Children of the Tide

by Theo Shapiro

  Part VI: The Dive

  Verne White anxiously waited for his bag on the conveyor belt. Verne hated checking any bags at the airport, but he hated checking his dive gear most of all. He had already pulled his and his wife’s clothes bag off the belt. His wife’s dive bag had followed not too long after, but there was no sign of his.

  Verne held his breath, praying that his bag was in the same airport he was and not on the way to Haiti, Africa, Mexico, or some other random location. Verne had been waiting for this trip for a long time. For a living Verne is an English schoolteacher at a high school in Baltimore, but his life involved Scuba Diving. It wasn’t even a week after his birth that his mother took him to the Ocean for the first time. As his mom tells the story, that first day was all it took for him to become addicted to the water. For the rest of his life he took to the water like a fish. He swam competitively for his whole life, surfed, sailed, fished, and did anything that involved being in the water. Vern’s favorite though was diving.

  Scuba diving was the one way he could really feel a part of life under the sea. Gracefully making his way about the ocean floor, pretending he wasn’t some intruder but another member of the sea creature; a “Child of the Tide” as he liked to put it. Verne had traveled all around finding the most incredible places to dive. He dove all throughout the U.S., Caribbean, Thailand, and Australia. It didn’t matter where he dove, Verne just wanted to be in the water.

  “Is it here yet?” A voice called behind him. Verne didn’t have to turn around to know what was happening behind him. He knew that his wife was standing behind him, one hand on her hip the other dangling at her side. Her long brown hair would be hanging over her shoulders, still looking good even though if complimented she would say how nasty it felt after the ten hour plane ride. Even though she can be the sweetest person on the planet her face would be set in a glare that would make any stranger think she was some stuck up woman. Verne knew she had that look because she was as anxious as he was waiting for his dive bag, she just didn’t mind showing it.

  “No it’s not here yet.” Verne tried to sound easy, but his wife could read him easier than the numbers in her dive computer. “I’m sure it will show up though.” Verne said more to himself than to her.

  “I’m going to find someone to talk to.”

  “Just give it a minute Shelly. There’s still a bag coming down the shoot every now and then.” His wife’s name wasn’t really Shelly. That was just a pet name he had for her because of her obsession with collecting a seashell from every beach they went to. From the twelve years of marriage she had a massive collection now.

  “I’m giving it two more…”

  “There it is!” Verne shouted. A few people in the tiny airport turned to look at him as if he was some mad man screaming out a message before he ignited a bomb. Even in the airport of the tiny island of Lanai the threat of Terrorism still lingered. Verne gave an apologetic look and lifted his bag off the conveyor belt.

  Verne and Shelly grabbed their bags and walked to the car rental station. Verne had rented a jeep for the week they would be staying on the island. Usually they would stay longer on a dive trip, but this one was special. Verne and his wife both loved diving. It wasn’t the only thing they had in common, but the love for nature was one of their strongest bonds and their thirst to experience the ocean. Shelly had her favorite sea creatures and Verne had his. Shelly loved octopi, sea horses, and the tiny fish that inhabited reefs. Verne’s passion was sharks. He loved all sharks and been diving with a great many of them. He had gone cage diving with Great Whites, Tigers, Bulls, and Mako sharks. He had gone free diving with countless others, but there was one shark he has yet to see, the ever elusive Hammerhead shark.

  Verne’s favorite shark has always been the Hammerhead shark. The shape of their head, the way they moved, how they traveled in large numbers but hunted alone, all of it fascinated him. The problem was they are very wary of divers and hard to locate in the open ocean. The Hammerhead shark was Verne’s Moby Dick, but instead of killing it he just wanted that one perfect picture.

  After researching places to go to find Hammerhead sharks Verne found out that the tiny island Lanai in Hawaii received these unique sharks in March. The problem was he was still teaching and couldn’t get away from work.

  This year though he stored up all his sick days and planned this trip, keeping it a secret from all the other teachers and faculty at his school. Verne was turning 40 this year and he was treating himself to the best present he could think of. Shelly of course was all for the trip and just as excited as he was.

  Even when Shelly and Verne saw the busted old jeep they smiled as large as could be and started laughing. There were no doors, dents in the front, and a smell that reminded Verne of a dried up starfish. Possibly fifteen years ago the jeep could have been called yellow, but now it was more rust colored than anything else.

  Shelly got behind the wheel because when in a new area Verne couldn’t help look around at the surroundings and would start to drift off the side of the road. Verne finished loading the jeep and got in the passenger seat. It took a moment for Shelly to figure out how to operate the antique but soon they were on their way to the hotel.

  The hotel they were staying at was only a bit better than their rental car. Verne knew he was going to hear it from Shelly later. How could you book us in a room like this? There better not be any bed bugs! I’m not staying here. Shelly was very particular about the places they stayed but there wasn’t a lot of options on the island and all the nice places were booked. So he told her he reserved them a room at the nicest place he could find. Technically that was the truth.

  Luckily the room was a lot nicer than he thought from the exterior of the hotel. It was clean, had a large bathroom, nice TV, refrigerator, and a beautiful view of the ocean. “I guess this will work.” Shelly mumbled.

  Verne started to unpack his dive gear and make sure everything was in order while Shelly took a shower. Next he pulled out his pride and joy, his Nikon D4 camera. The camera alone set him back a pretty penny, and add the dive casing and strobe light and he could have bought a decent used vehicle for the same price. It was worth it though, cars broke down, a good picture lasted forever and he felt that perfect shot coming on this trip.

  Their first dive wasn’t until tomorrow morning and they both had jet lag so they decided to get some room service and spend the rest of the day relaxing around the hotel.