by Debbie Dadey
“How?” Echo asked.
Crystal spun on her pink tail and swam over to the other side of the store without answering her little sister. A big crowd of people wanted the pickled spotted oarfish, and Crystal helped serve them. Echo knew she should help too, but she didn’t. She just floated behind the eel counter and thought about Zollie.
“WHERE’S YOUR PLANKTON BOW?” SHELLY asked Echo the next morning on their way to school.
“What?” Echo asked, putting her hand where her bow usually went. “Oh, I forgot it.”
Shelly looked at Echo strangely. Echo shrugged. She almost always wore glittering plankton to decorate her dark hair. In fact, she had tried many times to get Shelly to wear it too. But this morning Echo had totally forgotten.
“I can’t stop thinking about Rocky’s sea horse,” Echo told her friend as they floated past MerPark. “I was even going to go visit him yesterday after Tail Flippers practice, but my dad made me help out at the store.”
“I hope you had time to study your spelling words,” Shelly said.
“Oh no!” Echo said, scooting to a stop. “I forgot all about the spelling test today.”
“How could you forget?” Shelly asked.
Echo looked ready to cry. “Every time I started to study, I thought about Zollie.”
“Sweet seaweed!” Shelly said.
“What am I going to do?” Echo wailed.
“Let’s study on our way,” Shelly suggested, pulling Echo toward school. “The first word is pipefish.”
Echo concentrated. “P-I-P-F-I-S,” she said.
Shelly frowned. “No. Sound out ‘pipe’ and ‘fish.’ Let’s try another one. How about sea dragon?”
Echo took a deep breath and tried again. “C D-R-A-G-U-N! Is that right?”
“Close,” Shelly said.
“What am I going to do?” Echo squealed. “I don’t know any of them, except for sea horse. Oh, how I wish I had studied!”
“It’s not the end of the ocean,” Shelly said. “We’ll study the rest of the way to school.”
“I hope that’s enough,” Echo said, but she had a terrible feeling it wouldn’t be enough at all.
Right or Wrong?
ECHO COULDN’T BELIEVE IT WHEN she saw her spelling test. At the top of the page was a big zero in octopus ink. She hadn’t gotten one single word right!
Unfortunately, Pearl saw Echo’s test too. “Echo missed every word!” Pearl shrieked. “That’s terrible!”
“Pearl, please keep your eyes on your own work!” Mrs. Karp said sharply. Echo put her arms over her test and looked at Rocky. He grinned and gave her a thumbs-up sign. Rocky wasn’t known for being great at spelling either.
Echo had been wrong. It wasn’t a bad day. It was the worst day in the history of the ocean! She had never failed a test before. What would her parents say?
Echo sighed and took a quick look at her spelling test. She had even left the e off the end of ‘sea horse.’ Why did ‘sea horse’ need an e at the end? Echo shook her head. She definitely couldn’t understand spelling. It made no sense. But, of course, she hadn’t really studied as hard as she should have because she kept thinking of Zollie.
“Mrs. Karp,” Echo said, “I have a question that’s sort of about our spelling words.” She paused. “Is it wrong to keep sea horses captive? My sister says it is.”
“Hey, what’s the big idea?” Rocky snapped. “I thought you liked Zollie. See if I ever let you ride him now!”
“I’m not asking to be mean,” Echo explained. “I just want to know.” She did want to know what Mrs. Karp thought, but now she felt really miserable. Rocky would never let her ride Zollie again!
Mrs. Karp tapped her chin with her white tail. “That is an excellent and important question,” she said. “Let’s see how the class feels. Raise your hand if you think it is okay to keep sea horses as pets.”
About half the merclass raised their hands, including Rocky, Adam, and Pearl. Rocky stuck his tongue out at Echo.
“Now, who thinks it is wrong to keep sea horses on a leash?” Mrs. Karp asked.
The rest of the merclass lifted their hands, including Shelly and Kiki. Echo slowly held up her hand, although she wasn’t exactly sure what she believed. She told Mrs. Karp, “I don’t know what to think. I just want the answer. Is it wrong or not?”
Mrs. Karp looked at the third graders. “I can’t tell you what to think, Echo. Or you, Rocky. But the more all of you know, the better decisions you can make.”
