Wish Upon a Starfish Read online

  Contents

  ACKNOWLEDGMENT

  1 THE SOUND OF WAVES

  2 ANGELFISH MOLIE

  3 SEA STAR

  4 TRIP TO THE HOTEL

  5 JOJO

  6 BLACK TIES AND PEARLS

  7 PLAY TIME

  8 STOLEN DREAMS

  9 WITCH SWITCH

  10 QUITTING TIME

  11 THAT SEA STAR SPARK

  12 THE CURTAIN FALLS

  CLASS COMPARE-AND-CONTRAST PROJECTS

  THE MERMAID TALES SONG

  AUTHOR’S NOTE

  GLOSSARY

  THE CROOK AND THE CROWN EXCERPT

  ABOUT DEBBIE DADEY

  To Jasmine and Julie Eyal,

  most observant readers ever

  Acknowledgment

  To Becky Dadey, most likely to steal the show.

  The Sound of  Waves

  BRAVO!”

  The crowd cheered and clapped as Pearl Swamp took a bow. Her diamond-studded costume billowed around her gold tail on the sparkling stage. Members of the audience whistled and tossed her beautiful bouquets of sea lavender.

  Pearl waved as merfolk from all over the ocean cried out, “We love you, Pearl,” and “You are the best actress in the whole merworld!”

  She couldn’t believe her good luck. A famous director had picked her out of all the merstudents at Trident Academy to star as Fishlein Maria in his play The Sound of Waves. As the curtain closed, a crowd of fans and reporters rushed to Pearl’s side.

  “Miss Swamp, may I have my picture sketched with you?” asked a small mergirl.

  Pearl nodded and lifted her pointy nose in the water as the merartist Piddock Picasso sketched her on a piece of kelp for her fan.

  “May I have an interview?” asked Trident City Tide reporter Lulu Lampern.

  “Of course,” Pearl said, waving away the hundreds of merpeople still waiting to have their picture drawn with her. Others floated nearby, holding sea pens and seaweed, hoping Pearl would sign autographs.

  “How does it feel to be famous?” Lulu asked.

  Pearl smiled. “It is fabulous and everything I dreamed it would be.”

  Lulu scribbled some notes on seaweed before looking up. “What is your favorite part of being a star?”

  “There is nothing more fin-tastic than knowing an audience is cheering for me,” Pearl said. “It is an amazing feeling!” She paused before adding, “Of course, the jewels and flowers are nice too.”

  “You were simply mervelous in the play tonight,” Lulu said. “And we look forward to seeing you in many more. I’ll let you get back to your fans now. Thanks.”

  Pearl nodded and turned toward a huge crowd. They were all chanting, “Pearl! Pearl!”

  One screaming fan even broke through the crowd and tried to hug Pearl. Then the fan began shaking Pearl’s shoulders.

  “What are you doing?” Pearl cried. “Stop that right now!”

  “Pearl! Pearl! Wake up, my little pupfish!”

  Pearl’s eyes popped open. She wasn’t surrounded by screaming fans. Instead she was in her bed, surrounded by a curtain of daisy coral, and the person shaking her shoulders was her mother!

  “Pearl, you must have been having a dream. It’s time for school.”

  Pearl hugged her mother. “I dreamed I was a famous meractress,” she explained. “A real star of the sea!”

  “You are always a sea star to me!” Mrs. Swamp said, kissing the top of Pearl’s head. “Now, come to breakfast. The mercook made water-flea waffles this morning.”

  Pearl jumped up and ran a Venus comb through her hair. Her dream had felt so real: the screaming fans, the flowers, and the beautiful costumes on the glittering stage. Pearl’s greatest wish was to become a star someday—and that day couldn’t come soon enough!

  Angelfish Molie

  PEARL YAWNED AS SHE POURED sandweed syrup on her water-flea waffles. She took a big bite and looked at her father. Mr. Swamp was reading the newsweed while sipping his favorite copepod coffee. Usually Pearl didn’t read the Trident City Tide because she found most of its news stories quite dull. But this time she squealed when she saw the back of her father’s kelp.

  “Oh my Neptune!” Pearl shouted. “Angelfish Molie is coming to Trident City!”

