Ten-year-old Chet Roscow is swimming alone in the Matawan Creek when he has the sinking feeling that someone, or something, is watching him. He looks around and sees a gray fin “slicing through the water like a knife” (1-2). He wonders for a moment if it could be a shark and then reminds himself that Elm Hills is miles away from the ocean and that there is no way a shark could make its way into this small creek.

Chet watches as the object makes its way closer to him and Chet can see that it is an enormous shark, with “black eyes staring up through the water. Killer eyes” (2). Without hesitation, Chet breaks for the shore, kicking frantically. On land, he looks back over his shoulder to see the shark just behind him, its jaws open wide to display rows of sharp white teeth.

Chet finishes working the breakfast rush at his Uncle Jerry’s diner. Chet feels his sore feet but is happy, remembering that Uncle Jerry is paying him 15 cents a day to work. Despite the busy work, Chet feels that he is making friends and settling into his new home with Uncle Jerry, with whom he has lived since the previous January while his parents are in