The Shark Whisperer (9 page)

There was a sharp whistle and they all looked toward the dock.

“Good start. Back here now,” Coach Fred yelled.

Just before reaching the dock, Ryder jumped up, clearly intending to land next to Coach Fred and impress the others. But he'd built up too much speed and momentum. Ryder landed okay, but he was way
off balance. With his arms windmilling, he tilted precariously backward and then crashed awkwardly into the water on the other side of the dock.

“Good try there, Jones. That's what I like to see, pushing the envelope and taking chances.”

“Uh, yeah, that's it,” Ryder replied sheepishly from the water.

“Seasquirts—just another fifteen minutes or so to practice. This time you can go a bit further out. If you see them, feel free to interact with Scarface or Toosha. I think she is swimming around here as well. Try to pay more attention to your surroundings and let's aim for fewer collisions this time.”

“So, what do you think?” Sam asked Tristan. “This is
so
cool. I had no idea. Webbed feet—can you believe it? I just swam with a dolphin! You're pretty fast. Wow, who knew . . .”

Tristan stood in the water, just staring at Sam. Once she stopped talking, he laughed. “It is way cool,
sick
. No, I can't believe it. And yeah, I think for once, I might be okay at this.”

Tristan looked over at Hugh. In his excitement, he had forgotten about his new bunkmate. Hugh sat glumly on the dock next to Henry. As Tristan watched, the pelican moved a little closer and playfully poked Hugh with his bill. Hugh backed away from the large pestering bird. Henry followed and poked him again. Hugh scuttled backward, this time nearly falling off the dock. A knowing look came across Hugh's face. He stood up, walked around Henry, and sat back down.
The bird shrugged its wings and took a seat next to Hugh, who let him get a little closer this time. Coach Fred went over and sat next to the two of them, talking quietly to Hugh.

Sam had been watching as well. She turned to Tristan. “C'mon, he just needs a little more time. Let's go see if we can find the dolphins.”

The two of them dove in and swam together. They sped effortlessly through the lagoon. Tristan kicked a little less so that Sam could keep up. They repeatedly popped up to get a breath and look around. They could see surprisingly well underwater, even without swim goggles, but it was easy to get turned around or head in the wrong direction.

Meanwhile, Ryder was practicing his jumping, showing off as his landings improved. One time he even jumped side-by-side with Scarface. Rosina stayed fairly close to the dock with the twins. She continued to have collisions and blame them, while they tried mainly just to stay out of her way. She also kept shaking her hands like she could fling off the skin between her fingers.

Tristan and Sam heard some rapid clicking noises and looked to their left. A different dolphin hung motionless nearby watching them. Tristan figured it must be the other dolphin Coach Fred had mentioned—Toosha. Sam nudged Tristan and the two of them swam toward the dolphin. The dolphin flicked her head to the side and they knew she meant to swim that way. Toosha beat her tail slowly so that the two
teens could swim beside her. She surfaced and cleared her blowhole. Tristan and Sam popped their heads up for air too. The dolphin dove down. Tristan and Sam also dove, swimming after her, but the large animal had disappeared. The two teens spun around looking for Toosha, but she was nowhere to be seen. Seconds later something grabbed Tristan's foot. He jumped nearly clear out of the water. It was the dolphin and Tristan could swear she was smiling. Toosha swam in a corkscrewing roll to the surface where she once again turned to watch the two teens. Tristan and Sam imitated the dolphin in a twisting roll along the surface. The dolphin swam between them and flicked her head forward. Tristan and Sam followed. Soon Scarface joined them and all four surfaced together and then dove, rolled, and swam through the lagoon. When the dolphins came to a stop, they were back at the dock.

Tristan and the others were so engrossed in their first morning of training that none of them even noticed the helicopter taking off from the Sea Camp grounds. Director Davis waved as it rose noisily into the air, its blades creating a tornado of wind around him. Jade, Rusty, and Rory waved back, along with the pilot.

Director Davis went to his office. He pulled up the tracking program on his computer. A blinking red spot moved across the Straits of Florida. The signal was
tracking the helicopter as it flew to the Bahamas. He radioed the staff to see how things were going with the newest camp recruits. He then checked with the entrance personnel to see if there was any sign of their expected, but not-so-welcome visitor. His last call was to his contacts in the Bahamas to confirm that everything was in place for the campers' arrival and to ensure that they wouldn't be in any danger.