  Mr. Swamp was so startled by Pearl’s shout that he spilled coffee all over his gold-and-black-striped tail. “What are you yelling about so early in the morning?” he asked, using his kelp napkin to wipe up the mess.

  “You’re always telling me I should keep up with the local news, so I read the back of the Trident City Tide.” Pearl pointed to an article that said that Angelfish Molie, the most famous meractress in all the ocean, would be starring in Gone with the Tide at the Grand Banks Theater. And the play was opening Tuesday night—tomorrow evening!

  “Please, Daddy,” Pearl begged. “Can you take me to see her?” Dreaming about being famous was fun, but actually seeing a star perform in person would be totally wavy.

  Mr. Swamp nodded. “I’ll see if I can get tickets.”

  Pearl threw herself at her father and gave him a big hug, overturning her water-flea waffles in the process.

  “I can’t wait to tell Wanda!” Pearl shrieked. “This is the most exciting thing that has ever happened in the history of Trident City!”

  Pearl dressed for school in record time and soared through the water to Trident Academy. She found her best friend, Wanda Slug, waiting for her in the school’s huge front entrance hall.

  “Pearl!” Wanda called. “I have wonderful news!”

  “Is it about Angelfish Molie?” Pearl asked.

  Wanda shook her head. “No, this is much better.”

  Pearl couldn’t imagine anything being more wonderful than getting to see the most famous meractress in the ocean.

  “What’s better than Angelfish Molie?” Pearl demanded.

  “This!” Wanda exclaimed, pointing to a sign hanging nearby.

  Pearl cheered when she read the announcement.

  TRIDENT ACADEMY’S THIRD-GRADE CLASS PROUDLY PRESENTS

  The Little Human

  A PLAY IN TWO ACTS

  TRYOUTS WEDNESDAY IN FINN AUDITORIUM!

  QUESTIONS? SEE MRS. J. KARP.

  Sea Star

  PEARL BURST INTO HER THIRD-grade classroom. “Mrs. Karp, is it true? Are we really putting on a play?”

  Mrs. Karp raised one green eyebrow before smiling at Pearl and her other students. “Yes, every year the third grade puts on a theatrical performance for friends, family, and the rest of Trident Academy. This year’s play is The Little Human. It’s a story that many of you may know about a human, a shark, and a rather scary witch. Tryouts are Wednesday after school.”

  Pearl, Wanda, and several other mergirls squealed with delight.

  A boy named Rocky Ridge groaned. “We don’t have to try out, do we?”

  Mrs. Karp shook her head. “Of course not, but I hope you will. We need lots of meractors and meractresses and a strong stage crew in order for our show to be a success. The play could not go on without people building and painting the backgrounds, which are called sets. We even need someone to pull the seaweed curtain open. Each part in a play is important!”

  “It might be fun,” a merboy named Adam said.

  Echo Reef nodded. “I love anything to do with humans. And The Little Human is one of my favorite stories. I’m definitely trying out. What about you, Shelly?”

  Shelly Siren shrugged. “Maybe.” She was usually more interested in sports than performing.

  Pearl didn’t say a word. She just smiled. Today was turning out to be a fabulous day. After all, she’d dreamed of being a star, Angelfish Molie was coming to town, and now Pearl was going to be in a real play.

&n
bsp; Of course, Pearl just knew she’d get the lead role of the human girl in The Little Human! No one else in the third grade was as good an actress as Pearl. She imagined the costume she would wear as the audience cheered for her. She wondered what kind of sea flowers they’d throw at her feet. She was so busy daydreaming that she barely heard Mrs. Karp asking her a question.

  “Pearl?” Mrs. Karp said. “Can you name a sea creature that can regrow an arm?”

  Pearl just looked at her teacher. Mrs. Karp tapped her chin with her white tail while she waited for Pearl’s answer. Pearl didn’t know, so she said the first animal that came to her mind.

  “A zebra shark?” she guessed. Pearl shuddered as she said this. She hated sharks!

  Rocky laughed out loud. “Sharks don’t have arms!”

  Mrs. Karp frowned at Rocky. “Mr. Ridge, don’t be rude,” she told him. “Does anyone else know the answer?”

  The smallest girl in the class, Kiki Coral, raised her hand slowly. “Are you talking about sea stars?”

  Mrs. Karp nodded. “Yes, Kiki, that’s correct.”

  “What’s a sea star?” Shelly asked.

