Marlo and the Library Whale

Marlo was putting picture books on a low library shelf when he heard a wet sneeze.

“Ah-chooosh!”

A silver drop landed beside his shoe. Under the reading table, between a beanbag and a basket of puppets, stood a shiny blue whale no bigger than a bicycle.

“You can’t stay here,” Marlo whispered. “The library has no sea.”

The little whale gave a sad puff. A paper bookmark flew from its blowhole and opened on a map of town. Marlo followed the blue line from the library, past the bakery, to the old fountain in the square.

“Do you want to go there?”

Tap, tap, went the whale’s tail.

Marlo fetched Ms. Fern, the librarian. She did not shout. She only wiped a drop from her glasses.

“Well,” she said, “let’s find out why a whale has come to borrow our floor.”

She opened the wide front doors. The whale swished down the ramp, while Marlo walked beside it with a red umbrella over its head. A thin, wiggly stream followed them.

Outside the bakery, the whale lifted its nose. “Brrrooo!” it sang.

A baker hurried out with warm rolls. “That sound! The fountain has been quiet all morning.”

The fountain in the square was dry. Its stone fish had open mouths, but no water splashed out.

The little whale circled once, then pressed its nose to the biggest fish.

Click.

A round blue button popped from the fish’s mouth. It was stuck in the spout.

“It’s blocking the water!” said Marlo.

Ms. Fern gently pulled the button free. For one quiet second, nothing happened.

Then water rushed from every stone fish, splashing into the fountain with a bright, laughing sound.

The whale leaped high. Its tail made a rainbow in the sun, and it grew bigger and bigger—bigger than the fountain, bigger than the bakery awning.

“Thank you,” it sang, in a voice like waves inside a shell.

Then it dove into the fountain. The water swirled once, twice, and carried it away in a shining blue circle.

Marlo held the blue button in his palm. Back at the library, he tied it to a bookmark with red ribbon. On rainy days, children found it in the map book. If they listened very closely, they could hear a faraway sneeze from the page.