CHAPTER 1
One hot summer afternoon, Clare and Cole went with their father to the little blue toy store in downtown Bath, Maine.
Cole and Clare had saved all year long for the toy boat they had seen in the store window, and today they would take it home.
Inside the musty old store, Mr. MacKenzie, the friendly shopkeeper, gently lifted the toy boat from its perch in the window and handed it to Clare and Cole, whose eyes were wide with excitement.
"There you are now, crew — your own Friendship sloop," said Mr. MacKenzie, whose eyes sparkled as if he was recalling fond days at sea long ago.
"Friendship sloop?" asked Cole, holding the fine boat in his hands as Clare ran her fingers across its canvas sails.
"Aye, Friendship sloops have been built up the coast at Friendship, Maine, since before I was your age. Best lobsterin' and fishin' boats made," said Mr. MacKenzie. "She's as much at home in a gale at sea as she is ghosting along in a ladies' breeze." The wind chimes outside seemed to jingle in agreement as a gust of wind stirred them on an otherwise calm day.
Cole and Clare paid Mr. MacKenzie for the little boat, thanked him, and then waved goodbye as the screen door banged shut behind them.
On the way home in Dad's old red truck, the little boat's sails flapped in the wind blowing through the windows.
"What are you going to name her?" Dad asked.
Cole and Clare looked at each other and shrugged and then looked at the boat. "I know!" said Clare. "How about Bonnie, after the song you used to sing to us?" They all agreed Bonnie was a fine name, and they drove past the whispering pines, singing,
My Bonnie lies over the ocean.
My Bonnie lies over the sea.
My Bonnie lies over the ocean.
Oh, please bring back my Bonnie to me, to me.
Cole, Clare, and their dad took Bonnie, the Friendship sloop, back home to Moosehead Lake, where the mighty Kennebec River started its long journey to the ocean. But up in the western mountains of Maine, the Kennebec was just a small trickle of a stream, moving slowly to the south, still a hundred miles or more from the sea.
Cole and Clare played with Bonnie in the lake every day, and every night, Cole carefully tied the little boat up to the dock. Then Clare always tugged on the rope to check the knot to be sure Bonnie would be safe and sound until the next morning.
One evening late in the summer, when there was a chill in the air and the sound of cicadas droned loud and long from the darkening woods, Cole and Clare could smell warm blueberry pie wafting down to the lake from their house on the hill.
Cole hastily tied the little boat to the dock, and Clare forgot to tug on the rope to check the knot. They ran up the hill to the house, thinking more about blueberry pie than how well they had tied up the little boat.
Later that night, when the full moon was shining over the lake and a loon was calling its lonely call, the knot holding the little boat to the dock slowly came loose, and Bonnie drifted away!
The little boat drifted slowly away at first, but soon the current of the Kennebec pulled Bonnie downstream. Bonnie started moving faster and faster, and even though she tried, she couldn't sail back upstream to get back to Cole and Clare. Bonnie was getting scared. The little boat liked her new home on the lake; it was so much better than being in the toy-store window, out of the water, and without an owner to care for her. But all Bonnie could do now was drift down the river and see where the Kennebec would take her.
But Bonnie was determined to get back home no matter what, no matter when. Deep down, she knew that to get back home, she would have to take charge, stay calm, think clearly, stay healthy, and be strong.
The next morning, when Cole and Clare got to the dock to play with their boat, they found that Bonnie was gone!
Cole and Clare rushed to tell their mom and dad what had happened. As they ran up the hill to the house, they felt themselves getting mad at each other. Clare yelled ahead, "Cole didn't tie up the boat right!"
Cole shouted, "Clare didn't check the knot like she should have!"
Cole and Clare's parents sat them both down, and their father sternly said, "Look, getting mad at each other won't help find your boat. We need to work together now more than ever, so make up with each other, and let's go see if we can find your boat." Cole and Clare told each other they were sorry, and suddenly, they felt better about working together to find Bonnie.
Cole and Clare searched for Bonnie all over Moosehead Lake and even down part of the little Kennebec.
When they couldn't find the little Friendship sloop, their dad said, "Bonnie will be okay; she'll be happy in the river. She might even make it to the ocean. That's all any boat wants — to sail in the salty sea." He could see how sad Cole and Clare were, so he called Uncle Danby, a lobsterman who worked his sturdy boat all along the New England coast. Maybe he could watch for the little boat if it drifted all the way to the sea.
When Dad reached Uncle Danby by radio out on his boat, he told him what had happened and asked Uncle Danby to keep an eye out for the little boat. All Uncle Danby said was "Yep, I imagine she'll be just fine." Uncle Danby never talked much, but he always meant just what he said.
