River Rescue

by Summer Waters

  Chapter Eight

  Slowly, the porpoise relaxed. Antonia moved closer, running her hand along its body until she reached the damaged flipper, crusty with old blood.

  “Steady,” she whispered, laying both hands on it. “I’m going to help you.” Firmly but gently, Antonia manipulated the flipper until the torn bits matched up. Holding it together with one hand she ran her other hand along the join, pressing firmly on it.

  Heal.

  A warm feeling rushed along her arms and into her fingers.

  Heal.

  Her fingers tingled as the warmth spread through them. Antonia kept pressing on the wound, willing it to heal. After a bit she was dimly aware of movement to the side of her. A second porpoise was hesitantly coasting in the water a tail’s length away. Antonia was glad. It was good to have friends, especially when you were hurt. The damaged flipper wasn’t difficult to mend, but it took time and a lot of concentration. At last the tingling sensation in Antonia’s fingers began to weaken. She held her breath as she pulled her hands away to examine the flipper. There wasn’t much to see, just a faint scar line. Experimentally, the porpoise moved the flipper. Amazingly it seemed fine. He stared at Antonia as if he was saying thank you, then seconds later he and his friend swam away.

  “Well done, Silver Dolphin,” clicked Spirit.

  “That was brilliant. I’ll never get over how you can heal animals,” agreed Cai.

  They swam to the surface together. Then Spirit said goodbye, rubbing his nose against theirs and ruffling Antonia’s hair with his flipper. Even though they were in a hurry to get back, Antonia and Cai watched Spirit swim away.

  “You know,” said Cai suddenly, “you didn’t need me here today. You could have managed on your own.”

  “I thought you wanted to come,” said Antonia.

  “I did. But what I meant was you’re a very powerful Silver Dolphin. If…if I go away you’ll manage fine without me.”

  “It won’t be the same,” said Antonia in a small voice. She felt sick inside. Had Cai reached a decision already? Antonia wasn’t sure that she was ready to hear it.

  “Nothing’s going to be the same,” said Cai, sighing heavily. “Come on. We’d better go or we’ll be late for our windsurfing lesson.”

  They swam back to Claudia’s beach in silence. Cai was out of the water first and bounded up the sand, sea water draining off him as he ran. At the Sea Watch boat he stopped and pulled Antonia’s shoes out, handing them to her when she caught him up.

  “Thanks. That was good timing. There’s your dad,” said Antonia, spotting Mr Pacific at the gate.

  “I’ve found you at last!” called Mr Pacific, sounding relieved. “Did you forget the time? Hurry up or we’re going to be late.”

  “Sorry, Dad,” Cai apologised. “We had an important job to do for Sea Watch.”

  “Now there’s a surprise! Sea Watch! It’s all you ever talk about,” said Mr Pacific.

  The windsurfing school was a twenty-minute drive from Sandy Bay. Mr Pacific chivvied everyone into Claudia’s car, including his wife, who was carrying a video camera to film the lesson. It took Cai’s dad a while to get used to both the car and the narrow country lanes and he drove slowly, arriving at the windsurfing school with only a few minutes to spare. Hurriedly, Antonia and Cai wriggled into their wetsuits while Mr Pacific checked them in and hired a wetsuit for himself.

  “Sure you won’t join us?” Cai asked his mum.

  “Uh-uh,” said Mrs Pacific, shaking her head. “Someone’s got to work the camera.”

  Antonia giggled. “You sound like my mum,” she said.

  The windsurfing lesson was great fun. First, there was a session on the beach on how to get started. They learnt how to put the sail together, get the board into the water and the correct way to stand on it. Antonia and Cai listened carefully, eager to get it right and make the most of their time on the water. At last the land part of the lesson was over and they were allowed to take their windsurfing boards into the sea.

  “It’s not as easy as surfing,” Antonia called to Cai, as she tried to raise her sail from the water having accidentally dropped it for the umpteenth time.

  “I keep losing the wind,” Cai shouted back. His sail hung limply and he shifted his weight on the board, desperately trying to fill the sail with wind. The board turned, but Cai didn’t get the angle right. The sail flapped feebly then the windsurfing mast tipped over, almost throwing Cai into the water.

