Escaping the Giant Wave by Peg Kehret Page B

thirstier.”
    Pansy walked as if she were glued to my pant leg, whining and poking her nose at the bread bag, until I let her eat a third slice. BeeBee and I each ate another piece too. Stale bread was better than hunger pangs.
    â€œAre you sure we’re going the right way?” BeeBee asked. “This doesn’t look anything like it did last night.”
    I looked in every direction. The sun was higher now, and the sunlight still came from behind us. That meant we were walking westward, toward the ocean. “This is right,” I said. “We need to keep the sun at our backs.”
    A short while after we found the refrigerator, I spotted something green half-buried in the sand. Kicking at it with my foot, I uncovered a six-pack of 7-Up.
    â€œHow about a warm 7-Up for breakfast?” I asked.
    â€œYum, yum,” said BeeBee. “Stale bread and warm 7-Up.”
    I still had the hotel towel, so I used it to wipe the sand off the tops of two cans. We each popped one open. The 7-Up fizzed over the top and ran down the side. It wasn’t cold, but it tasted fantastic.
    I wondered if it was okay for a dog to drink soda pop. Since Pansy must be every bit as thirsty as we were, I decided to let her have some.
    I cupped my left hand and poured some of my pop into it. Then I held my hand in front of Pansy, who lapped up some 7-Up, stopped in surprise, stuck her tongue in and out a couple of times, and then drank the rest, licking my hand to be sure she got it all.
    Refreshed by the food and drink, we continued walking. Maybe Norm and Josie did survive, I thought. Daren too. It’s easier to be optimistic when you’re not hungry.
    When we came to a clump of tall trees, Pansy stood at the base of the trees and yipped, a high excited bark. She ran behind the trees and came back with a piece of white fabric in her mouth, which she dropped at BeeBee’s feet.
    â€œShe found Josie’s handkerchief!” BeeBee said. “Josie let me use it last night, and I noticed the roses on it.”
    Pansy stood on her hind legs, put her front paws on the trunk of the largest tree, and yipped again.
    BeeBee and I looked up into the branches. I half expected Norm and Josie to be perched on one of the limbs like two big birds, though I knew that was silly. Even if they had climbed a tree to escape the tsunami, they’d have come down by now.
    â€œNorm and Josie must have been here,” BeeBee said.
    â€œMaybe they stood behind these trees, the way we stood behind that big cedar. Maybe the trees protected them.”
    â€œI bet that’s what happened,” BeeBee said. She put the handkerchief in her pants pocket. “I’ll give this to Josie when I see her.”
    I hope you will, I thought. Oh, I hope you will.
    We hurried on, expecting to come out of the last of the trees and see the wide area of low shrubs that had stretched from the park bench to the beginning of the woods. The woods ended, but now, instead of the open area, there was a sharp drop-off. The wave had washed away the whole west side of the hill.
    â€œThe road is gone,” BeeBee said. “So is the bench.”
    We walked to within ten feet of the edge. “Don’t go any closer,” I said. “It might crumble.”
    As we looked at the destruction, Pansy ran off to one side, sniffing the sand. “What has Pansy found?” I asked, and went to find out.
    â€œIt’s footprints!” I called. “Someone else has been here this morning!”
    We squatted beside the footprints and saw that they were two different sizes. “Two people,” BeeBee said.
    I watched Pansy closely. If Norm and Josie had made those footprints, I thought Pansy would get all excited. She didn’t. She smelled the footprints while we looked at them, but when we walked on, she came with us.
    We could see the remains of the two hotels now, and we saw the beach, although the wooden steps that had led from the