That may have been a good answer, but it wasn’t the one Echo wanted.
Wild Creatures
WHY COULDN’T MRS. Karp just answer the question? Why didn’t she just say keeping sea horses is okay . . . or not?” Echo asked Shelly.
It was the next morning as the mergirls swam to school. Echo had been mad at Mrs. Karp since yesterday. Echo had also been upset with herself for lots of reasons. She felt horrible that she’d made Rocky feel bad about having a pet sea horse. She’d also made him so angry that he would never let her ride Zollie again. And she’d managed to miss every word on her spelling test! She wished she could start this whole week over again. This time she would definitely study.
Shelly floated past a merstatue in MerPark. “Well, maybe it’s one of those questions that’s hard to answer,” she said.
“Teachers are supposed to know everything,” Echo snapped. Then she felt horrible for being mean to Shelly.
Shelly didn’t seem to mind. She put her hand on Echo’s shoulder and said, “Mrs. Karp said our guest speaker will help us.”
At the end of school yesterday, Mrs. Karp had told the merclass she would invite a special guest to discuss sea horses with them. Hopefully the guest could come on short notice. Echo wanted some answers and she wanted them now. What she didn’t want was the surprise she got.
“Mom!” Echo said when she saw her mother in her third-grade classroom. What was she doing here? Suddenly Echo was worried. Did Mrs. Karp call her mother in to speak to her about the zero on her spelling test? Echo knew she was in big trouble now!
“Good morning, Echo,” Mrs. Karp said. “I’ve asked your mother to help us continue our discussion on sea horses.”
Echo was relieved she wasn’t in trouble. As the rest of the merclass swam into the room and sat at their desks, Echo read the poster at the front of their classroom: SEA HORSES: Pets or Free?
“Class, I’d like to introduce you to Dr. Eleanor Reef. She runs the Conservatory for the Preservation of Sea Horses and Swordfish. Some of you may have visited it. Dr. Reef is also Echo’s mother.” Mrs. Karp paused to nod at Echo.
Out of the corner of her eye, Echo saw Pearl and Rocky frown at her. Echo stared straight ahead and wondered what her mother was going to say.
“I’m delighted to visit your classroom. I thank Mrs. Karp for inviting me. She mentioned that you’ve had some questions about sea horses,” Dr. Reef said. “The Conservatory for the Preservation of Sea Horses and Swordfish doesn’t believe in keeping wild creatures as pets.”
Finally, someone had answered Echo’s question. Why didn’t she think to ask her mom at dinner last night?
“But,” her mother continued, “the problem is the definition of what exactly is a wild creature.”
“Rocky is a wild creature,” Pearl said with a giggle. But she quieted down with a glance from Mrs. Karp.
“Wild creatures can be a danger to merpeople. They often carry diseases as well,” Echo’s mother said. “Some people would argue that sea horses aren’t wild, but domesticated.”
“What’s that?” Rocky blurted.
“That’s when animals have been kept as pets for thousands of years,” Mrs. Karp explained.
Kiki raised her hand. “Dr. Reef, are sea horses endangered?”
Echo’s mom nodded. “Yes, and some people feel that keeping them as pets may protect them from extinction. That is a good point.”
“That’s right,” Rocky’s friend Adam said in agreement.
&
nbsp; “But,” Echo’s mom continued, “we must also consider if the animal depends on merpeople for food. Can it live on its own or does it need us to survive?”
Echo looked at Rocky. She knew he was thinking the same thing she was. Did Zollie need him? Or could Zollie live on his own and be happier free?
Second Chance
ECHO WANTED TO ASK HER Dad what he thought about sea horses, but he worked late. She already knew how her mom and Crystal felt. She went to her bedroom early and drew seaweed pictures of sea horses, large and small. She drew some with four legs. By the time she went to bed, her hands were covered with octopus ink.
She was tired, but she couldn’t sleep. Her sea fan bed felt lumpy as she twisted back and forth. She couldn’t get Zollie out of her mind. Did he hate being Rocky’s pet or not?
