Ocean Rocks

Ocean Rocks form a long line of rocks extending through the ocean between the Island of Tangerina and Wild Island. For Elmer Elevator, they are both a route into the island where Baby Dragon is held and a hazardous threshold: the crossing demands darkness, careful movement, and a journey of seven hours over unstable footing.

Geography and Reputation

Old Alley Cat explains that the Island of Tangerina and Wild Island are joined by a long string of rocks, though people do not go to Wild Island because it is mostly jungle and inhabited by very wild animals. The rocks therefore connect two islands while marking a boundary few travelers willingly cross. On the Island of Tangerina, Elmer walks along the shore in search of them; a fisherman’s fear, and his warning that explorers have not returned alive, make the route’s physical danger part of its ominous reputation.

The Night Crossing

Old Alley Cat advises Elmer to attempt the crossing at night, when the animals will not see him coming along the rocks and he can hide after reaching Wild Island. Elmer follows that advice: when he finds the rocks near dark, he waits, wearing his black rubber boots and carrying tangerines for food. The crossing is difficult to read in the blackness. Some rocks rise high, while waves nearly cover others; their surfaces are slippery, and gaps between them force Elmer to take a running start and leap.

The route also brings an unexpected encounter. As Elmer hears a rumbling grow louder, he leaps onto what he takes to be a rock and lands instead on a small whale, asleep between two rocks and snoring. The whale does not wake, and Elmer continues across. After seven hours of climbing, slipping, and leaping, he reaches the last rock and steps onto Wild Island while it is still dark.

Place in the Island’s Routes

The rocks remain a point of orientation after Elmer reaches shore. He moves away from them by sunrise, judging it dangerous to stay near them in daylight because they might be guarded. From there, the coastline and jungle shape his search for the river, the next obstacle between him and Baby Dragon. At a later crossroads on Wild Island, a sign points back toward Ocean Rocks, while other arrows indicate the Beginning of the River and Dragon Ferry. The signs place the crossing within a larger network of routes that structures Elmer’s movement across the island.

Narrative Significance

Ocean Rocks make entry into Wild Island an ordeal rather than a simple change of setting. Their unstable surfaces turn distance into physical labor, while the darkness that conceals Elmer from the animals also makes each step uncertain. The mistaken leap onto the whale briefly gives the peril a comic turn without making the crossing easy: Elmer still has to negotiate the rocks for seven hours before he can reach shore. The chain is thus both a natural passage and a test that begins his passage into the dangerous territory where the rescue must take place.