THE SEA TURTLE RESCUE: CHAPTER 8By Eric DouglasWith sand being thrown through the air and four children suddenly appearing from behind a sand dune running across the beach and yelling, things were very confused. People at the party began yelling.The dogs barked and jumped. Everyone ran around.Marie dropped to her knees, grabbing the turtle eggs the small dog had dislodged.She held them close to her chest and carried them back to the nest at the base of the dune, ignoring the adults.The injured turtle hadn’t been able to fully cover the nest with the protective sand. If they hadn’t found it, the eggs would have died.If animals on the beach hadn’t eaten them, the cool night air would have stopped them from growing.Marie was completely focused on the eggs, but the other three did their best to keep the dogs away from the nest and get the attention of the adults.“You’ve got to listen to me,” Jayne said, trying to take charge. “Your dog was digging up a protected turtle nest. It will kill the eggs!”“There aren’t any signs here,” one person said. “No one told us there was a turtle nest around here.”“What are you talking about? How do you know?” another asked.Slowly, everyone began to calm down. Marie patted sand down on top of the nest, trying to hold in the heat.She ignored the grownups behind her. The only thing on her mind was protecting the turtles.“What were you kids thinking of, messing up our picnic like this?” one of the adults asked. “Where are your parents?”“Oh. Hold on. That’s a good idea,” Jayne said, pulling out the phone her mother had given her.She had been told to only use it in emergencies, but this seemed like an emergency. Jayne and Marie’s parents, along with Monique’s dad and Javier’s mom, got there just a few minutes later.“Girls, what’s going on here? Why did you leave the research center?” the girls’ dad asked. “You know you’re not supposed to run off without telling someone. We were all very worried about you.”“We came to protect the baby sea turtles since their mommy was hurt too bad to do it herself,” Marie said, speaking for the first time since she had run across the sand.She was close to crying for fear something would happen to the eggs.“We found the nest, but it was right where these people were playing. Then their dog started digging up the nest and we had to stop them.”“Well, I don’t know about any nest…” one of the men at the picnic started to protest, but Marie’s dad held up his hand to silence him.“Show me, honey. Let me see what you’ve found,” he said, talking to his daughter. He knew she wouldn’t be this upset without a good reason.“Here it is, Daddy, over here,” Marie said, grabbing him by the hand and pulling him to the nest. After a quick look, he saw the children were right. There was a turtle nest in the sand.“You’re right, Marie. Good job. That is a turtle nest,” her father said as he helped Marie to her feet.He gave her a hug when he stood up to show her how proud he was. Then he turned around to talk to the people at the picnic for the first time.“Folks, I’m sorry that you might have been frightened by our children, but there is a sea turtle nest here. It was left here last night by an injured turtle,” he explained. “She was rescued this morning and brought to our center.“You didn’t know about it, so you’re not in any trouble, but these animals are protected by the Endangered Species Act, so we’re going to have to put up some signs and keep people away from this spot.”Then he and Marie carefully covered the nest, making sure the eggs were well protected by a layer of warm sand.Nathan offered to bring the picnicgoers to the research center for a tour so they could see the turtle and learn more about the nest and what was going on.But most importantly, the nest and eggs were going to be safe.SOMETHING TO –THINK ABOUT1. What would have happened to the eggs if Marie had not recovered them?2. How do the adults react in all of the confusion?3. Explain how Marie’s father handled this emergency.4. What would be accomplished if the picnic-goers take a tour of the research center?5. What species of sea animals are protected by law in Bermuda?NEXT WEEKTo the water