  “Most merpeople know sea stars by their other name, starfish,” Mrs. Karp explained. “But since they are not actually fish, ‘sea star’ is the correct name.”

  “Can they really grow back their arms?” Wanda asked.

  Mrs. Karp smiled. “Yes, they are amazing little creatures. They usually have five arms, but some have up to twenty!”

  “I’d love to have twenty arms,” Rocky said. “I’d be the most famous Shell Wars player in the ocean!” Shell Wars was a sport that was played by whacking a seashell with whale bones.

  Mrs. Karp continued talking about sea stars, but Pearl could only think about one kind of star: herself! She was back to imagining being onstage in The Little Human.

  Pearl’s dream was coming true! She was going to be a famous merstar—and nothing was going to stand in her way.

  Trip to the Hotel

  LATER THAT DAY, PEARL’S stomach growled as she scooped up an extra-big helping of her favorite school lunch, black-lip oyster and sablefish stew.

  “Ooh, and there’s white sea whip pudding for dessert,” she said with a giggle. “This day keeps getting better and better.”

  Pearl even decided to get some herbed lichen fruit from the fruit bar. She didn’t normally like fruit, but her mother loved for her to eat healthy food. Since she was having such a great day, she figured, why not?

  Echo, Shelly, and Kiki floated in front of the fruit bar. Pearl started to ask them to get out of her way, but then she heard Echo say, “Let’s go to the Trident Plaza Hotel after school. Maybe my mom will know where we can get a peek at Angelfish Molie!”

  Pearl gasped. She knew that Echo’s mother was the director of the Conservatory for the Preservation of Sea Horses and Swordfish, which was located inside the hotel. And the Grand Banks Theater, where Angelfish was performing, was in the hotel too. Would Angelfish really be swimming around between rehearsals?

  “I’m in,” Shelly said.

  “Me too,” Kiki added. “I’ve never seen a real live theater star before.”

  “Can I come?” Pearl asked Echo. “Angelfish Molie is my favorite meractress!”

  “Sure,” Echo said. “Meet us in the front hall after school. We’ll leave from there.”

  After that, Pearl couldn’t wait for school to be over. She was so glad she didn’t have Tail Flippers practice that afternoon. Pearl had been excited when she had made Trident Academy’s flipping team earlier in the year, but Coach Barnacle was very strict about missing practice.

  When the last conch shell sounded, Pearl was the first student at the school’s door. She didn’t even glance at the colorful carvings of merpeople or the sparkling chandelier that were her favorite parts of the front hallway. She played with her pearl necklace and tapped her gold tail impatiently as she waited for Echo, Shelly, and Kiki to arrive.

  “Hi, Pearl,” Wanda said, swimming up beside her. Other merkids floated past them on their way home or to after-school activities. “What are you doing?”

  Pearl sighed. “I’m going to the Trident Plaza Hotel to try to see Angelfish Molie. That is, if Echo, Shelly, and Kiki ever get here.” Pearl didn’t think she could wait another mersecond.

  “No wavy way!” Wanda exclaimed. “Can I come too?”

  “Sure,” Echo said as she swam up beside the girls. Kiki and Shelly floated behind her.

  “Finally you’re here!” Pearl said, rolling her eyes. “Now let’s go!”

  “Shake your tail!” Echo laughed, and the mergirls zoomed across town to the Trident Plaza Hotel.

  As they swam through the hotel’s grand doors, Pearl scanned the polished green marble floors and shining brass walls of the lobby, but she didn’t see Angelfish anywhere. Pearl groaned when she noticed the creepy shark statue in front of the Conservatory for the Preservation of Sea Horses and Swordfish. That statue had always scared her.

  Echo floated into the conservatory but came out a few minutes later, shaking her head. “My mom says that she hasn’t seen Angelfish anywhere.”

  Just then Pearl noticed something that made her fins spin. It was her teacher, Mrs. Karp. And she was hugging Angelfish Molie!

  JoJo

  THE OTHER MERGIRLS SAW Mrs. Karp too.

  “Sweet seaweed!” Echo shrieked. “How does Mrs. Karp know Angelfish Molie?”

  “I don’t know,” Pearl said, “but we need to find out.” Her heart pounded in her chest. She was finally going to meet her favorite star!

