A Friendly Town That's Almost Always by the Ocean! Read online

  He swallowed hard, gathering up all his nerve. Then he climbed over the side, dropped onto the sand, and ducked underneath the boardwalk.

  “Wow,” Finn said. It was much more spacious than he’d realized. But other than the places where sunlight filtered through the cracks, it was pitch-dark. The air smelled of salt and decaying seaweed. “Hello?” he called, dodging a spider web. A crab scuttled over his foot. “Anyone there?”

  He didn’t expect anyone to hear him.

  But the old woman did.

  “Over here,” she said, switching on a lantern. Her eyes looked like marbles in a face-shaped blob of dough. Her eyebrows were thick and hairy, and her nose was huge. She wore a belted brown tunic, which looked like some kind of animal hide. Around her waist, three square-shaped bells clinked.

  She looked like a troll.

  And she was holding Finn’s glowball. “Is this stupid thing yours?” she grumbled. “It bonked me on the head, you know.”

  “I’m so sorry,” Finn said. “It slipped through the crack.”

  “Maybe if you kids would slow down, instead of thundering over my roof all day long, you’d manage to hold on to your possessions.”

  The old woman leaned down and picked up a splintery-looking wooden box, then opened it so Finn could peer inside. It was filled with all kinds of things. Squirt guns. Bow ties. A plastic triceratops covered in glitter. Pencils with chew marks. A ribbon that looked like one of Nia’s, or maybe Earl Grey’s.

  “Everything that falls through the cracks, I hold on to,” the old woman said. “But unlike you, your friends never come to retrieve their things.”

  “They probably don’t even realize they dropped them,” Finn said.

  “Of course not! They’re too busy trip-trapping over the boardwalk. Racing through life, day after day. Waking me up from my naps with their loud voices and big, thumpy feet.”

  “I’m sure they don’t mean to,” Finn said.

  “Why do you keep sticking up for them?” the old woman asked. “Where are your friends right now?”

  Finn paused. “Well, they were racing down the boardwalk…”

  “Of course they were!”

  “I don’t think they noticed when I stopped. I called to them, but they didn’t hear me.” Finn frowned. “They never hear me, actually. Almost nobody does.”

  “I can hear you just fine,” the old woman said.

  “You can?”

  “It’s not that hard to hear somebody. As long as you’re listening.”

  Finn slipped his glowball into his pocket. He never had any trouble hearing his friends! Although he didn’t always hear his brothers—they were so noisy, sometimes he just stopped listening. On purpose. With his fingers in his ears, more often than not.

  Finn frowned again. “I need a better way to get their attention.”

  “What have you tried?” the old woman asked.

  “Well, I couldn’t find anywhere to rent a megaphone. But I wore clompy boots. I even dyed my hair pink!”

  “It didn’t help?”

  Finn shook his head. “I think my friends get too wrapped up in their own fun. Like when they’re being noisy on the boardwalk! Maybe they just need something to snap them out of it.”

  The old woman stroked her chin, thinking.

  Then she unclipped one of the square bells from her belt. “How about you borrow one of these for a while?” she said, handing the bell to Finn. “I use them to scare away rock cats from my supper.”

  “Thank you!” Finn put the bell in his pocket. Then he plucked the yellow flower from behind his ear and handed it to the old woman.

  She tucked it behind her own ear. “Name’s Billy, by the way,” she said.

  “I’m Finn. It’s nice to meet you, Billy.”

  They shook hands.

  “Would you like a cup of goat’s milk before you go?” Billy asked. “I was just about to pour myself one when your ball bopped me on the head.”

  “No, thank you,” Finn said, wrinkling his nose.

  “It’s really quite good.”

  “Some other time.”

  “Sure thing,” Billy said. “And can you do me a favor? If you can get your friends to listen, tell them to slow down. Sounds like they’re all wearing clompy boots.”

  Finn grinned. “I will.”

  He waved at Billy and ducked out from under the boardwalk. The sudden sunlight made him squint. To his surprise, Nia, Quincy, Davy, Jules, and Earl Grey were waiting for him up above.

  “Finn!” they shouted. “Are you okay?”

