Katie was waiting for Gulliver's calls. Instead, she just heard sparrows making noise in the bushes. "Maybe Gulliver missed the harbour." Dad said. After breakfast, Katie took her camera to the harbour. All the colourful boats made pretty pictures, but not the one she wanted most.
Katie waved to Ernest, her uncle's neighbour, on the boathouse. The gull's name, Gulliver, was given by him. The gull's size and his single leg made the bird itself different. But Ernest told Katie what Gulliver did that first summer Katie and her dad came caught everyone's attention. Young Katie lay in her stroller (婴儿车) on the floating dock (码头) when Uncle Ralph and Dad were repairing boats nearby. The waves from the passing boat made Katie's stroller shake strongly. "Kee-aah! Kee-aah!" Gulliver made the loudest cry. Dad and uncle rushed to Katie and stopped the stroller from falling into the water. They kept a close eye at Katie after that. Another summer Katie was three years old, she liked to touch everything. But Dad didn't watch her every minute when she tried to catch small ducks around or fish from water. "Kee-aah! Kee-aah!" The gull's cry brought Dad back in time. He stopped Katie as she tried to follow the small ducks running towards water. Several summers passed, and Gulliver continued to call out as Katie tried new things.
This summer Katie did the usual by-the-sea things she'd learned to do. One day, she rowed a boat out but was trapped on a rock by a storm. As she looked up and tried to catch the last warmth of the sunshine through dark clouds, she saw a single white feather. A gull feather? She searched the sky for an answer. Putting her arms around knees, she closed eyes to hold in the tears (眼泪). "Kee-aah! Kee-aah!" Katie sat up. "Katie! Katie!" Soon, Dad and Uncle Ralph appeared. "How lucky! We heard Gulliver as we came around the rocks," Uncle Ralph said, "At least… it sounded like him. Strange, he was nowhere in sight." Katie remembered the feather. "I thought I heard him, too."
—Adapted from the story by Gillian Richardson
①She was trapped on a rock by a storm.
②She lay in her stroller on the floating dock.
③She followed the small ducks running towards water.
