Miri Attwater and the Ocean's Secret

Chapter 2 Shockingly Different

CHAPTER 2 

Shockingly Different

Miri's parents didn't mean to keep it a secret. It's just that when she started talking, she was as chittery as a dolphin. Stella could just see her telling the person behind them in a checkout line all about where she came from. And so they put off telling her. After all, the easiest secret to keep is one you don't know. 

Oh, she knew she was adopted all right. That wasn't such a big deal. Ben Walters, who she'd known practically all her life, was adopted. And this year in her fifth grade class, everyone knew that Wendy Harris was adopted from China. That was obvious because with her straight black hair and almond-shaped eyes, she didn't look a thing like her parents. Miri, on the other hand, looked a lot like her mom.  

They both had the same ripply red hair. Only her mom's was long and luxurious while Miri wore hers shorter and parted to the side. She held it back with a clip when her mom reminded her. She knew the reason they looked alike because her birth mother was her mom's sister. She always wondered - if her mom was actually her aunt, did that make Miri her own cousin? Because she wished she had a cousin, or better yet, a sister. And she wondered why her birth mother gave her away and why they never saw her anymore. She asked her mom about it a couple of times, but she always got a far away look and only gave vague answers. She hated to see her mom so sad, so eventually she quit asking.

It was first day of summer vacation and Miri should have been perfectly happy. But she wasn't. This summer everybody - and no she was not exaggerating, everybody - Ben, Wendy, Kelsey, Hannah, John Henry, and even her best friend, Catherine, were all going away to summer camp. Everybody but her. As if that wasn't bad enough, she was going to have to spend the entire summer on her dad's research boat, in the middle of the ocean. Miri couldn't think of anything more boring, or lonely. 

So even though it involved swimming, she was excited when Wendy called to invite her to spend the day at the new water park. She didn't like swimming. She didn't know why, but whenever she swam in deep water she got a cold feeling of dread in the pit of her stomach. Maybe it was because she wasn't a very good swimmer. Or maybe it was because her mind would start thinking up all sorts of crazy things, like a shark swimming up from below. But that could only really happen in the ocean, and this swimming would be in a pool. Besides, Catherine was going, and while it wasn't camp, it was better than nothing. 

At first Miri was afraid her parents weren't going to let her go to the water park either. But after a few phone calls, all the moms decided to make a day of it. Thank goodness it looked like the moms were going to spend most of their time reading by the pool.  

Like with most things that bothered her, Miri was trying to put camp out of her mind and enjoy her day at the park. But it was hard, especially since Wendy kept bringing it up. 

Miri was doing the limbo under a line of fountain arches in the splash pool when Wendy swished her long black ponytail and said, "Just wait till we get to camp. It is so cool. There's this enormous lake and we go canoeing, and sailing, and wind surfing. We even swim in the lake." 

Miri cleared the last water arch, straightened up, and a bucket of water from the top of a tower dumped ice-cold water on her head. She shuddered, but only partially from the water. Swimming in a lake was something she wasn't sorry to miss out on. There were things swimming in a lake with you. She wiped the water out of her eyes and saw Wendy staring at her, her black eyebrows raised in amazement. 

"Wow! That whole bucket of water just dumped on you and your hair's already dry," she said. "How'd you do that?" 

Catherine laughed. "Miri sheds water like a duck," she said.