  Wanda shook her head. “I don’t think we should swim over there. It’s rude to interrupt.”

  Kiki nodded. “That’s true.”

  The five girls looked at one another. Pearl couldn’t believe they were going to pass up this chance. “Well, I want to interrupt,” she said.

  With that, Pearl flipped her tail and, fast as a sailfish, swam up to Mrs. Karp. The other girls quietly followed Pearl.

  “Look who’s here!” Mrs. Karp said with a smile. “Angelfish, these are some of my students from Trident Academy. Mergirls, meet Angelfish Molie.”

  Echo, Shelly, Kiki, and Wanda floated with their mouths and eyes wide open. Kiki squeaked out a tiny, “Nice to meet you.”

  Pearl reached out to shake Angelfish Molie’s hand. She couldn’t believe she was actually going to touch Angelfish! But the star didn’t shake Pearl’s hand. Instead she grabbed Pearl and gave her a big hug! Then she hugged each of the other mergirls.

  “I am so happy to meet some of JoJo’s students,” said Angelfish. “Did she tell you that we’re old friends?”

  Mrs. Karp’s name was JoJo? Pearl hid a smile behind her hand.

  The other mergirls shook their heads in surprise, and Angelfish laughed. “Well, JoJo,” she said, turning to Mrs. Karp. “You always were good at keeping secrets.”

  “Did JoJo—I mean Mrs. Karp—tell you that we are putting on a play at our school?” Pearl asked.

  “A play?” Angelfish exclaimed. “Fin-tastic!”

  Pearl couldn’t help noticing that dozens of people had stopped to stare at their little group. They probably weren’t used to seeing a famous merstar in Trident City. Pearl smiled and flipped her long blond ponytail. She loved being the center of attention.

  Mrs. Karp nodded. “Yes, we are holding tryouts on Wednesday for The Little Human.”

  “That’s one of my favorites,” Angelfish said, clapping her hands. “Actually, I have some free time Wednesday afternoon. I’d love to help.”

  Echo and Wanda gasped.

  “We’d be honored to have you,” Mrs. Karp said.

  “Well, I’d better go prepare for my own play,” Angelfish told them. “I hope you’ll come to see me perform tomorrow night.” She pulled a small stack of tickets from her shell purse and passed one to each mergirl and to Mrs. Karp.

  “Thank you, Miss Molie, but I don’t know if I should take one,” Pearl explained. “My father w
as going to try to get tickets today.”

  Angelfish shook her head. “Oh honey, this show has been sold out for weeks. Plus, these are front-row seats. Take one and you mergirls can all sit together.”

  “Thank you,” the mergirls said in unison.

  Angelfish wiggled away through the lobby. Everyone looked at her. Some pointed and whispered to their merfriends, while others just drifted and stared in awe.

  Pearl smiled. She knew that when she was famous, merfolk would look at her that way too.

  “I’ve never seen a play at the Grand Banks Theater before,” Wanda squealed.

  Mrs. Karp smiled and said in her teacher voice, “Well, I’m glad you merladies are excited about tomorrow’s performance, but now you need to go home and do tonight’s homework.”

  “Let’s go!” Kiki urged her friends.

  But as Pearl swam home, schoolwork was the last thing on her mind. First, she had to decide what to wear to the theater. Maybe her mother would take her shopping for a new outfit. After all, it wasn’t every day that she got to see Angelfish Molie in a play!

  Yes, this was definitely the best day ever, but Pearl knew that getting to see Angelfish perform in person would make tomorrow even better!

  Black Ties and Pearls

  I CAN’T BELIEVE WE’RE ACTUALLY here,” Pearl told Shelly.

  The following night the two girls were with Echo, Kiki, Wanda, and Mrs. Karp in the huge Grand Banks Theater at the Trident Plaza Hotel. Bioluminescent plankton formed sparkling pictures on the walls as an orchestra played quietly. Whenever the music changed, the plankton rearranged to become a totally new picture. It happened so quickly that it looked like the pictures themselves were moving.

  Elegant merpeople dressed in black ties and pearls filled the shell-back seats, chatting with one another or watching the moving pictures. Pearl wore her pearl necklace and her very best pink sparkly top, but she wasn’t sure it was fancy enough. Some elderly merwomen even wore long white gloves and huge diamond rings!