by Wendy Orr
Selkie barked and pressed hard against Nim, while Fred scrambled up to her shoulder.
‘Okay,’ said Delia. ‘I guess we can take the freight elevator.’
Suddenly Selkie barked louder and skidded across to the revolving door as fast as she could lollop.
‘Selkie!’ shouted Nim.
And then she saw Alex.
They raced across the floor and met in the middle, hanging on just as tight as they had when Nim had pulled Alex out of her sinking sailboat. Selkie whuffled around them in a loving circle and Fred climbed up to Alex’s shoulder.
‘But how?’ Alex asked. ‘And when?’
‘On a ship,’ said Nim. ‘I’m sorry, I’m so sorry.’
‘Where’s Jack?’
‘I think he’s very mad at me. I don’t know why I said such terrible things.’
‘Do you mean you came alone?’
‘That’s what she means,’ said Delia. ‘Which is one of the many reasons I’m so happy to meet my best-selling author!’
Alex let go of Nim for just long enough to shake Delia’s hand. ‘Before we do anything else,’ she said, ‘could we please email Jack?’
Delia led them around to the freight elevator and they all rode up to Delia’s office, with Nim and Alex still both talking at once and trying to explain.
‘… and then we jumped off,’ said Nim. ‘Near the green lady.’
‘Jumped off what?’ asked Alex, feeling sick.
‘The ship,’ said Nim.
Alex felt even sicker. ‘What ship?’ she asked, when she could breathe again.
Nim told her, and Alex told Nim her story, and Nim laughed and cried and Alex cried and laughed, when they realised that Nim had been hiding in a lifeboat right outside Alex’s cabin for that whole week.
Then Alex checked her email, and the messages came flooding in. She read through Jack’s messages from the last right back to the first. The more she read the paler she got, because Jack was so angry and sad she knew he’d never want to see her again.
‘But I told him what happened,’ Nim said sadly. ‘Erin sent an email every day.’
‘Maybe he was too sad to understand,’ said Alex.
From: [email protected]
To: [email protected]
Date: Wednesday July 7, 2:02pm
Subject: I’ve found Alex!
Dear Jack
You shouldn’t be angry at Alex because it’s not her fault that I left. But it’s my fault she left.
I wish you could come too.
We are going down to the sea now so Selkie and Fred can swim in salt water, because they’ve just been in fountains today. I hope your email is working so you get this and I hope you answer.
Love (as much as Selkie loves us)
Nim
‘But what if the Professor tries to catch Selkie again?’ Nim asked.
‘NO ONE is ever going to take Selkie away again!’ said Alex. She looked so fierce that Nim believed her.
DELIA’S PHONE RANG. ‘There’s someone waiting for you downstairs,’ she said, and for just a minute both Nim and Alex thought, Jack!
They all rode the freight elevator back down to the lobby, and though it wasn’t Jack, Nim was still very glad to see Carla. Fred was glad to see Fritz, and Alex and Delia were glad to meet someone who’d helped Nim. There were more thank yous, more exclaiming and explaining, and then Carla and Fritz dashed off to start baking tomorrow’s cakes.
A long white car with black windows pulled up in front. The driver got out to open the doors.
‘Here’s your car,’ said Delia. ‘Are you sure you don’t want me to organise a hotel?’
‘Thanks,’ said Alex, ‘but I’d like to do it myself. It’s time I learned to do things like that.’
A boy and a girl with their mother stopped to stare as Alex, Delia, Nim and Fred, and finally Selkie, came out through the revolving doors.
‘Look at the sea lion!’
‘That kid’s got a lizard on her shoulder!’
‘Oh, they’re just advertising a book,’ said the mother.
Nim and Alex looked at each other and laughed so hard they had to lean against the limousine before they could get into it.
Delia waved goodbye as the car pulled out, with Nim and Alex sitting beside each other, Fred on the back of the seat staring out a window, and Selkie sitting on the floor and staring out hers.
Alex pushed a button in the limousine’s door and her window rolled down. Nim pushed the button for Selkie, but rolled Fred’s down just enough that he could put his head out, and not so far he could fall out by mistake.
