Out of the Deep
Page 5
“Is it a person?” Ashley asked.
“If it is, he must be dead,” Bindy answered.
Ashley took a step into the water, and then a second step and a third until she was standing knee-deep in foam. “Jack, I know what it is. Call Dad!” she screamed.
CHAPTER FIVE
“It’s a whale!” Ashley yelled, splashing into the surf.
“I think it’s stranding!”
The large, rounded mound rolled closer, but this time it seemed to flounder on the rocks as the waves sucked back to the sea, leaving the animal lodged in shallow water. Its top half was exposed to the fitful sun. If the clouds parted and the sun shone through, its heat could harm the whale in a matter of hours.
The whale didn’t move at all on its own but seemed to rock with the rhythm of the sea. For a moment Jack had the sickening feeling it might already be dead. Another wave crashed around it, sending a spray of foam into the air.
“We’ve got to get Dad—” Jack cried, but Ashley had already plunged through the first swell. Now thigh-deep in seawater, she dashed toward the whale, instinctively slowing down before getting too close. A beat later, Jack plunged in, with Bindy close behind. “Wait, guys, don’t rush at him,” Ashley ordered when they caught up to her. “You’ll only scare him! Move slow.”
“Yeah, Bindy, quit splashing.”
“I’m not! The water—it freaks me out.”
Ignoring them both, Ashley gingerly moved forward with Jack right at her heels, while Bindy hovered behind. He’d never seen a whale up close before. The hide was slick and gray, and the grooves below its bow-shaped mouth looked like an accordion-pleated bowl. Fourteen feet long and four feet high, it had beached itself less than ten yards from shore. Another wave swelled around it, rocking its thick body forward like a boat tied to a slip.
“It’s OK, we’re not going to hurt you,” Ashley cooed, inching closer. “We’re going to get you back in the ocean, where you belong. Don’t be scared. It’ll be all right.”
“Aren’t you guys getting too close? Can’t it bite?” Bindy asked.
“I’m not worried about that, but the tail could whip around and hit us,” Jack warned. “It would be like getting knocked over by a truck.”
When Ashley carefully placed her hand on the whale’s back, Jack did the same. The hide felt like wet rubber beneath his fingers. Reacting to their touch, the whale shuddered.
“Look, it’s just a baby,” Ashley wailed. “Oh my gosh, I can’t believe another whale has beached itself! What is going on?”
Bindy’s voice seemed too thin as she asked, “Is it dead?”
“No,” Jack said, pointing. “Look at his eye.” He wasn’t prepared for how human the whale’s eye looked. A sliver of white showed at the bottom lid, and the pupil, liquid and brown, expressed plain, raw fear. This animal was scared to death.
Suddenly it let out a wheezy noise that made Jack jump back in fright. “What was that?” he yelled.
“Sounds like it has asthma,” Bindy answered.
“Don’t be silly. Whales don’t get asthma.”
“How would you know?” she asked him.
That was true. Jack knew next to nothing about real whales that stranded themselves, then made little thrashing movements and funny noises like this one did. He was amazed to find, on the top center of the whale’s head, not one but two blowholes—crescent-shaped slits close together like nostrils.
A large wave swelled forward, pushing with cold force before it curled past to lose its energy at the shoreline. The three of them were suddenly soaked to the middle of their chests. Although Jack could feel the sun on his face, the water itself was frigid. They couldn’t stay out here long. His feet were already beginning to go numb.
“Man, I hate these waves!” Bindy cried.
“Why don’t you go back to the shore and find my dad?” Jack demanded.
“No—I want to help. If we could just push him back into the water…. We could grab him by the flippers and pull—”
“No!” Jack caught her as she put her hands against the animal’s side. “Not the flippers!” Even though he was a baby, the humpback’s armlike pectoral flippers, several feet long, were more delicate than they looked. To pull on them, Jack knew, could really hurt the whale. “Mom said a lot of people try pushing or pulling stranded whales back into the water and just end up hurting them. Anyway, this whale must weigh about two tons. It’s too heavy for us to move.”
