Sam Watkins - Darcy Dolphin and the Best Birthday Ever!

‘We’ll help you, sir!’ I took the turtle’s flipper. He looked a bit startled, but I had to be quick in case Reggie Ray showed up. Streams of fast-moving fish were whizzing along the road in both directions.

‘After this one . . . GO!’

I yanked the turtle out into the road.

HOOOOONK! A whale shark swerved to avoid us. Then SCREEEEECH! A school of mackerel coming the other way screeched to a halt. Behind me I could hear Ozzie and Myrtle saying ‘Sorry, really sorry . . .’

When we got to the other side of the road the turtle collapsed in a quivering heap.

‘There you go,’ I said, cheerily. ‘Safely across the road!’

The turtle looked up at me. ‘But I didn’t WANT to cross the road,’ he quavered. ‘I was just having a rest!’

Aaaargh. No Help Points there, then. ☹

This helping thing is harder than I thought!

Thought of the Day:Just because a turtle is waiting by a road doesn’t mean he wants to cross it.

TURTLESDAY

We needed a plan to get a load of Help Points, so I decided to call a Helpers Meeting. We had to go to Myrtle’s because she was babysitting her twin brothers, Tyler and Trent. From the moment I arrived they wouldn’t leave me alone.

‘Daaarrrrcy, why don’t you have a shell?’

‘Daaarrrrcy, do dolphins lay eggs?’

‘Daaarrrrcy, why have you got a hole on your back?’

In the end Myrtle put them in front of the TV so we could start our meeting. Octopirates was on. The main character is Captain Tentacles, whose catchphrase is ‘Yo ho hum!’ Small fry think it’s hilarious.

As the twins went quiet, I grabbed some paper and a pen and wrote, ‘Helpers Meeting’.

‘Now, is everyone here?’ I said. ‘Where is Ozzie Octopus?’

‘He said he was going to be a bit late,’ said Myrtle.

‘Hmmm.’ I wrote, ‘Ozzie Octopus – LATE’.

‘Why are you writing that down?’ asked Myrtle.

‘You have to write everything down in meetings,’ I said.

‘Now, what are our ideas for getting loads of Help Points?’

I looked at Myrtle. There was a long pause.

‘We could tidy our bedrooms?’ she said finally.

‘Good idea,’ I said. ‘But we need something where we can get squillions of Help Points. We didn’t get any yesterday! We need to THINK BIG.’

I wrote down: ‘THINK BIG’.

It was really hard to think big with the TV yo-ho-humming away. Then there was a sudden burst of music as Octopirates ended and the twins hurled themselves on me.

‘YO HO HUM!!! Be our pirate ship, Daaaarcy!’

Myrtle groaned. ‘We’ll never get anything done now! The only person who can keep the twins quiet is Captain Tentacles –’

The doorbell rang.

‘I’ll get it,’ I said, shaking Tyler and Trent off and swimming to the door.

It was Ozzie. He looked a bit pink. ‘Where’ve you been?’ I asked.

‘Sorry,’ he said. ‘I had to go to yoga with Mum – she says it’s good for my tentacles . . .’

Tentacles . . . Sploosh – BRAINWAVE!

‘Wait here,’ I told Ozzie. I went back into the living room where the twins were now swordfish-fighting on the sofa.

‘Have you got a pirate costume?’ I asked Myrtle.

‘The twins have,’ she said. ‘They’re obsessed with pirates.’ She pointed at a pirate hat and eye-patch lying on the floor. I took them out to Ozzie.

‘Here, put these on.’

He looked at them suspiciously. ‘Why?’

‘Please – I can’t explain now . . .’

Ozzie rolled his eyes, but he put the hat on and pulled the patch over his eye. I pulled him into the living room.

‘Tyler, Trent – there’s someone here to see you!’

The twins stopped fighting and peered over.

I nudged Ozzie. ‘Say “Yo ho hum”,’ I whispered.

‘Yo ho hum,’ he mumbled. The twins shrieked in glee.

‘Captain Tentacles!’

After that the twins were as good as goldfish. We sort of forgot about the Helpers Meeting though, and ended up playing ‘Make Captain Tentacles Walk the Plank’. So we still don’t have any ideas for getting Help Points! I think Ozzie is a bit cross with me about the walking the plank thing, too.☹

Thought of the Day:Some days are Thinking Big days and some are Walking the Plank days.

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