‘Help yourself to a drink,’ the driver said.
There were bottles in a cupboard behind the driver’s seat. Nim had to pour the water into a lid for Fred. Selkie could drink hers from the bottle.
The limousine driver politely asked Selkie not to put her head out the window with the bottle in her mouth. Selkie finished her water fast: she liked having her head out of the window.
When they stopped at a light, three dogs crossed the road in front of them.
‘WHOOF!’ honked Selkie, racing from one window to the next.
‘Arf!’ the dogs yipped in surprise.
Selkie whuffled happily. Limousines were much nicer than being on her own in the back of a van, trying not to move in case she squashed cakes.
THE DRIVER TOOK them to another park a little further up the river from where the tugboat had brought Nim that morning. There was a marina with boats moored all along the wharves: sailboats, motorboats, and some that looked more like floating houses. One had flower boxes at its windows and a ‘For Rent’ sign on its bow.
‘Interesting!’ Alex said thoughtfully. ‘But I’m starving. Let’s get something to eat.’
Fred rubbed his spiky back against her ankle. He’d nearly forgotten how much he liked Alex.
The four of them walked together across the green grass to a café in the middle. They sat at an outside table, where Selkie and Fred could watch the dogs sitting at other tables with their people. Alex ordered fish and chips and salad, but added, ‘One fish needs to be raw, please!’
‘Of course!’ said the waiter, and brought Selkie and Fred a bowl of water to share while they waited.
‘I didn’t know you had sea lions in New York City,’ said the man at the next table.
‘We’re just visiting,’ Alex explained.
‘And I love your mother-and-daughter outfits!’ his wife exclaimed. ‘Did you make them yourself?’
Alex looked embarrassed. ‘We’re not …’
‘Yes,’ said Nim.
Alex’s eyes filled up with tears. ‘We’ll have to find somewhere to check emails after dinner,’ she said – because even though Nim had forgiven her for leaving, she didn’t know if Jack ever could.
‘But Selkie and Fred need to swim first,’ said Nim, and so when they’d finished, they wandered down to the marina. Fred and Selkie lollopped across the park and into the water – and as they ran, more and more people came to stare.
‘Quick!’ said Alex, and they raced to the end of a pier where a sign said: ‘Kayaks for hire.’
‘Have you kayaked before?’ the woman asked.
‘Of course!’ said Alex.
They climbed in and started to paddle. They were splashing as much water as Selkie in a fountain, but somehow they didn’t move very far or very fast.
‘Are you sure you’ve done this before?’ Nim asked.
‘It might have been one of my books,’ said Alex. ‘I get mixed up.’
ERIN AND BEN were at the airport with their family, waiting for the plane to take them the rest of the way home. They were early, the plane was late, and they were bored with waiting. Erin wanted to check her email but there were no computers to do it.
‘What’s so important it can’t wait till we get home?’ her dad teased.
Erin thought maybe it was time to tell him. ‘It’s about Nim,’ she began.
‘She’s on TV!’ shouted Ben.
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‘Amazing scenes in New York earlier today,’ said the television news above their heads, ‘when Times Square played host to a visiting sea lion.’
Erin spun around to see Nim, Selkie and Fred pushing through crowds in the square with the giant computer screens.
‘Originally thought to be a publicity stunt for today’s release of Alex Rover’s new book Nim’s Island…’
The camera showed a Nim’s Island bus.
‘… events have now taken a dramatic turn, with a spokesman for the Troppo Tourist Cruise Ship claiming that this girl …’ Nim’s face filled the screen ‘… had in fact stowed away and stolen the highly trained, valuable sea lion from their care.’
‘Liar!’ shouted Ben.
‘NIM!’ shouted a man standing beside them. He was staring up at the screen with shock, relief and rage all dancing over his face – and he had bright eyes and baggy red pants.
‘You’re Nim’s dad!’ shouted Erin.
‘Who’s Nim?’ asked the twins.
The television showed Selkie porpoising around Nim and Alex’s kayak.
