Manatee Rescue by Nicola Davies

Author:Nicola Davies [Davies, Nicola]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-0-7636-8035-0
Publisher: Candlewick Press
Published: 2013-09-25T04:00:00+00:00

Raffy crossed out Manatee and wrote Airuwe at the top of the action plan and pinned it to the wall by the front door. The next morning, the girls made a start on number one.

Clearing out the old fish pond for Airuwe to live in was harder than they expected. Raffy hadn’t used the pool since Mauricio had died, and it was choked with weeds and full of green water. It took the girls all day to pull out the weeds and scrub the pond clean, in between feeding Airuwe and cleaning his tank.

Refilling the pond was a problem, too. Raffy had an old hand pump, so they could pump water from the river, but it was really slow and hard to use. The pond was still only half full by the end of the afternoon. Then Raffy suggested that they set up two huge tarpaulins to run rainwater into it and help to fill it up.

Overnight, rain hammered on the veranda roof and cascaded out of the gutters. By morning, Airuwe’s new home was full enough to put him in, as soon as the sun had warmed the water a little.

The sun was out as they carried Airuwe down to the pool. He had been much more wriggly when they’d taken him from the bath, and Manuela didn’t want to risk him falling from her arms, so they carried him in a wet sheet, holding it like a sling between them. Tintico gamboled alongside, sniffing at Airuwe through the fabric and “uffing” encouragingly. When they got to the pool, they lowered the sling in and waited for the manatee to swim out into his new home. But he didn’t move.

“What’s the matter with him?” said Libia. “Doesn’t he like the pool?”

Manuela looked down at the calf and saw, instead, herself as a baby: alone in her crib and longing for the comfort of her mother. Without another word or thought, she slipped into the pool and eased Airuwe out of the sheet and into the water. She floated beside him and he cuddled in close.

“I know how it feels,” she whispered to him. “I know.”

“You really are a manatee mama,” said Libia. “Here, give him his bottle.”

The water came up to Manuela’s shoulders. She put one arm around Airuwe and held the bottle to feed him with the other hand. His face was out of the water and close to hers. He looked at her carefully. This time, he didn’t fall asleep once and finished a whole bottle in half an hour.

Airuwe got more used to being fed from a bottle. He would accept it from Libia and Raffy, but it was only Manuela he liked having in the water with him. He grew stronger as his wound started to heal, and he began to explore his pond. He made use of different parts of it at different times of day, depending on whether he wanted the warming power of the sun or the cool of shade.

Like the parents of small babies, Manuela and Libia fell into a routine of feeding times and sleep.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.