We Give a Squid a Wedgie
Page 21
“Sounds good to me,” said Celia. “But how?”
“Maybe your friend can help.” The professor pointed to a small wooden fishing boat sailing up alongside the sinking ship, and Celia’s friend Jabir standing on the bow with his mother, waving.
44
WE WON’T FORGET
OUR FRIENDS
“NEED A LIFT?” Celia called out as their boat approached the floating pile of garbage where Oliver and Dr. Navel had watched the attack of the kraken unfold.
“Celia!” Dr. Navel clamored to his feet, so happy to see his daughter again that he lost his balance and fell into the water.
Jabir’s mother used a long pole to pull him out again. Dr. Navel hugged Celia, and then he saw his wife.
“Claire!” He knelt in front of her. “Claire?”
“Ogden,” she said dreamily. “Am I still crazy? Is that you or the monkey?”
“It’s me!” he said, embracing and kissing her.
“Gross,” Oliver muttered as he climbed aboard the fishing boat.
“Hi, Oliver,” Jabir said to him.
“Hi,” Oliver answered.
“You dropped our remote control,” Celia told Oliver.
“You talked to a giant squid,” Oliver told her.
“You okay?”
“Yeah. You?”
“Yeah.”
They stared at each other for a while, both of them looking pretty bedraggled from their adventures, and then they hugged. As annoying as it could be to have a twin, they were pretty sure it was much worse not to have one.
“Where’s Corey?” Celia asked, and Oliver shook his head sadly.
“The pirates,” he said.
“Celia, Oliver,” their mother called out. “You’re all right! And you saved us!”
Oliver hugged his mother.
“Are you, like, still crazy?” Celia asked warily.
“I have a headache,” she said. “But I’m feeling fine. The last thing I remember is you, Celia, standing up to Sir Edmund.”
“It didn’t really work, though,” said Celia. “I had to give him Plato’s map.”
Her mother couldn’t hide the worry sweeping across her face.
“I did keep this, though,” Celia said, unzipping her wet suit and pulling out the soaked leather journal.
“You found Percy Fawcett!” Dr. Navel exclaimed.
“Yeah,” said Celia. “I sort of had to.”
Her father started flipping through the journal. It was hard to read because it had gotten very wet, but he nodded eagerly. “You might just be the greatest explorer in history!”
Oliver stuck his tongue out at her. Jabir smiled at her. Celia managed to scowl at her brother and blush at the same time.
“There are clues in here,” her father said. “We can use this!”
“We?” Celia raised her eyebrows.
“Sixth grade will be there when you get back!” Dr. Navel smiled. “How would you like to find Atlantis instead?”
“Pass,” said Celia.
“Pass,” said Oliver.
“You’d be saving the world,” their mother told them.
“No, thanks,” said Celia and Oliver together.
“Well, we’ll have to discuss that on the way,” Dr. Navel told them.
“On the way to where?” Celia wondered, shooting her brother a nervous glance.
“On the way to find those pirates,” said Dr. Navel. “And to rescue Corey Brandt.”
“Oh,” said Celia.
“And Dennis?” Oliver asked. “He’s a pretty good rooster.”
“And Dennis,” Dr. Navel agreed. “Can we count on your help?” he asked Jabir.
“As long as those pirates are at sea, the Orang Laut will help you find them,” Jabir said. His mother said something. “First we need to get something to eat,” he translated. “And clean you guys up. You smell like kraken.”
“I am so writing a letter to Beast Busters,” said Oliver. Celia agreed.
They still didn’t want to go off looking for Atlantis, but saving Corey Brandt, star of stage and screen, and their best friend in the world? Well, sometimes friendship had its price.
“I get to be first mate,” said Celia.
“I want to be the bosun,” said Oliver.
“You don’t even know what a bosun is,” said Celia.
“So?” Oliver told her. “Neither do you.”
“I know the first mate is in charge of the bosun,” she said.
“Then you can’t be first mate! That’s not fair!”
“I talked to a herd of giant squid!”
“Squid don’t go in herds!” said Oliver. “They go in pods!”
“Who says?” said Celia. “I’m the one who talked to them!”
“I’ll bet you didn’t even do it on purpose. You were probably trying to tell them to eat me.”
“Why would they eat you? You’re gross!”
“Am not! I’ll bet I’m delicious.”
“Are not!”
“Am too!”
“Are not!”
Drs. Claire and Ogden Navel held hands and watched their children argue as the small boat sailed toward the nearest inhabited island. It would take time to find the pirates again, but it would also take time for Sir Edmund to wake up from Beverly’s bite and repair his ship.
Together, conscious, and relatively safe for the first time in years, the Navel family was going on another adventure.
It was a good thing, too, because back at the Explorers Club, their television was still broken.
AUTHOR’S NOTE
BY NOW, of course you know that some of the stranger things found within this story are indeed true, from pirates and sea people to giant squid and Percy Fawcett.
In 1907, in his history of piracy, Colonel John Biddulph wrote, “There was no peace on the ocean. The sea was a vast No Man’s domain, where every man might take his prey.”
His words are as true today as they were a hundred years ago. There really are dangerous modern-day pirates who sail the seas looking to hijack ships and they really are a motley crew of international miscreants, just as they were in the old days of notorious pirates like Barbarossa in the Mediterranean or Blackbeard in the Caribbean. You would not want to come across them in your own travels.
The Orang Laut really are some of the last sea nomads on earth, with a rich and complex culture that is often misunderstood and, like so many nomadic cultures, mistrusted. Pollution threatens their fishing habitats and, deprived of their traditional livelihood, many are forced to leave the sea behind and settle on land. They are one of the countless societies around the world whose power to determine their own future is threatened by forces beyond their control. Their understanding of and relationship to the sea could be of great benefit for all humanity, if they are able to survive the challenges of the twenty-first century.
As for the kraken, it is an old myth from Norway and Sweden. Some believe the myth was inspired by sailors seeing very real giant squid, which can grow up to fifty feet long. Some old accounts of the kraken aren’t based on fish at all. The bubbles from the deep, rumbles in the ocean, and ships dragged down by sudden currents could all have been caused by volcanic eruptions under the sea near Iceland. Of course, the ocean is the last great unexplored region on earth, and scientists are only beginning to discover the wonders of its depths.
Percy Fawcett, the long-lost explorer, really did vanish in the Amazon. He really did have a strong interest in Atlantis and the mysteries of the occult. However, the real whereabouts of Percy Fawcett’s remains are unknown. Perhaps he is in a cave on an island somewhere, waiting for a brave soul to come looking.
If you do find him, let us know by writing to:
C. Alexander London
Care of: Philomel Books
345 Hudson Street
New York, NY 10014 USA
Or visit http://www.calexanderlondon.com
nder London, We Give a Squid a Wedgie