Free Midnight Dolphin by James Carmody Page A

make no
difference.
    ‘ Are you awake
then Bethany?’ asked Megan.
    ‘ It’s too
bright!’ exclaimed Bethany. Megan gave a sympathetic
chuckle.
    ‘ If you open
your eyes they’ll soon adjust, silly.’
    ‘ What does
adjust mean?’
    ‘ Just open
your eyes and you’ll see’ replied Megan. Bethany sat up in bed and
squinted around her. Megan was reading.
    ‘ Have you seen
your dolphins?’
    ‘ No…, no I
haven’t.’ Megan closed her book and looked despondently down into
her lap.
    ‘ Why don’t you
call them?’ asked Bethany.
    ‘ It’s not like
that’ replied Megan. ‘You wouldn’t understand.’ She sighed
deeply.
    ‘ You do like
them don’t you?’ Bethany asked. Megan nodded. ‘And they like you?’
Megan nodded again. ‘Then you should all just be friends
then.’
    ‘ I wish we
could be’ sighed Megan again, sniffing. ‘I’m going downstairs’ she
said suddenly.
    ‘ I’ll come
too!’ piped Bethany, not understanding that Megan wanted to be
alone. Her sister had already gone though and she heard Megan
stomping down the cottage stairs and then banging the front door
shut behind her.
    ‘ Are you okay
there Bethany?’ asked Mum, putting her head round the door to their
bedroom.
    ‘ I wanted to
go with Megan but she just ran downstairs and left me’ replied
Bethany sadly. Mum came down and sat next to her on the bed and put
her arm round the shoulders of her youngest daughter.
    ‘ You know
Megan’s growing up’ she said sympathetically. ‘You will need your
own space when you’re her age.’
    ‘ Will I be
thirteen one day too?’ asked Bethany.
    ‘ Yes of course
you will silly’ laughed Mum. ‘Come on. Let’s go downstairs and get
breakfast.’
     
    Megan came in
about half an hour later just as Mum, Dad and Bethany were
finishing breakfast.
    ‘ And how are
you this morning Megan?’ asked Dad brightly, leaning back from his
plate of egg on toast, ignoring the fact that she’d disappeared off
alone again that morning.
    ‘ Alright I
suppose’ answered Megan. Dad gave her an exasperated look as if to
say ‘ Do cheer up! ’ but didn’t say anything. Megan sat down at the kitchen
table and poured herself some cornflakes into a bowl.
    ‘ Well, what
shall we do today?’ he asked instead.
    ‘ The beach,
the beach!’ exclaimed Bethany. ‘Let’s go to the beach
again!’
    ‘ Well why
not?’ said Dad. ‘It’s going to be a lovely sunny day. What do you
say Megan, fancy topping up your sun tan?’ Megan
frowned.
    ‘ I want to go
into town again Dad’ she replied in a low voice, as she stared down
into her cereals.
    ‘ Oh Megan you
promised to build a sandcastle with me’ said Bethany in a
disappointed voice. We’re going to build the biggest most enormous
sandcastle ever!’
    ‘ Go on’ said
Dad, ‘make your sister happy.’ Megan sighed. She looked into
Bethany’s eager face.
    ‘ Well, I
suppose we could build a small one’ she said, forcing herself to
smile.
    ‘ Atta girl’
said Dad, now eat up your cornflakes, and after we’ve washed up
we’ll wander down to the beach.
    The truth was
that Megan was desperate to get back into Merwater and speak to
Rachel again. There must be some way to find out more about the
Reverend Jeremiah Smith and what he’d written in his third journal.
The thought of wasting another day on the beach seemed like
madness. Megan felt like she didn’t have any choice though. She
sighed.
    Not long after
breakfast, the family made their way down the boardwalk that led
across the dunes to the beach. Bethany wanted to play hide and seek
with Megan and the ran off over the dunes to hide behind clumps of
spiky grass and little hillocks. Dad and Mum made their way along
the path, weighed down with a bucket, two spades, a bag stuffed
full of beach towels, a camping chair and a wind break to plant
into the sand. It was still early but it promised to be a hot day.
The sky was clear and the sun was rising steadily.
    Other families
were already