Going Overboard!

by Nancy Krulik

  Katie inspected the row of lockers, looking for 427. It was in the back by the curtain-covered changing area.

  Suddenly Katie felt a cool breeze blowing on the back of her neck. It wasn’t a gentle, ocean-smelling tropical breeze like she had felt when she’d gotten off the boat and stepped onto the island. This was stronger and colder.

  And then the breeze picked up speed, which was strange because there weren’t any windows or fans in the dressing room. Even weirder, the curtains in the locker room weren’t moving a bit. In fact, the wind didn’t seem to be blowing anywhere except around Katie.

  Katie gulped. That could mean only one thing. This was no ordinary wind. This was the magic wind! It had followed Katie to the island!

  “Oh no!” Katie shouted. “Not now. Not when I’m about to swim with a dolphin!”

  But the magic wind didn’t care about swimming or dolphins. It just kept spinning around Katie. Faster and faster it whirled, blowing cold air all around her. Katie shut her eyes tight and tried not to cry.

  And then it stopped. Just like that. The magic wind was gone.

  And so was Katie Kazoo. She had turned into someone else. One … two … switcheroo!

  But who?

  Chapter 8

  Katie could hear waves lapping around her and seagulls flying overhead. In the distance she could hear laughter.

  Slowly, she opened her eyes and looked around. She was surrounded by blue-green water. The sun made the water look like it was full of shimmering diamonds and turquoise.

  Okay, so now Katie knew where she was—in the water. But she still didn’t know who she was.

  She looked down at her feet. But Katie didn’t see her sneakers. She didn’t see her sandals. She didn’t even see toes.

  All she saw were two large fins. One on each side of her gray-white belly. Katie was so surprised, she sent a huge stream of water right out of her blowhole.

  Wait a minute. Fins? Gray-white belly? Blowhole?

  You don’t usually find those on a fourth-grade girl. At least not any fourth-grade girl Katie had ever met.

  Katie looked down at her right fin. There was a big, black freckle in the middle of it. That could mean only one thing—the magic wind had switcherooed Katie into Flippy, one of the Dolphin Reef dolphins!

  There was the dock. From where she was swimming, Katie could see her parents alongside Suzanne and her whole family. They were waiting to have a dolphin encounter. And not just with any dolphin.

  They were waiting to meet Katie! Only they had no idea it was her.

  This was sooo not good!

  “Fishy!” Katie heard Heather shout excitedly.

  “Not fish. Dolphin,” Katie shouted up from the water. Well, that was what Katie tried to say, anyway. The only thing Heather and the other humans heard was a bunch of squeaks and squeals. Dolphin noises.

  “How about you go first?” Katie heard Steve ask Suzanne.

  “I don’t know if I want to get kissed by a dolphin,” Suzanne said. “They look slimy.”

  That made Katie mad. She wasn’t slimy at all. She was wet and shiny.

  “Where’s Katie, anyway?” Suzanne asked. “She’s who wanted to get a dolphin kiss.”

  “She went to get her camera,” Katie’s mom told her. Katie gulped. She wished she could tell her mom that she was right there in the water!

  “Come on, Suzanne,” Mrs. Lock urged. “I’d love to get a picture of you being kissed by a dolphin.”

  “Our photographer is standing right there, ready to shoot,” Steve told Mrs. Lock.

  “A photographer?” Suddenly Suzanne seemed excited. “Okay, then. I guess just one kiss wouldn’t hurt.” She turned to the woman with the camera. “Can you shoot me from my good side?” she asked.

  “Which side would you like?” the photographer asked her.

  Suzanne thought for a minute. “I guess it doesn’t matter,” she said finally. “We models can make it work from any angle.”

  Katie laughed so hard, she snorted.

  “I think Flippy likes you,” Steve said. “He sounds happy.”

  Suzanne smiled. “Animals do like me.”

  Katie rolled her dolphin eyes. Oh, brother.

  “Flippy, it’s your turn to kiss the kid,” Katie heard someone say. She turned her dolphin head slightly. Another dolphin had popped up out of the water right beside her. That had to be Flossie.

  Katie definitely did not want to kiss Suzanne. Not the way she’d been treating her. Suzanne had been a real pain ever since that magic show.

