A Smidgen of Sky Read Free Page B

be such a weenie. It’s practically lukewarm.”
    I raised a hand to shield my eyes and studied the island. It wasn’t a real island, just a big mound not far from the beach, covered with saltwort and scrub grass. There were five older kids doing crazy jumps and dives off a giant round floatie thing next to the island. I wanted to swim out there, but I wasn’t allowed. Mama said I wasn’t a strong enough swimmer to go much over my head.
    But Mama wasn’t here.
    Ben swam in the opposite direction, his long, powerful strokes gliding him away from us. Ginger was flopped on her back, an arm thrown across her eyes.
    I walked over to the edge of the water and stuck my toes in. My whole body prickled with sudden excitement. I took a deep breath of salty air and squinted out over the Atlantic, clear out to where the brilliant blue of the sky seemed to blend right into the blue of the water. Daddy had crashed into this very ocean, only about fifteen miles from where I stood.
    All at once I didn’t care if Mama thought I wasn’t a strong swimmer or if Ben had said to stick close to shore. With a shiver, I dove in and headed for the island.

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    I TOOK OFF swimming hard and furious, feeling all proud of myself. I’d swim out, touch that island, and circle back before anybody even missed me. I kept up a steady pace as long as I could, resisting the urge to look back. After a while, though, my arms started to burn, and I stopped to get my bearings. I couldn’t believe it. The darn island had moved way off to my left. It didn’t look much closer than it had from the beach. I figured I should turn around. I almost wanted to. But for some crazy reason, I kept paddling, glancing up every few seconds to keep a straight course.
    Fear of drowning was about all that kept me going, because by the time I finally reached the island, my arms were so dead that I couldn’t even haul myself out of the water. I grabbed hold of a big bunch of scrub grass and hung on till my heart slowed a bit and I could finally muster the strength to climb into the mess of weeds.
    The kids on the floatie were playing around, making as much ruckus as a bunch of stuck pigs. Nobody said anything to me, but I could tell by their looks that they didn’t figure I had any right to invade their privacy.
    I spotted Ben. He’d looped around and was swimming toward Ginger, who was still stretched out on the beach like a catfish ready to fry. I shivered. A red-haired boy took a flying leap off the floatie, pulling his knees up to his chest in midair. Then one of the girls jumped, too, but she did it real sissylike—feet first, holding her nose. I figured that’s how Ginger would jump.
    Ben was almost back to shore.
    I bit my lip, not sure why swimming out to the island had seemed like such a great idea. I tried to rub some feeling back into my numb arms and took a couple of long, slow breaths. The sun felt so good. If I could only nap for a minute or two, I’d be good as new. But no sooner did I close my eyes than one of the girls said, “Hey, kid, your daddy’s calling you.”
    I raised my head. A girl in a pink bikini balanced on the edge of the floatie. She pointed toward the beach. Ben was treading water halfway between the shore and the island.
    My nose filled with the awful stinging that comes right before tears.
    â€œIt’s okay,” I said. “He’s not my daddy.” Without giving myself another second to think about it, I slipped into the water.
    My arm muscles started to holler right away. I did my best to ignore them and just concentrate on breathing, but the swells spattered droplets into my nose and I sputtered and coughed.
    Don’t be a weenie,
I commanded myself.
It’s not as far as it looks.
But as hard as I kicked and flailed toward shore, it seemed to stay just about as far away. Then my left shoulder cramped, and the blazing pain made me panic.
    I looked for