Read Online Whale Song by Cheryl Kaye Tardif - Free Book Online

months.” His eyes gleamed suddenly. “Sarah, do you think your class would be interested in a field trip aboard the Finland Fancy on Friday?”
    “ Really? You’ll take us all out?”
    In my imagination, I was already on that boat.
    My mother smiled. “That’s a wonderful idea, Jack.”
    There was such excitement in the air as he picked my mother off the ground and spun her around in his arms. She laughed breathlessly and batted at him with both hands.
    “ Jack!” she shrieked. “Put me down!”
    His eyes held a wicked twinkle. “And what if I don’t?”
    “ You’re making me dizzy,” she warned.
    He set her down and she stumbled against the table.
    “ See?” she chastised him. “If I walk into a wall, it’s your fault.”
    I forgot all about my mother’s clumsiness as we celebrated the arrival of the schooner and my father’s new job. My parents’ happiness was infectious. We rode a wave of joy that night and all my problems seemed to have disappeared.
    But even I should have known that things would change.
    After all…all good things must come to an end.
     
    On Friday morning, I bolted out of bed, dressed hurriedly and raced downstairs. I couldn’t shut up about the field trip that my father had arranged with the principal and Mrs. Higginson. It was set for ten that morning.
    “ Finland Fancy field trip,” I announced.
    My mother grinned. “Fun and fabulous Finland Fancy field trip.”
    I sang that phrase repeatedly, fascinated by the tongue twister effect. I think my parents were relieved when I headed to school.
    After a boring lecture on boat safety, Mrs. Higginson corralled us toward the bus and we piled in, chattering in youthful anticipation. We endured a bumpy bus ride to the harbor and then raced down to the dock where the Finland Fancy was anchored.
    My gaze swept across the names on the boats. “Where is it?”
    Goldie’s smile drooped. “Over there.”
    As soon as I saw the boat, my heart immediately sank.
    The research schooner was in rough shape. Its neglected hull was a battered white and needed painting. The trim was pine green and the cedar deck was weathered and uneven.
    “ I thought you said the Finland Fancy was new,” I complained as my father helped me onto the boat.
    “ Well, it’s new for us. It just needs some sprucing up, maybe some fresh paint.”
    “ Or a sledgehammer,” I mumbled without missing a beat.
    He laughed. “Come on. She’s not that bad. And she’s fast.”
    I wasn’t impressed. I had spent the last few days telling everyone how great the boat was going to be, that it had come all the way from Finland…that it was new.
    “ Hope this thing doesn’t sink,” I said dryly.
    “ Me too,” the skipper said behind me.
    Skip, as he was known, was a weathered-faced jovial seaman with snow-white hair and a bushy beard. Because he puffed on a sweet-smelling tobacco pipe, I wanted to call him Captain High Liner , after the frozen fish my mother liked to buy. But I never worked up enough nerve.
    “ Welcome aboard,” he said. “I’m your skipper for today’s adventure aboard the Titanic .” He grinned at me. “I mean, the Finland Fancy .”
    Nervous laughter trickled from my classmates while I suspiciously eyed the boat.
    Goldie elbowed me. “I hope we don’t hit an iceberg.”
    “ Or an ice cube,” I muttered.
    Mrs. Higginson seemed a little ‘green at the gills’ , as my father put it later. She gingerly gathered the folds of her denim skirt and stepped onto the twenty-foot research schooner. The kids in my class filed on board behind her. Some appeared quite nervous, but they were all impressed by the boat―and by my father.
    Skip directed us to deck chairs and bench seats, and Goldie and I were just settling down beside each other when Bobbie, who was sitting across from us, snorted loudly.
    “ Jeez, would ya look at Annie,” he said.
    Heads swiveled in unison and we all gaped as Annie awkwardly climbed aboard the schooner. All eyes