  “Can’t you kiss her?” Katie squeaked to Flossie.

  Flossie shook her head. “It’s your turn.”

  Katie sighed, which made a blast of air whoosh through her blowhole. There was no getting out of this one. She was going to have to swim over and give Suzanne a big old smooch.

  Katie had learned to swim at sleepaway camp last summer, but she had never done the dolphin kick—until now. Of course, it helped that Katie was a dolphin! With a few flips of her side and back flippers, she sailed through the water.

  “Wheee!” Katie squealed happily as she swam. “This is fun!” She leaped up and twirled around in the air.

  “What was that for?” Flossie asked. “Are you showing off for a better treat? It’s not worth it. We haven’t had squid in weeks. Just fish, fish, fish.”

  Oops. Katie hadn’t meant to show off. She was just showing everyone how much fun it was to whiz through the water. Quickly, she dived down in the water. A big wave washed up onto the dock as Katie’s tail splashed back.

  “Oh no!” Suzanne shouted. “My hair! It’s all wet.”

  Uh-oh. Suzanne didn’t like getting her hair wet. She worked too hard on making it look perfect. Now there was a big piece of seaweed hanging off the side of her head.

  Katie felt so bad about what she had done that she leaped up and gave Suzanne a big kiss on the cheek.

  Click! “I got the picture,” the photographer said. “Who’s next?”

  Suzanne leaped up from the platform. She glared at the photographer. “I can’t believe you took my picture when my hair was a mess! I HATE THAT DOLPHIN!”

  Chapter 9

  Katie was sorry for Suzanne, and she was sorry for Flippy, too, because the rest of the tourists didn’t want him kissing them. Everyone wanted kisses from Flossie.

  And every time Flossie gave a kiss she got a treat. By the time Flossie had kissed Katie’s dad and mom and Suzanne’s parents, she was plenty full. But Katie’s stomach was completely empty. No treats for her.

  She was determined to fix that. Even though Katie was a vegetarian, Flippy wasn’t. And it was Flippy’s belly grumbling with hunger. So Katie decided to make sure that belly got filled with fish.

  “Now it’s time to go for your rides,” Steve announced. “Which of you brave souls is ready to be propelled by dolphin power?”

  “Not me,” Suzanne said. “I just dried off.”

  “I’ll give it a try,” Katie’s mom volunteered, and she jumped into the water. “Oh, I hope Katie gets back here soon or she’s going to miss this.”

  “Just float on your stomach with your arms and legs apart,” Steve said. “Flossie and Flippy will do the rest. We call this the foot push.”

  Uh-oh. Katie had no idea what “the rest” was. She looked over at Flossie. “What did he mean?” she asked.

  “Are you kidding?” Flossie bleated back. “You know what to do. We perform this act ten times a day.”

  “Right,” Katie said nervously. “Of course. I was just testing to see if you remember how we do it. Do you?”

  “Quit kidding around,” Flossie said. “I already have a bellyache from all those fish. You’d think they’d try a different treat once in a while. A little squid or octopus meat would be nice.”

  But Katie wasn’t focused on food. Her mother was already floating on her belly not far from where Katie and Flossie were. Flossie started swimming toward Katie’s mom.

  “Come on,” Flossi
e shouted back to Katie. “Didn’t you see the signal?”

  No. Katie hadn’t seen any signal. So she just followed Flossie. After all, she was a real dolphin. She’d be able to show Katie how this foot push thing went.

  Flossie began swimming faster and faster toward Katie’s mom. So Katie began to swim faster, too.

  Whoosh! The seawater flew across Katie’s dolphin skin. She took a deep breath through her blowhole and kicked her fins even harder.

  Katie was swimming really fast. So fast that she couldn’t stop. There was no brake on her fins.

  Katie was heading straight for the side of the pool.

  “Runaway dolphin!” Suzanne shouted.

  But Katie’s mom couldn’t run. She couldn’t swim very well, either, in her big, yellow life vest. Katie didn’t want to risk bashing into her mom. So she used her back fins to turn her mom around.

  The water began to spin like a giant, twirling, swirling whirlpool.

