The Birthday Storm Page 7

  “I have never seen anything like this,” I whisper to Sadora.

  We walk carefully over the debris.

  “That tree is blocking the driveway,” Sabin says.

  “It looks like we’ll have to get out the chain saw,” Daddy says.

  “Can I help?” Sabin asks. He looks excited.

  “Sure,” Daddy replies. “It looks like you’ll get lots of practice today.”

  “Me, too?” I ask.

  “I’m sure there will be some hammering and fixing you can do, Sassy,” Poppy replies. “I promised to teach you, remember? But let’s leave the chainsawing to Sabin and your dad, okay?”

  “Sounds like a plan,” I tell Poppy.

  “What about your neighbors, Grammy?” Sadora asks.

  “Most of them left town for high ground or a safer place,” Grammy replies.

  Mom says, “I hope their homes are not damaged.”

  “We’ll go check on them this afternoon,” Grammy tells us. “Some will need food and help when they return.”

  Mom gives me a broom and I start to sweep the bits and pieces scattered around Grammy’s yard into piles. Mostly, I clean up branches and leaves and blown sand. But I also find amazing things — some big, some small.

  One perfect conch shell — unbroken. A gold watch — still ticking. Half of a ticket to Disney World. A baseball. A bottle of Ruby Red nail polish. Three plastic bracelets. A Barbie doll, dressed for a party with her shoes still on.

  “Where do you think these things came from?” I ask Grammy.

  “The wind is quite powerful and sometimes things get blown very long distances,” she tells me.

  “Did any of your stuff get blown away?” Sadora asks Grammy.

  “My flowers look like they lost a fistfight,” Grammy replies with a laugh.

  “And we lost a few trees,” Poppy adds. “But I think everything else is still here.”

  Sadora and I line up all the unbroken items neatly on Grammy’s porch.

  “I hope that the little girl who owns this Barbie can find her,” I tell her.

  She nods. “And I’m sure the person who lost the watch needs to know what time it is.”

  I look at Grammy’s yard and gaze beyond to the road, where bent trees and debris have been tossed everywhere. “Nothing is the same, is it?” I ask her.

  “It’s the same, but changed somehow,” she says, agreeing with me. “Like a page has been torn out of a book and you can’t find the same words again.”

  “Deep,” I whisper.

  “Were you scared?” she asks me.

  “A little. If I had been by myself, I would have been crazy-scared. But I had my family with me, so I felt safe.”

  “I hope everybody else in the area is okay,” Sadora says.

  “Me, too. Can we go to the beach now?” I ask Daddy when we finish sweeping. “I’m worried about the sea turtle eggs.”

  “Good idea, Sassy,” Daddy says.

  “I was just getting the hang of the chain saw!” Sabin boasts.

  Daddy winks at me. “We can take a break from the saw for a while, Sabin. Let’s check for any beach damage.”

  All of us carefully take the stone steps down to the beach. Daddy and Sabin go first, then Grammy and Sadora, then me and Poppy and Mom. It’s very slow going because the steps are wet and covered with sand.

  “I can sweep these steps later,” Sadora offers.

  “Thanks, Sadora,” Grammy replies, giving her a hug.

  The beach is covered with seaweed and branches and sea foam. It looks sad. Lots of plastic bottles and soda cans also litter the area. A few dead fish make the sand smell funny.

  “Look at this!” I say with amazement. “It’s like a different beach.”

  “Will it ever be clean and pretty again?” Sadora asks with concern.

  “The tides will wash all of this away in a few days,” Grammy tells us. “And those of us who live near the beach must help to clean it up as well.”

  “Nature has a way of cleaning up,” Daddy explains. “But we can help by getting all the bottles and junk.”

  “People shouldn’t throw stuff on the beaches and in the ocean anyway,” Sabin says angrily.

  “You’re right,” Mom tells him.

  “Where is all the sand?” Sadora asks as she gazes into the distance. “Everything looks sort of naked and bare.”

