1 Grandma and the Whale Wake up Josie wake up Someone was shaking me I looked at the clock next to my bed It said 6 02 a m For a second I thought it was a school day back home in Brooklyn and my mom was waking me up Then I saw my Grandma Carmen and I remembered that it was summer and I was in Ecuador Why in the world was she waking me so early Before I could complain Grandma was pulling the covers off my big brother Damien trying to get him up He was 12 and getting to be a real sleepyhead
Get up Now yelled Grandma The Rescue Center called on the radio There's a baby humpback whale stranded on the beach We need to help get it back in the water Grandma doesn't usually get so excited My tiredness vanished This was a big deal Now even Damien jumped out of bed My grandma is a marine biologist speaks perfect English Spanish and French can beat Damien at arm wrestling and is simply the coolest grandma in the world I knew she was in charge of volunteers at the Whale Rescue Center But I'd been coming to her home in Ecuador every summer of my life that's nine summers by the way and this was the first time I'd heard of a real whale emergency
Damien and I practically flew into the car Grandma was driving fast Suddenly there were policemen waving us over to the side of the road An officer approached our car I thought we were going to get a ticket But that wasn't the problem Lo siento he said The road is closed for construction You'll have to go around He was speaking slowly enough for me to understand his Spanish But you didn't need to understand Spanish to know there was no time to go around the long way You could see that from Grandma's face She had told us that a baby whale can't live very long out of water