  “Whoa!” Katie’s mother shouted as she spun around like a pinwheel. She went under and then came back up coughing.

  Oh no! Quickly Katie swam over and scooped her mom up onto her snout.

  “You’re safe now, Mom,” Katie said. “I rescued you.”

  But Katie’s mom didn’t know what Katie was saying. All she heard was dolphin squealing and squeaking.

  Thump. Bump. Mrs. Carew’s rear end bounced up and down on Katie’s snout. “Get me off this dolphin!” she shouted. “It’s like a bucking bronco.”

  “Put her down, Flippy!” Flossie cried out. “She’s not a beach ball.”

  Katie spun around again, looking for a safe place to put her mom. Water splashed everywhere.

  “Tidal wave!” Suzanne shouted.

  “Put her down!” Flossie ordered.

  “Get me off!” Katie’s mom yelped.

  It was all too much. All that shouting and yelping was hurting Katie’s sensitive dolphin ears. And so she did what any dolphin would do. She dived underwater where it was nice and quiet.

  “WHOOOOAAAAAA!” Mrs. Carew flew off Katie’s snout and into the air. Splash! She landed right on her belly in the water. A perfect belly flop.

  “Are you okay, Mom?” Katie cried out as she came back up to the surface. Of course, Katie’s mom didn’t understand a word she was saying.

  “Mom?” Flossie asked Katie. “Who are you calling mom?”

  Oops. Katie had completely forgotten she was a dolphin for a minute there.

  But Steve hadn’t. He thought Katie was Flippy.

  “Get Flippy into the isolation tank immediately,” Steve called to one of the trainers. “Let him cool down. And keep him away from the visitors.”

  A few moments later, Katie found herself all alone in a roped-off section on the far side of the dock. She was really embarrassed and sad. Worse yet, everyone thought it was Flippy who had messed everything up.

  Suddenly Katie felt a cool breeze blowing across her dorsal fin. She looked around. The sea was perfectly calm. The palm trees in the distance weren’t swaying at all. The clouds in the sky weren’t moving. In fact, there didn’t seem to be wind blowing anywhere—except around Katie.

  That could only mean one thing: This was no ordinary wind. This was the magic wind. It was back!

  The magic wind picked up speed, blowing faster and faster like a wild, windy whirlpool around Katie. Even though she was a big, heavy dolphin, Katie was sure the wind would blow her clear back to the harbor in New York City. Faster and faster it spun, sending seawater all around her like a whirlpool. Katie shut her dolphin eyes and tried not to cry.

  And then it stopped. Just like that. The magic wind was gone.

  Katie Kazoo was back! And so was Flippy. He was floating in the water right beside Katie. Boy, did he look flipped out. He had absolutely no idea why he was in the isolation area of Dolphin Reef.

  But Katie couldn’t explain it to him even if she wanted to. She was a fourth-grade girl again. And fourth-grade girls don’t speak dolphin.

  Chapter 10

  “Katie! What are you doing in there?”

  Suddenly Katie heard Steve calling to her. She looked up from the water and smiled. “Hi, Steve,” she said.

  “You shouldn’t be here by yourself,” he said. “And you shouldn’t be alone with Flippy.”

  “Why not?” Katie asked. “He seems really sweet.”

  “Well, he is, usually,” Steve said. “But Flippy is an animal. And animals are unpredictable. He’s done some very strange things today. I’m wondering if maybe his days of swimming with guests are over.”

  Oh no! Katie felt terrible. She knew that none of what happened was Flippy’s fault. It was all her fault. But of course she couldn’t tell Steve that. He wouldn’t believe her even if she did. Katie wouldn’t have believed it, either, if it hadn’t happened to her.

  Katie scrambled back up onto the dock. She shook her head. Water flew out of her hair as if she had a blowhole up there.

  “Flippy flipped your mother in the water,” Steve said. He shook his head. “I don’t get it. He usually follows directions perfectly. After all, he knows he’ll get a treat if he does the right trick at the right time.”

  Katie made a face. “You mean those little, squishy fish?”

  Steve laughed. “Dolphins love those little, squishy fish.”

  “Are you sure about that?” Katie asked. “Maybe if you gave him a different treat, Flippy would do anything you told him to.”

