. Antonia dismissed the idea immediately. Cai had been living with his great-aunty Claudia for ten months and he’d never once mentioned that he missed his parents enough to want to go and live in Australia. But ten months was a long time. Maybe he’d had enough of only seeing his parents in the holidays.

  “You missed a bit,” said Cai, breaking into her thoughts. “Here, give me the mop. I’ll do it. You’re miles away.”

  Cai often teased Antonia for being dreamy, but this time he sounded different. Not liking his bossy tone, she shook her head and carried on sluicing water on the floor.

  “Come on,” said Cai irritably. “We haven’t got all day. There’s a ton of other things to do.”

  “Well, go and do them,” said Antonia pointedly.

  She regretted the words the instant she spoke. Cai opened his mouth to reply, then shaking his head he left the aviary and began sweeping the path in front of it. Antonia felt awful. She violently scrubbed the aviary floor with the mop as if she could scrub out the hurt feeling gnawing at her stomach. She was so intent on her work that she almost didn’t notice another, nicer, sensation stealing over her.
/>   Suddenly, Antonia stood up and pushed her hair away from her face. Spirit was about to call. As the feeling welled up inside her, Antonia quickly mopped the last bit of the aviary, filled the gull’s food bowl with a mixture of bird seed and chopped fish, then carried the cleaning equipment outside.

  “Watch it! I’ve already swept that bit—” Cai broke off in mid-sentence as his silver dolphin badge vibrated.

  Antonia propped the mop up against the aviary. Her silver dolphin charm was fluttering against her neck and whistling loudly.

  Silver Dolphin, we need you.

  “Spirit, I hear your call,” Antonia and Cai answered together.

  At once they ran to the bottom of the garden and through the gate that led to the beach. The Sea Watch boat was pulled up on the sand and Antonia and Cai pulled off their trainers and socks and threw them inside. They raced for the sea, splashing through the water until it was too deep to run. Antonia dived into the water first, arching her body like a dolphin as she swam. Her legs melded together like a tail and she kicked them joyfully. Being a Silver Dolphin was so wonderful. It made her forget the hurt she was feeling at Cai’s unfriendly tone. Cai swam alongside her and side by side the Silver Dolphins raced to answer Spirit’s call.

  Chapter Four

  They swam west, shadowing the coastline until a long while later Antonia saw Spirit, his magnificent silver head bobbing in the water as he waited for them.

  “Thank you for answering my call, Silver Dolphins.” Spirit rubbed noses with Antonia and Cai, then indicated that they should follow him. He swam fast, occasionally checking the shore until at last he came to a tiny secluded beach. Spirit stopped suddenly and Antonia swerved to avoid crashing into his tail.

  “That’s strange,” clicked Spirit. “A short while ago a porpoise was stranded in the surf. He seemed to be caught up in something.”

  Porpoises were small dolphin-like animals with blunt noses and little dorsal fins. They were shy creatures and neither Antonia nor Cai had seen one before.

  “We’ll check the beach,” said Cai, even though he could see that it was empty.

  They swam to the beach and paddled through the surf. Antonia pounced on a rotten coil of rope floating in the frothy water. It was slimy, with bits of seaweed hanging from it, and there was a dark stain in the middle.

  “Yuk! That looks like blood,” she said, holding it away from her.

  “So where’s the porpoise?” said Cai.

  “Gone,” said Antonia. “But it was definitely here. You can see the scuff marks it made in the sand. It must have somehow managed to free itself and swim away.”

  As the tide pulled back from the beach, Antonia pointed to a series of lines.

  They stared at them until the sea came back and covered them again with frothy white surf.

  “Lucky porpoise! It managed without us.” Cai pushed his curly hair back from his face.

  Antonia rolled the rope in her hands.

  “Hmm,” she said thoughtfully. “I think we should try and find it just in case it’s badly hurt.”

  “That’s a good point,” said Cai.

  Antonia rinsed the rope in the surf then tied it round her waist so she could dispose of it safely later. Then they swam back to Spirit and he also agreed that the porpoise ought to be found.

  “Bubbles, Dream and Star can help,” he added, clicking for them to come.

  Bubbles arrived so quickly that Antonia guessed he’d been hanging around waiting for them to finish their task. Dream and Star took a little longer to get there. Everyone split up, but after searching the area twice no one had found the porpoise.

  “That’s good,” clicked Bubbles happily. “It means it can’t have been that badly injured.”

  Antonia wanted to believe him, but a small part of her wasn’t convinced.

  “Can we play with the Silver Dolphins, Dad?” Bubbles asked.

  Spirit smiled fondly. “Yes,” he clicked. “Have fun.”

  “Bubbly! Let’s play seaweed tag,” clicked Bubbles excitedly. “I’m it. I know exactly where to find a piece of seaweed.”

  He dived under the water.

  “Come on,” clicked Dream, swimming in the opposite direction.

  Cai followed, but Antonia hung back, her grey-green eyes searching the sea one last time. Finding nothing, she forced herself to stop worrying and hurried after Cai and Dream.

  It was one of the maddest games of seaweed tag they’d ever played. Cai kept teasing Bubbles, letting him get a flipper’s length away before sprinting off. Then he hid behind some rocks and jumped out at Bubbles as he swam past clicking, “You can’t catch me.”

