The Big Snapper by Katherine Holubitsky Page B

before Mapface could answer, I stepped forward.
    â€œâ€˜It was a special request, sir. I asked that I be allowed to tell you directly what a scrumptious meal of liver and onions you serve. I enjoyed it so much I had a second helping. If this is how you treat your prisoners, I’ll gladly remain one and hope that the same meal will be served every day.’ Well, you can imagine that one eye blinked like the beacon in a lighthouse. Once the captain overcame his surprise, he asked, ‘You really liked it?’
    â€œâ€˜I most certainly did. All I can say is, I wish I could take you home to my mother and you could teach her how to cook like that.’ The captain stood up. ‘Really? Because some of the men don’t like my cooking. They say it isn’t fit for pigs.’
    â€œâ€˜Boors,’ I told him. ‘Only boors with no appreciation for the finer things in life would come out with a comment like that.’ Well, that had the captain smiling and he immediately invited me to join him. Mapface set a chair and a place at the captain’s table. I had an enjoyable meal of lobster and asparagus, and cream puffs for dessert.”
    â€œHow did you get off the ship?” Eddie asks.
    â€œWell, once I’d finished my fourth cream puff, we took our Turkish coffee to the deck. That’s when the captain asked if I’d like to join his new crew; he’d make me first mate. I said I was very grateful and appreciative to be asked, but Rick would be wondering where I was. I wasn’t the type to leave a buddy high and dry. He nodded, saying that he understood. Although he was disappointed, he offered to take me back to Rose Spit.
    â€œThe island was still shrouded in mist when we landed, and I made my way across the rocks. I came up behind Rick through the fog. He turned. ‘What took you so long? I wanted to show you this sea urchin.’ I bent down to look in the pool at what he’d found.”
    Eddie is laughing.
    â€œYou see, Eddie. Sometimes you have to eat the liver and onions if you want the cream puffs for dessert.”

    Fred drives Granddad and Grandma, along with Eddie, Jake, Mom, Peggy and Mrs. Greenshaw, to the airfield to see Granddad off. He is flying to the mainland because he is not strong enough to make the eight-hour trip by boat. Eddie hadalready asked if he was afraid to fly because he had never been on an airplane. Granddad said that he wasn’t. Grandma, however, was wearing her favorite sweater and her string of lucky pearls around her neck.
    It is raining, of course, as they gather around to say goodbye and good luck to Granddad before he boards the small plane. But nobody notices, it is so much the way of the island and a part of their lives. They each hug Granddad and give him their best wishes. Eddie has a very hard time keeping the tears from falling when it is his turn, but he doesn’t want to give Granddad another reason to worry. He must let him think that he is strong and that he is able to look after things while he is gone. He must let him think he’s almost a man.
    â€œGood luck, Granddad.” Eddie holds Granddad tight. His face twitches from the effort to keep back the tears.
    â€œI love you,” Granddad tells him. “Don’t you worry, everything will be all right.”
    Eddie hopes with all his heart that it will be. But now, as Granddad squeezes back, Eddie is surprised at how really thin Granddad has become and how his arms have lost their strength.

Chapter 9

    Dr. Bloom, a university professor, arrives late that afternoon. Eddie is glad their new guest is only one person, and a quiet one at that. Dr. Bloom says he has come to study the many varieties of plants on the islands. He tells Eddie there are over three hundred different types of moss alone, and there are species of ferns that date back to dinosaur times. This makes where Eddie lives very special.
    Eddie doesn’t feel like it’s very