  “Well, we do have a little bit of squid in the refrigerator,” Steve said slowly. “It’s worth a try. At least I’ll see if he’s ready and willing to do his tricks.”

  A few minutes later, Steve arrived back at the isolation area with some squid meat.

  Katie reached down into the water so she could pet Flippy. Flippy gave her a big dolphin smile and jumped up to gently place a kiss on her cheek.

  “Perfect,” Steve said. He gave Flippy a piece of squid. Katie didn’t have to speak dolphin to understand how happy that made him.

  “Okay,” Steve said after Flippy did a few more tricks. “You want to try a foot push with Flippy and Flossie?”

  “Definitely!” Katie exclaimed.

  “Okay, Flippy and Flossie are ready!” Steve called out to Katie a few minutes later when they had all arrived back at the main pool. “Just get on your belly with your feet spread apart.”

  Katie’s dad was focusing her camera and clicking away.

  A moment later, Katie felt two dolphins pushing at her feet. She stayed on her belly for a moment, and then she began to stand. Whoosh! Katie flew through the water with Flippy and Flossie at her feet.

  “This is awesome!” Katie exclaimed. “I—”

  But Katie didn’t finish her sentence. Instead, she fell face-first into the water. But Katie didn’t mind. She knew that was part of the fun. Sort of like falling down when you were waterskiing.

  “That was good,” Katie’s dad said. “You were up a pretty long time. I got some good shots.”

  Katie smiled. She was really proud of that.

  As Katie climbed out of the pool, Steve had Flippy and Flossie do all kinds of tricks: flip around in the air, balance balls on their noses, and even speak—well, at least speak like a dolphin. It was all bleeps and pings and squeals to Katie.

  “My dog, Pepper, can bark on command,” Katie told Steve. “I just have to give him a cookie as a reward.”

  Steve grinned. “It’s amazing what animals can learn when you train them with treats.”

  “With the right treats,” Katie pointed out.

  Steve laughed. “Have you ever thought of being a dolphin trainer one day?” he asked Katie. “You understand them so well. It’s almost like you’ve gotten right inside Flippy’s head.”

  Katie giggled. That is exactly what it was like.

  Chapter 11

  “Is that skating outfit real velvet?” Lizzie asked Suzanne the next morning as the Minnows all gathered by the ship’s seaside skating rink.

 
; Their first activity of the day was to go ice-skating. Katie loved skating. But she’d only been skating in the winter at outdoor rinks. It would be cool to go skating indoors aboard a ship!

  Suzanne seemed really excited to skate as well. Or at least she was excited to dress for skating.

  “Of course it’s real velvet,” Suzanne told Lizzie. “And I made sure my mom got me a purple velvet one. Purple velvet is just so royal-looking.”

  “You do look like a princess,” Lizzie said. She looked down at the jeans she was wearing. “I wish I had brought a skating skirt.”

  “I think it makes me look so much more professional,” Suzanne agreed.

  “Oh, it does,” Lizzie assured her.

  “Isn’t it cool to be going skating on a ship?” Carly asked Katie. “I’ve only been skating a few times but it was really hard for me. I fell a lot. I can’t imagine what it will be like if the ship starts rocking back and forth while I’m on the ice. That’s going to make it even tougher to skate. I wonder if I’ll fall this time. Maybe if I stay near the wall and go really slowly …”

  Katie tried to look as though she were really interested in what Carly was saying even though she wasn’t. Carly talked a lot but never said much. Still, Katie wasn’t the kind of person to be rude. Not like Suzanne. Right now, she and Lizzie were standing really close to each other, whispering and ignoring all the other Minnows. Katie couldn’t understand why they were being so snobby.

  “This skating rink is really cool,” Stan told Katie.

  “No, it’s really cold,” Dan joked.

  Katie giggled. “That’s how skating rinks are supposed to be.”

  Stan nodded. “Definitely,” he agreed. “The rink on this ship has real ice. Not all of them do.”

  Suzanne turned around. “That’s ridiculous,” she said. “All ice-skating rinks have ice.”

  Dan shook his head. “The cruise ship we took to Mexico had plastic ice.”