Amelia Bedelia Sets Sail

by Herman Parish

  Captain Will shook his head. “Does this landlubber belong to one of you?” he asked.

  “Dad, this is Captain Will,” said Amelia Bedelia.

  “Welcome, sir,” said Captain Will. “After you catch some big ones, these kids can take you on a tour. They could teach you a few things!”

  The Reel Busy arrived at the fishing spot about an hour later. Captain Will positioned his ship above some wrecked boats and old train cars that had been sunk on purpose to give fish and other sea creatures a place to live. Amelia Bedelia and Jason cast their lines and hauled in fish after fish.

  “Looks like we ran into a school of fish,” said Amelia Bedelia’s father.

  “You’d think they’d learn how not to get caught!” said Jason.

  “Well, they didn’t learn how to skunk us today!” said Amelia Bedelia’s father.

  “Yucko,” said Amelia Bedelia. She rose up on tiptoes to whisper in her father’s ear.

  “That’s one thing I do know about boats, sweetie,” he said proudly and loudly. “The bathroom is called the head.”

  A crewmember who had overheard him smiled and pointed toward a door near the stern.

  “If you see a sign that says poop deck, don’t do it,” said her father as Amelia Bedelia headed aft.

  Jason burst out laughing, and said, “Only pirate ships have poop decks!”

  Amelia Bedelia blushed like crazy, wondering if her father thought it was his job to embarrass her every chance he got.

  As the Reel Busy cruised back into port, Amelia Bedelia sat with Jason and her father on the bow. It was a beautiful day, and they had plenty of fish to cook for dinner. But the breeze blowing through Amelia Bedelia’s hair made her homesick for her dog, Finally. Her dog loved sticking her head out the car window into the wind. Finally would love the Reel Busy’s windy bow! For some reason, Amelia Bedelia blurted out, “Bow!”

  “Wow!” said her father.

  “Wow!” added Jason.

  Hearing bow-wow-wow made her miss Finally even more. She was so busy feeling sad, she didn’t notice that the Reel Busy was passing under the causeway bridge.

  BAAAAAAAAHHHNNN!!! blared the boat’s horn. They all jumped, then started laughing. They laughed all the way back to the pier.

  One great thing about going fishing on a charter boat is that the crew cleans all the fish. Amelia Bedelia was happy not to mess around with any fish guts, and she was even happier to carry the bag of fresh fish filets home.

  “What’s that?” asked Aunt Mary as Amelia Bedelia tossed the bag into the refrigerator.

  “Tonight’s dinner,” said Amelia Bedelia’s father. “I got some bluefish.”

  “My favorite color,” said his wife.

  “We ran into a school of fish,” said Jason. “The crew said it was a fluke.”

  “Fluke is nice,” said Aunt Mary. “Any flounder?”

  “We didn’t flounder at all,” said Amelia Bedelia. “It was calm.”

  “Lovely,” said Aunt Mary. “Who wants to go to the beach?”

  There was still plenty of time to enjoy the beach before dinner. Amelia Bedelia and Jason carted beach towels, chairs, buckets and shovels, a cooler full of cold drinks, and the umbrella over the dune and down to the water’s edge. Amelia Bedelia’s mother and Aunt Mary slathered sunblock on themselves and on Jason and Amelia Bedelia. Amelia Bedelia’s father plopped down on the beach.

  “Can we cover you with sand?” asked Jason.

  “Be my guest,” said Amelia Bedelia’s father. “I could use a nap.”

  Amelia Bedelia’s father snoozed while Jason and Amelia Bedelia got to work. Jason packed damp sand into a bucket. He turned the bucket upside down on top of Amelia Bedelia’s father’s stomach and then lifted the bucket straight up.

  “Terrific,” said Amelia Bedelia. “That looks like the tower of a castle in the Middle Ages.”

  “That’s the idea,” said Jason. He had a whole set of molds that turned Amelia Bedelia’s father into a giant slumbering castle. Amelia Bedelia and Jason decorated the turrets with shells and seaweed while Amelia Bedelia’s mother read her book and Aunt Mary slathered on even more sunblock and hunted for sea glass.