‘Our friend!’ Erin and Ben said together.
‘You’re Erin?’ exclaimed Jack.
‘And Ben,’ said Ben.
‘Tell me everything!’ said Jack.
The camera showed the Professor pointing accusingly. It narrowed in on the tranquilliser gun at his side.
‘That’s the man who seal-napped Selkie!’
‘And the other animals and birds.’
‘Nim didn’t mean to stow away – she was trying to rescue Selkie!’
‘We’ve got to help!’
‘Police have been called to recapture the animal,’ said the reporter.
Jack ran towards the Exit sign.
‘Wait!’ shouted Mr Caritas. ‘I’ll come with you!’
‘We all will,’ said Mrs Caritas.
They raced together through the airport to the long line of yellow taxis parked outside. Jack jumped into the first one with Erin, Ben and their dad, and Mrs Caritas and the twins grabbed the one behind.
‘This is an emergency,’ said Jack. ‘To the kayak pier – as fast as you can!’
‘The one on the news?’ asked the driver. ‘With the sea lion?’
‘Yes. Please hurry!’
‘Gotcha!’ said the driver, and pulled out so fast they were knocked back in their seats.
The taxi zigzagged and zipped through the freeway traffic. Jack closed his eyes so he didn’t have to see the scenery blurring past, and listened hard to Erin and Ben telling him what had happened on the ship. His face was white; sometimes he looked angry and sometimes he groaned – but sometimes he smiled.
‘Nim’s never had a kid friend before,’ he said at last. ‘She’s very lucky to have met you two.’
‘We like her,’ said Erin.
‘We’ve never met anyone like her,’ said Ben.
‘I can believe that,’ said Jack.
They told him about seeing Alex in the morning, and his face grew even paler and sadder, and he didn’t say anything at all.
‘Why didn’t you tell your mum and me about this before?’ Mr Caritas asked.
‘We were afraid …’
‘Because the Professor said he’d put Nim in jail!’
‘That’s not going to happen!’ their father and Jack said together.
They crossed a bridge to reach the city. The taxi honked and blared its way through the traffic and down to the pier. They could see the masts of sailing boats, and a crowd of people gathered on the shore.
Jack handed a wad of money to the driver, leapt from the cab and ran.
A policeman stopped him. ‘Whoa! Stop right there. We’ve got a wild animal loose.’
‘But that’s my daughter!’ said Jack. ‘The girl, not the sea lion. The sea lion’s her friend. They’ve grown up together.’
‘And the woman?’
‘She’s …’ said Jack. ‘Well, she used to be … I mean, I know who she is but I don’t know if …’
‘I see,’ said the policeman. ‘But the gentleman over there informs me that the animal is extremely dangerous if approached by untrained people, so I can’t let you past.’
‘That gentleman,’ said Jack, his face turning scarlet with fury, ‘is a wildlife poacher. Search his ship and you’ll find other animals that need to be rescued. He’s the only dangerous animal here.’
The Professor hadn’t noticed Jack. He strode over to the policeman. ‘We can’t wait any longer – that animal needs to be got back into captivity. I’ll shoot it with a tranquilliser dart.’
‘You’re not going to tranquillise that sea lion!’ said Jack.
‘Everybody keep calm!’ said the policeman to the Professor. Because Erin and Ben, their mother and father and the twins had snuck behind the crowd to where the kayaks were kept. They were now paddling in tight circles around Selkie.
More people from the crowd followed, until every kayak on the pier was surrounding Selkie, blocking her from the Professor.
A reporter pushed his way up to the policeman, followed by a man in a chauffeur’s uniform. ‘This man says he drove the sea lion down here in his limousine, and it wasn’t dangerous at all.’
‘I’ll second that!’ said Carla, racing across the lawn with Fritz at her heels. ‘She doesn’t even squash cakes!’
‘I don’t know if she belongs to anyone,’ said Daniel, ‘but I know she loves that little girl, and that Nim loves her.’
‘And I think you’ll find,’ said Ivan, ‘that this is the wildlife poacher I reported to the police earlier today.’
