Читать книгу Tube World - David Inc. Swanson - Страница 3

One summer, Wesley’s family spent a week at the beach in Delaware. His cousins Hallie and Travis, and their parents, came too. The three children had endless fun riding bicycles, zipping down waterslides, riding on amusement park rides, and — above all — playing on the beach, digging holes in the sand, constructing sand castles, and jumping into the water to ride the waves on boogie boards. When dolphins swam by, Wesley would swim underwater to listen to the squeaky noises they made to talk to each other.

Hallie and Travis were Wesley’s only cousins and his favorite people to play with in the whole world. They were also the ones who had introduced him to Tube World. Hallie was the oldest, then Travis, with Wesley the youngest of the three. When Hallie said she had something important to tell her brother and her little cousin, right away Wesley would stop acting silly and listen carefully. Travis, who might have heard it already, or who just didn’t feel like listening to his sister, was a little harder to focus.

“This is important,” Hallie said. “Travis, are you listening?” Travis was filling a cup with wet sand and trying to turn it upside down on the top of his head to create a sand castle hat.

“Travis!” his big sister said. “This is very important.”

“So is this,” said Travis. “I’m going to create the world’s first biodegradable hats that crabs can live in.”

Wesley began laughing at Travis, and Hallie saw that she was about to lose her cousin’s attention too.

“Wesley and Travis,” she said quietly. “I have to talk to you about . . . ” and she whispered: “Tube World.”

The two boys immediately paid complete attention. The three kids walked out, knee-deep into the ocean. Nobody else was close enough to hear them over the roar of the waves if they spoke softly.

“Do you see this ocean?” said Hallie, enjoying the fact that the boys were finally listening to her.

“Yes.” “Yes.”

“It’s higher than it used to be. It’s only a few inches higher, but it’s going to get higher and higher and higher. It’s going to rise more and more quickly than it’s been rising. By the time people can see the difference, it will be about to rise very high. By the time the beach is in danger of disappearing, the boardwalk and the street will be in danger of disappearing too. Do you understand?”

“Because of melting icebergs,” said Travis.

“If they all melt it’ll be safe for the Titanic to sail,” said Wesley, who had recently learned about the famous ship that had struck an iceberg and sunk to the bottom of the ocean. Wesley wanted to build a new Titanic.

“No,” said Hallie. “It won’t be safe for anything. We’re turning the whole world into the Titanic. I want to show you, and we have to use Tube World to see it. When is your next Tube World trip, Wes?”

Wesley said it was next Tuesday, after he got back home to Virginia from Delaware.

Wesley’s mom was calling to the three children from the beach. She was saying something about soft ice cream. It would look suspicious for them to ignore soft ice cream, and they didn’t want to ignore it.

“O.K.,” said Hallie to her little cousin, speaking very quickly. “When you are passing through the center of the Earth on the way back to bed on Tuesday, schedule your next trip for one week later, the next Tuesday, at 1:36 a.m. Eastern Time Wednesday morning. You’ll go to Maldives tube 3047. Got it?”

Wesley whispered it to himself three times. “Got it,” he said. Tube trips didn’t have to be scheduled ahead of time, but it guaranteed no waiting — always helpful if trying to travel as a group.

“We’re coming!” Hallie shouted.