Seaweed Read Free Page A

Or worse, did he think I took drugs or something?
    A heavy thug settled in my stomach. “Yeah, Coach?”
    “I watched you during that first race.”
    “I didn’t win,” I said. “Colby did.”
    “I know. You didn’t win, Dori, but you didn’t breathe either.”
    I felt my eyelids flutter. “What?”
    Coach cocked his head. “The whole second length. You didn’t bring your head up to breathe once.”
    “I didn’t? I must’ve. Coach, you weren’t watching me the whole time.”
    “Yes, I was.”
    What was the matter with me? I didn’t take a breath? Not once? I was so focused on beating Colby and then not beating him, I didn’t even notice.
    Coach fiddled with the papers on his clipboard. “You have an extraordinary ability to hold your breath. That’s extremely useful to you as a swimmer.”
    More eyelid fluttering. “Uh, thanks?”
    He went back to his office and I left for the change rooms feeling relieved. So, I could hold my breath for a long time. So what? There were probably lots of people who could do that, like there were people with really long tongues who could touch their noses or people who were double jointed and could twist themselves into a pretzel. It was just like that. A freaky gift.
    When I looked up, I saw Ally gawking at me. She’d been on the swim team as long as I had, but never placed near the top three. I wondered if she was staring because she’d noticed my freaky gift. But then I realized she was staring at my legs.
    I glanced down. They were beet red.
    “Dori,” Ally finally said. “What’s wrong with your legs?”
    Now that I’d noticed the rash, suddenly they were unbelievably itchy. “I don’t know. Maybe the chlorine is out of whack.”
    “My legs are okay.”
    I checked them out. She was right. There was nothing wrong with her legs. Mine were itching and scaling like crazy.
    “That looks like eczema,” Ally said. “A really bad case of eczema.”
    Great. Just great. Not only did I have a circus worthy weirdo gift, I looked like a gigantic lobster, too.

CHAPTER FOUR
     
     
    Mark, Luke and Dad were already seated at the table for Sunday brunch. With all five of us plus Nana who’d popped in, too, it was a tight fit. We’d become experts at keeping our elbows in and dodging tall beverage glasses.
    Tor’s escape on Friday night was the talk around the table.
    “Dori,” Nana said with a worried frown, “I heard you tried to save him. In the dark!”
    One thing about a town like Eastcove, everyone knew everybody’s business.
    “It was no big deal, Nana. I’m trained for that kind of thing. Besides, I didn’t find him. He found his own way out.”
    “Must be some kind of swimmer,” Dad said. He was a gentle giant, beefy with wide shoulders and warm, soft brown eyes.
    “Or some kind of stupid,” Luke quipped, as he spooned applesauce onto his fish pancakes.
    “Shut up!” I said, scowling.
    “Apparently he fell,” Mark said, showing some pity. “It happens.”
    “Yeah, Luke,” I said defensively, “it happens.”
    “I’m just glad everyone is okay.” Mom stood scanning the table for anything missing and then grabbed the salt, pepper and nutmeg out of the cupboard.
    Nana eyeballed me as she chewed. She was slim from working in her flower garden, and from walking everywhere. She didn’t believe in cars, and if she needed to go to “the city,” Mom would take her. Her soft skin folded around a face accustomed to smiling and her short gray curly hair still had signs of the same blond Mom and I shared.
    She put her fork down, reached across Mom’s lap, grabbed my hand and squeezed. “You really should stay out of the ocean, Dori.”
    The way she said it kind of freaked me out, all earnest and foreboding-like. I wondered if maybe Nana was starting to lose some of her marbles. She was getting kind of ancient. I gave her a reassuring smile.
    “I’ll be fine, Nana.”
    I spent the rest of the afternoon studying for exams. My cat Crosby lounged on