Part 3 (1/2)
”Hi!” The voice seemed friendly, and when he stood up, Mich.e.l.le saw that it was a boy, about her own age, with dark curly hair, startlingly blue eyes, and a wide smile. Tentatively, she waved back, and called out a h.e.l.lo.
The boy bounded across the rocks toward her.
”Are you the girl that moved into the Carson house?” he asked.
Mich.e.l.le nodded. ”Only it's our house, now,” she corrected him. ”We bought it from Dr. Carson.”
”Oh,” the boy said. ”I'm Jeff Benson. I live up there.” He gestured vaguely toward the bluff, and Mich.e.l.le's eyes followed his gesture, though there was nothing to be seen.
”You can't see our house from here,” Jeff explained. ”It sits too far back from the cliff. Mom says the bluff's going to fall into the sea sooner or later anyway, but I don't think so. What's your name?”
”Mich.e.l.le.”
”What do people call you?” Jeff asked.
Mich.e.l.le frowned, puzzled. ”Mich.e.l.le,” she repeated. ”What else would they call me?”
Jeff shrugged. ”I dunno. It just seems like kind of a fancy name, that's all. Sounds like you must be from Boston.”
”I am,” Mich.e.l.le replied.
Jeff regarded her curiously for a moment, then shrugged again, dismissing the matter. ”Did you come down to look at the tidepools?”
”I just came down to look around,” she said. ”What's in them?”
”All kinds of things,” Jeff told her eagerly. ”And the tide's way out now, so you can get to the best ones. Haven't you ever seen a tidepool before?”
Mich.e.l.le shook her head. ”Only the ones at the beach,” she said. ”We used to go there for picnics.”
”Those aren't any good,” Jeff scoffed. ”All the good stuff got taken out of them ages ago, but hardly anybody ever comes down here. Come on-I'll show you.”
He began leading Mich.e.l.le across the rocks, stopping every few minutes to wait for her to catch up. ”You should wear tennis shoes,” he suggested. ”They don't slip on the rocks so much.”
”I didn't know it would be this slippery,” Mich.e.l.le said, suddenly feeling clumsy but unsure just why. A moment later they had come to the edge of a large pool, and Jeff was kneeling beside it. Mich.e.l.le crouched down beside him and stared into the shallow water.
The pool lay clear and still before her, and Mich.e.l.le realized that it was like looking through a window into another world. The bottom was alive with strange creatures-starfish and sea urchins, anemones waving softly in the currents, and hermit crabs scurrying around in their borrowed homes. On an impulse, Mich.e.l.le reached into the water and picked one up.
The crab's tiny claw snapped ineffectually at her finger, then the little animal retreated into its sh.e.l.l, only a whisker poking tentatively out.
”Hold your hand real flat, and turn him so he can't see you,” Jeff told her. ”Then just wait, and in a couple of minutes he'll come out.”
Mich.e.l.le followed his instructions. A moment later the animal began emerging from its sh.e.l.l, legs first.
”It tickles,” Mich.e.l.le said, her fist involuntarily closing. When she opened it again, the animal had retreated once more.
”Drop it into one of the sea anemones,” Jeff told her.
Mich.e.l.le obeyed, and watched the strange plantlike animal tighten its tentacles around the panicked crab. A moment later the anemone was closed, and the crab had disappeared.
”What'll happen to it?” Mich.e.l.le asked.
”The anemone will eat it, then open up and dump out the sh.e.l.l,” Jeff explained.
”You mean I killed it?” Mich.e.l.le asked, upset by the thought.
”Something would've eaten it anyway,” Jeff said. ”As long as you don't take anything away, or put in something that shouldn't be here, you aren't really hurting anything.”
Mich.e.l.le had never thought of such a thing before, but Jeff's words made sense to her. Some things belong, and some things don't. And you have to be careful what you put with what. Yes, it made sense.
Together the two children began making their way around the tidepool, examining the strange world beneath the water. Jeff pried a starfish loose from its hold on the rocks, and showed Mich.e.l.le the thousands of tiny suction cups that formed its feet and the odd pentangular mouth in the middle of its stomach.
”How come you know so much about all this?” Mich.e.l.le finally asked.
”I grew up here,” Jeff said. He hesitated a moment, then continued. ”Besides, I want to be a marine biologist someday. What are you going to be?”
”I don't know,” Mich.e.l.le said. ”I never thought about it.”
”Your dad's a doctor, isn't he?” Jeff asked. ”How'd you know that?”
”Everybody knows,” Jeff said amiably. ”Paradise Point's a small town. Everybody knows everything.”
”Boy, it sure wasn't like that in Boston,” Mich.e.l.le replied. ”n.o.body knew who anybody was. We hated it.”
”Is that why you moved here?”
”I guess,” Mich.e.l.le said slowly. ”That was part of the reason, anyway.” Suddenly she wanted to change the subject. ”Did somebody get murdered in our house?”
Jeff looked at her sharply, as if he hadn't heard her quite right. Then, almost too quickly, he stood up and shook his head. ”Not that I ever heard of,” he said. Turning, he started picking his way back across the rocky beach. When Mich.e.l.le made no move to follow him, he called out to her.
”Come on! The tide's coming in. It's getting dangerous!”
As Mich.e.l.le stood up, an odd sensation swept over her. She was suddenly dizzy, and her vision seemed to be fading. It was as if a heavy fog was settling over her. Quickly, she dropped back to her knees.
Ahead, Jeff turned and stared at her.
”Are you all right?” he called back.
Mich.e.l.le nodded, then stood up again, more slowly this time. ”I guess I just stood up too fast. I got dizzy, and it seemed like it was getting dark.”
”Well, it's going going to get dark pretty soon,” Jeff said. to get dark pretty soon,” Jeff said.
”We'd better get back up to the top.” He started north, and Mich.e.l.le asked him where he was going.
”Home,” Jeff replied. ”We have a path up to our house just like you do.” He paused a moment, then asked her if she wanted to come with him.
”I'd better not,” Mich.e.l.le replied. ”I told my parents I wouldn't be gone long.”