  “Hurricanes cause lots of beach erosion,” Poppy explains. “The sand gets sucked into the storm surge and back out to sea.”

  “Will the sand come back?” Sabin asks.

  “Eventually,” Daddy tells him. “Sometimes communities help by bringing in more sand, but nature has a way of healing itself.”

  I can’t wait much longer. “What about the sea turtles?” I cry out. “Are they okay?”

  “Let’s go see, Sassy.” Grammy takes my hand and we run to the place where we first found the sea turtle nest. I almost don’t know the spot. The large rock nearby helps me remember.

  The hole where the eggs were first hiding is not there. Even the sand around it is gone. “Is this the place?” I ask Grammy.

  “I think so, Sassy.” She looks around as if she is not sure.

  “The turtle eggs would be gone, right?” I’m almost shivering with worry and excitement.

  “It’s a good thing we moved them,” Daddy says as he catches up with us. “That nest would not have survived the storm.”

  “You mean the little sea turtles would have been washed out to sea with the rest of the sand?” Sadora asks.

  “Sadly, yes,” Mom tells her.

  “Let’s climb up and check on the new nest,” Poppy suggests.

  My heart is beating fast as we get closer.

  We climb up the rocks to the place where we moved the sea turtle eggs.

  “Look, Sassy!” Sabin says with excitement. “Your lucky pink ribbon is still flapping in the breeze by the new nest.”

  “Amazing,” Sadora says. “After all that wind.” The hot-pink strip of fabric flutters like a proud banner. The green ribbon has disappeared.

  We tiptoe to the place where the nest is hidden.

  “It’s safe and sound!” Daddy says. He sounds really happy. He checks under the sand and finds several of the eggs. They are warm and dry.

  “I’ve got to call Michael and let him know,” Poppy mumbles. “He’ll be very glad.”

  “Are cell phones working?” Mom asks.

  “Mine is!” Sadora answers with certainty. “I had to call all my friends at home and let them know we survived a hurricane!”

  Everybody laughs. Sadora and her cell phone are never far apart.

  “When will the little sea turtles hatch, Dad?” Sabin asks.

  “In a few weeks.”

  “Because of us?” I ask.

  “Yes, Sassy. We saved the turtles. They will go back to the sea and return here to make new nests.”

  “Way cool,” I say.

  “Let’s head back to the house,” Grammy suggests. “Who’s ready for lunch?”

  Sabin and Poppy both raise their hands. “Me!” they say at the same time.

  “When do we go back to Ohio?” I ask Daddy.

  “If the roads are clear and the airport is open, probably in a day or so,” he replies.

  “Will I have time to learn how to hammer before we leave?”

  “Absolutely,” Poppy tells me.

  “Race you back to the house!” Sabin calls out to Poppy. They both take off running.

  “Will there be time for another visit to the beach?” I ask Mom.

  “We can walk on the beach, as long as you are wearing your beach shoes, but I don’t want you kids to swim yet,” Mom warns. “There is too much stuff floating around that might not be safe for little feet.”

  “Sabin’s got big feet,” Sadora tells her with a giggle.

  We all laugh as we head back to the house.

  I grab Grammy’s hand as we walk by the ocean one last time. “I hope you had a good birthday,
Grammy,” I tell her.

  “We saved some sea turtles, sang some songs, and slept on the floor through a storm. I’d say that it was a terrific day. The best birthday ever!” she says.

  “Are you sorry you didn’t have the band and the cake?” I ask her.

  Grammy stops walking and bends down so she is even with me. She touches my face gently. “I wouldn’t change one single thing,” she tells me clearly.

  “Hurricane birthdays are really exciting,” I tell Grammy, “but next year, can we celebrate with just cake and ice cream instead of winds and storms?”

  She stands, stretches, and laughs out loud. “Absolutely, Sassy! Absolutely!”

  Hurricanes are severe tropical storms that form in oceans. Evaporation from the seawater increases their power.