‘What do you say to all that?’ the reporter demanded, shoving his microphone in the Professor’s face.
‘I say I’m getting that animal back!’ shouted the Professor.
‘Put the gun down!’ shouted the policeman.
The Professor ignored him, and raised his dart gun.
Jack sprang at him.
The policeman sprang too.
Jack and the policeman clunked heads, and their heads clunked the Professor’s arm.
‘Ow!’ screamed the Professor, as the tranquilliser dart jabbed his leg. ‘Ooh,’ he moaned as the injection went in. He slumped down, and was asleep before the policeman’s handcuffs clamped around his arm.
Jack ran across the grass faster than he’d ever run. He dived into the water and swam straight out. Selkie honked her happiest honk as she dived towards him.
‘Jack!’ Nim shouted.
‘Jack!’ Alex whispered.
They reached for him – and their kayak tipped over.
The three of them clung to the upside-down kayak, laughing and hugging, exclaiming and explaining, till Fred poked his face up between them, and Selkie honked anxiously that they needed to get back to shore.
‘You’re right, Selkie,’ said Jack. ‘I think it’s time for us all to go home.’
‘All of us?’ asked Nim.
‘All of us,’ said Alex.
THERE WERE TOO many things to organise to go back to the island right away. ‘Besides,’ said Nim, ‘there’s a lot to see in the city!’
So while Jack and Nim went to talk to the police about the Professor, Alex went to see the boat that looked like a cottage, and rented it for two weeks. Selkie and Fred liked it because they could get on and off into the river any time they wanted, and stay home by themselves when Nim, Jack and Alex did things they didn’t want to do. Nim, Jack and Alex liked it because when they got back from a busy day in the busy city they could breathe the fresh air and sit peacefully to watch the sun setting over the river.
They went to museums and saw dinosaurs and tiny fossils, Egyptian mummies and suits of armour, enormous paintings and miniature carvings. They went to a library with paintings on the ceilings and stone lions outside the doors. They walked through the hot city streets and into chilled stores where they bought shoes and clothes, and where women sprayed perfume that made Jack sneeze. They went to a cinema and forgot to eat their pop
corn because the screen was so big and the sound so all around them that they felt as if they were in the story too. They ate bagels and hot dogs and foods Nim had never heard of; they had afternoon tea at the hotel that looked like a palace, and rode through the streets in the carriage behind the horse called Mabel. They had a party with all their friends and an iguana-shaped cake that made Fred sneeze with surprise.
But best of all was the hot, hot day they all went to the huge park in the middle of the city. The taxi drove down a gently curving road and dropped them off where a path led to a tranquil green lake. When the driver opened the door, Selkie galumphed half way down the path before he could even say, ‘Here we are!’
‘I didn’t know sea lions could move so fast!’ said the driver. ‘Or him.’
Fred was racing behind Selkie as fast as his short iguana legs would carry him.
People jumped off the path out of their way, dogs barked, and Selkie and Fred slid into the water.
A row of turtles sunning on a log slowly turned their heads to stare, and one by one, disappeared under the water.
Fred came up from the bottom with a grin full of water plants.
Selkie popped up halfway across the lake to check if she could still see Nim. A gold fish tail stuck out of the side of her mouth.
Then one by one, the dogs jumped in and paddled after Selkie and Fred, splashing and barking in the craziest, splashingest game of coconut-soccer-without-a-coconut that ever was.
Their families laughed as they watched them.
Other families wandering through the park came to watch, too.
And Nim, Alex and Jack watched and laughed too, and sat on the bank together for the rest of the afternoon.
From: [email protected]
To: [email protected], [email protected]
Date: Thursday July 22, 10:05am
Subject: Home on the island
Dear Erin and Ben
I told you I’d write again as soon as we got back to the island. The city was fun but I’m really happy I’m home now.
Our trip back was very different. This captain let Selkie and Fred have their own pool, and I slept in a cabin. It was a lot more comfortable, but I missed doing things with you. Once we saw a whale spouting and I wished you could have seen it too. We stopped at different places to take the smuggled animals back to their homes.
