“Shelley, where are you?” Kyle shouted.
Shelley stepped out of the bushes. “Topper lost her ball,” she said. “I’m helping her look for it.”
“Don’t worry,” said Kyle. “Topper always finds her ball.” He headed for the road. “We’re going to Rocky Beach now. Are you coming with us?”
“We can help Topper look for her ball when we get back,” Marcus called over his shoulder.
Shelley stared after him. Was Marcus actually being nice for a change? She hurried to catch up.
When Marcus saw Rocky Beach, his eyes lit up. “This is a great place to look for fossils!” he said.
“There must be a gazillion rocks on this beach,” said Shelley.
Kyle and Marcus didn’t answer. They were already busy searching.
Shelley looked too. She found a couple of rocks with squiggly lines on them. She showed them to Kyle. He thought they were neat, so she gave them to him.
After a while, Shelley was bored. She sat down on a large rock. Beyond, the lake sparkled under the bright sun. Waves slapped up against the shore.
Something caught Shelley’s eye. It was an old fishing net, washed up on the rocks.
Shelley went to take a closer look. Suddenly her foot skidded. She looked down. Her foot had pushed up a small pile of rocks. Wait. What was that?
Shelley grabbed one of the rocks. It was lumpy and gray. It reminded Shelley of something, but she couldn’t think what. But that didn’t matter, because on the rock was the perfect imprint of a tiny shell.
Shelley turned the rock over. She gasped. On the other side was an amazing fossil. It looked like a miniature tree with twisted branches. Beside it were two tiny shells that almost looked like leaves.
“Kyle! Marcus! Look what I found,” Shelley yelled.
Marcus and Kyle scrambled over to see.
“Wow!” said Kyle. “That’s the coolest fossil I’ve ever seen!”
Marcus stared at the rock in Shelley’s hand. “That’s coral,” he said. “Where did you find it?”
“Right there,” said Shelley, pointing to the small pile of rocks.
In a flash, Marcus was on his hands and knees.
Shelley and Kyle searched too. They found a few small pieces of fossilized coral, but nothing compared with the rock Shelley had found.
“Any luck?” a voice called.
Shelley looked up. Dad and Uncle Ray were coming along the road. Topper raced ahead of them.
Shelley ran to meet them. “Look what I found,” she whooped.
Uncle Ray examined the rock. “That’s some find!” he said.
Dad grinned. “Shelley, that has to be the find of the day!” he declared.