Maddy's Dolphin Read Online Free PDF Page B

through their hair and whistling past their ears.
BEEP!
They both immediately took evasive action, Maddy moving to her right and CJ to his left as a very posh jeep with blacked-out windows pulled out from the hotel entrance onto the road. They pulled to either side of it, just missing it by a hair’s breadth. They both wobbled, travelled on about another fifteen metres or so, wobbling more and more as they slowed down, and then both fell from their bikes. The jeep had slammed on its brakes in the middle of the road and skidded to a halt.
    â€˜Hey there! What are you two doing? Trying to kill yourselves or something?’ It was an American accent, and it was a very big and imposing man who got out of the posh jeep. Both Maddy and CJ started saying that they were very sorry, they had been racing each other and were perhaps going a bit too fast. They picked themselves up from the edge of the road.
    Lucy sat in the passenger seat and heard the two children speaking in English, so opened her door to see them. CJ was explaining that he was trying to beat Maddy and that he had never beaten her yet but that he would one day. On hearing the name Maddy mentioned, Lucy jumped out.
    She asked, ‘Did you two write to my dad?’ Both Maddy and CJ looked blank. ‘About the noise pollution and the dolphins? About the dolphin who lives here in Loutraki?’
    CJ was silent – this was a first for him. ‘Is your dad the President of America?’ asked Maddy.
    â€˜Yes,’ replied Lucy.

Explanations
    CJ walked onto the balcony where Maddy and Lucy were sitting in the late afternoon sun, overlooking the sea, huddled around the laptop computer. ‘What’s the big guy doing stood out in the corridor?’
    Lucy turned, saying, ‘Oh, it’s just his job; James is my bodyguard and he goes everywhere I go. You can sometimes forget he’s there.’
    â€˜How’s he so big?’ said CJ as he put the three portions of pastichio down on the stool near to where they sat.
    Having picked themselves up off the road and made their introductions, Maddy had found that her bike had a puncture. Lucy had said that they would give them a lift home. They had chatted away and, on getting to their building, Maddy invited Lucy up. CJ had been hungry as usual, and Ishbel wasn’t going to be in, so he volunteered to go to the taverna and get them his favourite meal from Vangelis to take up for them all.
    They all sat round the computer and Maddy read out:
    On Thursday about twelve sperm whales beached themselves on the shore to the shock of tourists and locals alike. Everyone pulled together for almost twelve hours, keeping the whales hydrated and digging around them, and on the next high tide all the whales made it back to the water. The big question scientists are now asking is why they beached themselves. One school of thought is that, with the NATO conference being held in Greece, there is a lot more security in the area, including the use of sonar by submarines. The sound waves emitted by the low- and mid-range frequency sonar being used by the military is believed to cause confusion in whales and dolphins and can give them symptoms similar to the symptoms suffered by divers with the bends. The military are denying that they are to blame.
    â€˜Our aunt told us about the sonar – yes, and it fits with what happened to Lunar,’ said Maddy.
    â€˜Who’s Lunar?’
    Maddy and CJ turned and looked at each other in silence. Lucy looked on in expectation. Maddy nodded and CJ shook his head. Maddy grabbed his arm and pulled him away to the corner and whispered, ‘I trust her. I know we said we wouldn’t let anyone know, but how else can we save the whales? Her dad’s the President.’ CJ thought about it, then nodded. Maddy was right. She usually was. Not that he was going to tell her, of course.
    They all sat down on the balcony and Maddy started. ‘You know about Atlantis,