  Hurricanes have winds of at least 74 miles per hour. When they come onto land, the heavy rain, strong winds, and powerful waves can damage buildings, trees, and cars.

  A hurricane can be up to 600 miles across and have wind speeds of up to 200 miles per hour.

  Hurricanes north of the equator rotate in a counterclockwise direction around an “eye.” The center of the storm, or eye, is the calmest part.

  The heavy waves are called a storm surge. Storm surges are very dangerous and a major reason why you MUST stay away from the ocean during a hurricane warning or hurricane.

  Hurricanes have names, such as Hannah, Katrina, or Ike. They alternate between girl names and boy names. If a hurricane does a lot of damage, its name is never used again.

  Sea turtles are large air-breathing reptiles. They come in many different sizes, shapes, and colors.

  Some sea turtles weigh less than 100 pounds; others can weigh up to 1,300 pounds!

  Female sea turtles come ashore to the beach where they were born to lay their eggs in the sand. Males rarely return to land after crawling into the sea as hatchlings.

  The hatchlings return to the sea sixty days after the eggs are laid on the beach. The mother does not stay to watch the nest or help the babies hatch.

  Sea turtles face many hazards. Sharks, big fish, and circling birds all eat baby turtles. Also, many sea turtles die after accidentally eating plastic garbage. The obstacles are so numerous for baby turtles that only about 1 in 1,000 survives to adulthood.

  The earliest known sea turtle fossils are about 150 million years old.

  Destruction of the feeding and nesting areas where sea turtles live, along with pollution of the world’s oceans, is taking a serious toll on sea turtle populations.

  Sea turtles are in danger of extinction. But you can help by keeping our beaches clean and by working with sea turtle organizations that monitor them.

  Sharon Draper is the acclaimed author of many books for young people, including the New York Times bestseller Out of My Mind, as well as the Coretta Scott King Award winners Copper Sun and Forged by Fire and the Coretta Scott King John Steptoe Award winner Tears of a Tiger.

  Ms. Draper is also the author of the popular Ziggy and the Black Dinosaurs series, as well as November Blues and The Battle of Jericho, both Coretta Scott King Honor Books.

  Ms. Draper was the 1997 National Teacher of the Year and has been honored at the White House six times. She lives in Cincinnati, Ohio, with her husband.

  Copyright © 2009 by Sharon M. Draper

  All rights reserved. Published by Scholastic Press, an imprint of Scholastic Inc., Publishers since 1920. SCHOLASTIC, SCHOLASTIC PRESS, and associated logos are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of Scholastic Inc. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without written permission of the publisher. For information regarding permission, write to Scholastic Inc., Attention: Permissions Department, 557 Broadway, New York, NY 10012.

  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

  Draper, Sharon M. (Sharon Mills)

  The birthday storm / by Sharon Draper. —1st ed.

  p. cm — (Sassy)

  Summary: While in Florida to celebrate her Grammy’s birthday, nine-and-a-half-year-old Sassy worries that an approaching hurricane will ruin not only the party, but a nest of sea turtle eggs, as well. Includes facts about hurricanes and sea turtles.

  ISBN 978-0-545-07152-9

  [1. Hurricanes — Fiction. 2. Birthdays — Fiction. 3. Grandparents — Fiction. 4. Family life — Florida — Fiction. 5. Sea turtles — Fiction. 6. African Americans — Fiction. 7. Florida — Fiction.] I. Title.

  PZ7.D78325Bir 2009

  [Fic] — dc22

  2009007170

  First edition, October 2009

  Cover art © 2009 by Jackdaw

  Cover design by Einav Aviram and Elizabeth B. Parisi

  e-ISBN 978-0-545-28148-5

  All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. No part of this publication may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereafter invented, without the express written permission of the publisher. For information regarding permission, write to Scholastic Inc., Attention: Permissions Department, 557 Broadway, New York, NY 10012.