Water rippled over the rocks.
The two girls saw something bob
up out of the water. It was riding
the current. And it was heading
downstream . . . right toward them!
.
“Do you see what I see?”
Amy gulped. “Yes. If what you see is a
three-humped sea serpent with the head
of a snake and the tail of an eel!”
“Do you think it smells my
sandwich?” Judy asked.
But Amy wasn’t listening. This
was it! Her big scoop at last.
“I have to snap a picture,” Amy said.
The two girls took a step closer.
Amy snapped a picture. Something
slippery brushed against her leg . . .
again.
“Judy, stop touching my leg with that
stick,” she said.
“Stick? What stick?” said Judy. She
held up both hands: empty.
Amy’s heart went thump-thump.
46
“TA-BOO!” they both screamed.
They splished. They splashed. They
slipped and slid.
47
.
They ran across Amy’s backyard.
They ran inside Amy’s back door.
They scrambled up the bank of the
creek.
They ran into Amy’s light, bright
kitchen. “What’s wrong?” asked her mom.
“Sea s-s-s-serpent!” said Amy, pointing
to the creek.
“Big mon-s-s-ster!” said Judy, pointing
out the back window.
“TABOO!” they both yelled.
.
“Phew. Close call,” said Amy.
“Double phew,” said Judy.
Amy held out her camera and
zoomed in. She zoomed in closer.
“Hmm,” her mom said. “It might be
big . . . imagination?”
“Mom, I saw it,” said Amy.
“And don’t forget we heard a big
splash,” said Judy.
“Girls,” said Amy’s mom, “do you
think your sea monster just might be
a three-humped tree branch?”
Amy shook her head.
“No way, no how,” Judy said.
When Mrs. Namey left the kitchen,
Amy turned to Judy. “This is big,” she
whispered. “Really big.”
51
.
Amy Namey, Ace Reporter, took out
the pencil from behind her ear. Amy
took out her way-official notebook.
At last, she had a story. A real
scoop.
Even famous Around-the-World
Reporter Nellie Bly had never had a
scoop this big. Nellie Bly had never
spotted her very own sea monster.
Amy could not wait to write it down.
Above the Fold
CHA
p
TER
3
53
.
GREAT VIRGINIA SEA SERPENT SIGHTING
by Amy Namey, Ace Reporter
First there was Nessie. Then there was
Nabau. Now there’s Taboo. Did you know if
you go monster hunting in Frog Neck Creek,
you just might get mega-lucky and spot a sea
monster? It’s true.
Two girls from Virginia were out monster
hunting this past Saturday in the Croaker Road
area when they spotted something large and
slimy in the creek. Eyewitness Judy Moody said,
“It looked like a giant snake! No lie! It was SO
not a tree branch.”
If you plan to go sea-serpent hunting, take a
good pair of rain boots. Need bait? Try a baloney
And don’t forget to take your camera.
Taboo, the Great Virginia Sea Serpent, was
captured on film. (See picture below.) Look closely.
Stick? Or sea monster? You decide.
.
“Wow,” said Amy. “Thanks. Wait
till I show Judy!”
“Do you like my story?” she asked
her mom, bouncing on her tiptoes.
“I love it,” said her mom, giving
her a squeeze. “It’s exciting. It held
my interest. And that ending is what
we in the newspaper biz call a cliff-
hanger.”
56
Amy Namey, Ace Reporter, ran
down the street to Judy’s house. She
showed the story to Judy. She told
Judy all about cliff-hangers.
“This is the best front-page above-
the-fold story ever,” said Judy.
.
“I’m up here!” called her mom. “In
your room.”
Amy ran back home to make copies
for all of her friends. “Mom! Can you
help me type up my story?”
58
Amy ran upstairs. Something about
her room was different.
.
A desk! Her room had a desk! An
old-timey rolltop desk, right in front of
the window.
“Every writer needs a desk of her
own,” said Amy’s mom. “This desk
was mine when I was a girl.”
“Really?”
“Yes. It’s been collecting dust up in
the attic forever,” said her mom. “Do
you like it?”
Amy closed her eyes. She smelled
the old wood. She smelled the stories.
She smelled the history.
“Are you kidding?” Amy hugged
her mom. “I love it to pieces!”
62
In one of the cubbies, Amy found a
bunch of rolled-up papers.
Amy rolled back the top of the desk.
Inside were little doors and secret
drawers and cubbies.
She pulled them out and unrolled
them on the bed. “The Tattle Tale,” she
read aloud.
.
“Oh, my old school newspapers!”
said her mom. “These must be some
of the first stories I ever wrote.”
“Nice,” said Amy.
“Here’s a story I wrote about Fluffy
the Rabbit, our class pet.”
“Here’s a poem called Ladybug,
Ladybug!”
Together, Amy and her mother
looked through all the old papers and
laughed.
Wait! Something caught Amy’s eye.
Later, after her mom had left
the room, Amy sat down at the old
wooden desk for the first time.
She pulled open a secret drawer. She
pulled open a tiny secret door.
65
.
Carved inside the door were some
letters. Amy leaned in closer and
touched each letter. They spelled a
name: E-M-I-L-Y.
Her mother’s name!
Amy picked up a pen. She carved
three more letters into the wood, right
next to her mother’s: A-M-Y.
Amy was here.
66
.