Treading Water by Laurie Halse Anderson

Author:Laurie Halse Anderson
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin Group US
Published: 2014-04-15T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter Eight

Sage picks me up at the front entrance of the high school again. As we drive through the parking lot, I notice we both can’t help but look in the direction of where we found the ducklings a week ago.

And that’s when I see Nick and his girlfriend, from Outdoor Club, waving us down. Sage stops, and we roll down our windows.

“Hey, man”—Nick leans on the window frame and says to Sage—“I see you already fixed that muffler.”

“Shop got me in fast,” Sage says. “Hey,” he says to Nick’s girlfriend.

The girlfriend waves at each of us and then looks down at her phone as she quickly texts.

“Sorry I couldn’t stop in to see your photog show,” Nick begins. “I had to get some stuff done.”

“It’s okay,” I say. Although I had really hoped to see him. One familiar face would have helped, especially at the beginning. Oh well.

“I was wondering about those baby ducks,” Nick says. “They doing okay?”

Sage looks over at me to answer for both of us.

“The first three we all found are doing well,” I begin. “But that fourth one you found didn’t make it. It died a couple days later.”

Nick looks seriously sad. “Jeez,” he says.

His girlfriend looks up from her phone. “What’s this?” she asks.

Nick answers, “One of the baby ducks didn’t make it.”

The girlfriend pats him on the arm, “Oh, I’m so sorry, sweetie.”

“Did you guys ever find out who left them in the parking lot?” Nick asks.

Sage shakes his head. “We’re on our way over to pick them up now, though,” he says.

“We are?” I knew nothing of this.

Sage looks my way and says, “Yeah, Dr. Mac called Mom this morning and set it up. Says they’re ready to be sprung.”

“Cool,” Nick says. “Glad they’re going to your place. Do you think you’ll keep them?”

This time, Sage answers for both of us. “Naw. We’re just a stop on the road to recovery. My parents work on releasing animals back to the wild or, if that isn’t possible, finding them a permanent home.”

“If we kept them all, we’d be overrun,” I add. “Plus, they’re meant to live in the wild.”

Nick laughs. “Makes sense.”

“Oh, also,” I say, “I might be moving the Environmental Club meetings over here.”

“Cool. I’m in,” Nick says. He looks at his girlfriend and shrugs. “I think we both are. Keep me posted.”

Sage taps the steering wheel. “We’d better get going to pick up those birds,” he says. “You oughta come out to our place and take a look around. Visit the ducklings you helped save.”

“Really?” Nick asks. “That’d be great. I bet I haven’t been to the rehab center since my fourth-grade field trip.”

Sage and I laugh because it seems like every fourth grader in the county passes through our place on a school field trip. Our dad even has a corny saying that he recites like a king might as the kids get back on their school buses: “Go forth, Fourth Graders, and protect wildlife forever.”

Girlfriend looks up from her phone again, “What’s this?” she asks.

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