Summer Ghoul: Tales From Lovecraft Middle School #5

Chapter 8

It was time for their first day of summer school. Robert and Glenn walked down to the beach. Arthur waved to them. 

"This is gonna suck," muttered Glenn.

"Hi, Arthur. What are we going to do today?"

"We're going to go beachcombing. I want you all to find at least ten signs of animal life. You can look up, down and all around." He handed them each a brightly colored child's beach bucket.

"What are we, eight years old?" snarled Glenn.

Arthur's sunny smile didn't waver. "Let's go."

They walked down the beach. Robert looked around but after ten minutes walking, he said honestly, "I don't see anything."

They stopped. "You walked over at least five. Glenn, did you see any?" When Glenn didn't respond, he turned around and started walking back the way they came."

"This here is a fox paw print." Robert looked at the delicate print on the side of a sand dune. 

"A fox? On a beach?" said Glenn. "I've lived here a long time and never seen a fox. Are you sure it's not from a dog?"

"Foxes are nocturnal. But beaches are part of their normal habitat. Their prey likes to hide in the scrubby plants and dune grass. And see here, these mouse tracks go all the way to the water and then stop. It didn't end well for the mouse. Mice come out at night to feed on the seeds and then the foxes feed on them." He pointed upwards. "And look up there. Black-backed gulls."

"What's that?" said Robert. He pointed to a looping track with holes. It looked like a child's toy truck print.

"Those are horseshoe crab tracks. Good eye. You know, horseshoe crab blood has copper in it. It has healing properties."

Robert was impressed and he could tell Glenn was too.

"How do you know all this stuff?" said Robert.

Arthur looked out over the ocean to the horizon. His eyes seemed to match the blue color. "To tell you the truth, I'm not sure."

They finished the day finding more treasures from the ocean. Overall it was a happy day. It didn't even feel like summer school. And happy was not a word they ever associated with Lovecraft Middle School.

When they got to Robert's house, his mom had made dinner for the three of them. They had just finished the food and were starting dessert when the power went out.

"Oh, no!" said his mom, holding a slice of lemon meringue pie over a plate. "Hopefully they will fix this soon." 

TO BE CONTINUED