“Well, then, what’s your idea? We can’t just stand here staring at him! We’ve got to do something!” Bindy declared.
Ashley looked worried. “Mom said that when a whale’s out of the water it can’t deal with gravity, remember? She said a whale’s insides can be crushed by the weight of its own body.”
“Yeah, I remember,” Jack answered grimly. “Not only that, but the way those clouds look overhead, there might be a storm coming. And if the waves start to whip up real hard, they might dash him against these rocks. That would really be bad.”
As if in response, another wave swelled forward, rocking the whale toward Ashley. The bottom three inches of her hair dripped salt water, flattening into tendrils that looked like black seaweed against her yellow Gore-Tex jacket. Staring out at the ocean, she cried, “Oh my gosh, I think I see another whale! Out there, in the bay, straight ahead. Do you see it?”
Shading his eyes, Jack strained to look. A huge, dark shape moved against the horizon, barely above the waterline, creating a slice that seemed to move against the ocean current. A small puff of water shot into the sky from the blowhole, and then the shape disappeared from view until the scalloped end of its tail flipped into the sky. The mother searching for her baby? Or just a lone whale gliding through the waters? Maybe it, too, had its sonar scrambled by some strange phenomenon. What if it was getting ready to beach itself? The thought spread a chill through Jack, colder than the Atlantic waters. Another animal might wash onto shore. It seemed impossible, yet nothing about these strandings could be considered normal. His sister must have been thinking the same thing, because her mouth grew tight. “Bindy, you’ve got Dad’s cell phone. Call 911.”
Bindy visibly paled. “Uh-oh,” she gulped.
“What do you mean, ‘uh-oh’?”
Jack watched as Bindy reached into her back pocket to retrieve the cell phone. Water trickled out of it in a tiny stream. “I’m sorry. I forgot. I’ll get him a new one.”
Great! Jack screamed inside his head. Just great! Now they had no way to call. Quickly scanning the beach, Jack looked for any flicker of movement that would let him know someone was there. Other than the gulls, the white sand gleamed empty. Where was his dad?
“Hey, it’s not my fault your phone’s not waterproof. Maybe it’ll still work.” Shaking the receiver, Bindy punched the numbers, then held it to her ear. She jiggled it again, then pushed it into her sweatshirt pocket. “Maybe not. I’ll go find your dad. Don’t worry, we’re not that far from the car. He’ll find a phone somehow.”
“While you’re gone, Jack and I will keep the back of the baby whale as wet as we can,” Ashley told her. “I remember that’s important. I just hope the mamma whale doesn’t decide to beach, too. I don’t want 40 tons of whale on top of me.”
“She’s just looking for her baby,” Bindy said. “Is that your mamma out there, searching for you? Huh? Oh, you poor little thing.” Gingerly, Bindy stretched out her hand, letting it hover over the baby whale as if feeling some energy force emanating from its skin. Then, almost imperceptively, she touched the back of the whale with her fingertips. “I hate to see any animal suffer. They’re the only creatures on Earth that don’t care if you’re fat or thin. Only if you’re nice.”
“Bindy,” Jack began, trying to keep the impatience out of his voice, “you’ve got to go now!”
“But I think I’ve figured it out. No matter what, I won’t let them get away with this,” Bindy said softly. “Look at what they’re doing. They’re liars who hurt innocent whal
es. It’s not right.”
“Who? Bindy, what are you talking about?”
Jack stared at her, and she looked right back at him, her eyebrows arched like two half moons. “What would you say if I told you I think I know why all this is happening?”
Jack held on to his temper. “We don’t have time for this—”
“Listen to me! I think the government is testing that sonar. I didn’t put it together before, when we were in that meeting with your mom—you know, the one with Greg. But I’ve been thinking about it, rattling the whole thing ’round in my head ever since, until I have put it all together. I know, Jack. Our wonderful government is lying through its teeth.”
