A Boy and a Bear in a Boat by Dave Shelton

Author:Dave Shelton [Shelton, Dave]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-0-375-98475-4
Publisher: Random House Children's Books
Published: 2012-06-11T16:00:00+00:00

“It’s the captain’s decision to make,” he said, tapping his captain’s hat (not quite as lightly as he’d intended) with the mallet for emphasis. “Long-term planning, that’s the thing,” he huffed. “That’s what captaincy is all about. But I wouldn’t expect you to understand.”

The boy rolled his eyes, but decided not to argue any further. The bear could stand there holding a fish all day so far as he was concerned. And once the bear finally gave up, at least they could cook and eat the fish they’d already got. And teasing the bear about it all afterwards would provide entertainment for days. He just hoped the bear wouldn’t be too stubborn. Surely he would give up after an hour or two.

The boy made himself comfortable at the front of the boat. He started to read the comic again. He didn’t pay it much attention though. He knew it so well now that there were no surprises left in it for him. He looked up at the bear, standing there, tongue out in concentration, fish clasped in one paw, mallet in the other. No surprises there either. Then he looked just at the fish and his stomach rumbled.

“Shh!” said the bear, without looking round. “You’ll scare the fish away.”

Before the boy could reply he was interrupted by a much lower, louder rumble that made the whole boat shake.

“I’ll scare the fish away?” said the boy. “Your tummy’s much worse than mine.”

The bear looked puzzled.

“That wasn’t my tummy,” he said.

The rumble rumbled again. It was a terrible, low growling, even louder now, and the boat was pitching and rocking.

The bear, struggling to keep his balance, nevertheless still held the bait steady over the now choppy waters.

“That’s odd,” he said.

The growling got louder still, the volume growing more quickly now. The boy looked all around, trying to work out which direction it was coming from. There was nothing to be seen. It made no sense. Louder still. He could feel the vibrations of it through the boards of the boat’s hull, up through his feet and legs to shake his stomach. Deafening now, the sea around them foaming and angry. And then the boy realised.

“It’s coming from underneath us!” he shouted to the bear.

“What?” said the bear, turning to look at the boy but still keeping his baited arm outstretched.

A huge column of water shot upward from the sea directly behind the boat, the tremendous noise of it combining with an unearthly growling, howling, thundering cry as something very big and very strange burst out of the sea and neatly snatched the fish from the bear’s hand. The boat was thrown up into the air, turned a neat somersault and landed back down on the water with a smack, knocking the boy and the bear over onto their backs. They looked up at the terrifying thing towering above them, at the many eyes, the tentacles, the barnacle-encrusted skin, the gaping mouth full of very big and very pointy teeth.

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