  Amelia Bedelia’s father was still snoozing when a photographer from the Beach Gazette took his picture.

  “We’ll run this picture next weekend,” the photographer told Amelia Bedelia, Jason, and their mothers. “In our annual Beach Ball celebration issue.”

  “That will be a royal surprise for someone!” said Amelia Bedelia’s mother, laughing.

  It was late in the afternoon when Amelia Bedelia’s father finally opened his eyes.

  “Sleeping Beauty has awakened,” said Amelia Bedelia’s mother.

  “Oh, too bad!” said Aunt Mary, shaking a bucket full of treasure. “I was just about to fill the moat with sea glass.”

  “Mary,” said Amelia Bedelia’s mother, “I didn’t realize you were such a beachcomber.”

  “Mom, I’m pretty sure the only thing to comb on the beach is your hair,” said Amelia Bedelia.

  “I could be a beachcomber,” said Amelia Bedelia’s father, extracting himself from the sand. “Like that guy there.”

  They all turned to watch a man walking toward them. He was wearing headphones and carrying a short pole with a round metal disk attached to the end of it. He was slowly waving the disk over the sand from side to side, as though he was vacuuming, but there was no sound.

  “What’s he doing?” asked Amelia Bedelia.

  “That’s a metal detector,” said Jason. “We call him Metal Man, because he looks for stuff buried in the sand.”

  “What kind of stuff?” asked Amelia Bedelia.

  “Any kind of metal,” said her father. “Coins, keys, aluminum cans, solid gold bars . . .”

  “Pirate treasure?” said Jason.

  “Maybe,” said Amelia Bedelia’s father, patting his bathing-suit pockets. “But guys like him mainly find junk people throw away or lose. It’s a weird hobby.”

  “Right,” said Amelia Bedelia’s mother. “It’s not normal, like chasing a little white ball and whacking it into eighteen different holes.”

  “Watch it,” said Mary. “I love golf too.”

  “I can’t find my car keys,” said Amelia Bedelia’s father, looking back at the huge pile of sand where he had been buried.

  “Sounds like a job for Metal Man!” said Jason, in a voice that sounded like he was summoning a superhero. “I’ll go ask him.”

  Minutes later, Metal Man was waving his metal detector over the ruins of the medieval castle. He took off his headset and let Amelia Bedelia and Jason listen to the noise it made when he waved the detector over a certain crumbled turret. Amelia Bedelia grabbed a shovel and dug out the car keys.

  “I can’t thank you enough, sir,” her father said, reaching for his wallet.

  “You don’t owe me anything, glad to help,” said Metal Man. “And the name is Bob Jackson.”

  “Ever find anything really valuable?” asked Amelia Bedelia after everyone had introduced themselves to Bob Jackson.

  “A diamond ring,” he said. “But I found the owner too, and gave it back. And I found this.”

  Bob reached for the leather cord he was wearing around his neck and held up a coin.

  “If you were a pirate,” he said,“you’d recognize it. It’s a gold doubloon.”

  “Cool!” said Jason. “For real?”

  “Found it after the last hurricane,” said Bob. “There just may be a whole treasure chest full of these, somewhere out there.”

  “Or maybe it just dropped out of a pirate’s pocket,” said Mary. “Like a car key.”

  “Yup,” said Metal Man. “But you never know unless you look. And looking is the fun part.”

  “We’d love to thank you for helping us out,” said Amelia Bedelia’s father. “How about dinner? We caught tons of fish today.”

  “Sounds like a delicious find,” said Bob. “I’d be delighted.”


  The fish really was delicious, and so were the corn on the cob and the fresh tomatoes they got from the farm stand down the street. During dinner, Bob told stories about growing up on the shore.

  “I started off as an engineer,” he said. “Now I earn my living as an inventor. I get my best ideas while walking on the beach.”

  “Too bad you didn’t invent that metal detector,” said Amelia Bedelia’s father. “I’ve seen lots of them, and I’m tempted to buy one myself.”

  “Oh, I did invent it,” said Bob. “It’s my baby. That’s why I’m always on the beach, testing and improving it.”

  “Wow,” said Jason.

