Nim at Sea by Wendy Orr Read Free Book Online Page A

chirping quietly to them.
    “If you make bird noises, they’ll never learn to talk!” the Professor snapped. “Teach them ‘Pretty Polly’! That’s what people pay for…are interested in.” He stomped out the door.
    Nim clucked to the doves once more and rushed to open Selkie’s cage. Selkie
whuffle
d and sniffed her all over, as if Nim were the one who’d been seal-napped and locked up.
    “We’ll get home somehow,” Nim promised. “Because even if Alex doesn’t like me anymore, I know she’ll help us.
    “The important thing is to escape. We’ve got five days to get ready.”
    She looked at Selkie’s little cage and the cloudy tub of water. Five days seemed like forever.
    “If I could just get you into a pool…,” she said.
    Very quietly, she turned the door handle. It wasn’t locked. She opened it a crack and peered down the hall.
    The Professor was coming back!
    Nim shut the door quickly and hugged Selkie hard. Just for a minute she thought she was going to cry—but that would upset Selkie.
    And it was crying that got us into this mess in the first place!
Nim thought, which suddenly seemed so silly she almost laughed—except now the Professor was in the room again, so instead she clapped.
    “Fantastic!” she said, as if Selkie had just done the most wonderful trick in the world.
    Then she added quickly, “That’s enough training for today.”
    The Professor grunted. “Okay, kid. Get the rest of those animals fed and their cages cleaned out. If you do a good job, I’ll let you do some more training in the morning.”
    “Thank you,” Nim said politely. She worked as slowly and carefully as she could, because every minute she was here was a minute Selkie wasn’t locked in her cage all alone.
    Suddenly she spotted a key hanging behind the door. It looked just like the Professor’s, but she’d seen him drop his into his pocket. This one had to be a spare—and if it was a spare, he might not notice if it was missing!
    So Nim brushed the rotten fruit and droppings out of the monkeys’ cage, put in clean water and not-quite-rotten fruit, and murmured quietly to them, trying not to let them feel how mad and sad she was to see them there. Finally she put Selkie back in her cage, sitting beside her for a long moment to rub her head with love and cool water.
    “Just remember,” the Professor said with his sneering smile, “the animals down here are our little secret. The Foundation’s work is very important—much too important for most people to understand. I don’t ever want to hear you talking about the animals down here.

    “So, my little stowaway friend, just keep your mouth shut and everyone will be happy: I’ll get what I’ve earned, the animals will get lovely new homes where people appreciate how intelligent, unique, and interesting they are—and you and your mom will stay out of jail.”
    Nim swallowed hard and nodded. He wanted her to be afraid, and she was. More afraid than she’d ever been. She was so afraid, the Professor knew he didn’t have to worry about her at all. He sat calmly down in his chair in the corner, opened a can of soda, and started to read his newspaper.
    “I’ll come back in the morning,” Nim whispered.
    The Professor grunted and turned a page.
    Nim backed to the door—and, as she waved goodbye to Selkie, snatched the key off its hook.

T HE HARDEST THING about fitting in at Pizza Night, Nim decided, was acting as if the biggest thrill in her life were getting a slice with pepperoni, especially when she really wanted anchovies (anchovies were fish and tasted a bit like home).
    “It’s like swimming with a new pod of dolphins,” she told Ben and Erin when they took their pizzas out to the deck.
    “I wish I could do that!” Ben exclaimed.
    “I wish we could go to your island,” Erin said.
    “I wish you could too,” said Nim. Saying it made her feel hot inside, as if she were betraying Jack—but it was true. She used to wonder what it would be