THE NEXT MORNING, SHE FORGOT her glowing plankton hair bow again. She even forgot her breakfast of parrotfish pancakes. She knew she had to see Zollie before school began. She needed to be careful because if Rocky saw her, he’d really get mad. After all, she was the one who’d started asking questions about whether keeping a sea horse was right.
Without making a bubble, Echo floated around Rocky’s big shell and the smaller shell behind it. She couldn’t believe what she saw. Rocky gently hugged Zollie before unleashing him. Zollie nudged Rocky one last time before galloping away.
Echo wanted to scream, “Stop,” but she didn’t. Maybe it was better if Zollie was free. But if it was for the best, why did Echo feel so sad?
Rocky turned toward her with tears in his eyes. When he saw Echo, he screamed, “What are you doing here? I should have kept Zollie a secret. This is all your fault!”
Echo rushed off. She didn’t stop until she sat in her chair at school. She put her head down to keep her friends from seeing the tears on her cheeks. What had she done?
At lunch, Shelly and Kiki tried to get her to eat. “Look, Mr. Fangtooth made white-sea-whip pudding,” Kiki told Echo. “He must be in a great mood.” Ever since they had returned his letter the other day, he seemed happy. That was unusual. Mr. Fangtooth was normally very grumpy.
“I’m not hungry,” Echo told her friends. “Rocky will never forgive me. I made him give up his best friend!”
Shelly tried to cheer her up. “Don’t be upset. Rocky won’t be mad forever.”
Echo’s eyes brimmed with tears. “But what about Zollie? Do you think he’ll be okay?”
Shelly looked at Kiki and the two friends smiled at Echo. “Sure. Rocky said Zollie was caught as an adult, so he lived on his own before,” Kiki said. “I’m sure he’s fine.”
Echo felt a little better, but she still could only drink a bit of seaweed juice. She almost spit up the juice when she had a terrible thought. Didn’t Rocky say Zollie was old? Maybe he was too old to be in the wild.
“Would you like to come to my dorm room after school?” Kiki asked. Shelly and Echo lived in Trident City, but Kiki’s family was so far away she lived in the Trident Academy dormitory.
Echo shook her head. “Not today.”
“Don’t worry,” Shelly told her. “You’ll feel better tomorrow.”
“I sure hope so,” Echo told her friends. She felt terrible. And she realized Rocky probably felt worse. If she had a pet, she’d be mad if someone suggested she set him free. And she worried about Zollie. She hoped he was safe.
Echo still didn’t know if it was right to keep a pet sea horse. She still didn’t know how to spell “pipefish.” But she knew there was something she had to do after school: She had to apologize to Rocky.
After swimming home, Echo watched Shelly float off toward her apartment at the People Museum. As soon as Shelly was out of sight, Echo took off for Rocky’s shell. What would he say to her? Would he yell? It made Echo want to turn around and hide, but she didn’t.
The closer she got to Rocky’s, the more worried she became. “This was not a good idea,” she whispered to herself. “I should go home.”
Still, she bravely knocked on the side of Rocky’s shell. Nothing happened. No one came to the front sea curtain. Just as Echo was about to give up she heard a noise coming from behind the big shell.
She swam to the back and was amazed!
“I can’t believe it!” Echo cheered. Zollie had returned! Not only that, but he’d brought a friend. Zollie was in his pen, nuzzling a female sea horse.
Rocky swam up beside Echo. “Did you see?” he said with a huge grin.
Echo giggled. “Zollie came back!” He had chosen to be Rocky’s pet!
“With a friend. What do you think we should name her? You want to ride?” Rocky blurted.
“Yes!” Echo squealed. “How about Pinky? She’s such a pretty pink and yellow.”
Echo sat on Pinky’s back and Rocky got on Zollie. Together they rode around Trident City.
Echo waved when they trotted by Pearl. Pearl floated with her hands on her hips and a huge frown on her face, but Echo didn’t care. She was so happy. She had gotten a second chance to know a sea horse. It was almost like having one of her very own.
“Hey, Rocky,” Echo said. “Do you think Mrs. Karp will give us another try on our spelling test?”
Rocky looked at her and shrugged. “Maybe.”
Echo made up her mind to ask her teacher tomorrow. Even if Mrs. Karp wouldn’t let them take the test again, Echo vowed to study very hard for the next one.
