Liz and the Sand Castle Contest Read online

  Contents

  Chapter 1 To the Beach!

  Chapter 2 The Boy on the Bike

  Chapter 3 Heads or Tails?

  Chapter 4 Critter Creativity

  Chapter 5 The Contest

  Chapter 6 It’s a . . . Baby Octopus!

  Chapter 7 Liz to the Rescue!

  Chapter 8 Windy Worries

  Chapter 9 Tommy’s Idea

  Chapter 10 It Takes Two

  'Marion Takes Charge' Excerpt

  About Callie Barkley and Marsha Riti

  To the Beach!

  Liz Jenkins peered through the glass side of the fish tank. “I really wish I were a fish right now!” she said.

  She and her friends, Ellie, Amy, and Marion, were at The Critter Club. They were standing around an aquarium filled with colorful fish. The girls were pet sitting the fish for a couple of weeks.

  “It would feel great to go for a swim,” Ellie agreed. “Do you think fish ever get hot?”

  Santa Vista was in the middle of a summer heat wave. Liz would bet it was about ninety-five degrees in Ms. Sullivan’s barn. The barn was the headquarters of The Critter Club, the animal rescue shelter the girls had started.

  “I forgot how hot it can get here,” Marion said. She had just returned from horseback riding camp. “Up in the mountains at camp, it was so cool!”

  Amy sighed. “I’m just glad my writing program is inside,” she said. “The classroom at the rec center is super air-conditioned!”

  Amy sprinkled fish food into the water. The fish raced up to the surface to snatch the crumbs.

  “You’re lucky,” Ellie said to Amy. “Nana Gloria doesn’t like turning on the air conditioner.” Nana Gloria was Ellie’s grandmother. She lived with Ellie’s family. “I’m going to melt by the time my parents get back from their trip!” She turned to Liz. “You have to take me with you to Luna Beach tomorrow!”

  Liz giggled. “I wish I could take all three of you!” she replied. “But our car is going to be packed!”

  Liz’s family was leaving the next day. They had rented a beach cottage for a long weekend. Liz could not wait. Even when it was hot at the beach, there were sea breezes and cool waves. Liz was a strong swimmer. She could body surf all weekend to stay cool.

  Liz looked down at the fish. “I’m just sorry I won’t be able to help with these guys,” Liz said.

  “That’s okay,” Ellie said. “We three can handle them. But we’ll miss you, Liz!”

  Amy and Marion nodded.

  Liz smiled. “Thanks, you guys. And hey, I’ll probably meet lots of other fish in the sea!”

  The Boy on the Bike

  “Mom?” Liz called from the backseat. “How much longer until we get there?”

  “Just a few more miles!” Liz’s mom replied.

  Liz loved her family’s lake house on Marigold Lake, but she was excited to get to the beach. She’d never been to this one before.

  Just as Liz had predicted, the car was packed. All the way in the back, there were backpacks and boogie boards. There were bags with Frisbees and paddleball equipment. There were piles of beach towels. And there were two coolers filled with veggie burgers and tofu dogs. They were the family’s favorite cookout foods.

  Even the roof rack was full. Liz’s older brother, Stewart, was bringing his surfboard. He’d learned to surf the summer before. Already, he was really good at it.

  Liz had put her most important things in the little compartment next to her seat: a pad of paper and her case of drawing pencils. Liz loved to draw and paint. She never went anywhere without her sketchbook.

  “I can’t wait to get back on my board!” Stewart said. “I hope the waves are big at Luna Beach!”

  “Well,” said Liz, “I can’t wait to swim and boogie board. And build sand castles! I’m definitely going to build a sand castle.”

  Liz thought of sand castle–building as an art. She usually made a sketch before she got started. Some days at the beach, she spent hours working on the same sand castle. At home, she had photos of her best ones, taken before the waves had washed them away.

  Finally the Jenkins family rolled into town. Liz looked out the window. They passed a playground that looked pretty cool. Liz noticed some kids her age riding bikes. She smiled. She had a feeling this was going to be a fun weekend!

