A Galaxy of Sea Stars by Jeanne Zulick Ferruolo

Author:Jeanne Zulick Ferruolo
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR)

Third Grade

It was the kind of September day when you’d swear it was still July.

The sky was a deep, bright blue, and it matched the ocean so closely, you couldn’t tell where the sky ended and the water began.

Mom said all we needed was palm trees and you’d think we were in Bermuda.

Dad had just gotten a job working on the fishing boat SarahBeth and he was about to set off for an offshore trip that would keep him away for over a week. His truck was packed with his bag and he and Mom stood hugging on the front lawn. I ran over and joined in. Mom and I pretended we weren’t going to let him go.

“One more walk on the beach,” I begged. “Please! Just to Brogee’s and back.”

Dad looked at his watch. “I guess we can go down and back. But we have to go quick.”

Flotsam barked and pranced in the air as we headed down Rosewood Avenue to Surfside. The parking lot gate was lowered, so we walked around.

I remember there had been a storm the day before, and there was red seaweed and shells scattered across the beach. But that was no surprise—the beach was constantly changing. Each day, you never knew what you’d find.

When we reached the Sea Star Headquarters, I saw them first. Hundreds of tiny sea stars were scattered across the beach.

I stared up at that cloudless sky that had seemed like a gift only a moment ago, but now seemed like a villain as the full sun beat down on those tiny lifeless creatures stuck in the hot sand.

Without a word spoken—and at the exact same second—we each jumped into action.

Mom held out her shirttail and began to gather sea stars in it, then placed them in the water so they could gently float away.

Dad was right behind her, a row of sea stars down his arm.

I ran over and gently picked one up. The tiny star seemed to pulse in my hand, like a baby’s heart.

“It’s okay, little sea star,” I said. “I’m taking you home. Your mama’s waiting. Here you go.”

I lowered it into the ocean.

The three of us ran back and forth between the beach and the water. Carefully, gently, until the beach was empty.

At first, the sea stars seemed to just float there, on the water’s surface.

Then they were gone.

“Are they going to be okay?” I asked.

Mom and Dad each put an arm around me.

“Yes,” Dad said. “I’m sure of it.”

“You saved the starfish, Izzy-bug. You are a true friend of the ocean.”

“They’re sea stars, Mom,” I said, rolling my eyes, and Mom and Dad started laughing.

We ran back to the house and jumped in the truck. Mom sped all the way to Galilee, honking when we got to the docks.

The SarahBeth was about to leave.

Dad leapt onto the ship and the captain barked so loudly at him that I could hear everything.

He had said that if Dad didn’t want the job, he’d find someone else who did.

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