ORCA
‘Does the sea frighten you? Your boat is very small. Do you know your friends well? Are they good at sailing?’
Jack, his wife Tonya, and his friends Max and Sasha want to sail from England to Australia. They have a lot of money and they don’t want to work any more – they want an exciting life.
And it is exciting for them. And at ɹrst everything is easy. But an exciting
life can also be a dangerous life. The sea is not always a friendly place – and
when you need help, you need good friends and a lot of luck.
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Jack Griggs
stands on his boat. The wind is strong and his boat moves quickly over the sea.
A big, white bird goes past and makes a noise. ‘Keyaaaa’, it cries.
Jack smiles
and says: ‘Hello, bird. How are you, today?’
Jack’s
friends laugh and give some fish to the bird.
‘Ah,’ says
Jack. ‘Hungry, I see.’ Jack’s friends are Max and Sasha, and his wife’s name is
Tonya.
‘I am
hungry, too,’ says Jack. ‘Sandwiches and drinks everybody? Tonya. Can you
steer?’
Half an hour
later they are eating. ‘What are we going to do now?’asks Jack.
‘Oh, I am
going to read my book. Then I’m going to sleep,’ says Tonya.
‘No – what
about tomorrow? … Next month? … Next year?’ Jack looks at everyone. ‘We have
lots of money from our old business, but …’
‘We can
start another business,’ says Max.
‘A sailing
business?’ says Sasha.
‘I don’t
want to work any more,’ says Tonya. ‘We don’t need to work.’
‘OK, listen
to me,’ says Jack. ‘I am thinking about sailing around the world.’
Max, Tonya
and Sasha look at Jack. ‘What? From here to Australia?’ says Tonya.
‘Of course,’
says Jack. He is getting very excited now. ‘Max, what do you think?’
‘I think we
must talk about it,’ says Max.
They talk
for hours. It is night when Max, Sasha and Tonya say excitedly: ‘OK. Let’s do
it!
They have to
do a lot before they leave. Jack talks to a man who knows about sailing around
the world. He tells Jack that it is hard work.
‘Does the
sea frighten you? Your boat is very small. Do you know your friends well? Are
they good at sailing?’ he asks.
‘We know
each other well. They are the best people in the world,’ says Jack.
The four
friends look at lots of maps. Sasha wants to see a whale.
Max wants to
see Africa. ‘I want to sit in the sun and catch fish to eat,’ laughs Tonya.
It is
exciting for all of them. And at first everything is easy.
The big day
arrives – they are leaving. Some of their friends and family come to watch.
Their friends stand by the water and say goodbye.
‘Good luck,’
one of them says.
‘Don’t
forget us!’ says Sasha’s sister.
‘Write to me
every day,’ says Tonya’s friend. ‘Give the letters to a bird.
Sasha begins
to cry. ‘What are we doing? Do I really want to go?’she thinks. Max takes her
hand. All of them are quiet, excited, and a little unhappy.
‘Bye,’ says
Jack quietly.
2 Sailing south
The wind is
strong and the boat moves faster and faster. Jack, Max, Sasha and Tonya are
happy at sea. There is a lot to do on the boat.
The wind is
behind them and soon they cannot see England. They are not unhappy now.
They are
sailing south. In France they stop at L’Orient and Biarritz. In Spain, they
visit La Coruna, and in Portugal they stop in Lisbon. The sun gets hotter and
they feel good.
Sasha
catches a big fish and they eat it for tea.
Soon, they
are sailing past Africa. Here, everything is difʃerent. They stop in Gambia and
people look at them. Small children bring beads and shells and cloth. Tonya
buys a green hat. There is a lot of colour and noise and excitement.
They sail
for weeks and weeks past Africa. They stop at many small towns and villages by
the sea. ‘Africa is so interesting, so big,’
says Sasha.
‘It goes on and on. I look at it on the map, but …’
‘This is why
we are here,’ says Jack. ‘Talking to difʃerent people, seeing difʃerent things.
The boat, the sea, the wind. Nothing is better than this, is it?’
Some days
later they see a big fishing boat. It is moving very fast.
‘Hello!’
they shout at the boat. The men on the boat look at them angrily. Max looks
carefully at the boat through his binoculars.
‘There is
something wrong with their fishing net,’ he says. Max moves the binoculars and sees
something in the sea. ‘I can see some net over there.’ He points to their left.
‘Why are they leaving it? Let’s have a look.’
They get
nearer to the net and Tonya takes the binoculars.
‘What in the
world …’ says Tonya. ‘What’s that? There is something in the net. It’s alive,
but what is it?
Very slowly
they move nearer to the net. The thing in the net is big and it is making a lot
of noise.
‘I can see
it now,’ says Tonya. ‘It’s an orca – a killer whale – and it’s hurt. There is
blood in the water. What can we do? How can we help it?’
‘I can see
it too. It is a baby but we must be careful,’ says Max.
Jack is in the water. He is carrying a long paddle. ‘I am going to help it. I can get the net oʃ its fin,’ he says.
‘Where’s its
mother?’ asks Sasha. She looks at the sea. ‘I can’t see any other whales, but
they are near here, I think. Be careful, Jack.’
Jack gets
the net off the baby killer whale. There is a big cut on its fin, but it swims away. Suddenly there
are other killer whales near the boat.
‘Jack!’
Tonya shouts. ‘Get in quickly.’ Jack swims to the boat as fast as a fish. ‘That baby killer whale … I am
going to call it Lucky,’ he says.
3 The big wave
It begins to
rain as they move away from the killer whales. Suddenly it is raining very hard
and there is a lot of wind. The sky is black.
