The Dawn Seal by Holly Webb

Author:Holly Webb
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Stripes Publishing
Published: 2022-03-15T00:00:00+00:00

“Hey!”

Lissa peered down at the river path through the binoculars and saw an enormous Alfie looking up at her enviously.

“Mum said I could come and see if you were in, and if you wanted to come over to ours. I wish I’d asked if I could come over here instead, though – we can’t sit on the roof of our houseboat. I’m really jealous.”

Lissa smiled, hoping she didn’t look too smug. “You can come up here another time,” she suggested. “If your mum and dad let you.”

Alfie eyed her thoughtfully. “Yeah, actually, I think my mum might not be sure…”

“Mine too.” Lissa sighed. “But I’d love to come to yours. Is it OK if I bring these? Rosy lent them to me. You know, she lives close to you and she has the bulldog? I just have to ask my dad though.”

Lissa’s dad looked delighted when she asked if it was OK to go to Alfie’s. “That would be great, Liss. I’m really sorry I haven’t spent much time with you these past few days. Let me go and find something you can take to give to Alfie’s mum. I reckon there’s some cake bars in the galley. Hang on.”

He insisted on walking Lissa and Alfie back to Alfie’s houseboat too, even though Alfie assured him they wouldn’t get lost.

“Dad, it’s straight down the river path from one boat to the other!”

“I know. But I want to say thank you to Alfie’s mum for letting you come over and I’ll give her my number, just in case.” Lissa and Alfie sighed at each other, and while they hurried ahead of Dad, Lissa told him all the things she’d found out about seals.

“I’m worried about Pup. Apparently, if they come out of the water really close to people, like on a beach next to someone having a picnic, it’s because they’re running out of energy. Well, climbing on a paddleboard, that’s even worse than a beach with people, isn’t it?”

“Definitely,” Alfie agreed.

“But we did the right thing not scaring her back into the water.”

“Her? Did you find out she’s a girl, then?”

Lissa shook her head. “No… But saying it just felt weird. So I decided Pup’s a her.”

“OK.” Alfie shrugged. “What did you mean about not scaring her back in?”

“I read that if you do that it uses up even more of their energy and it can make life even harder for them. If they’re worn out you have to give them time to recover.” Lissa looked at Alfie worriedly. “I hope she found somewhere to go and have a proper rest.”

Once Dad had exchanged numbers with Alfie’s mum, Lissa and Alfie settled on the little deck at the front of the boat, taking turns to look through the binoculars and eating snacks that Alfie’s mum had given them.

“There’s something over there,” Alfie mumbled, with his mouth full of banana. “Look. Maybe it’s Pup, Lissa!”

Lissa turned the binoculars over to the other bank – there was definitely something… She sighed. “Alfie, it’s a plastic bag!”

“It doesn’t look like one,” Alfie muttered.

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.