5 Big Floating Sausages

Chapter 5 Big Floating Sausages After Wind Rider dropped anchor a safe distance away from Bonnie, Max carefully climbed down to the rocks. The chemical smell of oil filled the air, making his nose wrinkle. "Wait!" cried Maisie. She hurried after him while Sofia tossed them a rope from above. The rocks felt slippery beneath Max's feet—from the water or oil? He wasn't sure. But Maisie scrambled over them like a seal pup eager to get back to her mother. When she reached Bonnie, she knelt down beside the cracked hull.

As Max tied the rope to secure Bonnie to Wind Rider, he watched the oil drip, drip, drip from the hull. "Is it slowing down at all?" he asked. "I think so," said Maisie. "That's good, but..." She stared sadly at the pool of oil that had already spread. "So how do we soak it up?" asked Max. Sofia squeezed her eyes shut, trying to remember the report she had written for school. Suddenly she had it. "Big floating sausages!" she shouted over the rail. "Huh?" said Max. "Are you feeling okay, Sofia?"

"Not real sausages," said Sofia with a laugh. "They're called booms, but they look like big sausages. They're used to stop the oil from spreading, along with big pads that soak it up. Do we have anything like that?" Maisie lifted a seat at the back of Bonnie, which hid a storage compartment. She pulled out a life preserver and some rope, and then sat back on her heels. "We don't," she said with a sigh.

"But wait... we do!" said Max. "We have some really absorbent blankets belowdecks on Wind Rider. Remember the hot chocolate I spilled, Sofia?" Sofia's eyes lit up. "Yes! Max, you're a genius. Come help me!" As Max and Maisie climbed back onto the sailboat, Sofia raced across the deck. She threw open the hatch and slid down the metal ladder. One blanket was still spread out on the table, a big chocolate stain in the center. She grabbed that, along with more blankets and cushions from the trunk, just as Max led Maisie down the ladder. "Load me up," said Max. He took some blankets from Sofia. "Me too!" said Maisie. Sofia handed her a pile of cushions. As she pulled the last blanket out of the trunk, she saw something else. "Perfect!" She gathered up the pool noodles. "So that's what we're supposed to do with them!" Max exclaimed, shaking his head. "Wind Rider always gives us exactly what we need." Sofia bit her lip and nodded. "Let's hope they work." Once they were all back on the rocks by Bonnie, Sofia showed them how to wrap the pool noodles in blankets and set them down around the edges of the oil

spill as makeshift booms. "Let's make a circle around it." "What about the extra blankets and cushions?" asked Maisie. "Those will go in the middle, right?" said Max. When Sofia nodded, he grabbed a blanket by its edges and laid it out over the water like a picnic blanket. Immediately, the blanket turned dark with oil. "I think it's working!" They layered more blankets and cushions on top, until they'd used them all. No oil was spreading outside the circle of pool noodles and blankets. "We did it," Max said. "Great idea, Sofia!" Sofia sank back, heaving a deep sigh of relief. But then she spotted something beyond the blankets. A dark head popped out of the water. Then another. And another. Bright, curious eyes studied the pool noodles and blankets—and started swimming closer.

"The seals!" Sofia cried. Her throat was tight. "They're swimming straight toward the oil spill. We have to stop them!"