10 Hurricane Heroes

10 HURRICANE HEROES Jack stared at the bare, broken tree. He couldn't believe it. "It's gone?" he said in a whisper. "Wait," said Annie. "Is that it?" She pointed to a pile of muddy boards jammed against the iron fence. "Maybe…," said Jack. "What's left of it." He and Annie stepped over to the ruins of the tree house. The floor was covered with brown mud. The roof was missing. Three of the four walls had caved in. Jack started to lift one of the fallen walls. "Hold on!" said Annie. She reached under the wall and pulled out their wet Pennsylvania book.

"Oh, no, it's ruined, too," said Jack. "Wait," said Annie. She carefully peeled apart some pages. "Here's the photo of the Frog Creek woods!" She showed Jack the smeared page. "That's all we need! Get in the tree house." "Are you crazy?" said Jack. "Just get in," said Annie. "There's no 'in' to get into, Annie," said Jack. "Fine, then we'll just sit on the floor," said Annie. Holding the book, Annie sat down on the muddy floor. Jack sat beside her. He'd gotten so used to being wet and grimy that he

didn't even think about the mud. Annie pointed at the smeared photo of Frog Creek. "I wish we could go there," she said. Nothing happened. Jack put his head in his hands. "I wish we could go there!" Annie shouted. Jack felt the floor of the tree house start to move. "Whoa!" he said. He couldn't believe it! The wind started to blow. The tree house started to spin. It spun faster and faster. Then everything was still. Absolutely still. Tap, tap, tap. A breeze blew through the window of the tree house. Rain splashed softly against the

oak leaves. "We're home," Annie said. Jack looked around. As always, no time at all had passed in Frog Creek. Jack and Annie were wearing their own dry, comfortable clothes and shoes again. The canvas knapsack had changed into Jack's backpack. The Pennsylvania book lay on the clean wooden floor. It was in perfect shape. Best of all, the tree house had a window again! And four walls and a roof! "I didn't know if the magic in the tree house could fix the tree house itself," whispered Jack. "I was pretty sure it could," said Annie. "Of course you were," said Jack, smiling. "Come on, let's hurry home." "Wait, I want to look in the Texas book one more time," said Annie. "It was ruined by water damage,

remember?" said Jack. "Yup," said Annie. "But I'll bet it's fine now." Jack pulled their Texas book out of his backpack. The book was as good as new. "Yay," Annie said. "You were right," said Jack. He handed her the book. Annie looked in the index. "Here!" she said. She turned to the right page. "Oh, wow. Listen to this." She read aloud: Mother Mary Joseph was an outstanding hero of the Great Galveston Hurricane of 1900. When the storm hit the island, she and her community of nuns saved the lives of more than a thousand storm refugees. Many people of Galveston called her— Annie gasped and looked at Jack. "You won't believe this," she said.

"What?" he said. "Listen." Annie read: Many people of Galveston called her "a shining light." "Oh, man," said Jack, smiling. Annie turned the page and read more: After the storm, 6,000 to 12,000 people were dead or missing, and 4,000 buildings were destroyed. But the survivors of the Great Galveston Hurricane did not give up. In spite of their suffering, they immediately began rebuilding their homes and their lives. "Rose would say that's what Texans do," said Jack. "She was so proud to live in Texas," said Annie. She kept reading: Workers also built a high sea wall