Nim at Sea by Wendy Orr Read Free Book Online

pen in another, and grabbed two fishing lines, two big containers of water, and some bananas.

    Finally, he opened a metal box. It hadn’t been opened for a long, long time, but his wallet, checkbook, and passport were still there, clean and dry. Jack dropped them into his extra-safe pocket—the one with a loop and a string to tie it shut—and walked out of the hut.

    “Do you know Alex Rover?” Nim asked Erin. She’d waited till Ben had gone to get ice cream, because some things are easier to tell one person than two.
    “The famous writer?”
    “She’s my friend,” said Nim. “And my dad’s friend. But I was mean to her, and now she’s gone home.”
    “Everybody’s mean sometimes,” said Erin, though Nim knew Erin could never be as mean as she had been.
    “My dad will be worrying that she’ll never come back,” said Nim, “and he might be worried about me too. Or…he might be glad I’m gone.”
    “He won’t be glad you’re gone,” said Erin.
    “I wish I could tell him where I am,” said Nim.
    “You could e-mail him from the computer room.”
    “Parents have to log their kids in,” said Ben, handing them each an ice cream cone.
    “Write down the message and the address,” said Erin, “and I’ll send it.”
    “Thanks,” said Nim. “Whew! I never knew ice cream was so
cold
!”

    To: [email protected]
    From: [email protected]
    Date: Friday 9 July, 11:05 a.m.
    Subject: Don’t worry!

    Dear Jack,
    My friend Erin is sending this because I can’t go to the computer room unless you sign me in.

    I hope you got my message in a bottle. I’m on the Troppo Tourist ship heading toward New York City.

    We have a plan but I don’t want to write it down in case someone sees the note when Erin is writing it.

    I cleaned out the birdcages this morning, and four flaming orange doves had our island’s bands on their legs. I didn’t know people were allowed to catch animals just because they’re intelligent, unique, or interesting. The Professor says that’s the best way to keep them safe. I didn’t know that either. It’s strange because I don’t think he really likes animals.

    I’m very, very sorry I was mean to Alex, and I know I was mean to you sometimes when you were talking to Alex. I wish I hadn’t been.
    Love (as much as Fred loves Selkie),
    Nim

    She wrote one to Alex too, but in the end she couldn’t bear for Erin to read it, so she crumpled it up and put it in her pocket.

    “It’s Pizza Night in the Kids’ Klub,” Ben announced, “so we can all have dinner there.”
    “What’s pizza like?” asked Nim.
    Ben explained. “But you can’t ask anyone except us stuff like that! They’ll guess…”
    “That I’m a stowaway?”
    “Or they might just think you’re weird,” said Ben, “and that’ll make them notice you. Even more than Fred.”
    So when Erin came back from e-mailing, they found a spot behind a big white chest labeled LIFE JACKETS , up near the bow, where it was too windy for most people to sit, and Nim got lessons on how to look as if she belonged to parents on a cruise ship.
    It was sort of like schoolwork with Jack, except that instead of learning about what turtles ate and how plankton grew, she was learning about what kids ate and what they said, what they did and what they had.
    “There’s so much stuff!” Nim groaned. “And so much to learn! How am I going to remember it all?”
    “Stick with us,” said Erin. “Just do what we do.”
    As Ben looked at his watch, Nim looked up at the sun.
    “But first,” she said, “Fred and I have to visit Selkie.”

S ELKIE AND F RED both knew lots of tricks—but they did them only when
they
wanted to. It was hard for Nim to make them understand that to outsmart the Professor, they had to do the tricks Nim wanted when she asked.
    And the Professor was watching. He was in a very bad mood because one of the baby spider monkeys had bitten him while he was giving his lecture.
    First Nim fed the birds,