Melinda and Her Father Go Scuba Diving

By Porsche Ray and Nicole Wolf

A family vacation or a treasure hunt?

Melinda and her father travel to Nova Scotia hot on the trail of forgotten treasure.
Teensie, her talking pet fish, is positive he knows where the treasure is located, but can Melinda and her father overcome a fear of water and sharks to retrieve it?

Don't miss the adventure in Melinda and Her Father Go Scuba Diving!
Melinda and Her Father Go Scuba Diving is book 1 of the Melinda series.
Melinda books feature a large vocabulary, but shorter chapters to keep younger readers engaged. Melinda herself is a socially awkward 10-year-old girl, however, books are suitable for both a younger and older audience.

The problems she encounters have nothing to do with her gender.

Every Melinda book centers around a safe, wholesome adventure where Melinda must use tools and skills she has previously developed to fix the problem.

NO catty girl drama

NO boy-crazy idolizing

NO children doing adult jobs

Clean. Safe. Fun.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Fallen Leaves Publishing
• Release date: May 31, 2022
• ISBN: 1777171342

Book preview

Melinda and Her Father Go Scuba Diving

Porsche Ray

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Fallen Leaves Publishing

Copyright © 2021 by Porsche Ray

All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form whatsoever. For information, address the publisher: Fallen Leaves Publishing.

First Printing, 2021

ISBN: 978-1-7771713-4-6

www.FallenLeavesPublishing.com

For Annabeth.

If you can't find what you love, make it.

Contents

1. The Storm

2. Blurp

3. Caught Ya

4. Tall Tales

5. The Plan

6. SCUBA

7. Swimming Flop

8. Final Lesson

9. Fish Can Fly?

10. Fish Hotel

11. Chilled

12. Shipwreck

13. S.H.A.R.K.

14. Attack

15. Just a Shark

16. Take Three

17. Collapse

18. Click-Click-Click

19. Sparkle ‘n Shine

20. Box of Mud?

21. Show and Tell

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About the Author

About the Illustrator

1

The Storm

Blurp, bubbled the fish. Blurp, blurp. The fish looked straight at Melinda and blurped again.

Melinda loved looking at her fish. The only thing that would make it better was if she could hold her fish and look at him at the same time. But Teensie, her fish, didn’t like to be held. At least, that’s what Melinda’s father told her.

Blurp, the fish bubbled again.

Melinda, called her dad. Did you empty the dishwasher yet?

Melinda rolled her eyes at Teensie. Be glad you don’t have a dad or a dishwasher, she said to him. Otherwise you wouldn’t get to spend your time blurping - you would spend it like me. Work, work, working.

Melinda? called her dad again.

Coming, called Melinda back. She looked at Teensie inside the fish tank. He looked so happy. Floating around, eating, pooping, and most importantly, NOT cleaning up after anyone. I’ll be right back little guy, said Melinda to her fish.

Blurp, said Melinda’s fish.

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Later that night a huge storm rolled in. The clouds were dark. So dark that when Melinda looked at them, they never seemed to end. They boiled and bubbled with each other.

Pushing and pulling for access to the same pockets of air.

From their heavy bottoms, they dumped rain and hail onto Melinda’s home.

Thunder shook the house and lightning flashed brighter than the sun.

Melinda and her father both slept in the basement where it was mostly protected from the large flashes of light.

On a good day, the basement was creepy. On a good night, the basement was spooky. Tonight, with the storm, it was very scary.

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The loudest boom she had ever heard cracked through the house. The flash of light was so bright she could see it even with her eyes closed. Melinda’s hair stood out straight, filled with electricity.

Daddy! cried Melinda from her bed.

It took her dad a few minutes, but soon he had shuffled himself to her door.

Yes Melinda? he asked. He yawned, rubbed the sleep from his eyes, and ruffled his hair with his hand.

I’m scared, said Melinda. She peeked out at him from under her mountain of blankets.

It’s just rain, said her dad with a tired sigh. Go back to sleep.

Before Melinda could tell her dad about the giant flash of light that had frightened her so much, he had already turned to go back to his room.

As her father walked away, the storm seemed to die down. The giant booms of thunder became smaller with each step, and there was more time between each flash of lightning. Soon, the thunder no longer shook her bed or rattled her window. The brilliant flashes of lightning stopped sending Melinda scurrying under her blankets. Slowly, she felt her body relax into her soft pillow.

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Morning came, and Melinda crept silently up the stairs. She liked to pet her fish before her father woke up. He did not like it when Melinda pet her fish.

Good morning, said Melinda as she crept into the living room where the tank was. Did you see the storm last night?

Teensie swam toward her, but he didn’t blurp.

Are you feeling okay? asked Melinda.

The fish stared at her, but he still didn’t blurp.

Melinda opened the top of the tank and reached her fingers into the cool water. Come here little guy, she said, stretching her fingers out to pet him.

Ahhh, stay away! the fish cried out, swimming to the other side of the tank. He hid behind the filter suction tube.

Melinda jerked her hand out of the water so fast that she smashed her knuckles on the glass.

Ouch! she said.

She peered into the water at Teensie. Had that really happened? Did her fish just speak to her?

Maybe she was still dreaming. She shook her head and blinked away as much sleep as she could. Then she shook her head furiously from side to side and blinked some more.

Teensie stared at her from