Another one of Bindy’s wild stories? Why was she doing this now, when he couldn’t possibly have time to pay attention to her ramblings? Jack clenched his teeth so hard he could feel sand grit between his molars. A baby whale was dying, another whale might come sailing on top of them at any second, and Bindy was up to her old headline-grabbing tricks. A government conspiracy? Bindy, possible child star and maybe abused adopted sister, had cracked the case while staying in Acadia less than 24 hours. Right. It was too ridiculous to waste his energy on—he had bigger problems than spies and aliens and all the other bizarre stuff that fermented in Bindy’s strange mind. For now, he needed her, though. Keeping his face as smooth as he could, he said, “Make sure you tell my dad about the government thing when you find him.”
“Why should I tell him? He won’t believe me.” Bindy’s voice was flat. “No one ever believes me. It’s obvious that you don’t believe me. Even if I know the truth.”
From the corner of his eye he saw the whale in the ocean make another pass, closer this time. “Jack,” Ashley cried, “that big one’s getting near. And we’ve got to get some water on the back of the baby before it dries out. Start bailing.”
“I’m sorry, Bindy.” Jack’s words came out in a rush as he began splashing at the whale’s side. “You’ll have to let my dad handle your government conspiracy theory. I’ve got to keep this guy wet.”
“Fine. I’ll go now.”
Another large wave crashed, but this time Bindy rode it to the shore. She stumbled only once before righting herself to stagger onto the sandy part of the beach. Waddling awkwardly, she made her way toward the steps until she finally disappeared from view. What a wacko, Jack thought.
Ashley started singing an Irish song to the whale, soft and melodic, but Jack could see how stressed the animal was. The whale’s eyes rolled back, and every few moments his flukes strained or his tail would thrash helplessly in the surf as he made those wheezy noises. “Shhh,” Ashley cooed softly. “You’re going to be all right. But why did you come up here, little one? Don’t you know you should never come out of the deep water?”
“Did you hear what Bindy said about the government and the sonar?” Jack asked. “There is something really wrong with that girl.”
“Can’t worry about that now,” Ashley replied. “Feel his skin—it’s getting warm and dry on top. You’ve got to throw water on him. Cup your hands and sling water over his back!”
“Remember to keep the water away from his blowholes,” Jack told her. “Mom said they can drown from that.”
“Right. We’ll start near his tail and work up.”
Jack splashed as much as he could onto the baby whale’s back, but the tiny scoopfuls seemed as useful as a single raindrop on a garden. There had to be a better way. But what? His shoes? They’d hold little more than his hands did. He began to peel off his jacket, shivering as a wave washed over him.
“What the heck are you doing?” Ashley cried.
“Making a bucket. Here, take two corners of my jacket. We’ll scoop the water over him.”
Without a word Ashley grabbed the ends and held them taut. Dipping the jacket as deep as they could, they counted to three and pulled up hard. The ends of the jacket ripped out of Ashley’s hands and fell into the water, useless.
“I can’t—it’s too heavy.”
“We’re scooping too much water. Don’t go down so far this time. Wrap the sleeves around your wrists before you pull; it’ll give you better leverage.”
They dipped his jacket again, this time being careful to go no farther than a foot beneath the waves. “One, two, three!” An arc of water sailed through the air and smacked onto the baby whale’s back, trickling down his sides in a smooth sheet of liquid.
“It’s working!” Ashley said gleefully. “We got ten times more water on him than we did using our hands. Don’t be scared, baby whale, this is going to help you stay well.”
“We’ll need a system so we can get all of him. Move down one step, and then we’ll dip it again. We’ve got to keep his back wet without hitting the blowholes—we’ll need to do his head, but we can do that by hand. Spud needs to stay hydrated until help comes.”
“Spud?”
“He’s got to have a name, doesn’t he? He looks like a Spud to me.”
“How long’s it been since Bindy left?” Ashley asked.
“I don’t know. Ten minutes, I guess. Maybe 15.”
Biting the corner of her lip, his sister looked out into the ocean. “The other whale’s still out there.”
“I know it,” Jack replied. “And I hope it stays out there. The big ones almost never survive. It’s going to be rough enough for Spud, and he’s a baby.”
“But we’re keeping him wet!”
“You know that’s only half the problem. If he’s stuck on the rocks when the tide goes out, he’ll crush under his own weight. We’ve got to get him back into the ocean.”
