Ocean S. O. S. Read online

  “What?” Zoe asked, trying to peer ahead. “What is it?”

  “Palm trees!” Ben cried.

  “Is it the shore?” asked Zoe. She could see the tops of the green trees now, the sun shining brightly on them through the widening gap in the clouds.

  “It’s the coral island,” said Ben. “Fingal brought us to safety.”

  The dolphin slowed a little way from where the island rose out of the sea. Ben and Zoe released his fin, and he disappeared underneath the water. He resurfaced in an arcing dive nearby.

  As Ben and Zoe swam toward the land, Ben peered down at the wonderful colors of the coral beneath them.

  “I win!” said Zoe, as she reached the shore. She pulled off her flippers and stumbled out of the sea. “Paradise!” Zoe declared, throwing herself down on the sand underneath a palm tree.

  “We’d better let Erika know where we are!” said Ben. He got out of the water and flopped down beside her. “Then she can contact Uncle Stephen so the center will come and get Fingal while he’s still here. We’ll have to hide when they come, of course.” He clicked the quick-dial key on his BUG.

  “Hello!” came Erika’s voice. “What news do you have for me?” Ben told her everything that had happened.

  “Fingal’s here with us and he’s tagged,” Ben finished. “So if Uncle Stephen can call the Agua Clara Dolphin Sanctuary . . .”

  “I’m on it,” came Erika’s calm voice. “Your BUG’s giving me your location. I’ll come and get you. We can retrieve your sailing dinghy later.”

  Ben stretched out on the sand. “No need to hurry!” he said.

  Erika laughed. “I’m afraid you can’t be there when the sanctuary people turn up,” she said. “See you soon.” She hung up.

  Ben jumped up and gazed out to sea. “The pod’s back,” he said. “Looks like they’ve scared away the shark.”

  The dolphins leaped and dived in the waves, glittering in the sunshine.

  “I wish we could thank them,” said Zoe.

  Ben nodded. “They saved our lives,” he said. “With Fingal’s help, of course.”

  Fingal gave a series of calls and began to swim toward the pod. But then he whipped around and headed back toward the island. He chirped and walked backward on his tail, as if he was in one of his shows back at the marine park.

  “I’ve been thinking,” said Ben. “It does seem like a shame to have him taken to a sanctuary, no matter how nice it is. He’s getting used to the ocean and he seems to have found a pod without any help.”

  Zoe nodded. “Maybe the best thing for him would be to stay here, but how could we be sure he’d stay with them?” She sounded worried. “He could go back to bothering the fishing boats and get into danger.”

  Ben and Zoe watched Fingal cutting through the waves, clicking and chirping.

  Ben sighed. “What if Fingal is too used to people?” he wondered aloud. “The sanctuary might help him change that behavior.”

  Suddenly, the pod came closer to Fingal, calling and chirping. The young dolphin called back, nodding his snout. “Go on, boy,” said Zoe. “Go with them.”

  But Fingal swam closer to the island. The pod kept up their calls. Then one of the larger dolphins broke away from the group and swam slowly toward Fingal. The children saw the two gray bodies dance around each other under the water.

  “That’s it, boy,” urged Ben. “They won’t hurt you.”

  The older dolphin made its way back to the pod, swimming in sync with the other dolphins. But Fingal still didn’t follow.

  At last, the dolphins turned and headed off toward the deep ocean. Then Fingal slipped underwater.

  “Where did he go?” asked Zoe. “I can’t see him.”

  “There he is!” exclaimed Ben. He pointed at a sleek shape moving like a torpedo toward the pod. Almost immediately, the figure caught up to the other dolphins and joined them.

  Zoe shielded her eyes. “Fingal reached the other dolphins!” she cried. “Look, he’s playing with them.”

  They watched as Fingal and his new family swam off into the distance.

  The pod of dolphins swam together, playing, splashing, and jumping over each other. They looked like one big family.

  “Better call Erika again,” said Ben, with a grin. “We’re the only ones who need rescuing now.”

  Later that week, Zoe and Ben were resting in their grandma’s back yard and reading magazines. Grandma was in the kitchen, making one of her famous chocolate cakes to celebrate their successful mission.

