Two Girls on the Shoals  (continued)

We came back and Molly and I went for a swim. Smuttynose has a little cove to play in. The water was really cold. I was the first one to go all the way underwater and I hate seaweed. Man, there was a lot of seaweed. After a quick swim, we collected seaglass. There was a whole lot of seaglass too. I even found blue and purple seaglass. After that, (we did a lot of stuff) we begged Uncle Brian to take us in the row boat and he agreed. There is a breakwater so you can’t go all the way around Smuttynose, but he took us for a ride in the rowboat for a good amount of time. The water is so clear! When we got back I was tired so Molly and I went up to the loft and talked. (There are no animals in the barn in case you were wondering.)

Then we rowed to Star Island for dessert. It turned out that we were there too early. After what seemed like forever, the snack bar was finally opened. I got a sorbet drink (I forgot what it was called) and the others got hot chocolate. We rowed back to Smuttynose because it was really late.

We climbed up to the attic (but didn’t go to sleep yet) since there was no electricity we used an oil lamp. Uncle Dennis came up to the attic and told us about the murder on Smuttynose. A long time ago before electricity was invented, there was another house on Smuttynose (and a hotel). There was two ladies that lived in the other house. One day a man was planning to rob the house. He thought the ladies left, but the ladies were still in the house. When the man found the ladies sleeping, he was so surprised that he made the ladies wake up. The man shot one of the ladies and the other was so scared that she jumped out the window and died. After the murder, the hotel workers chipped off pieces of wood that had blood on them and sold it as souvenirs! Many years later the house burned down and all that’s left is a foundation covered in poison ivy. Well, I thought that creepy! I fell asleep thinking about it.

The next day it was cloudy. Molly and I played with the Frisbee until Aunt Maryellen asked us if we wanted to "turn poop". I first didn’t know what she was talking about. She led us to the back of the outhouse. There was a big plastic rectangle sticking out from under the outhouse. I had a feeling I knew what was in it. Aunt Maryellen said that you turn this handle and what is in the rectangle decomposes. That was when I noticed there was a handle on the rectangle. She asked Molly if she wanted to do it and Molly said "yes". Aunt Maryellen asked me and I said "no thanks" because I really didn’t want to turn poop.

After that, I noticed Keegan was climbing on a chunk of land almost like a mini island. I knew we were about to go so I though if Molly and I climbed up there too, it would cause a lot of delay. Yay! It was high tide so what used to be a rocky path to the island was now only a few boulders. On one of the boulders there was a dead seagull. Yuck! When we got up to the mini island it was covered in bird poop and was so dense we just went back down.

All too soon it was time to leave. I got into the rowboat and Smuttynose slowly became smaller. Looking down I saw the water looked like purple Kool Aid and I remembered my adventure wasn’t over yet. Then it got scary. The bolts that fastened the oars to the boat because loose! Luckily, we made it to Star Island okay. It was a while before our ferry was supposed to come, so we went to an old church to see what it looked like. Then we went on a walk to see a monument. It said stuff about Captain John Smith . There is so much to do on Star Island! We also went to a marine biology lab. There was bottled octopus, baby birds, and other weird stuff. They even had a big container called a "touch tank" where I was able to give a high five to a star fish that wouldn’t let go! There was also big hermit crabs that needed feeding so someone that worked there asked us if we wanted to feed them. Oh boy! That sounded like fun! She gave oysters that we had to stomp on outside to break them. After that we brought the oysters in and gave the pieces to the hermit crabs. That place was really neat. Outside Molly and I played on the swing set and then went to the gift shop. I got a magnet with magnetic stars and moons. Since my brother didn’t get to go I bought him a yellow squishy tube to play with.

Once again, all too soon, the ferry came. We headed back to New Hampshire. Then we drove home and didn’t stop at my grandma’s house (like before). It was 9:30 by the time we came home. My mom was so happy to see me. I still miss Smuttynose. I hope I will go back next year!

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