Jamie didn’t say much about his father, or explain why he had run away. Vevi wanted to question him, but she was afraid he might be offended if she acted curious.
She couldn’t help thinking though, that he was exactly the same size as the boy she and Connie had seen in the fog. Had he hidden in the little ship house? And had she and Connie frightened him away?
Jamie took Vevi around the big summer hotel. In the courtyard, near the trash barrel, they found an old dishpan.
“It’s rusty,” the boy said, giving it a crack with his stick, “but it will hold water.”
They took the pan back to the beach. Jamie found several rocks and built up an island in the center of the pan. Then he poured in a pail of fresh water.
“That will make a first-rate turtle pond,” Jamie declared. “Now where’s Lightning? Stick him in.”
An odd expression came over Vevi’s face. She tried to answer and couldn’t say a word.
“Don’t tell me he got away?” Jamie demanded.
Vevi nodded miserably. She hadn’t meant to be careless. But she had been so interested in watching Jamie build the rock island, that she had forgotten all about the turtle. Just for a second she had put him down on the sand. Now he was gone.
“You’ll never see that turtle again,” said Jamie in disgust. “Oh, well, he never would have made a good racer anyhow.”