Sea Change by Diane Tullson Page B

getting out, looking at me. He knows. Everyone knows. But then Dad says, “Sumi told the camp crew that it was a hunting accident.”
    I look at him and I know he doesn’t believe it. I start to tell him but he interrupts me. He says, “Up here, hunting accidents happen all the time.”
    He’s letting her have this half-truth, and me too. He says, “I should have been with you.”
    It’s half an apology, but it will do. I say, “It’s okay.”
    â€œNo, I really wanted to be here. But Deirdre and her mother, they’re all sick with that damn flu and I didn’t feel I could leave.”
    I say, “It was good you stayed.” I mean it too. “Sumi would want to know her family was being cared for.”
    He nods. “Apparently she was asking about you too.”
    I’m not sure what that means, but he grins so I guess it’s good.
    The pilot makes a point of checking his watch, and my father says to me, “You’re on the next flight out of Sandspit.”
    â€œYou’re not going?”
    â€œTo Vancouver?” He shakes his head. “No, I’m going…”
    â€œHome.”
    â€œYes, home.” He reaches into his jacket and hands me a printed boarding pass to Vancouver. “I’ve prepaid your ticket on to LAX. You just have to pick it up at the airport.”
    I wish he were a total stranger. It would be easier to feel this way, like the pain I’m so used to is just a feeling. Like he is nothing at all. But he’s not. I say, “I’ve still got a few days. I could stay with you.”
    He rubs his hair and already I regret saying it. But then he says, “There’s nothing I’d like better, Lucas, any other time.”
    He might mean it too.

    On the flight into Vancouver, I show the guy sitting across the aisle the photo on my camera of the halibut. “You let it go?” he says, like I’m crazy.
    When the plane lands, I follow the stream of people out to where family members are waiting, hugging and laughing, and I keep walking. At the SkyTrain, I pause just long enough to figure out where I’m going, and then I take a seat and wait for my stop: Vancouver General Hospital.

Diane Tullson has written numerous novels for teens, along with Red Sea and The Darwin Expedition . Diane lives in Delta, British Columbia.

o rca s o undings
    The following is an excerpt from
another exciting Orca Soundings novel,
Masked by Norah McClintock.

    978-1-55469-364-1 $9.95 pb
978-1-55469-365-8 $16.95 lib
    WHEN DANIEL ENTERS A CONVENIENCE store on a secret mission, he doesn’t expect to run into anyone he knows. That would ruin everything. When Rosie shows up, she’s hoping to make a quick getaway with her waiting boyfriend. But the next person through the door is wearing a mask and holding a gun. Now things are getting complicated.

Chapter One
    â€œUh, do you have a bathroom I can use?” I’m ready with an excuse for when the man behind the counter says no. I thought long and hard to come up with it. You have to when you’re asking to use the bathroom in a convenience store, which doesn’t have to provide one the way restaurants do. I have to get yes for an answer if my mission is going to be a success.
    The man behind the counter scowls. He peers at me from under gray eyebrows that look like steel wool. Is he on to me? Does he suspect?
    â€œWhat about your coffee and taquito?” he says. “Are you still going to want those?”
    â€œYeah. And a two-liter cola and the latest Wrestling World , if you have it.” I throw those in to improve my chances of getting a yes.
    â€œWe have it. What about Wresting Today ? You want that too?” His piggy little eyes drill into me. I see immediately where he’s going. If I want to use the facilities, I’m going to have to cough up some more money. I take another glance at the magazine rack.
    â€œAnd Wrestling