  Zoe turned to face Ben. “There’s an article here about sailing,” she said with a grin. “Wanna take some lessons this summer?”

  “I don’t need sailing lessons anymore,” said Ben proudly. “I could teach a class on how to lift a capsized dinghy upright again. And how to bail it out! After all, I’ve had first-hand experience now.”

  “You did really well,” said Zoe, nodding proudly. “The boat-rental woman had no idea what her dinghy had been through when we finally took it back to her in one piece.”

  Not long after Fingal had left with his new pod, Erika had sped up to the coral island in a rented motorboat. They’d tracked down the capsized dinghy and Zoe had shown Ben how to stand on the keel to pull the vessel upright. The trusty bucket had proved very useful in bailing all the water out. It took a lot of work, but eventually they were sailing the waves, heading back toward shore.

  “Erika was really pleased with the response to Uncle Stephen’s nets,” said Zoe. “Especially in San Miguel. They were really excited to give them a try.”

  “Especially that fisherman who started telling everyone about his encounter with the super-dolphin in the bay,” Ben joked.

  “The one that had teeth like knives and cut its way through his net?” Zoe laughed.

  Ben nodded and chuckled. “Yeah,” he said. “He’ll be repeating that big fish tale for the rest of his life.”

  Zoe snorted laughter. “It was so funny I nearly forgot to pretend I didn’t understand a word,” she said.

  They heard the phone ring in the house. After a few moments, Grandma poked her head out of the window. “That was your uncle,” she called. “He said it’s urgent.”

  Zoe jumped up in surprise. “Another mission so soon?” she said.

  Grandma shook her head. “No,” she said. “He told me to turn the TV on right away!”

  They ran inside and crowded around the television in the kitchen.

  A news program cut from a weather forecast to show a newscaster sitting at a desk. “Thanks, Doris,” he said, turning to face the camera.

  The newscaster shuffled some papers and smiled wide. “And last but definitely not least,” he said, “we’ve heard about a strange turn of events in the Caribbean. A group of wild dolphins have been entertaining tourists with some rather amazing tricks.”

  The camera cut from the studio and to an expanse of blue water. A pod of dolphins were leaping to and fro in the waves. Suddenly, two adult dolphins began to walk backward on their tails just like Fingal had done.

  A reporter appeared on screen wearing a pair of swim trunks and a tank top.

  “I have Monica Vasquez from the Agua Clara Dolphin Sanctuary with me,” he said. “Can you tell me what this is all about?”

  A pretty, dark-haired woman came into view. “There was a bottlenose dolphin from a marine park dumped in the sea recently,” she told the camera. “We were alerted to his plight and were going to take him to the center for rehabilitation, but we soon got a message saying that he’d been adopted by a local pod. They’re teaching him how to live in the wild, and it seems he is teaching them a few tricks, too.”

  The camera zoomed in as another dolphin reared up on its tail and walked backward, slicing through the waves. Onlookers cheered and clapped.

  “See that scar under its eye?” cried Zoe, po
inting to the screen. “It’s Fingal!”

  “He should have a better life now,” said Ben with a big smile on his face. “Lots of fish whenever he wants them, and no whistles to perform to. And although we needed that ride, I hope he never has to tow a human again.”

  “One thing’s for sure,” said Zoe. “He’s finally found a home.”

  THE AUTHORS

  Jan Burchett and Sara Vogler were already friends when they discovered they both wanted to write children’s books, and that it was much more fun to do it together. They have since written over a hundred and thirty stories ranging from educational books and stories for younger readers to young adult fiction. They have written for series such as Dinosaur Cove and Beast Quest, and they are authors of the Gargoylz books.

  THE ILLUSTRATOR

  Diane Le Feyer discovered a passion for drawing and animation at the age of five. In 2002, she graduated with honors from the Ecole Emile Cohl school of design. Diane worked as a character designer, 3D modeler, and animator in the video games industry before joining the Cartoon Saloon animation studio, where she worked as a director, animator, illustrator, and character designer. Diane was also a part of the early design and development of the movie The Secret of Kells.