  Mrs. Jenkins pulled into the driveway of the cottage. Liz and Stewart raced inside to figure out who got which room. Then they all unloaded the car.

  “How about we get into our bathing suits?” Mrs. Jenkins said. “We can spend the rest of the afternoon at the beach.”

  “I’ll pack some sandwiches,” Mr. Jenkins added.

  The beach was a short walk from the cottage. Mr. and Mrs. Jenkins carried the beach chairs and umbrella. Stewart lugged the cooler. Liz hurried on ahead with the blanket and a bag of beach toys.

  Just before they reached the beach path, Liz heard a boy’s laugh and the creak of a bike chain behind her. She turned. A red-headed boy on a bike whizzed past her, way too close.

  “Whoa!” Liz cried, jumping back.

  The boy pedaled on. Liz watched him as he rode away. Just for a second, he turned his head to look back at her. Liz thought she saw the tiniest smile on his face. Almost . . . a smirk?

  Heads or Tails?

  Luna Beach had the clearest water and softest sand of any beach Liz had ever been to.

  Right away, she and her family went for a swim. It was almost low tide. The waves were too small for surfing, but just right for body surfing. Stewart gave Liz pointers on how to ride a wave all the way in.

  Later, Liz’s dad read a book. Stewart took a nap under the beach umbrella. Liz and her mom tossed the Frisbee around.

  When they got hungry, they sat together on the beach blanket and ate their sandwiches. They watched the sky turn a pink-orange as the sun set. Liz pulled out her sketchbook and colored pencils and made a quick sketch.

  Then they started to pack up their stuff. “Not a bad first day at the beach, right?” said Mr. Jenkins.

  “And we still have two more before it’s time to go home!” Liz added.

  On the way back up the beach path, Liz spotted a paper tacked to a fence post. It was flapping in the breeze like a flag. Liz smoothed it out so she could read it.

  Liz gasped. A sand castle contest?! That was perfect for her!

  Stewart came over. He read the flyer over Liz’s shoulder. “BOR-ing,” he said. “Who’d want to build sand castles when they could be surfing? Right, Liz?”

  He laughed and elbowed Liz. But then he noticed the dreamy look on Liz’s face.

  “Oh!” Stewart said. “But you’d probably like it.”

  Liz smiled. She and Stewart were different in a lot of ways. But he was a pretty good brother.

  “The last chance to sign up is tonight,” Liz pointed out. “I’m probably too late.”

  Stewart reread the flyer. “The lifeguard station is right down there,” he said, pointing down the beach. “Come on, I’ll go with you to check it out!”

  Liz and Stewart told their parents their plan. Then they hurried down the beach while their mom and dad walked back to the cottage.

  When they reached the lifeguard station, Liz saw a woman sitting at a table out front. She had a clipboard. Stewart hung back while Liz went over to the table.

  “Hi!” Liz said. “Is this where I sign up for—”

  “Excuse me!” a voice shouted, interrupting. A boy ran up to talk to the woman—as if Liz wasn’t even there. “I want to sign up for the contest.”

  Liz turned. It was that red-headed boy—the one on the bike.

  The woman looked down at her clipboard. “Oh dear,” she said. “I’m afra
id we have only one spot left.” She smiled at Liz, then at the boy.

  Well, this is awkward, thought Liz. She tried to lighten things up with a joke. “Flip a coin for it?” she suggested. Liz figured the boy would say she should take the spot. After all, she did get there first.

  But the boy stared back at her without smiling. “Okay,” he said. “I call tails!”

  Critter Creativity

  Liz was speechless. She’d only been kidding. But this kid was serious! Liz looked over at her brother, thinking maybe he had advice. But Stewart was poking at something in the sand. He hadn’t heard what was going on.

