The GRAVEYARD

parents. I feel certain I will never have to see you like this again. And that's that!" She

blotted the ink with a large ink blotter, folded the note in half, and handed it to me.

glanced back one more time. Miss Stone was still sitting at her desk, peering over the top

of her glasses, and smiling after us.

He looked back at her and echoed our words, "Thank you, Miss Stone, ma'am."

hurried out the door.

was closing in fast. We would have to hurry to get home before it hit.

through the creek, then climbing up the bank on the other side. We only had to crawl

through the fence at the edge of the woods before we would come out into the open area

of the Singleton Field. I barely glanced at the nearby cemetery. We were almost home!

of rain filled the air. The storm closed in around us; the raindrops pelted harder. We were

running across the field when Edward slowed down a little. He yelled, "I was relieved to

hear Miss Stone say what she did about our good behavior since she's been at Sunny

Sloop."

Edward. You called our school Sunny SLOOP instead of Sunny SLOPE," I said. "I read

in a book just this afternoon about large ships that are called sloops, but I never thought

about Sunny Slope School being called Sunny Sloop." We all laughed about the new

name for our school. We grabbed each other's hands and started running again.

The lightning and thunder were constant as the sky darkened even more. It was as if the

clouds were falling, wrapping themselves around us. Still holding hands, we ran even

faster in the downpour of rain. It was frightening!

graveyard, for some reason we all slowed down again and the three of us said the words

"Sunny Sloop" at the same time. At that exact instant there was a brilliant flash of

lightning that lit up the nearby tombstones like fireworks. At the same time there was a

tremendous clap of thunder.

changed!

but the ground seemed to be moving. It was rocking up, pausing, then suddenly rocking

back down again.

out feet—up, up, up. It seemed as if we would fall over for a moment, so steep was the

incline. Then came the pause before going back down, down, down.

in the middle of the Singleton Field. We were on board a large ship! Huge sails billowed

above our heads. Sailors dashed around the deck, yelling directions at each other. Some

were pulling on ropes and lowering sails. Everybody seemed to be hurrying. There was a

feeling of panic in their actions.

until we almost fell over before there was a pause, and a quick descent back down again.

But this time a large wave came crashing onto the deck. The powerful wave pushed us

ahead of it. We grabbed each other and held tightly. The thunder boomed.

so loud was the crashing of thunder, wind and wave. "You're the big sister! You tell us!"

wave that it knocked us down. We were swept across the deck in the churning water. It

looked as if we might be washed overboard when a man came running over and grabbed

us in his big, strong arms, holding us tightly.

couldn't understand his words because he was speaking a language we didn't know—but

we could understand his gestures. He helped us run across the wet, slippery deck.

opened and strong arms pulled us inside, into the safety of the cabin.