The song ended, there was another roar from the audience, and the band stood together and grinned and waved. Then Kwan stepped forward and spoke to the audience. It seemed pretty clear that he was thanking them and generally hyping them up, because the audience would cheer after he finished certain phrases. Then he turned back to the band. Another song started, and they were right back to dancing.
It made so much sense now to Sebastian that they stuck to such a rigorous schedule, and that they worked out so hard. They just went from song to song, dancing the whole time, sometimes doing acrobatic feats. It never looked like they were going to take a break.
Until they took a break.
Kwan said something to the audience, and they cheered. Toy and Ujin came up beside Kwan and smiled and waved. Then Kwan, Yejun, and Cheese dashed off the stage, running right for Sebastian, and he had to leap to the side to get out of the way.
Kwan grabbed a towel from a member of the stage crew and came up beside Sebastian. “Well?” he asked as they watched Toy and Ujin begin a complicated acrobatic routine.
“That was amazing! You have such a great voice, and the zip line was so cool!” Sebastian felt like he’d been onstage as well, he was so out of breath.
Kwan smiled sheepishly. “Thanks.” They stood side by side watching as Toy climbed up onto Ujin’s shoulders. “They make us unique. It’s not me. It’s them,” said Kwan with pride. “Not many K-pop groups have members who can do that.”
“Yeah,” said Sebastian.
“You ready?” asked Kwan breathlessly.
“Ready for what?” Truly, in that moment Sebastian had no idea what Kwan was talking about.
Kwan laughed. “Your big moment!”
“Oh. Right.” His big moment. Right. He’d forgotten about that in all the excitement. Well, in that case the answer was no. An absolute no.
“After this routine, we’ll set up the drums in the middle of the stage. It’s going to be thrilling!” Kwan was practically bouncing on the spot as Yejun came over to them.
“You excited?” asked Yejun.
Okay, they had to stop asking these terrifying questions of him. Sebastian could barely speak now, let alone pretend to be enthusiastic. He was hoping Toy and Ujin would just keep flipping and jumping, lose track of time, and bask in the glow of the audience’s love. That they would never stop flipping. Ever. Eternal flips.
But no, they stopped. The audience cheered. Toy and Ujin ran offstage. And the tech crew, much to Sebastian’s utter horror, brought Kwan’s drum kit onto the stage in the low blue lighting of the set change.
I will not panic. I will not panic. This isn’t life-and-death. This is just public humiliation.
“Just wait for your cue!” said Kwan as the bright lights came up on the stage again and all five boys rushed back in front of the roaring crowd. Kwan started speaking to them once more in Korean.
Sebastian turned around and looked back into the emptiness of backstage. Maybe this was his moment to run for it. Of course, he had no idea how to get out of the stadium. And of course there was the sudden reappearance of a familiar hand on his shoulder.
“Kwan likes you,” said Suwon.
“Yes.”
“He’s never wanted another band member before now.”
“Well, he’s never wanted to—” Sebastian stopped short. What was he doing? He’d almost said, “never wanted to leave before.” That was not for him to tell.
Suwon looked down at Sebastian with a puzzled expression on his face. “Wanted to what?”
“Opera Boy!” Kwan called out from the stage. Sebastian looked out at him to see Kwan’s arm extended and pointing in his direction.
“That nickname makes no sense anymore,” said Sebastian.
“Go, they’re calling you!” said Suwon, and he gave Sebastian a gentle shove toward the stage.
Okay, okay. He had to do it. He had to just jump in. Like jumping into a cold swimming pool. Except he never did that. He always took the ladder, step-by-step, and acclimatized slowly to the temperature.
Kwan was staring at him intently. Then he yelled out again, “Opera Boy!”
“Go on, Sebastian. This is what you wanted,” said Suwon. He wasn’t mean or insistent. There was warmth in his voice. Support.
But also…this so wasn’t what Sebastian wanted.
