The sun’s bright light reflected off of the deep green color of the Pacific ocean. Fish were flapping their fins cautiously as they swam through the waters. It was noon and Spike, a young seahorse, asked his mom, Cora, what was for lunch, Cora replied, "We have a bit of plankton leftover from this morning." Spike complained, " Aw mom that didn't taste good!" Cora sighed. "that's because of those tankers!" and she rolled her eyes. "Just eat, and hush."

"Mom, watch out!"

Spike is upset by all the pollution. He wonders why the people dump trash into the river. He is even more concerned by the recent oil spill. His once beautiful home is now covered in goo! Spike calls to him mom, "Watch out!" She dives deep and the can that was thrown from the tanker misses her.

One day, as Spike woke up, the evil oil tankers hit a rock and a small hole punctured the tank. The oozy liquid spilled into the ocean. But the tanker didn't seem to notice. Spike, scared for his life, darted away. Cora, lying fast asleep, was dreaming. "Be careful Cora" said Freddie, the turtle appeared in her dreams.

He continued, “watch over Spike. He will get lost and you won’t even see it coming.”

“I don’t understand what you mean” Cora whispered.

Cora, waking slowly from a strange dream, called to spike. Spike did not answer. Calling frantically now, she was knocked over by her son as he sped into the house. Quavering, Spike told his mom about the goo.

“Mom how can we make it go away? This ocean surrounds many states. So why do we have to live near California where some of it is polluted when we could go somewhere else” asked Spike.

“I am sorry honey, but right now there is nothing we can do” said Cora apologetically.

"Be careful Cora"

“Yes there is, I will go talk to them” Spike said with bravery.

“No! Spike come back! Please be careful” Cora said worriedly. 

As Spike bravely approached the tanker, oil splashed on him. He frantically tried to escape but was swept away.

“Mom, help!” exclaimed Spike.

Cora tried to go after her son but the currents slowed her down.

"I will find you Spike, don't worry" said Cora

Cora tried to follow her son cautiously so that she wouldn’t get caught with the oil. Cora felt uneasy, as if she would never see her son again.

She chided herself “Stop with the bad thoughts, Cora. You can do this! you have to!” feeling slightly better, she trudged on

As Cora continued to swim after the oil, she finds an oil tank just about to dump more oil.

Cora swims to the surface of the water and says “wait! Stop!”.

The tank stopped in fear and she was surprised.

“You frightened me, what do you want?” asked the oil tank.

“Why are you dumping the oil in the ocean, it’s not going to benefit anyone” replied Cora.

“What else am I supposed to do with the remaining oil?”

“Find something or someone that can benefit from the oil, because we obviously can't.”