  Bubbles swam faster, tossing the seaweed about until finally he tagged Cai with it on the foot.

  “You’re it,” he squeaked excitedly.

  “Not for long,” Cai replied, snatching the seaweed and chasing after Bubbles.

  Antonia slowed, thinking she had time for a rest, but Cai turned suddenly and swam after her. He stretched out his arm to tag her with the seaweed and Antonia only just got away. She shot upwards, breaking through the water’s surface then diving back down and swimming in the opposite direction. Bubbles had disappeared. Antonia swam round a pile of rocks expecting to find him hiding behind them, but found Dream instead.

  “Sssh,” clicked Dream. She waggled a flipper to show she wanted Antonia to join her.

  Antonia crouched behind the rocks with Dream, trying hard not to giggle as Cai swam closer. They waited until the moment he came round the rocks then they quickly swam the other way.

  “I see you!” exclaimed Cai, changing direction.

  Antonia and Dream raced away with Cai in hot pursuit. He swiped the seaweed at Antonia, but she ducked and it landed on Dream.

  “My turn,” clicked Dream, immediately chasing after Cai.

  Antonia swam the other way, looking for somewhere to hide. Two rocks leaning against each other looked promising. Antonia swam closer, jumping in surprise when a voice clicked, “Flipper Feet, in here.”

  “Where? I can’t see you.”

  “Here!” Bubbles chuckled, peeping out from under the rocks. “Come and hide with me.”

  “Is there room?” whispered Antonia.

  “Yes,” said Bubbles, pulling his tail in.

  Antonia squeezed in beside him and wrapped her arms round her so that nothing was sticking out. It was hard to keep still and impossible not to giggle. The sea vibrated as Cai swam closer. Antonia put a fist to her mouth, choking back the laughter as Cai swam straight past them.

  “Let’s chase after him,” said Bubbles mischievously.

  Quietly they swam from their hiding place and followed after Cai up to the surface. It wasn’t long before he sensed their vibrations. He turned quickly, his brown eyes widening in surprise.

  “Where did you come from?”

  “Not telling,” clicked Bubbles, splashing Cai with water.

  Cai dropped the seaweed and splashed Bubbles back.

  “Water fight!” clicked Bubbles happily.

  “Girls against boys,” called Dream, coming to join the fun.

  The water fight finally ended when, gasping for breath, Antonia called for a truce. The dolphins basked in the water and Antonia floated on her back, making a star shape with her arms and legs as she stared up at the bright blue sky.

  “This is my favourite place in the whole wide world,” she said happily.

  “Mine too,” said Cai softly. “I love the sea. I can’t ever imagine not living near it.”

  “Come and join our pod,” clicked Bubbles. “Dad won’t mind. Think of the fun we’d have.”

  Antonia pulled herself upright, pushing her wet hair from her face as she trod water.

  “It would be fun, but what about our families? They’d miss us terribly and we’d miss them. But I never want to live anywhere else other than here. When I’m grown-up and I’ve got my own house, it’s going to be in Sandy Bay, and it’s going to have a sea view.”

 
“Yeah. It’s got to be by the sea,” said Cai softly. He had a funny, far-away look in his eyes.

  “Cai…” Antonia was about to ask him if everything was all right, but he talked over her.

  “We’d better get back. There’s a lot to do at Sea Watch and I’m only there until lunchtime. Mum and Dad are taking me out this afternoon.”

  “We’ll come some of the way with you,” clicked Dream.

  “Bubbly,” clicked Bubbles cheerfully. “Race you home. Last one back’s a prawn.”

  “It won’t be me!” shouted Cai, chasing after Bubbles.

  “Nor me!” called Antonia as she sped after them.

  Chapter Five

  At lunchtime Cai went up to the house to eat with his mum and dad, so Antonia had her sandwiches on the beach with Emily, Karen, Eleanor and Oliver. Afterwards they skimmed stones, seeing who could make a stone bounce the most number of times across the sea’s surface. Antonia was good at skimming and got a stone to do four bounces, but Oliver was better and made his stone bounce five times.

  They were searching for suitable pebbles when Claudia came down to find them.

  “I’ve got to go and pick up a kittiwake with a fishing hook stuck in its leg. It’s on the cliffs a mile or so from Crane Point. Does anyone want to come with me?”

  “Me,” said Antonia and Emily together.

  “Great. Go and get in the car then. The lady who rang me is going to stay with the bird until we get there.”

  “Do you want me to get a bird carrier?” asked Antonia.

  “Yes, please, and a pair of gloves,” said Claudia. “I’ll go and get my car keys. I left them indoors.”

  Claudia drove past Crane Point and after a while she pulled off the road and into a gravel car park. It was empty except for a blue car with its windows open and a brown Labrador sitting patiently in the boot.

  “Here we are,” said Claudia. “That must be the lady’s car. She said her dog found the bird when they were on the way back from a cliff-top walk.”

  Taking the bird carrier and gloves from the boot, they walked past the car. A short distance away they saw a lady bending down to a grey and white bird. They hurried over and Claudia introduced everyone.