  Finn climbed back onto the boardwalk and hurried to join them. “I’m okay,” he said.

  “Are you okay?” Nia asked again. “We were so worried about you!”

  “We thought the troll ate you,” Quincy said.

  “She’s not actually a troll,” Finn said, a little louder. “She’s just an old woman named Billy—”

  “Did you see the troll?” Jules asked. “What does he look like?”

  Finn sighed. Nothing had changed. Even if his friends had come back for him, they still weren’t listening to him.

  Then he remembered Billy’s bell.

  “So what do you guys want to—” Nia began.

  Finn shook the bell as hard as he could: CLANGCLANGCLANG. All his friends shut up and stared, even Earl Grey.

  “You guys never listen to me,” Finn said.

  “Oh!” Nia said. “Sorry.”

  “You just have a quiet voice, is all,” Quincy said.

  Davy nodded in agreement. “Abnormally quiet.”

  “I know I do.” Finn sighed. “But it happens all the time. If you slowed down and listened, like Billy said, maybe you’d hear some of my ideas. And jokes! Sometimes I make funny jokes!”

  “Wait, who’s Billy?” Quincy asked.

  “Hang on,” Jules said. “How about Finn decides what we do for the rest of the afternoon? You know. To make up for his ordeal.”

  Finn beamed. This was what he’d been waiting for! “I think we should—” he began. “Oh, wait! First, I’m supposed to tell you…”

  Then he paused.

  He couldn’t remember what he was going to say.

  NIGHTY-NIGHT, CRABS

  by Jules, Fifth-Grade Star Reporter

  Breaking news! The thousands of strange black crabs are leaving the rocks. Sort of. According to Talise, the crabs are digging deep into the sand under the rocks, where they will probably hibernate like bears or cave bats. This does tell us a lot about these crabs’ preferred habitat—unlike regular crabs, who live in the ocean, these crabs clearly prefer the dark and dry of underground burrows. This might also explain why they have a softer exoskeleton than most crabs.

  Everyone keeps insisting that there’s nothing weird about these crabs. But this reporter’s stepsister said she should always follow her instincts—and her instincts say there’s more to this story. So this reporter isn’t giving up until she uncovers the truth. Stay tuned!

  A MESSAGE FROM THE PTA

  This is a reminder to students that school is a place for answers, not questions. Questions can be very dangerous, especially for young minds. If you need answers, please consult your textbooks or a PTA-approved fortune-teller. Remember: think before you ask, then don’t ask. STAY SAFE!

  Life in Topsea could be a whole lot of fun. Like during Seaweed Season. Or Gravity Maintenance. Or after an Extremely High Tide hit, when Runa and her sister could gather starfish right from their front lawn.

  But with a little embellishment, life could be even more fun, you know? A few extra colors and details, some trumpet fanfares, an extra troll or two.

  That’s what Runa thought.

  But Ms. Grimalkin felt differently. “Runa, you know I love your tales,” she said as she handed back her English paper.

  “Thanks!” Runa said. She’d written about her summer vacation, which she really had spent in South Korea…although there hadn’t actually been any flying tigers.

  “But ther
e’s a right time and place for telling them,” Ms. Grimalkin continued.

  “What do you mean?” Runa asked.

  “When you’re always telling tales, it’s hard to separate the truth from fiction. Have you ever heard of the boy who cried wolf?”

  Runa brightened. “No, but I’ve heard of a boy who was raised by wolves! He lives in the beach forest, and has sticks and leaves in his hair, and one day I was looking for pinecones for an art project and he howled at me—”

  Ms. Grimalkin sighed. “Never mind.

  After English came art, which was Runa’s all-time favorite subject. Ms. Grimalkin let the kids work on whatever they wanted. Finn was making flowers from crepe paper. Quincy was working on a collage of question marks clipped from old magazines. Nia was making a tutu for Earl Grey.

  “Hold still,” Nia ordered, knotting another piece of tulle around the watch hog’s substantial waist.

  Talise was making a scientifically accurate undersea diorama. Jules was sketching cartoons for the school paper. Davy was sculpting a dog from clay, which made Runa smile.

