1 The gray baseball cap bounced along on the waves of the ocean outside the Outer Banks of North Carolina. Of course, he did not know where he was yet!
2 "I wonder where I am?" he thought. "The sun still feels good, but the water is getting just a little colder." He noticed a jellyfish floating by.
3 "I hope he does not notice me!" the hat thought.
4 As the jellyfish meandered away, the hat heard a splash just beside him. "What's that?" he thought with alarm. Then he heard a squeak and felt water spray his face.
5 "Who's that?" the hat called out with fear in his voice. He looked this way and that, quickly scanning the area around him. Suddenly he saw a fin!
6 The hat was terrified. Had he floated into shark territory? The next moment, though, he breathed a sigh of relief as he saw a smooth, gray head of a dolphin cut through the surface. He had heard that dolphins were friendly, so he relaxed a bit.
7 "Hi, there," said the dolphin.
8 "Hi," answered the hat. "Do you live here?" he asked the dolphin.
9 "I sure do. I love it here. It's a beautiful beach with lots of friendly people. I wonder if it will last, though."
10 "Why do you say that?"
11 "A big hurricane is headed our way. It should be here in a day or so. The winds could blow more than 90 miles per hour." The hat had heard Keith talk about hurricanes. Hurricanes often hit during the months of September and October, and were rated on a scale of 1 to 5, depending on the power of their winds. A category 5 hurricane was the worst. He wondered what the category of this storm would be. Maybe the dolphin would know.
12 "How do you know all this?" the hat asked.
13 "I can sense a storm coming. My senses tell me this will be a big one," the dolphin answered.
14 "But it looks so calm here!" the hat replied.
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