Sebastian nodded, and then he just did it. He just walked out onto the stage. It wasn’t really that hard, as it was the same floor as the wings, but somehow it felt like walking into a whole other world. The audience cheered as he joined Kwan. And as Sebastian stood in the blinding light, he felt all his senses obliterated under the brightness and the loudness around him. How did the band manage to dance and sing in front of all of this? How was he going to be able to play?
Fortunately, he was still gripping his drumsticks tightly, so at least he had a means of playing. Even if he didn’t have the ability.
“Wave!” encouraged Kwan, and Sebastian waved. The slight act of raising his hand up to shoulder height and moving it back and forth a few times produced such a response from the crowd that Sebastian immediately shoved his hand into his pocket.
Kwan said something enthusiastically in Korean, the audience cheered some more, and the lights suddenly went all blinky and colorful. Then he looked at Sebastian and made a gesture with his head toward the drum kit.
Okay, okay, it was time.
Sebastian turned kind of robot-like and walked to the drum kit. Sitting down behind it helped block his view of the audience a bit, and he felt better for it. He glanced at the Lost Boys, who had all taken their positions around him. They were poised, ready to start. So. They should start. He tried to take a deep breath, but it was more like a shaky, shallow one. Then Sebastian raised the drumsticks over his head: “One, two, three…Shoot.” The sound of one of the sticks falling to the floor echoed through the suddenly silent stadium. One of those convenient silences like when you’re about to tell someone a really private secret at a party and suddenly everyone decides to take that moment to sip their drink.
Sebastian got up and chased the stick across the stage until it stopped rolling, gave Cheese a forced smile, and then rushed back to the kit. His face was flushed and burning.
This time he’d do it. This time. “One, two, three, four!”
And he started playing.
He started playing in front of thousands of people. He started playing with bandages wrapped around his fingers and fear wrapped around his heart. He started playing.
He wasn’t great.
He wasn’t terrible.
And.
He liked it.
Lining the bed of the pickup truck had been difficult, to be sure. Especially making sure the water wouldn’t splash up and over the sides. And filling it with just the right amount of water—water for a shark to swim in and thus breathe and water for a human to sit in without displacing it—was also a bit of a trick. But the hardest part of the whole experience was yet to come. The hardest part was transferring a scared little shark that wasn’t so little compared to average-sized things into the back of a truck without losing a limb and without it losing its life.
The truck had been backed up as close to the edge of the pool deck as it could be, the water inside the back sloshing around. Meanwhile, Evie, Erik, and Catherine had set to work fashioning a kind of shark stretcher. They used two long metal poles, one from what remained of the crane, the other from the front yard (it had had a metal fish hanging off it at one point), and fastened the remaining pool liner around the poles. It was just under five feet long and looked fairly durable. Still, Evie was concerned that once they tried to hoist the little shark out of the water with it, the whole thing would fall apart.
“It doesn’t hurt to try,” Catherine had said. She was sitting on the deck now, right next to the pool, where the shark kept jump
ing up to get her attention. Catherine was so comfortable with the shark now that she dangled her hand in the water so that it had something to rub up against.
“Okay,” said Catherine, standing up and examining their work. “It looks good. Looks very good.” She looked at Erik and Evie and put her hands on her hips. “Well, now we need two people in the pool and two people out of it.”
“What?” said Evie and Erik at the same time.
“We need two people in the water to trap the shark in the stretcher and two people to grab it from the outside. Evie, I think you should come into the pool with me,” said Catherine in that very practical way of hers.
“What?” squeaked Evie again.
“You’re the smallest, and trying to lift the stretcher out of the water will require a fair bit of strength. In the water, thanks to buoyancy, the shark will be much lighter to lift. Since all four of us need to participate in this, it makes the most sense for you to…Yes, I think you should come into the water, and Erik and Ruby should carry the shark out and into the truck.” It was just a suggestion. Anyone could have said no. But it didn’t exactly feel like a suggestion the way Catherine said it. It felt more like all their fates had been sealed.*
“Ruby, are we ready?” asked Catherine as Ruby climbed out of the truck. The back with the water sloshing around inside was right below the deck level. In theory, Evie supposed, they could have thrown the shark inside. Not that anyone was capable of doing that, of course.
