Magnus Fin and the Ocean Quest Read Online Free PDF Page B

though he had a woodenleg, “I’m Long John Silver.”
    Suddenly he stopped his pirate impersonation, swung round and said, “How come you live with your great-grand-parents? They are just so ancient, man.” Tarkin had caught a glimpse of Barbara as she shuffled off to the bathroom – without her face scarf – and the boys had passed through the living room, where Tarkin had spotted Ragnor asleep by the fire.
    Magnus Fin took back the anchor and coughed. It was possible that Tarkin didn’t know. Everyone in the village knew that Ragnor and Barbara were Magnus Fin’s strange parents, but perhaps word had not yet reached the new boy from America. Magnus didn’t like telling lies, but it came out anyway. It felt easier that way.
    “Oh yeah, um, my mum and dad and, yeah, even my grandparents – they all drowned at sea,” he said, feeling his cheeks flame.
    “Woah,” said Tarkin, “I’ve never met a boy with dead parents before.”
    “Right, well, how do you like my new cormorant’s skull. Found it last week,” Magnus Fin said, shoving his prize skull into his new friend’s hands.
    “So, you are like, an orphan?” Tarkin asked, studying the fine white skull. “Man, that is just so way-out. I didn’t know they still had orphans. You could live with us when the G-G-Ps kick the bucket; that’d be so cool. My mom wouldn’t mind a bit. I don’t think.”
    “Um … right, OK then. Um, so what is G-G-Ps?”
    “Great-grand-parents. I just made it up.” Tarkingrinned and did his impersonation of an old man with a walking stick. Fin, even though he felt bad about lying, laughed.
    “So, what about your parents, Tarkin?”
    “Oh! Well, Dad’s a sculptor. He makes things out of wood. Dad got sick of moving all the time. He still lives in the Yukon.” Tarkin grew silent for a moment, turned the bird skull in his hands then coughed and carried on, “And Mom was a singer in a band. Till she damaged her throat that was, so now she’s having a go at milking goats and writing musicals. She really loves it here but she says that about everywhere. This is the fourteenth place I’ve lived. Whitehorse in the Yukon was the best – man, but it was so cold!”
    Magnus Fin could listen to Tarkin for hours. He knew nothing about all the places this boy from America spoke about: the foreign countries, bands, art, high-rise buildings, huge shopping malls, tepee’s, music festivals, magic spells. Magnus Fin had never been out of Scotland and seldom out of the village.
    But Tarkin could also listen to Magnus Fin for hours as he talked about his shells, how he found a baby dogfish in a rock pool, how he spent hours and hours in the summer swimming, diving and fishing, how he was always looking for treasures from sunken ships and gathering driftwood to build fires on the beach. How he loved watching the birds by the sea, the fulmars and gannets and shags and cormorants and how, best of all, he loved diving with his mask and snorkel, and how once he’d swum with dolphins and once come faceto face underwater with a seal.
    Magnus Fin had found a friend at last. And if the sound of his mother sobbing came from the next room he could now just think, Poor old G-G-P!

Chapter Eight
    Magnus Fin and Tarkin became the best of friends. Having G-G-Ps in the house made Magnus Fin’s problem so much easier to bear, and everything with Tarkin was fun. Even school was more exciting, and now that Magnus had a friend the other children looked at him differently. Even Sandy Alexander, the class bully, stopped tripping him up in gym and pushing him into the lockers. Some children were even friendly to him.
    “So it does get hot here,” said Tarkin one sunny lunchtime when they were both sitting in the playground, munching each other’s sandwiches and feeling the hot sun burn their faces. “Mom says if the weather stays like this she’ll be happy to live in Scotland for ever. I really hope it does. I’m sick of moving.”
    “What about