The Murk by Robert Lettrick

Author:Robert Lettrick [Lettrick, Robert]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781484719398
Publisher: Disney Publishing Worldwide
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

But as the Mud Cat puttered northwest, the alligators followed. They didn’t rush forward to close the gap. Instead, they hung back, leaving a thirty-yard span of water between their toothy line and the boat.

“They are stalking us!” said Tad. “Why are they stalking us?”

“I honestly don’t know” was all Perch could say. “This is a first. I have to admit, they’re giving me heebie-jeebies. This place…it’s not natural.”

Where the Mud Cat went, the alligators went with it. When it slowed, they slowed. When the boat sped up, they used their powerful tails as rudders, propelling themselves faster through the water to keep up. Perch asked Macey to throttle down so they could discuss a new plan.

“What do you think, Mace?” he asked.

“We’re not gonna be able to shake them, that’s for sure,” she replied. “If I push the motor, the boat will reach twenty miles per hour, but we might plane out. Gators can swim faster than the Mud Cat’s top speed, especially those big bruisers. Some of them’re at least fifteen feet long, judging by the width of their skulls.”

“This doesn’t feel right,” said Perch. “I think…I think it’s time to leave. Maybe we can find a detour. Or a strip of land, lead them around it, and—”

“No!” Piper couldn’t believe her ears. “We can’t go home now! We’re so close. We have to be. We’ll go back when we find the flower. Macey, tell him!”

This time, however, Macey sided with her partner. “I know what this means to y’all,” she said. “Believe me, I do. But these gators, they’re just not right in the head. Perch and I…we’re responsible for you kids. I understand how you feel, but—”

“No you don’t!” Piper shot to her feet and yelled in Macey’s face. “How could you possibly know how I feel?”

Piper waited, fists clenched at her sides, chest heaving, for Macey to answer. The others were too stunned to speak.

There was a long, heavy pause as Macey sat on the bench, silent, a wounded look on her face. The deep folds in the weathered skin of her forehead squinched tight. She started to roll up her right sleeve. For a moment, Piper was afraid Macey might hit her, but the Mud Cat’s sternman was just uncovering the tattoo on her forearm. The one that read Georgia.

“Mace.” Perch sighed. “It’s none of her business.”

“Yes, it is,” Macey said. “I’m making it so.”

“So what?” said Piper. “You have a tattoo that says ‘Georgia.’ What does that have to do with diddly?”

“It has everything to do with everything,” said Macey. “Georgia was my daughter’s name.”

“Your daughter?” It never occurred to Piper that Macey might have a family—unless you counted Perch, which the woman obviously did.

Macey rubbed her arm, smoothing out the wrinkled and slightly sagging canvas of the tattoo. She eyed it sadly. “My Georgia…she liked to play with dolls. She was real good at it. Took them everywhere she went. Gave them their babas three times a day. You could set a clock by their feeding schedule.

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