ChAPTER 1 It’s a Friday morning in March And even though our tiny house is shivery cold I’m out of my sleeping bag and ready for school Let’s do Mae’s Say one more time before we leave I call out to Turtle She’s in the tiny bathroom bathroom of our tiny house trying to find a clean pair of socks She never gets her dirties in the hamper in time for laundry day I bet she steals a pair of mine But I won’t say anything this morning Not if she’ll dance with me 1
The chances are good Turtle loves to dance A day doesn’t go by when she doesn’t beg my dad to turn on Dance Like a Flamingo Not me I normally don’t like to do silly dances where you flap your wings and knock your birdy knees together But Mae’s Say is different Mae is a teenager who is trying to save our earth She has long hair and a butterfly tattoo on her cheek She wrote a poem about why we need trees and bees wings and water and she invented a dance to go with it The dance is complicated with lots of directions but Turtle and I have been practicing every chance we get Dad who is snuggled in on the couch with his tablet groans when he hears me mention Mae’s Say again But it’s a pretend groan I know deep down he 2
likes the dance too Are your backpacks ready to go Mom asks as Turtle races back into our one room to join me And yes she is wearing my purple striped socks Almost Turtle says She pushes her way past Mom who is sipping coffee in the tiny kitchen area grabs her reading book and stuffs it into her backpack backpack Ready Turtle tosses her backpack near our winter boots and then we line up in front of the laptop that’s resting on the breakfast bar Mom I coax Dad They both laugh and shake their heads But they put down their coffee mugs and line up behind Turtle and me I knew they’d say yes Mae’s dance is just so catchy and fun 3
