| OCR Text |
Show Fair Forever 33 "I know you're out there, Great Turtle," I whisper, then I raise my voice. "Amanda told me all about you. She said you helped her." I swallow hard. "I was hoping you'd help me, too." My voice fades toward Beacon 9 and I listen for a reply. I hear nothing; only unhurried waves, rolling lazy and low as they curl onto shore. Minutes pass and two kids walk the shoreline, younger than me. T can just see their silhouettes in the fading light. They stop to look at something in the sand, never noticing me sitting on the catwalk, watching, talking: I wait till they continue up shore. "School has started," I continue. "I don't think I'm ready." I lift my shirt and show my scar. "I'm out of excuses, you see. I'm supposed to be normal.. . like everyone else. I'm supposed to be thrilled, happy to be with my friends." I breathe in the air, clean and full, and rest my feet on the catwalk railing. The , railing is firm and painted a glossy white. My house is the kind of cottage Amanda would have wanted-grey shingled with white windows and a peaked roof With a catwalk. Amanda loved the catwalk. " I scan the water for any sign of a turtle, but it's too dark to notice a rippling of water or a bulge in the surface. The Great Turtle, Cornelius, was here last spring, or so Amanda said. I was hoping he might still be around. I notice the light blinking on the top of Beacon 9, the spot Amanda always chose. When Amanda rowed, I watched from my catwalk or my porch. Always, she would row straight for the channel and stop at the same place-just to the left of Beacon 9. There, she would drift, as if a voice had asked her to stay. Those must have been the . times she talked to the Great Turtle. |