Jack says:
‘This is bad. We must get away from the wind. I can see a town over there.
Let’s go.’
‘I’m
frightened,’ says Tonya. It is diɽcult to hear her because of the wind.
‘We’re all
frightened,’ says Jack. ‘But everything is OK.’
The town
gets nearer but the waves get bigger and bigger. Suddenly a very big wave hits
the boat. There is water everywhere.
‘Is everyone
OK,’ shouts Jack. ‘Max?’
‘Yes,’ says
Max.
‘Sasha?’
‘My arm
hurts but I’m OK,’ says Sasha.
‘Tonya? …
Tonya? … Where’s Tonya?’ shouts Jack.
‘She’s not
in the boat,’ says Sasha. ‘She’s in the water. But where?’
They look in
the cold, dark water for hours. ‘Tonya! Say something, Tonya. Where are you?’
shouts Max.
The wind
gets stronger and the boat is full of water. Another big wave hits the boat.
Sasha’s arm hurts a lot now.
‘Jack, we
must stop. Do you want us all to die?’ says Max. He puts his arm around Jack.
‘We can’t do any more. Tonya is wearing a
lifejacket
and she can swim very well. Let’s sail to the town.’
Jack puts
his head in his hands. ‘This can’t happen. It can’t!’ he says.
Max begins
to steer the boat. But the wind is too strong. Some time later the boat hits a
beach. The three friends get out. They are very tired.
They stop
there. Max and Sasha sleep on the beach, but Jack sits near the water. He looks
at the sea, thinking about Tonya.
4 Tonya
Tonya is
five hundred metres away out in the sea. She begins to swim, but the waves are
too big and the water is too cold. She finds some wood and puts her arms around
it.
Tonya is
thinking: ‘I must be strong. I am not going to die. I want to see the sun
again. Jack is going to find me.
Tonya sees a
boat far away. She calls to it. ‘Help! Help me! I’m overhere!’ She moves her
arms and shouts, but nobody hears her. The wind moves her away from the boat.
‘Oh, Jack.
I’m sorry,’ she says. Her head goes down on to the wood. In the arms of the
sea, she sleeps.
Suddenly
Tonya is not sleeping. There is no wind and she can see the sun. She looks
everywhere. There is a beach in front of her – but she cannot swim to it.
‘I am too
cold and too tired,’ she thinks. ‘I must see a boat soon.’
She looks at
the sea. There are no boats, no people, but some birds.
‘Can the
birds help me?’ she thinks sleepily.
Tonya
listens to the sea. She likes the noise. Then she hears something diʃerent.
‘Is it a
baby crying?’ she thinks and looks up.
Ten metres
in front of her is a big fin … a very big fin. Under the fin is a killer whale.
The whale is making the noise. But it is not a baby – it is ɹve metres long. Behind it is another
whale. And another. And another.
‘Killer
whales eat people. I am going to die,’ thinks Tonya.
The killer
whales come nearer and nearer. Tonya can’t feel her legs.
‘It’s OK,
they are cold. That’s all,’ she thinks. She starts to swim away from the big fins.
‘Help me!’
she shouts. ‘Help, help, help!’
The killer
whales are all around her. She closes her eyes and waits.
But she does
not die.
The biggest
killer whale is under her. Suddenly she is on his back.
‘What is
happening? Perhaps they are not hungry.’ Tonya thinks.
The killer
whale moves slowly to the shore. He is taking Tonya to the beach.
Tonya puts
her hands on the ɹn in front of her.
‘This is a
very big fish – too big
for my tea!’ she thinks. She smiles and puts her head on his big back. Soon,
she is sleeping again.
5 ‘Tonya? Is that you?’
Jack sits on
the beach. The sun is in the sky. Behind him, Max and Sasha sleep.
‘I must do
something,’ he thinks. ‘I can’t take my boat but I must look for Tonya.’
He begins to
walk along the beach. ‘There is a town near here. I can get a new boat, then I
can look for Tonya.’
Just then
Jack sees something on the beach. He walks nearer. It is a woman.
Jack runs to
the woman on the beach. ‘Tonya?’ he shouts. ‘Tonya! Is that you?’
Tonya moves
her head slowly. ‘Jack! Oh, Jack. You’re OK!’
Jack puts
his arms around Tonya. He kisses her face and cries. He can’t speak – he is too
happy.
Tonya says:
‘What about Max and Sasha? Are they OK, too?’
‘Everyone is
OK,’ answers Jack.
They sit on
the beach and look at the sea.
Jack says:
‘We are very, very lucky.’
Tonya sits
up and sees a small ɹn in the water. It has a cut on it.
The fin
waves slowly and moves out to sea. It is waving goodbye, thinks Tonya.
‘Lucky. Yes,
Lucky,’ she says quietly to Jack.
GLOSSARY
around to go round something in a circle
baby a very young animal or person
beach a sandy place at the edge of the sea
business where lots of people work together
to make money
catch to take quickly in your hands
cut a knife can cut things
fish an animal that swims in the sea
frighten to make somebody afraid
hurt to be in pain; a broken leg hurts
kiss to touch with your mouth
letter when you write to someone you send
them a letter
lifejacket this helps you ɻoat on water
lucky when good things happen to you
net people use this to catch fish
sail to travel in a boat
shout to talk loudly
steer to make something go to the left or
to the right
strong able to move heavy things; does not
break easily
swim to move through water
wave to move your hand in the air; where
the sea goes up and down
wind air that movesworld the planet Earth
that we live on
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