Manatee Blues by Laurie Halse Anderson

Chapter One

    L adies and gentlemen, may I have your attention, please. We will be boarding U.S. Air flight 1072 to Tampa, Florida, in just a few minutes. Please have your boarding passes ready. Thank you.”
    The woman behind the check-in desk turns off the microphone and smiles at me. “Only five more minutes,” she says. “Then you’re on your way.”
    I’m going to Florida!
    This is amazing. Me, Brenna Lake, who never goes anywhere, I’m about to get on an airplane and fly south. But that’s not all—I’m going to hang out with manatees!
    I did a report about manatees last year for science class, and I fell in love with them. Manatees are marine mammals like dolphins, but they are endangered. Their habitat has been invaded by humans, and it is getting harder and harder for them to survive. They get hit by boats, eat trash that people dump in the water, and are harassed by people who don’t understand how wonderful they are. It’s a really sad situation.
    I went nuts on the report. I drew a map of Florida that showed where manatees live, designed a poster of their life cycle, and made mom and baby manatees out of clay. My teacher gave me an A+. She said I should think about being a marine biologist when I grow up.
    And now I’ll be able to see the real thing—a live manatee, gentle, sweet, and trusting—at the Gold Coast Rescue Center. My legs start to jiggle. I can feel a cartwheel coming on.
Keep cool, Brenna. Remain calm. OK, deep breath. Check out what everyone else is doing.
    The whole gang from the Dr. Mac’s Place is here at the Philadelphia airport with me: Sunita Patel, David Hutchinson, Maggie MacKenzie, and Maggie’s cousin, Zoe Hopkins. The grown-ups—my parents and Dr. MacKenzie—are chatting by the window. A sleek silver plane waits outside.
    The five of us volunteers are totally different, but we all love animals. Sunita, our cat expert, is smart, shy, and sweet. David, on the other hand, is loud and goofy. He really cares about horses and is an excellent rider. Maggie is great with all our patients, but dogs are her favorite. Zoe moved in with Maggie and Dr. MacKenzie—or “Dr. Mac,” as we call her—a few months ago. She’s still getting used to living around so many animals.
    I grew up with animals. My parents are wildlife rehabilitators. People bring injured or sick animals to us, and we take care of them until they’re better. That’s how I got Edgar Allan Poe, my pet crow. We rehabbed him after he was shot, but since he could never fly again, Dad let me keep him as a pet. I’m going to miss him while I’m away.
    Dr. Mac is the veterinarian who owns Dr. Mac’s Place. She’s also Maggie and Zoe’s grandmother. She asked me and the others to volunteer at the clinic a couple of months ago. It was the coolest thing that has ever happened to me.
    When she first asked me to go along on the manatee trip, I knew my parents would say no. We don’t have that kind of extra money. When they heard that Dr. Mac insisted on paying for everything, they were like, “No way, we don’t take charity.”
    Dr. Mac came over for dinner and spent all night convincing them. She’s a genius. She’s made a bundle from her newspaper column and from patents on some veterinary equipment, and she told my parents she likes to spend it teaching kids about animals.
    She’s donated a lot of money to the Gold Coast Rescue Center, too. That’s part of why we’re going. Dr. Mac is hosting a fund-raiser for the center. It’s run by Gretchen Linden, a former student of Dr. Mac’s. Along with manatee rescues and research, the center rehabs other injured wildlife. All that costs big bucks, so this fundraiser is important.
    I fiddle with the manatee charm on my good-luck bracelet. I wish we were already there.
    “What time is it, Sunita?” I ask. “This is taking forever.”
    “Relax,” she says, checking her watch. “You still have a few minutes.” She sighs. “I wish I could come with you