  GLOSSARY

  capsize (KAP-size)—to turn over in the water

  dinghy (DING-ee)—a small, open boat

  hologram (HOL-uh-gram)—an image made by laser beams that looks three-dimensional

  mast (MAST)—a tall pole that stands on the deck of a boat or ship and supports its sails

  mechanism (MEK-uh-niz-uhm)—a system of moving parts inside a machine

  monitoring (MON-uh-tur-ing)—regularly checking something over a period of time

  operative (OP-er-uh-tiv)—a secret agent or spy

  pod (POD)—a small herd or school of seals, whales, or dolphins

  rehabilitation (ree-hab-bil-uh-TAY-shuhn)—the act of restoring a person or animal’s health and safety

  sanctuary (SANGK-choo-er-ee)—a safe and protected place for endangered animals

  BOTTLENOSE DOLPHIN

  STATUS: REGIONALLY THREATENED

  Bottlenose dolphins are found all over the world in temperate or tropical waters. They have no gills and cannot breathe underwater, so they must regularly surface to get air. While the dolphin isn’t endangered, their livelihood is still very much at risk from:

  FISHING: Some fishing nets are big enough to accidentally catch dolphins. Getting trapped in the nets can kill or maim the dolphins.

  PREDATORS: Some larger sharks, like tiger sharks or great white sharks, will hunt and kill dolphins. Orca whales have been known to attack dolphins as well. In Japan and the Faroe Islands, dolphins are killed for their meat.

  POLLUTION: Factory waste and farm fertilizers sometimes get washed into the sea, where they can harm or kill dolphins.

  But IT’S NOT ALL BAD FOR THE BOTTLENOSE DOLPHIN! Nature-saving organizations the world over are working with fishermen to help reduce the number of dolphins, sharks, and turtles that they accidentally catch in their fishing nets. A few countries have banned the hunting of bottlenose dolphins, and the animals have a special protected status in European law.

  DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

  1. Ben and Zoe love animals. Do you have any animals as pets? What kinds? Talk about your pets.

  2. The twins almost get caught in a hurricane. What’s the worst weather you’ve ever experienced? What happened?

  3. Of all the fun things Ben and Zoe do in this book, which one would you most like to be a part of? Why?

  WRITING PROMPTS

  1. Ben and Zoe travel all over the world. If you could travel anywhere, where would you go? What would you see? How would you get there? Write about your trip.

  2. Fingal knew how to do some impressive tricks because of the training he received. Design your own dolphin trick. How does it work? How would you train the dolphin to perform it? Write about it.

  3. If you could save any kind of animal from danger, what animal would you choose? Write a short story about rescuing a wild animal.

  VISIT:

  www.capstonepub.com

  Find cool websites and more books like this one at

  www.facthound.com

  Just type in the Book ID: 9781434237712

  and you’re ready to go!

  Wild Rescue books are published by Stone Arch Books

  A Capstone Imprint

  1710 Roe Crest Drive

  North Mankato, Minnesota 56003

  www.capstonepub.com

  First published by Stripes Publishing Ltd.

  1 The Coda Centre

  189 Munster Road

  London SW6 6AW

  © Jan Burchett and Sara Vogler, 2012

  Interior art © Diane Le Feyer of Cartoon Saloon, 2012

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in whole or in part, or stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without written permission of the publisher.

  Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available at the Library of Congress website.

  ISBN: 978-1-4342-3771-2 (library binding)

  ISBN: 978-1-4342-8669-7 (ebook)

  Summary: Ben and Zoe cruise to the Caribbean where a shady marine park has dumped an unwanted young dolphin into the sea. Having been raised in captivity, the dolphin is ill-equpped to survive and soon finds itself in troubled waters. The twins must find the dolphin and guide it to safety before the confused creature is lost at sea.

  Cover Art: Sam Kennedy

  Graphic Designer: Russell Griesmer

  Production Specialist: Michelle Biedscheid

  Design Credits: Shutterstock 51686107 (p. 4-5),

  Shutterstock 51614464 (back cover, p. 148-149, 150, 152)