The Great Snapping Turtle Adventure Read Online Free Page A

At night. She’d tell me how they helped her with the gardening. Told her when to put the little plants in the ground come spring. An’ you know, her garden was always the finest. Biggest strawberries on the whole island. Strawberries as big as peaches…take you four or five bites just to finish one off.”
    â€œWow!” said the boys.
    â€œAn’ her corn! Sweetest I ever tasted. Melt in your mouth. She was a farmer with a real touch an’ she had most folk down this way believin’ she did have elves helpin’ her out. Most folks exceptin’ her son, that is. He was convinced she’d gone nuts. Had her committed to a home up in Cambridge. A real shame it were, too. It was the undoing of her. She was a healthy spunky ol’ gal ’til that happened. We all here on the island feared it would put an end to her, an’…” Ham stopped and wouldn’t go on.
    â€œOh no,” sighed Fred.
    â€œWell, maybe I heard it all wrong. Gossip gets sort of mixed up with fishing lines down here, an’ what you sometimes hear ain’t the end-all of it. Maybe she’s been let out. Hope so. If Hattie told you she were givin’ you a lady snapper, then believe it.”
    â€œDo you think the turtle will be ok today while we crab?” Fred asked, trying to return to crabs and things that were easier to understand.
    â€œTurtle should be fine as long as you keep her wet. Throw some seaweed on her an’ keep a little bit of the basket tied in the water…not deep, but just so the water can keep slappin’ up against her, keepin’ her cool. She should be fine then.”
    Ham gave Fred directions to the public beach again. He wished them well. “An’ if anyone gives you any mouth, just tell ’em Ham at the P.O. told you it was ok. Tell ’em you’re my guest an’ the guest of Mrs. Hattie Harriston. That should shock ’em so much they’ll leave you be.”
    â€œBut we aren’t really Hattie Harriston’s guests,” said Max.
    â€œOh, yes you are. If Hattie Harriston showed herself to you an’ let you pass down the road, then you’re her guests.” Ham shook his head so hard the sweat sprayed off of his face like salty rain. “Good luck, now!”
    â€œSee you, Ham!” the boys and Fred called as they went back to the hot truck.
    Inside the cab, everyone was quiet for a few moments. Then all three spoke at once.
    â€œThis is getting stranger and stranger,” Fred whispered.
    â€œWhat is this stuff about Mrs. Harriston?” asked Charles.
    â€œIs any of this real? An old woman holding a snapping turtle, a gravestone with her name, and then Ham!” said Max.
    â€œWell, I told you we were out for an adventure,” said Fred.
    â€œAnd an adventure we’re getting!” ended Max.
    â€œYeah, kind of an Eastern Shore version of Alice in Wonderland, ” added Charles.

CHAPTER 5

    D OWN A LITTLE SANDY ROAD . Down a lane no wider than a deer trail. Down they traveled until there was no more road left, only water lapping up against a bulkhead of drift wood, broken crab pots, brush and oyster shells.
    â€œGuess this is it,” said Fred, above the hiss and slap of the water and the whining hum of wind through the marsh grass and pines.
    â€œAll out!” shouted Max.
    â€œEnough wasted time,” said Charles, leaping to the ground.
    Both boys were out of the truck so fast the door was left open and had to be shut, as an afterthought. They galloped to the water’s edge.
    The wind and sea spray was soft on their faces, the heat and sound so melodious, they felt, though neither would admit it, like they were swept up and blended in a lullabye.
    After a minute, Fred pulled at their elbows. “There are crabs to be caught, remember?”
    â€œOh, sure!” And both boys made a beeline back to the truck bed for their supplies: the cooler, sandwich and snack bag,