  “It gives me free time for travel and for fun stuff,” said Bob. “This year, I’m the chairman of the Beach Ball. I hope you all can come this Saturday.”

  “Sure!” said Amelia Bedelia.

  “Great,” said Bob. “You know, when I was a kid, the legend was that this beach was discovered by a pirate looking for a place to stash his treasure.”

  Jason sat up straighter and taller and said, “A real pirate sailed around here?”

  “So they say,” said Bob. “And a half-sized replica of his ship is towed down Main Street during the Beach Ball. It’s the centerpiece of the parade. You probably saw it when you drove over the bridge. The locals call the ship the Whereami, because the story goes that the pirate didn’t know where he was.”

  Amelia Bedelia’s mother served warm blueberry pie and vanilla ice cream for dessert, while Bob served up even more stories about the Beach Ball and about pirates. After he left, Amelia Bedelia and Jason cleared the table and helped with the dishes.

  “Bob is such a nice guy,” said Amelia Bedelia’s mother.

  “For an engineer,” said her father.

  “Ah, well,” said Mary. “There are plenty of fish in the sea.”

  “Not anymore,” said Amelia Bedelia. “Bob ate most of them at dinner tonight. He loved your cooking.”

  Amelia Bedelia’s mother looked at her sister and said, “Mary, are you blushing?”

  “Of course not,” said Mary. “Next time I’ll have to put on more sunblock.”

  Monday was not the day Aunt Mary or the weather report had predicted. Amelia Bedelia’s father left between rain squalls. He was going to go to work all week and take care of Finally and the garden.

  “Bye, Daddy,” yelled Amelia Bedelia as he drove off through the puddles. “Kiss Finally for me!”

  Back in the house, Aunt Mary was flipping her famous pancakes, and Jason was setting the breakfast table.

  “Ah, well,” said Mary. “It’s a perfect day for sailing, spelled S-A-L-E-I-N-G. We’ll cruise the outlets.”

  “Good,” said Amelia Bedelia’s mother. “You can help me find a swimsuit that’s as nice as the one you found for Amelia Bedelia. Wouldn’t it be fun to look like that famous painting of the goddess Venus standing on a seashell rising up from the waves?”

  “That’s a tall order,” said Mary, serving the pancakes.

  “Gee, thanks,” said Amelia Bedelia’s mother.

  “Well,” said Mary, “I bet we can find something. They say you never know unless you look.”

  “You sound like Metal Man,” said Jason. “Only you’re a bargain detector.”

  After Amelia Bedelia and Jason had had their fill of pancakes and bacon, Jason rolled up the runner in the hallway. He put on a pair of thick cotton socks, and he gave Amelia Bedelia a pair too.

  “Follow me,” he said. They sprinted across the living-room carpet to build up speed, then hit the polished hardwood floor in the hallway.

  “Skimboarding without boards!” yelled Jason.

  “Wheee!” screamed Amelia Bedelia. “We’re floorboarding!”

  “Watch it, you two!” hollered Amelia Bedelia’s mother.

  At last the rain let up and they all went out. Aunt Mary and Amelia Bedelia’s mom took Mary’s car, and Jason and Amelia Bedelia hopped on bikes and rode to town. The bikes had no gears and the tires were fat and nubby, making it easier to ride through the sand.

  “Welcome to Main Street,” said Jason. “It’s the main drag.”

  “What do they drag?” asked Amelia Bedelia.

  “Tourists,” said Jason. “Tourists drag themselves up and down the street while everyone else drags the tourists into stores and restaurants.”

  “I’m a tourist, right?” said Amelia Bedelia.

  “Nope, you’re with me,” said Jason. “I’ll give you the inside scoop.”

  Amelia Bedelia discovered that this was true. Hanging out with Jason was like riding around with the mayor of the beach. Jason knew all the fun places to go.

  Best of all, he seemed to know every kid who had a summer job. That meant they got free samples of almost everything, including candy, fudge, chowder, cotton candy, caramel popcorn, ice cream, frozen yogurt, Italian ices, and smoothies.

  “Hey, Captain J!” yelled a kid selling hot dogs. “You gotta try this new corn dog.”

  “Who is Captain J?” asked Amelia Bedelia.