  She pulled out her latest painting. This one was abstract, the canvas piled with thick, colorful paint. She’d wanted it to look like a van Gogh painting. But it looked more like the chewing gum wall, if you relaxed your eyes.

  “What’s that supposed to be?” Jules asked.

  “The night sky,” Runa said. “More specifically, this one time I saw a meteor shower, but all the stars were rainbow colors, and the entire sky looked like a swirly rainbow—”

  “Suuuuure,” Jules said with a grin.

  Runa heard that word a whole lot—especially from Jules, who preferred facts to fiction. So Runa was used to it. But that didn’t mean she liked it.

  “I think it’s pretty!” Nia said.

  Runa beamed at Nia, then turned back to her painting. “Oops,” she said. “I’m out of paint.”

  “Maybe if you didn’t use so much of it,” Jules said.

  “It’s called alla prima,” Runa said. “Paint looks better when it has lots of texture.”

  “But does it really need to be six inches thick?”

  “I like it,” Finn said. “It’s like…a mountain range in the sky.”

  “Thanks!” Runa decided she’d give him the painting when she was finished. Finn always appreciated her artwork, unlike some of the other kids. Once, she’d tried to give Quincy a painting of the ocean. He’d said, “Um. Oh. Er. Thanks, but I don’t think I have anywhere to put it.” Maybe because the seaweed she’d used had still been a little wriggly?

  “Is there any more paint?” Runa asked Ms. Grimalkin.

  “Looks like we’re all out.” Ms. Grimalkin opened her desk drawer and pulled out a skeleton key. “Would you mind visiting the storage closet to get some?”

  “Sure,” Runa said. “Where is it?”

  “In the basement.”

  Runa gulped. She wasn’t afraid of much, but she’d never been in the basement of Topsea School. And since the school was very large, she had the feeling the basement would be very large, too. “Do you have a map?”

  “Don’t be silly,” Ms. Grimalkin said. “I’ll just give you directions. Are you ready?”

  “I guess so.”

  “Take your first left, then second left, then third right, then first left. Go all the way to the end of the hall, and take the stairs down—the long staircase, not the short one. Turn right again. On your left, you’ll find a set of double doors. After that, another staircase leading down. Turn left, right, second right, then straight on until you find the locked closet door. There will be another locked door behind it. At the bottom of the stairs you find, there’ll be a third locked door. That’s the art supply closet!”

  Runa rubbed her temples. “Did you say ‘left’ after the long staircase?”

  “Right,” Ms. Grimalkin said.

  “Okay. I think I’ve got it.”

  “Why don’t you take a buddy with you?”

  “Good idea!” Runa smiled at Finn.

  But then Ms. Grimalkin tapped Davy on the shoulder. “How about you?” she asked him.

  Runa’s smile flipped upside down. “Donny?”

  “Be kind,” Ms. Grimalkin said. “His name is Dolly.”

  Davy blushed. “Sure, I’ll go.”

  Finn looked a little jealous, but he patted Davy on the head. “Runa’s the best,” he said. “If you’re lucky, she’ll tell you a story!”

  “Lucky?” Jules repeated. “Storytelling is all Runa does.”

  “Clearly, she paints as well,” Talise said.

  Runa smiled at Talise, then side-eyed Davy as they headed into the hallway. When she was in the middle of a tale, she didn’t care who believed her. But she felt a little self-conscious in front of the new kid. Who knew what kinds of glittery, whirly, fantastical things he’d seen in his old town?

  As soon as they entered the hallway, Runa got down on her hands and knees and started knocking on the floor. She crawled a few feet and knocked again. “Does that sound hollow to you?” she asked Davy.

  His brow was furrowed. “What are you doing?”

  “I’m trying to find the basement, obviously.”

  “Isn’t it right over there?” Davy pointed at a green door.

  “Oh,” Runa said, getting to her feet. “That probably leads to the basement.”

  She used Ms. Grimalkin’s skeleton key to unlock the door. As they started down the steps, Davy looked nervous.

  “Did you really remember Ms. Grimalkin’s directions?” he asked. “Because I probably only heard a fifth of them.”

  “Which fifth?” Runa asked hopefully. “I’m pretty sure I’ve got the first and fourth fifths. If you got one of the other fifths, we’ll be a whole lot closer to a whole.”

