D-Day_Battle on the Beach
Page 6
“Clare?” Dad called. Clare found him in the kitchen at the front of their long, skinny house, filling a cooler. “The mayor just ordered a mandatory evacuation. We’re leaving. Pack clothes for a week,” he told her.
“A week?!”
“Just in case,” Dad said. “Storm’s getting stronger. I’m going to put gas in the car. Mrs. Jackson next door is coming with us, too.”
“Mrs. Jackson? How come?” Clare asked.
“She doesn’t have family here,” Dad said. “So we need to look out for her. No one gets left behind on my watch.”
Clare nodded. She hadn’t been born yet when her father served in the Army during Operation Desert Storm, but she knew the story of how he got hurt. He’d run out from behind a jeep to rescue another soldier who had fallen during a firefight. Dad said he had to go, even though it was dangerous. You never leave a fallen soldier. It was an Army promise. The mission wasn’t over until everyone made it out.
“We’ll leave as soon as I get back,” Dad said. “Keep an eye on Nana while I’m gone.”
“Okay.” Clare headed down the hallway. “Are you getting clothes together, Nana?” she called into her grandmother’s bedroom.
“I’m staying right here,” Nana said. “I have practice tonight.” She held up her Silver Slammers warm-up jacket.
Clare sighed. “There won’t be practice with the storm, Nana. Everyone’s leaving. Pack your clothes, okay?”
Clare went to her bedroom and threw shorts and T-shirts into a backpack. She was in the middle of reading Bud, Not Buddy again, so she packed that, too. Then she took it back out to read as she waited for Dad. She liked all of Bud’s funny rules for getting by in the world.
After a while, the wind rattled her window, and Clare looked up. It had already been half an hour. Just how far did Dad have to go for gas? Clare hoped he’d find an open station soon so they could head out.
The sky grew darker and darker. Clare turned on a light. The wind slammed a door shut somewhere. Clare looked at the clock. It was already noon. She texted her father.
When will you be home?
He didn’t reply. So Clare turned on the radio.
“At least one-half of well-constructed homes will have roof and wall failure,” an announcer said. “Water shortages will make human suffering incredible by modern standards. Once tropical storm and hurricane force winds onset, do not venture outside.”
Clare closed her book. She rushed to the living room. The door was partway open, thumping back and forth on its hinges. Clare looked out. There was no sign of Dad. And the rain had already started.
Text copyright © 2018 by Kate Messner
Illustrations by Kelley McMorris, copyright © 2018 Scholastic Inc.
This book is being published simultaneously in hardcover by Scholastic Press.
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While inspired by real events and historical characters, this is a work of fiction and does not claim to be historically accurate or portray factual events or relationships. Please keep in mind that references to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales may not be factually accurate, but rather fictionalized by the author.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Messner, Kate, author. | McMorris, Kelley, illustrator.
Title: D-Day : battle on the beach / Kate Messner ; illustrated by Kelley McMorris.
Description: New York : Scholastic Inc., [2018] | Series: Ranger in time ; 7 |
Summary: Ranger, a time-traveling golden retriever with search-and-rescue training, heads to Normandy on the morning of the D-Day invasion where he meets Leo, a Jewish boy who is hiding with a local farmer, and Walt, a young American soldier fighting to free France from the Nazis.
Identifiers: LCCN 2017010030
Subjects: LCSH: World War, 1939-1945 — Campaigns — France — Normandy — Juvenile fiction. | CYAC: World War, 1939-1945 — Campaigns — France — Normandy — Fiction. | Golden retriever — Fiction. | Dogs — Fiction. | Time travel — Fiction. | War — Fiction. | Adventure and adventurers — Fiction.
Classification: LCC PZ10.3.M5635 Dad 2018 | DDC [Fic] — dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017010030
First printing 2018
Cover art by Kelley McMorris, © 2018 Scholastic Inc.
Cover design by Ellen Duda
e-ISBN 978-1-338-13394-3
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