  “Yours truly,” said Jason, taking a bite of the corn dog. “Hey, this is good! Try it, Amelia Bedelia.”

  Amelia Bedelia looked around to make sure there weren’t any dogs watching, then took a bite.

  “Best corn dog I’ve ever eaten,” said Amelia Bedelia. Which was true, since it was the only one she had ever eaten. They washed down the corn dog with a free fresh-squeezed lemonade at the Beachcomber Diner, their next stop.

  Later they ducked into Seaside Pets to chat with a kid who knew all about saltwater aquariums. A parrot named Flint kept squawking, “Pieces of eight, C.J.! Pieces of eight, C.J.”

  Amelia Bedelia couldn’t believe it. Even the parrots seemed to know her cousin!

  “You have a million friends, Captain J,” said Amelia Bedelia. “Summer must be really fun.”

  “Yup,” said Jason. “We surf a lot. The only problem is the tourists.”

  “Aren’t tourists just people on vacation?” asked Amelia Bedelia.

  “That’s true,” said Jason. “Most are nice, but some drive me and my friends crazy.”

  Riding back toward the house, Amelia Bedelia and Jason passed a bathing-suit shop. Amelia Bedelia skidded to a stop. The mannequin in the window wearing a bathing suit looked just like her mother. The mannequin waved to her.

  “Mom!” yelled Amelia Bedelia. They parked their bikes and ran inside.

  “What have you two been up to?” asked Amelia Bedelia’s mother. “Hang on, I’ll get dressed and we’ll head for home.”

  “Send your Pearl over tomorrow,” said Aunt Mary to the saleswoman as they left.

  “What Pearl?” asked Amelia Bedelia.

  “Did you buy another ring?” said Jason.

  “It’s a surprise for you two,” said Mary.

  “Cool,” said Jason. “What’s for dinner?”

  “That depends,” said Mary. “What are you and Amelia Bedelia making for us? Your aunt and I are on vacation.”

  “I know!” said Amelia Bedelia. “Let’s make reservations. How about that pizza place we passed?”

  “Perfect!” said Jason. “We haven’t been there yet—I know a kid who works there.”

  “My Jason likes to have his fingers in a lot of pies,” said Mary.

  “And Amelia Bedelia makes amazing lemon tarts,” said her mother.

  “They’re small,” said Amelia Bedelia. “Just big enough for one finger.”

  The delicious pizza dinner, the cool rainy weather, the yummy snacks and samples, and biking around all day made Amelia Bedelia sleepier than usual. That night she lay on the bottom bunk listening to Jason read his favorite book—Treasure Island—out loud to her.

  Amelia Bedelia still loved being read to, and the words filled her head with images of pirates, sailing, and the sea. She must have dozed off, because the next thing she knew, the lights were out.

  Amelia Bedelia was sure that she was dreaming when she saw Jason climbing down the bunk-bed ladder. Sh
e drifted in and out of sleep as he rummaged around in the closet. She was almost sure she saw him tiptoe to the window, lift the screen, and slip outside.

  With her eyes half shut, Amelia Bedelia groggily dragged herself out of bed and staggered to the window. A bike disappeared into the darkness. Flopping back into bed, she concluded that she must be dreaming. Why else would Jason be dressed like a pirate?

  “Hey, Captain J,” she called out. “No more reading Treasure Island before bed.” She waited for him to answer but fell asleep before he did.

  The next morning, Jason was impossible to pry out of bed. The only thing that worked was the aroma of his mother’s waffles. As she served him a second helping, Aunt Mary made an announcement.

  “Jason,” she said. “Guess what? You know how, every summer, you bug me for sailing lessons? Well, the woman who helped us in the store yesterday told us that her daughter has her own sailboat and sometimes teaches kids to sail. Do you know her? I signed you two up . . . apparently she’s shy, but once she starts talking about boats, she comes out of her shell.”

  Amelia Bedelia was wary. The last thing that had come out of its shell had clamped on to her ear. “I hope she isn’t crabby,” said Amelia Bedelia to her waffles. This girl must be tiny if she could fit into a shell. Was her sailboat tiny too? Like the one she had seen inside a bottle at the souvenir shop?