What about tomorrow? asks Felicia.
Okay, says third baby skate. Terence can have his skateboard back tomorrow.
Promise? asks Felicia.
Promise, says third baby skate.
Shall I swim back out here, or will you deliver it? asks Felicia.
We'll deliver it, says third baby skate.
How come you're the one deciding? asks another baby skate.
I was the first one to use it, says third baby skate.
And me, says the friend who was the other first one to use it.
And we both agree, says third baby skate. Don't we?
Do you? asks Felicia.
Yes, says the friend.
Okay, deal, says Felicia. I'll leave you to your fun with the skateboard.
The baby skates go back to their fun. Felicia turns to swim back to shore, when she sees Roo-kai with the dead mud crab.
Where'd you get that? asks Felicia.
It fell out of Gaius's sock, says Roo-kai.
Dead? asks Felicia.
Not initially, says Roo-kai. But we're making the best of the situation.
How? asks Felicia.
I'm using it as a lure for some old ones, says Roo-kai. They won't have gone far.
Good luck, says Felicia. I'm going back now that I've struck a deal with the babies.
Good work, says Roo-kai. I'll fly around out here.
Felicia swims off, while Roo-kai flies low, in widening circles.
Under the water, Lucius and Pontius are searching for mysids and carids, having given up on finding a mud crab.
I don't mind a nice tasty shrimp. says Lucius.
Several nice tasty shrimps, says Pontius.
Easier to spot than a mud crab, says Lucius.
Nothing's as easy to spot as it was, says Pontius.
True, old friend, says Lucius. He looks up, in the hope that a shrimp might be passing.
And sees.... can it be, up there....a mud crab skimming the surface of the water?
Do you see what I see? asks Lucius.
Pontius looks up.
What is it?
A flying mud crab, says Lucius. Or am I hallucinating?
They both rise to a few centimetres below the surface.
Roo-kai spots them and stops circling.
Now what will happen?
Will the old skates follow the flying mud crab?
Or will they see that Roo-kai is controlling the mud crab?
Luckily, their eyesight is bad.
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