Shark Lover (27 page)

“It’s
no use in arguing. I’m driving and I am staying with you. I’ll stay with you as
long as you need me to. You can’t stay alone after all this has happened to
you. I’ll just sleep on your couch.”

“Fine,
fine. It does roll out into a sofa sleeper though. Let me get you the keys,”
She said as she saw that the jeep was only a few miles away from them. Pulling
them out of her back pocket, her phone and her keys fell to the ground. She
groaned in displeasure. Nothing was going right for her today. The necklace was
tangled all around the keys. She picked up both her phone and her keys. She
started to untangle the necklace from the keys. Inspecting her phone, she was
relieved to find no damage. “This just isn’t my day.”

“Don’t
get too frustrated. Here let me untangle that for you. Is this one of your
necklaces?”

“No,
I just found it on the beach. I had forgotten that I had put it in my back
pocket with the rest of my stuff.”

“I
feel like I have seen this before, but I don’t know where.” Carly quantified as
she finished untangling the necklace. She took the keys and gave the necklace
back to Cathy. They both got in the jeep and started intently looking at the
shark tooth.

“That’s
what I said too. I know I have seen this but where is the question. We’ll
figure it out later. Let’s drive home. My foot is killing me. I need a real
bandage and some ice. I just want to get away from this beach. It feels eerie
to me now.”

“I’m
going,” She said putting the jeep into drive as she started heading down the
road. “I feel like this necklace is more important than what you are letting
on. Do you by chance think it was Marc’s possibly?”

“Yes.
I am thinking that. Although I can’t recall him ever wearing it. I would have
remembered if he wore it.”

“That’s
true. You would have. It’s a memorable piece.”  

They
both sat in silence as Carly continued to drive down the road. Cathy
appreciated the silence, even if it was just momentary. She needed time to
think. Everything was happening too fast. She also didn’t want to distract
Carly while she was driving. It was almost dark out and she knew her sister was
vulnerable enough as it was. Cathy held up the shark’s tooth and tried to
picture it in her mind. She tried to envision where it had come from. She
didn’t know why it was so important to her, but she felt as if it was. There
was some type of significance to it, she just couldn’t remember what that was. 

*
* *

After
showering and getting a bandage for her foot, Cathy had finally had enough for
one day. She went to her room and tried laying down on her pillow. Her foot was
badly hurt still and she could feel the pain with every movement that she made.
Carly had already fallen asleep on the couch and Cathy knew that she was tired
enough to sleep through the entire night. Cathy pulled the covers up and over
her head. She couldn’t help but to think about Marc. She wondered where he was
right now and what he was thinking. She quivered in her light pink cami-top. It
was Carly’s of course. Only Carly would pick out a tank top that was light pink
and had white polka dots on it. She had no idea what it was doing in her
closet, but she hadn’t had time to wash her laundry all week.

Tossing
and turning, she couldn’t fall asleep. She didn’t know how she would ever manage
to sleep again if Marc was gone forever. She had wanted to call Officer Sanchez
when she had gotten home, but Carly had turned her against that idea. Her
sister had given her a veggie burger, helped her into the shower and then
tucked her into bed. Cathy has shocked and flattered that Carly had taken such
good care of her. Her sister was really growing up. Cathy couldn’t be any
prouder, but she still wondered about Marc. She wished she would have gotten
the chance to call Officer Sanchez.

She
stared at the light house clock that was ticking loudly on the wall. With every
tick it seemed to get louder and louder. It was ticking furiously or maybe she
was just imagining it to be that way. In the dim light, she could barely read
the clock. It appeared to be almost eleven. She wondered if it was too late to
call. She figured he would still be working on the case all throughout the
night. He had some good leads and he wouldn’t want to let her or Marc’s mother
down. She limped out of bed and started searching for her phone. She had to
have some answers before she could sleep peacefully.

Digging
through her closet, a box from the top shelf fell down and hit her on the head.
Sure enough they were old pictures from when her dad was still around. She
couldn’t help but to go through some of them. She found a picture of her and
her dad flying a kite. She still remembered that day like it was yesterday. It
had been one of the best days of her life. She wasn’t happy like that anymore.
Once her father had left, he had taken away all of her happiness. At times, she
found it hard to forgive him. No matter what she did, she couldn’t help herself
from loving him. He was still her father and she had loved him dearly.

“Daddy,
let’s fly a kite. I want to fly a kite!” A four year old Cathy asked her father
as she ran down the beach. She could feel the wind blowing through her curly
hair. Her blond curls bounced up and down as she ran. Cathy loved chasing the
seagulls. At four years old, nothing was better than chasing a seagull down the
beach. She would scream at them to hear them squeak back at her. Laughing at
the noises they made, she rolled around in the sand. It flew everywhere and she
giggled. Getting up, she ran back to her father.

When
she reached him she hugged his legs. She loved him and she wanted to fly a kite
with him. Her father would read her the same book every night. The little girl
would go to the beach and fly a kite with her father. She had wanted to
experience that moment ever since she had read the book for the first time.
Today was the day that she would get to make that dream come true.

Picking
up her kite, she tried to put it in the air. She threw it up as high as she
could. It came crashing down on her face. She giggled as she got all tangled up
in all of the white string. Trying to get up, she fell down again. The string
was tangled all around her feet and she couldn’t get out of the mess. “Daddy!”
She called out looking for some help to get out of the sticky situation.

“Oh,
Cathy!” Her father turned around to see his daughter in a tangled mess. “What
happened?”

“I
tried to fly the kite Daddy and I couldn’t! I got all twisted in the string!”
She smiled as she giggled once again.

