Squiggy's Challenge

By Jean Young

Squiggy is not your ordinary dolphin. He lost his dorsal fin shortly after he was born, and he almost died. Despite the hardship, he learned to swim and survive in the ocean with the help of his mother and his friends. Unfortunately, the humans capture Squiggy, and he is hurled into the human world.

Tatianna is a girl who lost her arm in a terrible accident. She had little joy in her life until she met Squiggy. Tati and Squiggy develop a connection and inspire each other.

More misfortune falls upon the fearless dolphin. Will Squiggy ever go back to the ocean? Will Squiggy ever find his mother again?

“Squiggy's Challenge is a beautifully written story about an injured dolphin and his longing to be reunited with his mother and best friend. This book is a riveting read filled with valuable messages and heartwarming connections between Squiggy the dolphin and the humans who spend time with him. It's guaranteed to engage readers of all ages.” — Joanne Vasquez, Registered Principal - LPL Financial and Mom

• Language: English
• Publisher: World Castle Publishing, LLC
• Release date: Oct 23, 2017
• ISBN: 9781629898117

Jean Young

Jean Young is a mother of two amazing children and a wife to a loving husband. She enjoyed reading as a child and often dreamed about traveling to faraway places. She lived in England, Africa and Nepal during her studies but she wishes she had traveled more. She loves making up stories for her children while on vacation to keep them occupied during the times waiting in line or waiting for food at the restaurants. Some of her stories were born from those times.

Book preview

Squiggy’s Challenge

By

Jean Young

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events, locations, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

World Castle Publishing, LLC

Pensacola, Florida

Copyright © Jean Young 2017

Smashwords Edition

Paperback ISBN: 9781629898100

eBook ISBN: 9781629898117

First Edition World Castle Publishing, LLC, October 23, 2017

http://www.worldcastlepublishing.com

Smashwords Licensing Notes

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in articles and reviews.

Cover: Karen Fuller

Editor: Maxine Bringenberg

This book is dedicated to my children

and my husband.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 1

Squiggy almost died shortly after he was born. That’s what his mother told him every time he asked about his fin. Part of Squiggy’s dorsal fin was missing, and he had asked his mother about it frequently for as long as he could remember.

Mama, why do I have a short fin? Squiggy asked again.

That’s because of the humans. They came with a fishing boat, and almost caught you with a net. You barely escaped, but part of your fin got caught. We had to wiggle you out and you barely escaped with your life. Make sure to stay away from those humans, Mama always ended with a warning.

But they look so harmless. I saw some the other day on the beach. The little ones were playing in the sand, and they looked so cute, said Squiggy.

It’s the big ones you have to watch out for. The big humans bring their fishing boats and take food from us. We have to travel further and longer distances to eat. And it’s not just us. I talked to a seal the other day, and he said that they are having the same problems. He said he came from way up in the Arctic north since there wasn’t enough food to eat up there. He said he traveled down here to get enough food for himself and his family, Mama said.

Okay, Mama, I’ll be careful, Squiggy said.

But Squiggy was a curious dolphin, and he found it difficult to keep his promise. He liked to wander off and explore, and was always curious about the other creatures in the sea. He played with seals, turtles, and the small baby whales that wandered nearby. But he was most curious about the humans, since Mama made him stay away from them.

He played with his dolphin friends, of course, since the dolphins traveled together in groups called pods. Squiggy’s dolphin friends were nice enough, but he found it difficult to catch up with them at times. His short dorsal fin made it hard for him to balance when they played games. He’d learned to adjust, since the accident happened when he was just a baby. He found other ways to balance when he did the turns. Squiggy’s mother made him practice turning and balancing over and over again. She would turn with him, and they would practice together for hours.

Squiggy complained to his mother. Why did this happen to me? I want to be able to balance and swim as fast as the others. I wish I didn’t have to work so hard to catch up.

One day, Mama took Squiggy to talk to the oldest dolphin in the pod, named Blow-by-mouth, who was about forty-five years old. Blow-by-mouth’s blowhole had been injured in a shark attack about ten years ago, and it had never healed properly. When he went up to the surface for air, he had to emerge out of the sea in a steeper angle with his head up higher than the other dolphins. He had learned to breathe out through his mouth and take a big gulp of air before going back down in the ocean.

What can I do for you? asked Blow-by-mouth when Squiggy and his mother approached him.

I was wondering if you could talk to Squiggy about your injury, and how you were able to live with it. How were you able to overcome what happened to you? asked Mama.

Well, I haven’t thought about the injury in a long time. But I would be glad to talk about it if that would help you, said Blow-by-mouth. "Let’s see. It must have been about