Josie and the Fourth Grade Bike Brigade

Josie and the Fourth Grade Bike Brigade — page 5 — 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

Josie and the Fourth Grade Bike Brigade — page 6 — 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

Josie and the Fourth Grade Bike Brigade — page 7 — Grandma turned the car around and grabbed the phone Her friend Juana must have been on her speed dial because the next thing I knew Grandma was shouting at her a mile a minute Juana necesito tres bicicletas ahora mismo I need three bicycles right away We have to get to the beach by the back road A baby whale is stranded probably since last night Grandma hung up without even waiting for an answer She turned the car around and drove to Juana's house Juana was waiting with four bicycles three for us and one for her Without a word we all jumped out of the car and onto the bikes and were pedaling like mad The police waved us through this

Josie and the Fourth Grade Bike Brigade — page 8 — time Pretty soon we were at the beach huffing and puffing At first I couldn't see the whale because it was in the shallow water and a crowd was gathered around it Grandma was already running down to the whale and we ran behind her I had never seen a whale up close This baby was a giant Its skin was smooth in some parts and full of bumps and lumps in other parts Its big gray eye looked right at me Everyone there was getting ready to push OK everyone Grandma shouted We have to keep her wet until the tide comes in Then there'll be enough water for us to turn her and push her out Carmen it's already coming in High

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