Bonnie drifted down the river toward a big blue steel bridge where some bullies were walking across and throwing rocks. The little Friendship sloop stayed quiet and hoped that the bullies wouldn't notice her. She knew that in the end, bullies never won, but they sure could be pesky in the meantime. Just then, Bonnie heard one of the bullies say, "Hey, look at that sailboat comin' down the river! Let's throw rocks at it!" And the bullies gathered all the rocks they could find to throw over the bridge as the little boat sailed underneath.
The mean bullies tried to bomb the boat with big rocks as the little Friendship sloop sailed underneath the bridge. Bonnie swerved and pitched, trying to dodge the rocks and sail down the river to safety.
Bonnie even got a little push downstream from a wave that formed when one of the bullies fell into the water after leaning over the bridge too far while holding a big rock (proving once again that bullies never win!)
Bonnie drifted to the bank of the river because her mast was hurting; she guessed it might have been hit by a rock. A friendly boy and girl who had seen what happened came up to help.
The kind boy and girl fixed Bonnie's mast with one of their shoelaces, and Bonnie thanked them for helping her. The nice girl said, "I'm sorry you were hurt. If everyone just treated each other like they would want to be treated, things would be a lot better. I guess bad people just haven't learned that yet."
The kind boy agreed, saying, "People need to stop hurting each other." He added, "Sometimes we can choose to stay away from bad people if we know who they are; other times, there's just no way to tell. But don't worry or be afraid; remember that good people will always outnumber bad people. Knowing that should give you peace and comfort."
The kind girl said, "Maybe we can't change what bad people have already done, but we can always overcome bad with good."
They saw the bullies being put in a police car that had seemingly appeared out of nowhere to arrest the bullies.
"Don't you worry about those bullies," the kind girl said calmly. "You see, bullies never win. In fact, they don't know it, and you sure don't know it now, but the more they bully you, the weaker they get and the stronger you get."
Bonnie thought about that, and it started to make sense; after all, she was feeling better now, and the bullies were headed to jail.
Bonnie thanked the friendly boy and girl. They reminded her of Cole and Clare, and that made her sad because she missed them. But she also felt the warmth of remembering them, making her feel as if they were close by, and that made her happy.
The next day, Bonnie thought she heard a train coming round a bend up ahead, but she couldn't see any tracks. Suddenly, when the little boat sailed around a curve in the river, she saw what the noise was: rapids!
The little boat tossed and rolled over big, crashing waves and swerved around huge, jagged rocks. The white water splashed and dashed the boat up and down like a roller coaster.
In the roar of the churning river, Bonnie heard a small cry for help. A poor little mouse was caught in the rapids too! Bonnie quickly raced to help the little mouse and tossed her safely onto her back deck. The little mouse grabbed on tightly as Bonnie dodged the big rocks of the swirling rapids.
At the end of the rapids, Bonnie sailed to the bank of the river and let the little mouse onto dry land, safe and sound. The little mouse was very thankful! The mouse asked, "Why did you help me if you were in such trouble too?"
Bonnie replied, "Because I think you would have done the same thing for me."
Bonnie sailed on with her canvas sails drying in the warm sun.
Bonnie soon came to Merrymeeting Bay. She thought Cole and Clare might have come down to meet her there, but she didn't see them, so she sailed toward the sea with the current. No merry meeting today, Bonnie realized.
Farther down the river, Bonnie drifted to the town of Bath and could see up a side street and past a building with a sign that read Bath Water District to the toy store where she had been before Cole and Clare gave her a home. Bonnie hoped Mr. MacKenzie would see her and take her back to Cole and Clare, but Mr. MacKenzie had his back to the river and was changing the sign on the door from Open to Closed.
Bonnie drifted down the river to Bath Iron Works, where big US Navy ships were being built, repaired, and painted. Bonnie asked the big ships if they would tow her back upstream to Moosehead Lake. The big ships said they would like to, but they were not ready to sail, and besides, they needed much deeper water.
The big ships wished Bonnie luck and told her that if she ever needed to get back upstream at night, she should watch for the two small lighthouses on the river. Their lights were called range lights, and one was downstream and one was upstream. When the range lights were lined up together, the little boat would be going straight and would be safe in the river's channel. Bonnie thanked the big battleships, and their loud horns blasted, "Good-bye! Keep a sharp eye." As Bonnie sailed away toward Fiddler's Reach, a wise old hospital ship with a big red cross on it whispered softly, "Remember: it's darkest before the dawn."
Late in the day, near the edge of the riverbank, Bonnie got caught in an eddy. The water swirled around and around, trapping her and keeping her from moving downstream. The little boat hoped some beavers would help her by pushing her out of the whirlpool, but they were too busy to help.
Bonnie saw some seagulls far up in the sky but thought they were too high up to help. Just then, the friendly flock of seagulls swooped down and fanned the little boat's sails with their beating wings to help Bonnie sail out of the eddy. When that didn't work, one brave seagull swooped down, grabbed the rope at Bonnie's bow in its beak, and pulled her safely back into the current.
