Hurricane Katrina Rescue by Kate Messner

Author:Kate Messner
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Scholastic Inc.
Published: 2018-08-17T16:00:00+00:00

Clare hugged her garbage bag to her chest. “Jump!” she screamed, and leaped from the boat.

She clung to the plastic bundle and kicked as fast as she could. It felt as if each of her sneakers weighed a hundred pounds, but she forced herself to kick harder. She fought the urge to look back at the floating house threatening to crush her.

Clare gagged on mouthfuls of awful water as she swam. Was it even water anymore? No. It was a horrible, flooded-city soup that stank of sewage and chemicals and gasoline. Her arms cramped from holding so tightly to her bag. Her legs burned. Her eyes and nose stung. She wasn’t sure how much longer she could swim. And then what?

Something crunched behind her. It sounded like a bundle of branches snapping in a giant’s fist. Clare let herself stop swimming. Floating in the black water, she turned and saw the pieces that remained of her father’s boat. The house had crushed it against the tree. If Clare had stayed in that boat, it would have been her limbs crunching against the tree. And the dog …

Where was he?

“Dog!” Clare called, and got a mouthful of awful water. She spit it out. “Dog!”

She heard a weak bark and whirled around. There he was! Closer to the house. It was wedged between two trees now and had stopped moving.

Clare kicked her way over to Ranger. With the boat shattered into toothpicks, the house was their only hope to get out of the water. Clare grabbed a window frame and flung her garbage bag onto the gently sloped roof. Then she grabbed the gutter and hoisted herself up.

The gutter creaked, but Clare held on. For once, she was thankful Dad had forced her through his special “army training.” She’d done push-ups and pull-ups in the yard with him three times a week since she was seven.

Now Clare used every bit of her strength. The sharp edge of the metal gutter cut into her palms, but she didn’t let go. Finally, she collapsed on the roof. She caught her breath and turned to lean over the edge.

“Come on, dog, jump!” Clare called down to Ranger in the water below. She thumped the roof with her palm. “Up! Let’s go!”

Ranger looked at Clare. How was he supposed to jump onto the roof when his legs were busy paddling?

He swam closer. The shingles were just inches above the water. But every time Ranger managed to get his paws onto the roof, they slid off again.

Clare leaned out as far as she dared. She grabbed Ranger under his armpits and pulled him forward until he managed to get his front paws onto the roof. Then he caught his back paws on the gutter and scrambled the rest of the way up, knocking Clare over.

“Whoa!” Clare tumbled backward. She started to slide down the roof, but her sneakers caught on the gutter, and she carefully eased herself back up.

Ranger shook water from his fur. The house was shaky and creaky under his paws.

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