Free Peter and the Starcatchers by Dave Barry, Ridley Pearson Page A

eat.”
    In fact, Ammm was saying something very impolite about the sailors and their ancestors. The other four porpoises snorted, then al five turned, arced, sliced smoothly into the dark water, and disappeared.
    The two sailors watched them go.
    “Yes, indeed, that’s the life,” said the first. “Not a care in the world.”

CHAPTER 12
ANGRY WORDS

    P ETER AND JAMES HAD SEEN THE WHOLE THING.
    They had crept aft, hoping to find some edible food somewhere, slithering silently past the two gabbing sailors on watch. They were crouched behind a barrel near the stern when they’d seen Mol y emerge from the ladderway, go to the rail, and lean over.
    Peter had been about to approach her when she had started making the strangest noises he’d ever heard a human make.
    “Peter,” whispered James. “What is she…?”
    Peter silenced him with a quick squeeze on his arm. He motioned for James to stay low, and the two boys slid on their bel ies to a spot where they could peer through an opening in the stern rail and look down at what Mol y was seeing. They emitted simultaneous gasps when they saw the five porpoises, which looked as though they were dancing on the water as they used their powerful tails to hold their heads far above the waves.
    They watched, astonished, as Mol y and the largest of the porpoises exchanged the odd noises, almost as if— but that’s impossible —they were having a conversation.
    To Peter, Mol y’s noises sounded increasingly urgent and frustrated, until final y she broke into English and shouted, “No!” Unable to contain his curiosity any longer, Peter stood to approach her, only to dive back to his bel y when he heard the night-watch sailors coming. He saw Mol y turn and run back to the ladderway as he and James squirmed back behind the barrel. They waited there, afraid to breathe, as the sailors commented on seeing porpoises. Sailors apparently thought porpoises brought good luck. Final y, the sailors climbed to a higher deck and disappeared.
    “Peter,” whispered James, “what did we…?”
    “Not now,” whispered Peter. “Go back to our cabin, and don’t get caught.”
    “But where are you…”
    “Never mind,” hissed Peter. “I’l be along. Just get going.”
    After seeing that James had crawled away safely, Peter climbed a rope and slipped under a railing that took him to the upper deck. The night-watch sailors stood talking not twenty feet away. When the nearest one turned his back, Peter edged along the rail and reached a doorway leading down a ladderway into darkness.
    Peter looked around, unsure how to get to Mol y’s cabin from here. He waited…waited…and final y the two sailors agreed it was time for tea. They moved on. Peter slipped down the steep ladderway, into a darkened hal way. Yel ow light seeped from beneath several doors in both directions. Peter moved on to the next, sticking his ear to the door. He heard loud snoring.
    Assuming that it was Mrs. Bumbrake, he opened the door and slipped inside.
    “Peter!” whispered Mol y. “What are you doing here?”
    “I must talk to you,” whispered Peter.
    “Now?”
    “Now,” he said.
    Mol y frowned, then whispered, “Al right. But outside in the passageway.” They stepped outside, and Mol y closed the door.
    “I saw you,” said Peter.
    “Saw me what?” asked Mol y. She kept her voice calm, but Peter could tel he’d surprised her.
    “You were talking to that fish.”
    “What on earth are you talking about?”
    “You were talking to that fish. You were making strange noises, and it was making them back.”
    “Don’t be sil y. Fish can’t talk.”
    “Mol y, I saw you.”
    Mol y stared at him for a moment, weighing something.
    Then she sighed and said, “Al right, listen. Those are not fish. Those are cal ed porpoises, and they breathe air, the same as we do.”
    “But they look like fish.”
    “But they’re not. They breathe air, and they make noises, just like dogs and cats and cows and other