"Thank you!" Bonnie signaled to the gulls.
They screeched back, "You're freeeeee, freee, free, free," as they hovered over Bonnie, flapping their wings.
To this day, wherever they gather, you can still hear seagulls calling, "You're freeeeee, freee, free, free."
Bonnie learned that you never know where help might come from.
When night fell, the sky turned dark, and the river grew even darker. The pine trees on the riverbanks were black against the night sky sprinkled with stars. Bonnie felt hopelessly lost.
But just when it was darkest, Bonnie saw the bright beacon of the two range lights that the battleships had told her about. Bonnie felt it was best to not enter the big, deep ocean at night when she was so tired.
She knew that everything seemed scarier when it was dark out and you were tired and weary. So Bonnie decided to go back up to Bath to get some rest under the protection of the big, brave battleships. Bonnie lined up the two range lights in front of her and sailed safely up the river.
Bonnie nestled herself between two big battleships and fell fast asleep. She remembered what the wise old hospital ship had said about it being darkest before the dawn, and just when the little boat had been the most scared and afraid, things had started to get better.
The next morning, everything seemed better now that Bonnie was well rested. The calm, smooth river water was glistening like gold as the bright yellow sun rose, and Bonnie could smell the ocean. Bonnie sailed downstream, ever closer to the mouth of the Kennebec, where the river met the mighty Atlantic Ocean. The thought of the ocean was both exciting and scary at the same time. After all, most boats wanted to sail in the big, salty sea. But Bonnie wasn't so sure right then — it was such a big ocean, and she was just a little boat. She knew she could never sail upstream all the way back to Moosehead Lake, but she thought if she could sail up the coast, she might find a way to get back home to Cole and Clare eventually, so on she sailed.
Almost to the ocean, the little boat drifted past Atkins Bay and the big granite blocks of Old Fort Popham. Lots of people exploring the fort pointed at Bonnie, saying, "Look at that nice toy boat."
Even the people eating lobster at Spinney's Restaurant ran outside with their bibs still tied around their necks to see her.
For a moment, Bonnie was getting so much attention that she forgot about all her troubles — and also forgot to watch where she was going!
Suddenly, Bonnie noticed that the fast current was pulling her toward a huge black steel buoy that was rocking wildly with turbulent water churning around it. Bonnie rode up and over the bulge of water in front of the buoy, just missing it. Spinning in the wake behind the buoy, Bonnie thought, Whew! I had better pay more attention after that close call!
The little Friendship sloop had traveled all the way to the sea without being reunited with Cole and Clare, and she was now very sad. But Bonnie thought that maybe if she sailed along the coast, someone might find her and write an article about the little boat, and with Bonnie's picture in the newspaper, maybe Cole and Clare would see it and bring Bonnie home again! The wind was blowing down east, so that's where Bonnie decided to travel.
While Bonnie had been wondering what to do, she had drifted slowly along Popham Beach. Suddenly, Bonnie found herself being pulled quickly out to the deep, open sea — Bonnie was caught in a rip current!
People on the porches of their cottages saw the little boat struggling against the powerful current. Bonnie was panicking and quickly getting exhausted from fighting so hard against the current that was rushing out to sea. She worried she might even get pulled under!
Seeing the little boat in distress, the entire FitzGerald family ran out from their cottage porch and onto the beach, yelling at Bonnie to sail parallel to the beach to get out of the current. They knew the dangerous rip currents were strong going out to sea, but the currents were not very wide. Bonnie did as they said, and after sailing only a short distance across the current, she was free again.
Bonnie waved her sails to thank the FitzGeralds and then sailed northeast.
Bonnie sailed to Pemaquid Point Lighthouse, where lots of people were climbing on the rocks and sightseeing. The light- and dark-banded rocks were twisted and folded and were great for climbing on, but it was a bad place for a little toy boat to land safely. So Bonnie sailed on as the people visiting the lighthouse waved and cheered.
Bonnie sailed on to Monhegan Island, where lots of artists were standing by their easels, painting the sea and rocks. The artists pointed toward Bonnie with their brushes clutched in their hands at the ends of their stiff arms, and with one eye squinted shut, everyone yelled, "Hold still!"
But Bonnie had to move on.
Bonnie sailed by the town of Friendship, Maine, where Friendship sloops like Bonnie had been built for more than 150 years. Thinking about all those fine and rugged boats that had come before her, her ancestors, made Bonnie confident she could overcome any obstacle-as long as she didn't act foolishly, as she had when she'd almost run into the buoy on the Kennebec by not paying attention! She would not make that mistake again. She had learned that distractions could keep her from reaching her goal. To honor her ancestors, she would try to be better, and she sailed onward.
