Raindrops fell from the dark velvety sky, dropping delicately onto the world below. A few clouds drifted through in the gloom, covering the moon and few stars that had escaped the light of the city that flourished down the river. Five fruit bats glided through the air, each trying to find enough food for themselves before the rain started to pour down. The only reason they were staying together was that, if one bat found any sign of food, he wouldn’t be able to get it all for himself. Four of the five bats flapped a considerably long distance from the last one. They were bigger, with longer wings to allow them to fly farther and faster. They flew out every night to look for food, and they were veterans at it. The fifth bat was a young creature called Seed. This was his first time venturing out of the cave where he was born. He had been smart enough to go with the most skilled fliers to search for food, but he was quickly tiring. His wings felt like lead. He bit his tongue, struggling to keep up with the others, but he was much smaller than any of them. The muskrat smiled as she lifted the pearl and watched it sparkle “Hey, wait up!” he gasped. The other bats didn’t pay any attention. The rain came down harder. A bolt of lightening shot through the air, and a crack of thunder followed quickly after. The older bats dived, but Seed couldn’t tell where they had gone. “I can’t fly!” he cried, his wet wings flapping uselessly. He tumbled from the sky, down toward the ground. The world snapped out of view, and numbness spread through him. He was unconscious before he could cry out. * * * A muskrat sat on her haunches at the edge of the river, carefully scrubbing the spherical pearl in her paws of any dirt. She didn’t mind the rain pelting down onto her fur. She kind of liked it, actually. Not like that silly duck that sat hunched up in her nest as if the rain would burn her. The muskrat smiled as she lifted the pearl and watched it sparkle, evidently as clean as it would get. She was just about to turn and go back to her lodge when something caught her eye. A dark shape floated toward her. She stood on her hind legs to get a better look at it. It was definitely a creature of some sort, but she couldn’t tell what kind it was. She waded into the river, the current rushing past her faster than it usually went because of all the rain. The strange creature wasn’t moving—it was either dead or unconscious. The muskrat seized the animal around the middle with her paws and hauled him to shore. She was enthralled about how this creature looked. It had long, thin membranes stretched across its forelegs, which she guessed served as wings. The bat stirred and coughed. He opened his eyes and stared around at the river. The muskrat gently lifted him into her lodge, which was made of grass, sticks, and dried mud. “Who are you?” the bat asked suspiciously. He wiped his eyes with his thumbs. “Me? Oh, I’m Azure,” the muskrat said cheerfully. She looked curiously at the bat. “You’re a bat, aren’t you? How’d you get in the river?” The bat ignored her. She shook her head and stashed the pearl, which she realized she was still holding, behind a pile of sticks. “What was that?” the bat demanded. “Nothing,” Azure replied. “I’m going to catch some fish!” She left rather quickly. The bat stood on his feet and looked around. The inside of the lodge was completely empty of anything of interest, except perhaps the thing that Azure had stashed away. He decided he would investigate that later. “Hey, Bat, have you ever tried fish?” Azure asked, crawling back into the lodge with two pink fish wriggling in her paws. “My name is Seed!” the bat protested. “And I only eat fruit!” He lifted his right wing and licked it, attempting to get it dry. “You’re not even going to thank me for saving your life?” the muskrat asked, appalled. Seed ignored her once more. He stretched and yawned widely, then climbed to the ceiling of the lodge and hung upside down, immediately drifting into dreams filled with apples and pears. Azure curled into a ball and fell asleep as well, planning to teach the little bat some manners in the morning. * * * Seed’s feet slipped. He landed on the ground with a bump, waking instantly. Fuming, he rubbed his furry head and crept to the entrance of the muskrat lodge. It had stopped raining, and the sun was high in the sky. The bat shielded his sensitive eyes. Azure was paddling skillfully through the water, clutching a fish in her mouth. Seed glared at her. More fish! Why didn’t she go get him some fruit? He turned and went back inside, his stomach growling. The sunlight was hurting his eyes, and he liked the darkness of the lodge much better. He was about to climb back onto the ceiling when he remembered. What had the muskrat hidden? He reached behind the sticks where she had put it, and to his amazement he drew out a snow-white pearl. Seed grasped it in his wing tip and marveled at it. If he brought this back with him to his cave, maybe the others would be so impressed that they wouldn’t leave him alone in the rain the next time they left to find food! He couldn’t dwell on this thought very long, though, because at that moment a gunshot rang out, startling him so much that he dropped the pearl. There was a scuffling from outside, and Azure crawled into her lodge, out of breath and with wide eyes. “A hunter!” she gasped. She hurried to the far
Animals
Half an Eggshell