  At that moment, the lady’s cell phone rang. She answered it. “Uh huh. Mm-hmm. Okay, no problem,” she was saying. “Thanks for calling.” When she hung up, she crossed something off her clipboard.

  “Good news!” she announced with a smile. “Someone who signed up can’t make it. So I have two spots after all!” She slid her clipboard and pen across the table so they could add their names.

  The boy snatched up the pen. Liz watched as he wrote his name down: Tommy Cook.

  Then he hurried off without another word.

  Huh, Liz thought as she added her name to the signup sheet. Not the friendliest boy in the world.

  Still, Liz tried to think the best of people. Maybe he was just shy. Not everybody made friends easily.

  Back at the cottage, Liz used the phone to call Ellie in Santa Vista. She was wondering how the fish were doing. Ellie reported that the fish had a new best friend: Ms. Sullivan’s dog, Rufus!

  “It’s the funniest thing,” Ellie said. “Rufus sat in front of the fish tank most of the afternoon today. He was just watching them swim back and forth!”

  Liz laughed. “Rufus?” she said. “Sitting still?”

  “I know!” Ellie replied. “He’s usually a fur ball of energy. But watching the fish seems to make him really . . . calm.” Ellie giggled. “I thought he was going to fall asleep.”

  Then Liz told Ellie about the sand castle contest. Ellie wished her good luck. “I wish we could be there to see your masterpiece!” Ellie exclaimed.

  When Liz got off the phone, she sighed. She did miss her friends and The Critter Club. But she was really excited about the contest.

  She got out her sketchbook and a pencil. Her pencil hovered above the paper. What would she make her sand castle look like? Then an idea came to her.

  Ms. Sullivan’s barn: The Critter Club!

  The Contest

  The next morning, Liz’s family got to Luna Beach bright and early. They spread out their blanket and put up their umbrella. Liz took all the buckets, shovels, and sand tools they had. Then her mom pointed out the contest area down the beach.

  “We’ll come down in a little while to check on you,” her mom said.

  “And cheer you on,” her dad added.

  “Good luck, Liz!” Stewart shouted as he ran into the water with his surfboard.

  As she headed off, Liz felt a little nervous, but mostly excited! It was fun to go check in by herself. Even though she could wave to her parents down the beach, this felt like her adventure.

  In the contest area, squares of sand were marked off with red string that was staked in the ground. Lots of people were already there. There were other kids Liz’s age, plus older kids and grown-ups of all ages.

  Liz found the lady from the signup table. She remembered Liz right away. “My name is Melinda,” she said to Liz. “Follow me!”

  She led Liz to a plot of sand at the end of a row. “This will be your area for building,” Melinda said. “Use the sand within your square. Plus, everyone can take sand from over there.” Melinda showed Liz a big sand pile in the middle of the contest area.

  Melinda checked her watch. “We’ll be starting in five minutes. Good luck!”

  Liz thanked her. She dumped out her sand tools and then looked around. For the first time, she noticed who was in the square right next to her: Tommy Cook. He was setting up his things.

  Tommy looked over in Liz’s direction. Liz gave a small wave. Tommy looked away without waving back.

  Liz shrugged. She reached into the pocket of her beach cover-up. She pulled out her sand castle sketch. Then Liz found a few small rocks on the beach. She laid the sketch on the sand and used the rocks to keep it from blowing away.

  She looked over at Tommy again. He didn’t seem to have a sketch or a blueprint. Liz took a step toward him. “You’re Tommy, right?” she called. “I’m Liz.”

  Liz wasn’t sure if he’d heard her. He didn’t look up.

  Liz called out a little louder. “What kind of castle are you going to build?”

  As she spoke, Tommy picked up a bucket and ran off. He went down to the water to fill it up.

  Liz was sure he heard her that time.

  Just as Tommy was coming back, Melinda blew a whistle. “Ready, set, build!” she called out.

  At the same moment, a gust of wind came down the beach. It blew Liz’s sketch out from under the rocks.

  “Oh no!” Liz cried as it rolled down the beach like a tumbleweed. She chased after it.

