The Big Snapper (12 page)

“You fool!' Mr. Northorpe bawled at me.

“Now what are we going to eat?!' one of the Backhouse twins screeched.

“Even the seagulls that had followed the wagon as I rode down the path screamed at me. They'd been hoping for their own taste of the big snapper.

“But I didn't pay attention to any of them. I didn't take my eyes from the waves until half a mile out I thought I saw a pale orange head appear. I waved an arm over my head, and after that he was gone. I started back down the wharf, pushing my bike with the empty wagon attached.

“The Northorpes, the McWilliams and the Backhouses grumbled and complained. They shook their fists at me but there was nothing more they could do. They ripped off their bibs and shuffled behind me across the wharf. Where the wharf met the path, I ran into Dad. He was still holding the big knife but he had a smile on his face. ‘Here Eddie,' he said, pulling my bike onto the path, ‘let me help you with that.'”

Except for the soft sound of breathing, Granddad's room is suddenly quiet. Eddie leans forward again. “That's the end of my story, Granddad. Did you like it?”

Granddad does not say anything, and Eddie becomes worried because his eyes have become as misty as the island where they live. But then he smiles a little, and Eddie knows it is not because he is sad.

“Dad says he won't back,” he tells his grandfather. “Dad says that's the last we'll see of the big snapper.”

“Yes,” Granddad whispers, nodding his head. He squeezes Eddie's hand. “And that is as it should be.”

Katherine Holubitsky's
first novel,
Alone at Ninety Foot
(Orca), won the CLA Book of the Year for Young Adults and the IODE Violet Downey Book Award. Since then, she has written
Last Summer in Agatha
(which won the R. Ross Annett Alberta Book Award),
The Hippie House
and
The Mountain that Walked
, all published by Orca.
The Hippie House
was also nominated for the CLA Book of the Year Award and the Arthur Ellis Crime Writers Award. Katherine lives in Edmonton, Alberta.

Other books by Katherine Holubitsky

Alone at Ninety Foot
1-55143-204-8
PB

CNIB Tiny Torgi Audio Award Nominee 2001

PNLA Young Readers Choice Award nominee 2002

IODE Violet Downey Book Award

CLA Book of the Year for Young Adults Award

OAC Ruth Schwartz Children's Book Award nominee

ALA/YALSA Best Books for Young Adults 2000

OLA Red Maple Award nominee 1999

ALA Quick Pick nominee

ABA Pick of the Lists

NY Public Library Books for the Teen Age

Manitoba Young Readers Choice Award nominee 2001

CCBC Our Choice Starred selection

CBC This Morning Book Panel selection

Teacher Librarian Magazine Best Books for Young Adults selection

Other books by Katherine Holubitsky

The Hippie House
1-55143-316-8
HC

Starred Our Choice 2005

CLA Young Adult Canadian Book Award nominee 2005

Manitoba Young Readers' Choice Award nominee 2006

Arthus Ellis Award nominee 2005

Resource Links' Year's Best 2004

Other books by Katherine Holubitsky

The Mountain That Walked
1-55143-392-3
HC
1-55143-376-1
PB

“...strong prose and imagery...this book's greatest strength lies in its plot.” —
EDMONTON JOURNAL