by Orr, Wendy
Chapter 16
From: [email protected]
To: Nim@RusoeSanctuaryforRare&EndangeredSpecies.com
Date: Friday, 27 June, 10:05am
Subject: Crutches
Hi Nim
I never knew how beautiful your island was until we were going home. I sat on the deck watching until I couldn’t see it anymore and Mum made me have a rest in the cabin.
Mum took me to the hospital as soon as we landed. The doctor said my ankle is badly sprained and I have to use crutches and wear a big boot for a few weeks. I don’t think she believed me when I told her how it happened, especially when I said about Selkie carrying me out of the rainforest. She told Mum that I should stay in hospital for a while because I was confused. Mum said it was much better than how I was normally. Anyway, in the end she let Mum bring me home.
Please give Selkie a big hug for me.
Your friend
Tiffany
From: [email protected]
To: Nim@RusoeSanctuaryforRare&EndangeredSpecies.com,
[email protected]
Date: Friday, 27 June, 10:15am
Subject: Tiff on crutches
Hi Nim, hi Edmund
Tiff wouldn’t let me take a picture of her on crutches because she says the boot makes her look like Bigfoot, but Ollie drew this one for you.
Thanks for saving my sister.
Tris
From: [email protected]
To: Nim@RusoeSanctuaryforRare&EndangeredSpecies.com
Date: Friday, 27 June, 10:15am
Subject: Hi to Fred
Hi Nim
It feels very weird being home. No sea lions, iguanas, crazy adventure girls, cliffs, caves or explosions. But at least I’m not grounded this time.
My mum took me to see Selina Ashburn on the way home. She looks like a ghost but she got so mad when she heard what Lance and Leonora did that she said she didn’t have time to throw up anymore. Luckily she’d saved a piece of the cake L & L made them. She’s sent it to the lab to see if it’s been poisoned. (I BET it has!)
When I told her about the algae she phoned Peter Hunterstone and he got straight into a taxi and came over too. They can’t wait to start testing and experimenting on the sample.
Edmund – missing the island as much as Fred would miss Nim
From: [email protected]
To: Nim@RusoeSanctuaryforRare&EndangeredSpecies.com, [email protected], [email protected]
Date: Friday, 27 June, 10:18am
Subject: Fossil Pictures
These turned out even better than I expected. It’s sad it’s gone but at least we have proof that it was real.
Edmund
From: Nim@RusoeSanctuaryforRare&EndangeredSpecies.com
To: [email protected], [email protected], [email protected]
Date: Friday, 27 June, 11:25am
Subject: Super Algae and Super Friends
Hi everyone,
I’ve never had three emails all at once! Tiffany, I’m really glad your ankle is going to be okay and that you didn’t have to stay in hospital.
Tris, please tell Ollie I loved his picture.
Edmund, those pictures are fantastic! Now we know we’re not crazy. Or maybe a little bit crazy, but at least we didn’t make up the fossil of Chica’s great-great-grandmother. That’s good Selina and Peter are getting better. I wonder if it really was poison?
The island seems quiet now you’ve gone.
You know when Jack and Ryan took Lance and Leonora off your boat so you could leave? The Coast Guard got here a few hours later and took them away. I wished they didn’t have to be on the island even for that long, but Selkie sat in their tent doorway so they didn’t try to escape.
We went back to the cave yesterday to get more samples of the algae. It’s good there was enough in the drink bottle for you to share. Jack’s started an experiment already and is writing a report of what he’s discovered about the algae so far. He says he’s not too excited yet but I can tell that he is.
But the best news is that Jack says that if this algae is as good as he thinks it is, everyone should come back to finish the experiments together. Except this time Edmund should come with the real Dr Ashburn and Professor Hunterstone. I guess Lance and Leonora will be in jail anyway so we won’t have to worry about them.
And guess what else I found while we were collecting samples: part of Leonora’s amber pendant. It must have been smashed when a rock hit it. But I can’t find the scorpion anywhere.
Your friend
Nim – feeling as happy as Fred eating coconut – or Selkie scaring bad guys
P.S. Or as a scorpion free after thousands of years
P.S.S. Or as a girl with friends
about the author
WENDY ORR WAS born in Canada and spent her childhood across Canada, France and the USA. Wherever she lived, there were always lots of stories, books and pets.
Wendy started writing her own stories soon after she learned to read. One story about a girl running away to live on an island eventually led to Nim’s Island. Another story about adventures in caves, inspired by finding a fossilised shark’s tooth, seems to have wiggled its way into Nim’s new story.
One day a film producer in Hollywood took Wendy’s book Nim’s Island out of the library to read to her son. The next day she asked if she could make it into a movie. Wendy said yes! They became good friends, and Wendy had the fun of helping work on the screenplay. A second film followed, called Return to Nim’s Island.
Wendy began writing for children after a career as an occupational therapist. She is the author of many award-winning books and lives on Victoria’s Mornington Peninsula.