“The rescue team will know what to do,” Ashley insisted. With a circular motion, she rubbed her hand over the whale. “Spud’ll make it.”
“I hope they hurry because I’m starting to freeze. This water is so cold! We’ve got to keep moving.” Muscles strained on his back as Jack dipped, hurled, stepped, then dipped again. If it was tough for Ashley, she didn’t let on. Every few minutes a wave would knock her off balance, but she’d right herself, take another step, then fling another arc of water onto the whale. When they threw the water, drops flew back onto the two of them, which meant they were both soaked from head to foot.
Time crawled. The waves seemed colder now, turning Jack’s feet into blocks of ice and the skin on his bare arms a deep red. He saw but did not feel a strand of kelp wind around his leg. Pulling it free, he flung it away from him like a snake. Where were they? Mentally, he calculated how long it would take Bindy to get to his dad. Ten minutes max for Bindy to get back to the trail. If Steven had gone very far chasing the eagle, it was possible Bindy wouldn’t find him easily. Those pine trees were thick, with a tangle of foliage underneath that made walking difficult. No, if she couldn’t see him, Bindy would be sure to call out, and Steven would drop everything to come running. The most he should add would be five minutes. That would leave another seven minutes for them to get to the car, followed by another ten to reach a phone. Would he go straight to the Visitor Center, or stop anyone he could find to ask for a cell phone?
Thirty-two minutes there and at least as many back. With a sinking feeling, Jack realized this wouldn’t be over any time soon. Another thought, unbidden, crept into the corners of his mind. If Bindy even went for help. What if she just took off and left them all? She was acting so strange, nothing seemed impossible. The color of Ashley’s lips was deepening at the edges, as if she’d sucked a blue Popsicle, and he could see her teeth chattering. She had to get out of the water.
“Go to the shore and get warm, Ashley. Then I’ll go, and we’ll switch places.”
“N-n-no. It takes both of us to get water on S-Spud.”
“He won’t dry out that fast. Listen to me, you’re turning blue. You can’t help Spud if you freeze to death.”
“I’m OK.”
“I’m telling you to do it!”
“But—”
“Ash-ley! Ja-ack,” a faint voice cried. “We’re coming.”
“They’re here!” Jack yelled. “They got to the beach pretty darn quick.”
Relief flooded Ashley’s face. “I knew Bindy would pull through.”
“Yeah,” Jack agreed. “I’ve got to admit I wasn’t sure. She was acting so weird, I didn’t know what she’d do.”
The two of them barely got to shore before they were shrouded with blankets that felt as warm as toast to Jack. His mother hugged him tight for just a moment, whispering how proud she was into his ear before reaching over to give Ashley a squeeze and saying, “You guys stay here and warm up. I’ve got to see about saving that baby humpback.”
“Sp-Spud,” Ashley chattered. “J-Jack named him.”
“I’m sure Spud is very grateful. The humpbacks are endangered. We need every single one of them.”
“Where’s Dad?” Jack asked.
“He and Bindy followed me in his car. I couldn’t believe it—the two of them burst into my meeting at the Visitor Center, and then the rangers jumped up and got gear while I called Allied Whale to tell them to send their rescue team. Then we raced down here. The rescue team should be here any minute.”
“There’s another whale out there, Mom,” Jack told her. “I’m afraid it might beach, too.”
Olivia peered into the ocean, then shook her head in disbelief. “What is going on? Not once before this has there been an incident of a whale beaching in Acadia National Park. This is nothing short of disaster. I just don’t understand any of it!”
She was zipping herself into a wet suit when the eight-member Whale Rescue Team arrived. In minutes every one of them had put on wet suits, too—blue or red or black. Each person on the beach seemed intent on only one mission now, to save the baby humpback.
Special blankets for keeping his back wet were dipped in water and applied to Spud’s hide. Olivia quietly waded in with a long needle to take a blood sample, which would be analyzed at the local hospital. Someone smeared zinc oxide on Spud’s blowholes to keep them from drying out, while two other team members used a suction cup to fasten a platelike device onto the baby whale’s back.