  “Rats!” he exclaimed, shifting his feet and pulling hard on the rig to raise the sail from the sea.

  “I’m up again,” shouted Antonia, who had also dropped her sail. “Come on, Cai, you can do it.”

  Mr Pacific was surprisingly good at windsurfing and when the lesson was over he confessed that he’d done it a few times in Australia.

  “If we decide to live there then I’m going to get a windsurfing board. You can have one too, Cai.”

  “I prefer surfing, thanks,” said Cai woodenly.

  “The surfing’s great in Australia,” said Mr Pacific enthusiastically. “The breakers are unbelievable and the sea’s much warmer than it is here.”

  “Wimp!” said Cai rudely.

  “Cai,” Mrs Pacific warned him.

  It was embarrassing hearing Cai being rude to his parents. Antonia concentrated on peeling off her wetsuit, pretending that she hadn’t heard him.

  Mr Pacific shrugged. “He’s right. I am a wimp. I don’t like the cold. It must be my West Indian blood. What I need now is a hot drink and something to eat. The beach shop is doing cream teas. How about you go and grab a table and I’ll get us all a cream tea?”

  “Sounds lovely,” said Mrs Pacific. “Cai and Antonia can find a table. I’ll come and help you.”

  Antonia and Cai picked an outside table close to the beach and plonked themselves down on the plastic chairs surrounding it.

  “Sounds like your dad’s really keen on Australia,” said Antonia, her voice wavering a bit.

  Cai grunted something back. Antonia gazed around, not sure what to say next. She’d never been at a loss for words with Cai before. She didn’t like the awkward feeling that was suddenly there between them. A torn plastic bag lay half buried in the sand. Glad for an excuse to move, Antonia went and picked it up.

  “Wait for me,” said Cai, jumping on to the sand and running after her.

  Stooping down, he picked up a half-crushed drinks can and held it out to put in the carrier bag.

  Cai grinned. “We make a good team.”

  “The best,” Antonia replied, grinning back.

  By the time Mr and Mrs Pacific came out of the beach shop, each carrying a tray loaded with teapots, mugs, plates of warm scones, clotted cream and jam, Antonia and Cai had half filled the bag with rubbish.

  Mrs Pacific was impressed to see them litter-picking on the beach. “You’re not at Sea Watch now,” she teased.

  “Sea Watch isn’t just a place,” said Cai. “The things we do at Sea Watch matter wherever we are. Over a million seabirds die every year from litter-related injuries, and that’s just birds! Animals like turtles, dolphins and porpoises all die too.”

  Mrs Pacific stared at Cai for a moment. “That’s a lot of animals,” she said eventually.

  “It’s one million too many,” said Cai.

  Antonia put the bag of rubbish in the bin, then she and Cai went inside the beach shop to wash their hands. They were starving after such a busy morning and piled their scones high with jam and cream.

  “That was delicious,” said Mr Pacific only a few minutes later, pushing his empty plate away. “I could eat it all again.”

  “If we stay in Sandy Bay, you could have a cream tea every day,” said Cai pointedly.

  “I could,” said Mr Pacific, then he rather abruptly changed the subject by asking if anyone wanted a walk before they went back to Sandy Bay.

  They set off along the beach and round the headland. The tide was slowly going out and Antonia and Cai took off
their shoes so they could paddle in the sea. Cai was silent again and Antonia could guess what he was thinking. Her stomach churned queasily and she wished she hadn’t eaten so much.

  Antonia desperately wanted Cai to stay in England so she could still see him in the holidays. But she knew she was being unfair. Cai ought to move to Australia where he could be a Silver Dolphin all the time. Antonia wanted to tell Cai this, but the words got stuck in her throat. Hating herself for being cowardly, she picked up a pebble and hurled it into the sea.

  Chapter Nine

  There was a small green van parked on Claudia’s driveway when they got home so Mr Pacific left the car in the road.

  “Let’s go see who it is,” said Cai.

  “Maybe it’s a delivery driver bringing the supplies Claudia ordered,” said Antonia.

  “That’s good. We’re nearly out of disposable gloves. Let’s go and help unpack.”

  “Honestly!” exclaimed Mrs Pacific, shaking her head. “You both live and breathe Sea Watch.”