Echo knew sometimes mermaids don’t get a second chance, but, luckily for her, sometimes they do.
Class Drawings
REFRAIN:
Let the water roar
Deep down we’re swimming along
Twirling, swirling, singing the mermaid song.
VERSE 1:
Shelly flips her tail
Racing, diving, chasing a whale
Twirling, swirling, singing the mermaid song.
VERSE 2:
Pearl likes to shine
Oh my Neptune, she looks so fine
Twirling, swirling, singing the mermaid song.
VERSE 3:
Shining Echo flips her tail
Backward and forward without fail
Twirling, swirling, singing the mermaid song.
VERSE 4:
Amazing Kiki
Far from home and floating so free
Twirling, swirling, singing the mermaid song.
Author’s Note
A LEGEND IS A STORY THAT is usually based on a true event in history. Often the story is handed down from generation to generation. I made up the legend of the sea horse in this story. I challenge you to make up your own legend. Maybe you’ll make it about another sea creature, like how an octopus got so many arms, or perhaps you’ll make up a legend telling how the ocean got so salty. I hope you’ll share your legends with me. You can send them to me at Simon & Schuster, 1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020. I look forward to reading your legends!
Swim free,
Debbie Dadey
Leatherback Turtles
MRS. KARP, ARE YOU sure that’s safe?” Pearl Swamp asked her third-grade teacher. Kiki Coral and the rest of the class waited for the reply.
“Of course,” Mrs. Karp said, raising one green eyebrow as she responded to Pearl. “I wouldn’t have asked a leatherback turtle to visit our school on Thursday if there was any danger.”
“But aren’t they awfully big?” Kiki asked. Her friends Shelly Siren and Echo Reef glanced at her. Kiki was one of the smallest mergirls at Trident Academy. She had been scared of whales because of their huge size.
Mrs. Karp nodded. “Yes, Kiki. Leatherbacks can weigh up to two thousand pounds and be seven feet long.”
“And it’s coming into our classroom?” Pearl said with her green eyes wide. “What if it sits on one of us?”
“We’d have smashed Pearl jam!” Rocky Ridge teased.
Several merstudents squealed until Mrs. Karp reassured them. “Marvin will not be in the classroom. We will meet him in the front hallway of the school, whe
re there is plenty of room. Before we meet, I want you to prepare one or two questions to ask him.”
“Marvin?” Rocky yelled. “What kind of turtle is named Marvin?”
“A very big one,” Kiki said softly. Kiki knew leatherbacks weren’t as big as whales, but something made her feel uncomfortable. She didn’t know why.
“Marvin is a lovely name,” Mrs. Karp told them. “Just as nice as Rockwell.”
“Rockwell?” Pearl giggled. “Who is named Rockwell?”
“Nobody,” Rocky said, but his cheeks were bright red.
Mrs. Karp continued. “Leatherbacks are the largest turtles in the ocean, class. They breathe air, so they can’t stay underwater too long. They feed mostly on jellyfish.”
“How do they get so big by eating just jellyfish, Mrs. Karp?” Shelly asked. “Jellyfish are made up of almost all water.”
“It’s a bit of a mystery,” Mrs. Karp agreed.
“Maybe the mystery is that they eat mergirls, too,” Rocky said with a laugh. This caused Pearl and several other mergirls to shriek in fear. Shelly just rolled her eyes at Rocky. He was always telling bad jokes.
“That will be enough out of you, Rocky Ridge,” Mrs. Karp said with a slap of her white tail on her marble desk.
Mrs. Karp went on to tell the merclass that leatherback turtles were endangered. “Floating plastic bags look very much like jellyfish. Sadly, the turtles don’t realize their mistake until they’ve eaten the trash. If they eat too many bags, they can die.”
The third graders listened to every word, but Kiki barely heard her teacher. Her eyes grew cloudy and her ears stopped up. She knew what was happening. She was going to have one of her visions.
Kiki covered her face with her hands. In her mind she saw a frightening sight: Rocky Ridge, an enormous leatherback, and swirling water! Suddenly she shouted, “Mrs. Karp! I have to go see Madame Hippocampus! Now!”