I jump down the small drop to the grassy road. Tall, brown grass overruns it, thorny weeds branching up from the dry ground. Long stalks of fennel huddle together. Lizards skitter away from my shoes, and they dart down deep cracks in the earth. The road snakes down the valley. Behind it is a golden brown bluff. Tall grass stands, waving gently—the whole bluff looks like a giant river, swaying back and forth, back and forth. I run down the hill, summer liberties rising through my stomach. Four days ago I’d graduated from elementary to middle school. The jump was a big one. I was leaving the place that was familiar, that hadn’t changed for seven years. The old was comfortable, the new was… Spiny weeds latch themselves onto my jeans. A noise in the bushes, a hawk calls. They fly by. I slow, reaching a fork in the road. The left fork winds around the back side of the bluff, the right climbs up it. I choose left. Avocado trees hang loose over the trail, casting blotchy late-afternoon shadows. A hawk calls again, flying directly overhead before it lands on a branch. It eyes me, wondering who this stranger is in the middle of his territory. The hawk ruffles its feathers, turning away. I step back. Walking slower, I hear only the swish, swish of wind through the grass. Another hawk joins the first, but I don’t look back. They call to each other, and fly to a closer branch. It’s small; I almost crush it in my hand Screeeeeee! Scree-scree-scree-ssscreeee! Scree-scree screeeeeech! Their tones are angry—fast and sharp. Crisp leaves crunch beneath me. Spiny leaves stick to my socks. The trail is winding away from the couple of hawks, up a slight hill. The lizards are still. A flash of white catches my eye. I bend down, picking up half of an eggshell. It’s small; I almost crush it in my hand. The jagged edge is cracked cleanly, where the small bird must have picked his way out. Maybe flew out of the nest. Maybe left his family. Maybe the little bird wasn’t ready to go at all… The trail fades, golden grass taking over. I sit on a low branch, looking through the leaves over the valley. I hear a rustle behind me, looking to see the hawks hopping across the place I’ve just left. The egg cracks in my grip, pieces of shell fall to the ground. One of the hawks picks up a leaf in his beak, and it hits me. They’re looking for the egg. The hawks’ calls are more frantic, and they hop back and forth across the mound of leaves where the egg was. I swing my legs around the tree, jumping down. I step softly, quickly, towards the hawks. They back off to the side, flapping onto a branch. I set the eggshell down, then sprint away from the birds, down the hill, through the shadows. I don’t hear the hawks until I’m nearly halfway down the road: Sssssscreeee… Their tones are gentle—slow and soft. Sssssscreeeee… Sssssscreeeeee… Claudia Ross, 13Studio City, California Joan He, 12Wynnewood, Pennsylvania
Swimming with the Dolphins
Lily sat in a deck chair on the deck of her parents’ sailing ship, the Maid of the Sea. The sunlight sparkled on the water. It was a beautiful, sunny summer’s day and they were going on a little sail in the clear, blue waters of the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Maine. The sails of the red boat were tightened with a loud slapping noise by a slight breeze that played across Lily’s hot face. Although it was hot, the day was lovely. Not a cloud in the bright, startlingly blue sky. Lily relaxed and leaned back against the back of the deck chair and heaved a sigh of contentment as she watched the sunlight dance across the water. She sipped her lemonade. It was not too sweet and not too sour, just as she liked it. Ice cubes floated in it and the cool liquid soothed her parched throat. Lily had long, light brown hair that she usually wore down. It created a beautiful rippling effect when she ran. Her eyes were brown as well and she was tall for eleven. Lily’s mom came onto the deck. “Lil, would you like some chocolate-chip cookies before they’re gone? Your brother’s hogging them down below.” William, Lily’s younger brother, loved food, especially sweets such as cookies. “No thanks. They always make me thirsty,” replied Lily, taking another sip of lemonade. Talking of thirst had made her thirsty. Suddenly a dolphin leapt out of the water in a graceful arch Her mother left as Lily leaned over the side and watched the lobster pots go by. She counted all the different combinations of colors. Pink and orange, red and yellow, the list was as endless as the sky above. She watched as several waterbirds swam by, chattering excitedly like kids who have spotted a plate of cookies. Suddenly a dolphin leapt out of the water in a graceful arch, his shiny gray sides glistening with the sunlight reflecting the droplets of water that poured down his curved body. He plunged back in with a splash, beak first, and was gone. Another dolphin leapt out, followed by two more. Suddenly a pod of dolphins could be seen swimming just below the surface. Lily stripped down to her swimsuit underneath her clothes, not taking her eyes off the group of dolphins. She wondered whether they’d swim away if she got in. They seemed friendly enough, swimming alongside the boat. Deciding, she carefully climbed down the ladder and slid into the sun-warmed water. At first the dolphins seemed wary, but then the first dolphin to leap came forward and nuzzled against her like a dog greeting its owner. Gradually the others came up and started nudging her as if asking her to play. She stroked their smooth skin and they seemed to like it—at least they clicked excitedly. The first dolphin came up to her and pushed her gently with his beak as if he was asking her to do something. She stroked him, but that didn’t seem to be what he wanted. He nudged her again and again. He gestured toward his back with his flipper. “Do you want me to ride you?” asked Lily incredulously. He continued gesturing. She gently grasped hold of his dorsal fin. She put a little of her weight on his back. He didn’t object. She put her full weight on his back and clambered on. He started swimming, his streamlined body pushing through the water. They started going faster, with Lily’s hair streaming behind them. She laughed and laughed. A moment she’d never forget: riding a dolphin! The sun looked down and shone his rays on them, dolphin and girl, racing through the waves. Emma Place, 11Waynesburg, Pennsylvania Emily Che, 13Saratoga, California