  Davy shrugged. “A bunch of left turns. A bunch of right turns. Something about a set of double doors…”

  “Perfect!”

  Runa wasn’t sure what she’d expected the school’s basement to look like. Maybe dark and drippy and dungeonlike, with flickering candles, and strange symbols painted on the moss-covered walls…

  That’s the tale Runa would have told.

  But the basement was brightly lit. Fluorescent lights overhead made a buzzing sound. Occasionally, they heard a beeping, but they couldn’t tell where it was coming from. Everything smelled like bleach.

  As Runa and Davy wound down stairs and through hallways, they passed numerous doors. They all had boring names:

  None of the doors said STORAGE CLOSET, though. Runa did her best to follow Ms. Grimalkin’s directions. But she knew she and Davy were lost long before she admitted it—first to herself, and then to Davy, who was plodding along beside her like a trusty dog in a storybook.

  “I don’t know where we are,” she confessed.

  “Uh-oh.” Davy stopped. “Are you saying we’re lost?”

  “Well…I wouldn’t say lost, exactly. I think I know how to move backward. But not forward.”

  “I guess we’ll have to return without the paint.”

  Runa took a few steps backward, then sighed. “I don’t want to disappoint Ms. Grimalkin.”

  “Why don’t you tell her the truth?” Davy asked. “I mean, that you forgot her directions?”

  “She’ll think I’m making it up,” Runa said. “If you haven’t noticed…I tend to exaggerate from time to time.”

  “But why would you lie about something like that?”

  Runa squinted. “Well, why would you lie about your name?”

  “I’m not lying! My name really is Davy.”

  “Suuuuure,” she said.

  Davy rolled his eyes. Runa hoped she hadn’t hurt his feelings. Boys could be so sensitive.

  “You and I make kind of a funny pair, don’t we?” he said as they backtracked through the basement.

  “A pair?” Runa repeated.

  Davy’s cheeks turned a little pinker. “I just meant, we’re opposites. I’m always wishing everything in Topsea was less
strange. And you’re always inventing stories to make it even stranger!”

  Runa giggled. “That’s true! But it’s so much more fun that way, you know?”

  “I do, actually. I mean, I’ve never told many stories, but—my dad used to tell really great ones. About intergalactic battles and aliens and robots.”

  “Wow!” Runa said. “I bet I’d like your dad.”

  Instead of replying, Davy blinked at his shoes. His cheeks went from pink to red. Runa hoped she hadn’t said something wrong again. It wouldn’t be the first time.

  “It’d be nice if people believed me when I wanted them to, though,” she went on. “Like the time Finn got stuck to the chewing gum wall, and the only tool I could find to help him was a spork…”

  Finally, they made it back to the classroom. “Greetings, basement spelunkers,” Ms. Grimalkin said. “Did you manage to locate the paint?”

  But before Runa could answer, all the other kids in the class crowded around them.

  “I can’t believe you went in the basement!” Nia exclaimed, bouncing excitedly in place.

  “I’d have been so nervous,” Quincy said. “What kind of stuff was down there?”

  “No bathtubs, I sincerely hope,” Talise added.

  Runa glanced at Davy. Then she glanced at Ms. Grimalkin, who was listening closely. “Well…nothing much, actually. Just a lot of fluorescent lights—”

  “In all kinds of colors,” Davy interrupted. “Flickering and flashing in every color of the rainbow!”

  Runa stared at him. “Huh?” she mouthed.

  “Cool!” Jules said.

  “And we passed all kinds of swirly, creepy staircases,” Davy continued. “Secret passageways and trapdoors and booby traps. Doors with really weird things on them. Like…CLOWNS. And ODDLY SHAPED TEETH. And DRAGONS!”

  “Dragons?” Nia exclaimed. “Wow! You guys are really brave.”

  Runa grinned at Davy. “Thanks, Doogie.”

  Davy grinned back, his cheeks pink. “No problem.”

  Runa felt a tap on her shoulder. She turned to find Finn, looking a bit left out. “Will you take me next time?” he asked. “The basement sounds so cool!”

  “Ehhh,” Runa said. “Doogie was just telling tales.”