  Cai slowed and called over his shoulder, “You can come too. Helping out at Sea Watch is great fun.”

  “I’m sure it is, but I’ll give it a miss today,” said Mrs Pacific. She shivered and pulled her jacket round her. ”I’m going indoors. I’m still not used to this chilly spring weather.”

  “This isn’t chilly!” Cai shouted back.

  He darted off again with Antonia hot on his heels. On the way down the garden they nearly collided with Claudia and a woman carrying a cage, walking the other way.

  “You’re back!” Claudia said, sounding relieved. “This is Jackie from the Sandy Bay Badger Sanctuary; remember her? She’s taking Rusty now. I thought you were going to miss saying goodbye.”

  Antonia’s heart sank and without meaning to she blurted out, “Does Rusty have to go?”

  “It’s the best thing for him,” said Jackie gently. “Foxes are social animals. We have other cubs at the sanctuary. Rusty can play with them and learn the skills he’ll need when we release him back into the wild.”

  “Yes, of course,” Antonia felt silly and wished she hadn’t said anything.

  “This has happened faster than we thought,” said Claudia sympathetically. “But it’s great that the sanctuary has room for Rusty.”

  “We put news of our animals on our website,” said Jackie. “And you can ring us at any time for a progress report. You’ve got my number.”

  “Thanks, we’ll do that,” said Claudia.

  “Bye, Rusty.” Antonia gave him a long look to remember him by.

  “Bye, Rusty,” echoed Cai.

  The little cub pressed his nose up to the bars, but Antonia and Cai didn’t move. They knew they mustn’t treat him like a pet. They followed Jackie to her van and watched as she loaded the cage into the back and shut the doors.

  “That’s it then,” said Cai as the van pulled away.

  Antonia nodded because she couldn’t trust herself to speak. Tears were welling up in her eyes, but not for Rusty—her tears were for Cai. How soon before the goodbyes were for him? Claudia was very quiet too and suddenly Antonia realised that his great-aunty would miss Cai as much as she would.

  It’s not fair, she thought.

  Sometimes life isn’t, so you make the best of it, Claudia silently answered her.

  On impulse, Claudia reached out and gave Antonia then Cai a quick hug.

  “What was that for?” squeaked Cai indignantly.

  “Just because!” said Claudia with a smile. “Right, there’s a fox pen to be cleaned out. Would you two like to do it or have you got other plans?”

  “We’ll do it,” said Antonia and Cai together.

  They cleaned the fox pen thoroughly and when it was done they swept and mopped the floor of the back room. Then the supplies Claudia was waiting for arrived and Antonia and Cai helped to carry them from the back of the van to the Sea Watch building. The delivery driver was delighted.

  “If all my runs are this easy I’ll finish early today,” he said.

  Antonia and Cai helped unpack and put everything away, then Claudia gave them crisps, apples and a jug of fruit juice.

  “Let’s take this outside. We could sit on the beach,” said Cai.

  They carefully carried their snacks down on to the sand. They sat with their backs resting against the stern of the Sea Watch boat so they could look out to sea. Cai finished his apple and began digging a hole in the sand. Deeper and deeper he dug until Antonia asked, “What are you building?”

  “A tunnel to the other side of the world,” said Cai. “So you can visit me in Australia.”

  Antonia’s face flushed and her heart began to thud loudly.

  “You’re going then?”

  Cai dug faster, piling the sand up at the edge of his deepening hole.

  “I don’t know, Antonia. I can’t go back to my old city life. Not now I know I’m a Silver Dolphin. I need to live by the sea. But that means moving to Australia and hardly ever seeing you, so I don’t want that either.”

  He scooped up a handful of sand and let it trickle through his fingers.

  “Time’s running out. Mum and Dad have to let work know what they want to do. If I don’t decide soon then they’ll make the decision for me. I begged them to look for new jobs here in Sandy Bay, but they both said it wasn’t an option.”

  Antonia’s hands trembled as she prepared herself to speak.

  “Go to Australia—” Her voice cracked and she cleared her throat before continuing. “You know you have to. Being a Silver Dolphin is much more important than anything. The work we do saves lives!”