“Oh,
Cathy. What am I going to do with you?” He smiled back at her with his hands
playfully on his hips as he pretended to scold her.

“Get
me out of here Daddy!” She cried laughing. “I want to fly the kite. We came
here to fly the kite. Let’s fly the kite!”

“Alright.
Let’s get you out of there and we will fly the tangled kite,” He said as he
knelt down to untangle his daughter. He carefully unraveled the string from her
legs and her arms. It didn’t take long to get her untangled. The second after
she was free she took the kite and started running with it.

“I’m
going to make it fly Daddy. I’m not giving up. It’s going to fly.” She cried as
she ran slowly trying to get the wind to pick it up in its breeze.

“Cat,
you’re not doing it right dear. Here bring it to me and I will show you how to
fly a kite.”

“Okay
Daddy,” She said as she brought her kite to her father. “How do you fly a kite
Daddy? Are you going to teach me?” She asked quietly. “I wish I knew how to fly
a kite.”

“Of
course I am going to teach you. You’re my little girl.” He held up the kite in
his arms. “Alright now you hold the string. Hold it up as high as you can. Got
it?”

“Yes,
Daddy. I can hold it really high!”

“Okay,
good job! Now I am going to lift the kite very slowly.” He held his index
finger up high in the sky.

“What
are you doing Daddy?”

“I’m
seeing what direction the wind is blowing Cat. We need to know the direction so
we can know which way is the best direction.”

“Wow,
that’s really smart Daddy. That’s a good idea.”

“Yes,
of course. We have to be strategic. Kite flying is tough work,” He said as he
smiled. “The wind is blowing towards the west. Okay now do you remember what I
told you?”

“Yes
Daddy. I am holding the string up as high as I can. Then you are running as
slowly as you can and trying to get the kite to pick up in the wind. Then you
tested the direction and it is west.” She answered matter-of-factly.

“You
are right. You’re very smart, Cat. Don’t ever let that go to waste. Make Daddy
proud one day and change the world.”

“I
will Daddy. I promise. But can we fly the kite first Daddy?”

“Yes.
Okay here’s a big gust of wind. Here I go!” He yelled enthused as he started
running gracefully. The kite was balancing on the tips of his hands as he began
to let go. It picked up in the wind and started to slowly fly up in the sky.

“It’s
flying Daddy! It’s flying! You did it!” She cried.

“Yep,
there it goes Cat. It’s high up in the sky.”

She
looked up at her kite with admiration. She couldn’t believe that she had
finally flown her first kite. The bright orange triangular kite was flying high
in the sky. From her tiny frame it appeared to be as high up in the sky as the
sun. She put her hand over her eyes to block in the bright sun from the hot
summer day. The red tail of her kite was blowing swiftly with the wind and she
smiled in joy. She continued to hold up the string as high as she could.
Eventually her perfect moment ended and her kite came crumbling out of the sky.
She ran to go get it and she picked it up to go bring back to her father.

“Daddy
that was amazing! We did it! We actually flew a kite!” She exclaimed at the top
of her lungs. “This is the best day ever.”

“Yes,
we did. I am glad you enjoyed it. It is the best day ever,” He said as he
pulled his disposable camera out of their beach bag. “Will you take a picture
with your kite Cat? I know your mother would love to have a picture for her
scrapbooking. You know how much she loves to scrapbook.”

“Sure
Daddy,” She said as she picked up her kite and gave her father a big cheesy
smile for the camera. He took a few pictures as she kept smiling. “Daddy?” She
asked shyly.

“Yes,
Cat?” He answered back as he looked at the camera, trying to fix the lighting
settings.

“Will
you take a picture with me and my kite? I couldn’t have flown it without you.
We need a picture.”

“Sure,
of course. We just need somebody to take it. I’ll ask this woman walking by.”

“Okay
Daddy. I’m getting kind of hot. Let’s take our picture and go home.”

“We
will. Don’t worry. I’ll get you a water before we leave,” He said to Cathy as
he asked the woman walking by if she would take their picture. She gladly
agreed and stood slightly in front of them. She told them to smile. Cathy
smiled as big as she could. Looking over at her father, she could tell that he
was happy. He hadn’t shown many signs of happiness lately, so she was glad she
was able to give him a day of happiness. She often worried about him and
wondered if he was doing alright. But today was perfect and she had let all of
her fears and worries aside.

The
flash of the camera went off and the memory was made for a lifetime.

The
sound of a phone ringing piercingly awoke her from her peaceful memory of her childhood.
She put the photographs down and went on a hunt for her phone. The day had been
so long, she felt as if she was delusional. She wondered if the phone was
actually ringing or if it was her imagination. Concentrating on focusing, she
still heard a phone’s loud ringing ruining her intricate thoughts. The sound
was coming from over by her nightstand. She saw a light shining through the
drawer of it and she opened the drawer. Peering inside she had finally found
her missing phone.

“Hello?”
She answered groggily. She just now realized that she hadn’t even checked the
caller ID. It could have been an unknown number that she answered and she
didn’t even know it.

“Ms.
Montanan? This is Officer Sanchez. I’m sorry to call you so late, but we have
developing information on the missing person’s case on Marc Porter. Is now a
good time for you to talk?”

The
mention of Marc’s name awoke her and gained her full attention. “Yes, of
course. I was actually just about to call you. I didn’t know if it was too late
and I didn’t want to interfere with the case if the search team was still
finding out information. But yes, please tell me all of the information that
you have found out so far.” Her tone sounded earnest as she pleaded to know
what had happened to Marc. She was afraid she didn’t want to know. A sense of
dread came over her as she had a feeling what she was about to hear would not
be good news.

“Are
you sitting down?” Officer Sanchez asked concerned.