Free Cry of the Sea by D. G. Driver

Carter said, “I work at
the marine rescue center with Dr. Schneider. I helped with the
rescue this morning.”
    My mom sounded impatient. “How many people
know about this?”
    My dad answered. “Just us and Carl.”
    That seemed to appease my mom, because she
didn’t say anything else about that. “What were you trying to say,
Carter?”
    He cleared his throat again. I guess my mom
made him nervous. She has a way of doing that. It’s part of her
magical lawyer powers.
    “We don’t know enough about the mermaids yet.
We might cause more damage to them if we leak information too soon.
We’ve got to wait.”
    “Wait for what?” my mom asked. “Wait for more
of them to wash up on the beaches, dying from oil spills?”
    “I agree, Mom. I just don’t think it’s the
right move yet, either.”
    My dad spoke then. “Actually, Natalie, I
think the kids are right. Let’s hold off a little on this. Let’s
wait until Carl can tell us more about them.”
    Mom let out a long sigh over the phone line.
“I don’t want to sit on this too long.”
    “Understood,” my dad said.
    “I’ll be home in a couple days. June? You
still there?”
    “Yes, Mom.”
    “You are not off the hook. We will be talking
as soon as I get home.”
    “Yes, Mom.”
    My eyes shot over to Carter, and he politely
glanced away. Thanks to Mom, he probably figured I was in trouble
for something. I reached over and clicked off the speakerphone then
handed the phone back to Dad. I had nothing left to say to my
mother at that point. Why bother? Everything I said from now on was
going to go in one ear and out the other. My mom had decided that I
was a lost cause. After all the work I’d done that morning, you’d
think I’d get some forgiveness. Why did I even bother?
    Carter sensed my agitation. “You about ready
to go?”
    “Yeah,” I sighed, sitting down in front of
the laptop. “Just let me get these pictures attached to the email,
so my dad can send them out while we’re gone.”
    “I’ve already done it,” Carter said. “Get
your stuff and let’s get rolling. With any luck you could still
make third period.”
    And in a flash, all the wonder and excitement
of this morning evaporated into another ordinary day.
     

 
    Chapter
Six
     
    As nice as Carter’s house was, his car wasn’t
much. It was a used clunker with windows that rattled. He kept it
pretty neat, but the floor carpets and seats had stains all over
them from the spilled sodas of its previous owners. I felt really
uneasy sitting on the stains in his mom’s nice slacks.
    Trying not to sound rude, but burning to
know, I said, “I take it Mom and Dad didn’t buy you a car for your
16 th birthday.”
    His face reddened like I’d plugged him into
the cigarette lighter. His usually confident grin got real
lopsided. “Well... actually, they did.”
    “Was it some kind of harsh lesson?” I asked.
“You must have been the only kid in your school with a car that
cost less than $15,000.”
    He nodded slowly. “You’re right. This is a
posh neighborhood. Most kids get pretty cool cars.”
    “So what happened?” I pressed. There had to
be a reason. My parents wouldn’t get me a car because they want to
protect the environment from one more vehicle’s gas emissions. As long as you live in our house, we can share a car, they
told me repeatedly. In reality that meant that if I wanted to go
anywhere, I needed to ask Haley to drive. I’m not sure why I even
got my driver’s license.
    But Carter’s parents clearly had money, and
they didn’t seem like the kind of people who would share a car with
their son for the benefit of the ozone layer. Carter himself
appeared to be the perfect son: good-looking, well-spoken, college
bound. A parent’s dream teen. So, what was the deal with the
clunker car?
    Carter chewed on his lip for a moment, then
gave in. “My folks did buy me a car—a cool Ford Explorer that was
only a year old and low mileage. It was 4-wheel drive and V6.