“Ready? Not sure. But I don’t think that’s something I’ll ever be sure of,” Ruby replied.
“Right. So you and Erik prepare yourselves on the deck. When you get the stretcher, carry it over and lay it right inside the bed of the truck. I’ll get in with it as quickly as I can. Ruby, you’re driving. Erik, take the passenger seat, and, Evie, I’m afraid you get the backseat again.” Everyone nodded, including Evie. She was used to sitting in small backseats and didn’t mind being a little squished. What she did mind was getting into shark-infested waters.
“I guess it’s time to do this!” said Catherine, and she easily slipped back into the water. The little shark was so thrilled she was there that it started to swim around much more quickly, bopping into her and jumping up out of the water at moments. “Come on, Evie,” said Catherine, smiling at her.
The way the shark was thrashing about now reminded Evie of being in the basement. Of the sheer terror she had felt. She knew the shark was happy; at least, she hoped the shark was happy. But a happy shark and an angry shark looked pretty much the same. Why couldn’t sharks smile?
Or would a smile be more horrifying?
“Evie, come on,” said Catherine with an edge to her voice.
Oh, sure, easy for you to say, every-animal-on-the-planet-whisperer. Totally easy for you to say. Besides, Catherine looked formidable, like a proper opponent you could respect. She was tall and strong and had bright red hair. Evie was small and pale. She looked like a nice, tasty appetizer.
“Okay,” said Evie, more to herself than to Catherine. She took off her shoes and inched her way to the edge of the pool and stared down. The shark swam by just then, causing her to flinch. She took in a deep breath and sat on the edge, dangling her feet in the water. Normally she’d stay like this for a bit until she got used to the cooler temperature, but all she could think was that her dangling feet might resemble a yummy treat. So she jumped in quickly. The water was cold, but that didn’t shock her. If she hadn’t been scared for her life, she might have noticed how refreshing it was. The one thing she did notice was how much higher the water was on her than on Catherine. She felt extremely small and extremely vulnerable.
“Good,” said Catherine just as the shark swam over to Evie to appraise her. “Stay calm.”
Oh great, the one instruction that was the least effective.
“Stay still,” added Catherine, and that Evie could easily follow. She was paralyzed with fear. The shark swam up to her and seemed to be sizing her up. Then it swam around her once, brushing against her as it did. She stumbled, astounded at how strong the creature was. Its body appeared to be made of pure muscle.
The shark didn’t like the stumble and lashed its tail as it swam back over to Catherine. “I’m sorry,” said Evie quietly.
Catherine laughed at the shark, giving it a little tickle. “It’s okay. You’re doing an excellent job.”
Evie wasn’t so sure, but she was determined now.The shark swam close past her once more.
“Oh hey,” said Evie.
“What was that?” asked Catherine.
“Oh, it’s nothing. It’s just…yeah, it does have blue eyes.” She gave Catherine a small smile, which the explorer returned. Then it was back to business.
“Okay, let’s go get the stretcher.” Catherine came over to the side of the deck next to Evie, the shark in her wake. Ruby and Erik folded the stretcher so that the metal poles touched each other lengthwise and the pool liner dangled below it. They carefully passed it down, and Evie took an end in her small hands. “Evie, I want you to take a side, not an end,” instructed Catherine.
Evie nodded and chose the side closer to the deck. Catherine took the other side, and now they each held on to one pole. Catherine stepped back, and the stretcher opened up underwater. The shark swam past it, curious, but then darted away.
