Kai lived on the smallest island in the bay — so small it held just one house, one tree, and one little dock. It had always been there, anchored in the shallow water, close enough to wave to the big island where his cousins lived. Kai loved his tiny home and never wished it any bigger.
But one morning Kai woke to a strange rocking, and looked out to find the big island farther away than it had ever been. Slowly, silently, his little island had come loose in the night and was drifting out toward the open sea.
Kai did not panic. He tied his small raft to the dock, packed water and bread, and set out rowing after — no, ahead of — his runaway island, hoping to find what was pulling it. The island drifted faster than he expected, and soon the bay was far behind and the wide blue sea stretched all around.
"Don't worry, little island," Kai called over his shoulder. "I won't let you float away alone."
Kai was growing tired when a sleek gray head popped up beside his raft — a dolphin, and then another, and another. They chattered and clicked, circling the drifting island with curious eyes. "Can you help me turn it home?" Kai asked. The dolphins seemed to understand. They dove beneath the island and began to push, their tails working together, nosing the whole green raft of land slowly around to face the distant shore.
A sea turtle joined them, and a school of silver fish, all lending their small strength to the task.
Halfway home, they discovered what had pulled the island loose. A great old whale lay sleeping just beneath it, and a loop of the island's anchor-vine had snagged around her tail; every slow swish had towed the island farther out to sea. Kai gently worked the vine free while the dolphins hummed a soft, low note. The whale woke, blinked one enormous kind eye at the boy, and gave an apologetic puff from her blowhole. Then she swam alongside them the rest of the way, a vast and gentle guardian, making sure the little island reached home safe.
It took all day. Kai rowed in front to steer, and the dolphins pushed behind, and bit by bit the little island crept back across the bay toward home. The sun was setting gold and pink by the time it slid gently back into its old familiar shallows, right where it belonged, beside the big island.
Kai dropped a heavy stone anchor on a rope to hold it fast this time. Then he sat on his dock with his fish and dolphin friends gathered round in the shining water, and thought that an adventure is even better when you don't have to have it alone. The little island never floated away again — but Kai kept the raft ready, just in case it wanted to see the sea once more.