Read Online Kira's Secret by Orysia Dawydiak - Free Book Online

teacher asked her to solve the math problem on the board. Kira didn’t have a clue. She had barely heard a word all morning. Fortunately, her teacher only rolled her eyes and moved on to the next student.
    Kira found it impossible to concentrate at school that Monday. She could not stop thinking about Captain Doyle and his crew, and what had become of them. Then there was Mrs. Doyle and her nightmares about the sea. Did she believe in seafolk lore, in mermaids and mystical islands? How would she react when she saw the contents of the bottle? Kira was anxious to talk to Cody after school, but that day it felt like her classes would never end.
    When the last bell rang, Kira shot out of her seat and down the hall to the study room. Cody was waiting for her, just as they had arranged. He sat at a corner table, far from anyone else who might come in. For now they were alone.
    â€œSo?” Kira asked, breathless. “What happened?”
    Cody shook his head. “It was awful. Poor Mrs. Doyle, I felt like I’d just murdered her husband. Bearer of bad tidings and all.”
    â€œWhat did she say?”
    â€œWell, I started by telling her where I found the bottle, and that I had opened it, and thought it might be somebody’s school project, and she just nodded her head and smiled. Then I showed her the bottle, and she didn’t say anything. Then I said that I’d read the pages inside, and I wondered if she might be interested in reading them, too. But first, I showed her the other stuff, you know the pens, the letter opener, the small rock with a carving. And her eyes got really big, and she grabbed the letter opener and said, ‘Where did you get this?’ in a loud voice. And I turned around to see if anybody was listening.
    â€œSo then she got all quiet and told me to follow her into a small office behind her desk. She shut the door and looked at everything, and started to read, then got all pale and shaky. I was afraid she was going to cry, and I just wanted out of there.” Cody wiped his brow as if he’d been sweating.
    â€œDid she? Cry?”
    â€œI don’t know, not then. She asked me again where I found the bottle, and I told her on the beach way south, just before the spit, so at least it wasn’t that far from where we really found it.”
    â€œSure,” Kira agreed. “It was out there a long time, it could have landed anywhere.”
    â€œYeah, but then she seemed to look at me suspiciously, and wondered why the bottle hadn’t broken up, because it’s a pretty rocky beach there. And I figured maybe she thought I had set this up as a joke or something. Then I remembered the cloth it was all wrapped in and gave that to her, too. And she grabbed it and looked at it carefully, and saw that monogram in the corner. Then I figured she was going to explode, she was shaking so bad. So I said I should go, she could keep it all. And she just nodded her head, she was stunned.”
    â€œShock?”
    â€œYeah, I guess.
    â€œThat monogram, CHD, wasn’t it?” Kira mused. “HD, Harvey Doyle maybe? What would the C stand for? Another name, like Charles?”
    â€œOr maybe Captain?” The two of them let out huge sighs, glad the goods had gone to the person they were intended for, feeling sad that the bottle and its cargo had brought such sorrow to a person they both liked so much.
    When Kira arrived home from school, her father was in the kitchen stirring a pot of clam chowder. He explained that her mother would not be joining them for dinner. She was with a friend.
    â€œOh?” Kira said. “Is there a problem?” She suspected she knew which friend.
    â€œMrs. Doyle had quite a shock today. Your friend Cody found a bottle with a few things that belonged to her husband. You may remember he was lost at sea long ago.”
    Kira decided she might as well tell him that she knew about the bottle and its contents, since he’d