  They sat in silence. Cai continued to scoop up the sand and run it through his fingers. Antonia concentrated on her breathing, forcing herself not to cry.

  “I’ll tell Mum and Dad tonight then.” Cai’s voice was barely a whisper. “I don’t want to, but you’re right—being a Silver Dolphin is more important than anything.”

  “We can email,” said Antonia bravely.

  “And there’s Skype,” said Cai. “You know, where you use your computer to talk to people. You can see them and everything. I Skype with Mum and Dad all the time. Once you’ve got a webcam, all the calls are free.”

  “I’ll have to ask Mum and Dad if we can get it straight away.”

  Antonia put her half-finished apple down. She couldn’t eat any more.

  “When do you think you’ll go?” she asked.

  “Mum and Dad wanted me to go back with them. It’s all right, though,” he added quickly. “They realised that wasn’t such a good idea. They’ve got to find me a school place and they can’t apply for that until we know where we’re going to live. Aunty Claudia suggested that I stay with her until the beginning of the summer holidays. So we’ve got a whole term left.”

  Term time usually dragged on forever, but Antonia had a feeling that this next one would rush by.

  “I’m going to miss you,” she whispered. “But I’m so glad you still get to be a Silver Dolphin.”

  “Me too,” said Cai.

  Chapter Ten

  Once Cai had made his decision to go to Australia, Antonia developed a gnawing ache in her stomach that wouldn’t go away. She put on a show of cheerfulness at Sea Watch, but at home she moped around with a face as long as the River Nile.

  Mum and Dad were sympathetic to start with, but they soon lost patience with her.

  “Stop dwelling on the future, which you can’t change, and enjoy the time you have left with Cai,” said Mum briskly.

  It was good advice and Antonia did her best to be cheerful, but inside she still felt totally miserable. She knew Cai did too. He’d lost his spark and Antonia grew angry with Mr and Mrs Pacific, blaming them for stealing the real Cai from her. She avoided them as much as she could, which wasn’t that difficult as they rarely came to Sea Watch. Then one day Cai asked Antonia to visit the local aquarium with him and his parents.

  “You will come, won’t you?” he asked eagerly. “We’re going to visit
Legs. Claudia told Mum and Dad about the rescue and they want to go and see him.”

  Legs was an octopus that Antonia and Cai had saved from an abandoned fishing pot. Antonia was keen to visit Legs in his new home at the aquarium, but wasn’t sure if she wanted to go with Mr and Mrs Pacific. But she couldn’t refuse Cai, so she went. Cai’s parents were as nice as they always were and in the end Antonia had a great time. Will and Tim, two of the aquarium staff who’d helped rescue Legs, gave them a special VIP’s tour of the aquarium, including the staff-only places.

  “What’s going to happen to Legs?” asked Cai, staring at the octopus, who was in a tank of his own.

  “He’s going home! We’re releasing him back into the Mediterranean Sea,” said Tim.

  “When?” asked Cai.

  “When we’ve stopped arguing about who’s going to fly to Spain with him,” joked Will.

  “That was such fun,” said Mrs Pacific as they walked from the aquarium back to the car. “Is there anywhere else you’d like to go before your dad and I fly home? Antonia can come too, of course.”

  “Not really,” Cai sighed. “I’d rather spend the time at Sea Watch. Why don’t you come and help too? You’d love it.”

  “Thanks, but this is supposed to be a holiday. We’ll leave the hard work to you two,” said Mrs Pacific.

  Cai threw himself into Sea Watch, arriving first and staying until Claudia closed up for the night. When there were only three days before his mum and dad were due to fly back to Australia, Claudia suggested that he should spend the remaining time with his parents.

  “Why?” asked Cai. “I’ll be spending every day with them soon.”

  “That’s three months away,” said Claudia quietly, but she didn’t mention the subject again.

  Later that afternoon, Antonia and Cai were tidying up at Sea Watch when a very familiar sensation swept over Antonia. Her stomach bubbled with anticipation and she glanced at Claudia. She gave her a meaningful look back. Antonia quickly dumped the things she’d been carrying on a nearby shelf and wiped her dusty hands down her trousers.

  “That’s tidy?” asked Cai, raising his eyebrows.