  As she did, she was pretty sure she heard Tommy laughing.

  It’s a . . . Baby Octopus!

  Liz caught her sketch, weighted it down with heavier rocks, and got started on her sand castle. For the next hour—at least—she forgot Tommy was even there. Liz was an artist, focused on her work.

  She piled up sand to make the main structure.

  She used her small shovel to form the edges of the barn.

  She added details using a stick.

  When Liz was happy with the barn, she started making sand animals around it. She began with a dog—Rufus, of course!

  Then Liz made some of the other animals they had taken care of at The Critter Club. She made a bunny, a kitten, a turtle, and a pig.

  Liz stood back and examined her work. She had more to do. But she was pretty happy with it so far!

  She looked over at Tommy’s castle and did a double take. The walls of his castle looked like real stone!

  “Wow!” she said to him. “That looks awesome!”

  This time, Tommy did look up. “Thanks,” he mumbled. Then he frowned and went right back to work.

  Liz looked at what he was working on. It was a sand horse. But as he was forming the head, the whole horse collapsed. Tommy’s shoulders fell. He sighed impatiently.

  “I’m making animals for my sand castle too,” she said. “Do you want some help with that?”

  Tommy looked over at Liz’s sculpture. “You call that a castle?” he said. “It looks like a plain old barn to me.”

  Liz had to try extra hard not to feel insulted. Okay, that came out sounding really rude, she thought. But he just doesn’t get it.

  “It’s not just a barn,” Liz said. “It’s The Critter Club. My friends and I started it. It’s an animal rescue shelter in my town.”

  Once again, Liz wasn’t sure Tommy was listening. He was trying to build the sand horse back up. It fell apart again.

  “Can I help?” Liz asked again. “If you—”

  “I don’t want your help!” Tommy burst out. Frustrated, he picked up a bucket and tossed it away. The sea breeze caught it. It veered off in the direction of Liz’s sculpture.

  Thump! The bucket landed on top of sand Rufus, flattening him. Liz gasped.

  Tommy looked at her sheepishly. “Whoops,” he said. “Sorry.”

  Liz almost said, “That’s okay.” But she didn’t. Instead, she walked away, down to the ocean. She needed a break.

  Liz dipped her feet in the water and took some deep breaths. She knew Tommy hadn’t meant to hit her sculpture. But she was annoyed! Especially since Tommy didn’t even offer to help her fix Rufus!

  Just then, something in the shallow water caught Liz’s eye. At first, it looked like a small piece of seaweed.

  Liz looked closer. Whatever it was had tiny circular markings. They looked like . . . suction cups!

  “A baby
octopus!” Liz said out loud.

  Liz to the Rescue!

  Liz’s heart pounded in her chest. She loved unusual animals. And an octopus was definitely unusual! Of course, she’d seen them in aquariums. But Liz had never seen an octopus in the ocean—in the wild!

  Then Liz realized why. Didn’t octopuses like deep water?

  She noticed the octopus didn’t seem to be swimming. It was being carried in and out with the tiny waves.

  Oh no! thought Liz. Worry crept in, taking the place of her excitement. Is this octopus in trouble?

  Liz raced up to her sand sculpture. She grabbed the biggest bucket she had. Then she sprinted back to the water. She had to help that octopus!

  Very gently, Liz scooped the octopus up into the bucket, along with a lot of water. She carried it a few steps farther into the ocean. Then Liz lowered the octopus back into the water. She watched to see if it would start to swim.

  “Come on, little octopus,” she whispered. “You can do it.”

  But it drifted, motionless.

  “What are you doing?” a voice called from the beach. It was Tommy. He was standing at the water’s edge.

  Liz lifted up the octopus in the bucket again. She carried the bucket out of the ocean. She didn’t say anything to Tommy as she started walking down the beach toward her family’s blanket.

  Tommy walked alongside her. He peered into the bucket. “What is that? What are you doing with it?”