“Once we trap her in it, she’s going to panic, so we’re going to have to be fast. We’ll come back close together so she’s squeezed inside the pool liner and can’t escape. And then we’ll walk as fast as we can back to Ruby and Erik. You two choose a front or back end and get ready to grab it.” Catherine was so clear in her instructions and so calm, she obviously had a lot of experience with this kind of thing. Well, maybe not with moving sharks out of swimming pools, but with telling other people what to do.
“Is everyone ready?” asked Catherine.
“Ready!”
“Evie, here we go,” said Catherine, and they made their way slowly over to the little shark. It darted out of the way, and they had to follow it to the other side of the pool. It did it again. And again.
Evie was starting to feel less scared and more annoyed. “Let’s try to corner it,” she suggested.
“There aren’t any corners,” replied Catherine.
“I mean, let’s try to get her up against one of the walls.”
Catherine nodded. “Good idea. Follow me.”
Evie didn’t love the idea of trapping a shark, mostly because she assumed the shark wouldn’t love the idea of being trapped. But she knew it was the best idea they had at the moment, so she followed Catherine obediently, and they managed to get the shark up against a wall. “Stay put. I’m going to walk here.” Catherine slowly walked so that the end of the stretcher was now next to the shark’s head. “Any moment…,” she said.
And suddenly the shark burst forward.
“Now!”
Evie leapt toward Catherine just as Catherine leapt toward her, and they held the two poles flush against each other. The shark was thrashing about in the pool liner below them, trapped. It was very strong, and Evie wasn’t sure she would be able to hold it.
“Let’s just carefully cross the pool,” said Catherine calmly.
Evie nodded, and they began to drag the stretcher through the water as the shark thrashed about, desperate to escape. It took some time to make it to the other side where Ruby and Erik were waiting, but eventually they got there, and Evie and Catherine maneuvered themselves so that Catherine was standing parallel to the deck and Evie was closer to the middle of the pool.
Erik leaned over and grabbed the two poles on one end, and Ruby grabbed the two poles on the opposite end. Now all four of them were holding on to the stretcher: Evie and Catherine on the sides, Ruby and Erik on the ends.
“On the count of three,” said Catherine.
Evie flinched as t
he tail of the shark hit her leg in its thrashing about. But she didn’t drop the stretcher.
One.
She could do this.
Two.
This was totally a thing people could do.
Three.
She was doing it!
They hoisted the stretcher up, the shark clearly unhappy about the whole thing. Suddenly Evie was free of it, and all she could do was watch as Ruby and Erik ran across the deck and dumped the stretcher and shark into the back of the truck. It was odd. Just a moment before she’d been terrified, having to help wrangle a shark, but now, unable to help or really do anything but watch, she felt antsy, wishing there was something she could do. Evie turned to look at Catherine, but the explorer had already bolted from the pool and was making her way over to the truck to join the shark. So Evie followed her example and quickly climbed out of the water. There was just enough room for both explorer and shark in the back. And without being trapped in the stretcher, the little shark started to swim frantically around and around in a tiny circle in the back of the truck. It calmed down substantially when Catherine joined it, slowing its circle, but it still kept swimming.
“Let’s go quickly. Great whites need to keep swimming to stay alive, and this little lady doesn’t have much room to do that. Plus I fear she was seriously traumatized in that tank in the basement, and this is bringing all that back to her now,” said Catherine. Evie grabbed her shoes off the deck and quickly jumped into the backseat of the truck so that Erik could climb into the passenger side.
Ruby took off as fast as she could, which really wasn’t that fast. They couldn’t risk losing water over the side; and the water itself made maneuvering the truck difficult. “You sometimes forget how heavy water is,” said Ruby, carefully taking the turn out of Erik’s driveway and onto the street.
“I don’t,” said Erik. Evie could only see the back of his head and had an excellent view of his bright red ears, the skin on them peeling a bit from the sunburn, so she couldn’t see his expression. But she assumed he was referring to the time when he had to cart the shark to his place all by himself.
The Reckless Rescue Page 15