6

A POLITE CONVERSATION WITH AN OCTOPUS

A
FTER LUNCH
, T
RISTAN
, S
AM
,
AND
H
UGH MADE
their way across the park to the Rehab Center for their afternoon session with Ms. Sanchez. They each now carried a small Sea Camp backpack they'd gotten from Coach Fred. Tristan and Sam chatted happily and periodically took sips of water from the bottle tucked into their backpacks' outside pockets. They were both super excited about their newfound skills and just-add-seawater webbing. They'd also discovered that after exiting the ocean their webbing disappeared within a few minutes. Tristan was especially pleased. For once in his life he might actually not be horrible at something athletic. Hugh, however, was not so cheery.

“C'mon, you heard what they said. Sometimes it just takes a little longer for it to come out,” Tristan said.

“Yeah, and nobody cares if you didn't swim,” Sam added.

“Right,” Hugh muttered.

“Don't feel bad,” Tristan told him. “Did you see the look on Coach's face when I tripped and slid into him at lunch? My mashed potatoes landed all over his feet—
SPLAT!
Thought he was going to pull out his sparkly rake and smack me over the head.”

That got a hint of a smile out of Hugh.

They arrived at the visitor's entrance to the Rehab Center. It was early afternoon, so the Florida Keys Sea Park was still crowded with people. As part of the “special” summer camp program, they'd been directed to take a narrow path through a bunch of bushy trees with fluffy gray flowers. It led to a more private side-entrance.

“Speaking of potatoes,” Sam said. “What is that smell? Seriously, it smells like mashed potatoes.”

Hugh put his nose into one of the tree's flowers. “It's coming from the trees.”

Tristan tried the door at the entrance, but it was locked. “We have to wait for someone to open it. Or, maybe, it will recognize us like the jungle wall.”

Then Hugh noticed a hand-sized computer screen near the door. He placed his palm on it. A line of light scrolled down the screen. Seconds later they heard the door unlatch.

“Nice,” Hugh said as they went in.

They followed the sound of voices through a short corridor and found the twins standing with Ms. Sanchez.
She was wearing tight-fitting dark blue shorts and a matching top with the shark and wave logo on the front. The reflection off her clothes gave a blue tinge to her spiky gray-white hair, also matching her lightly shaded glasses. Looking at her, Tristan couldn't help but think of a giant blue Popsicle.

“Let's wait a few more minutes for the rest of the group to arrive,” Ms. Sanchez said. “How did the morning go?”

“Awesome,” Tristan said.

Before anyone else could answer, they heard loud banging noises from behind the door.

Ms. Sanchez rolled her eyes and looked at Tristan. “Could you please go and let your camp mates in? Thank you.”

Tristan went back and opened the door. Ryder and Rosina were pounding so furiously, they nearly socked him in the nose.

“Hey, hold on. It's me.”

“'Bout time. Who locked the door?” Rosina snarled. “And what's that stink?”

While leading them back to the others, Tristan explained about the trees and the palm print scanner.

“Could've told us about the lock,” Rosina barked.

Ms. Sanchez looked at her calmly. “Sometimes it is beneficial for you to figure things out on your own.”

“Welcome to the Rehab Center,” she continued. “It's a great place to begin your training in communication and for you to learn more about what we do here. Most of the animals you see in the park were either
rescued or born in captivity. Some of the rescued animals are released, but often they can no longer live in the wild so we keep and care for them here. Animals that are bred in captivity may not have the necessary skills to live in the wild. They stay here with us as well, or we ship them to other aquariums where we know they will be treated well. Let's take a look at some of the animals currently in our care.”

Ms. Sanchez led the way into an adjacent room crowded with glass aquariums. “Be sure to wipe your feet on the pad walking in, and never reach into a tank without rinsing your hands first. You don't want to contaminate the water.”

Tristan strained to see what was in the tanks as they entered, but from a distance it was impossible to tell. He heard running water and a bubbling sound. Then he noticed a nerdy looking guy reaching into one of the tanks. He was skinny, ghostly pale, wore glasses, and Tristan wondered if he was colorblind or just fashion unconscious. He had on a red and green striped shirt over purple plaid shorts. The outfit was made complete by a pair of bright yellow rubber boots.

“This is Mark. He's our lab tech and takes care of the seawater system. Hey Mark, tell them a little about the system if you would.”

“Hi Ms. Sanchez, kids. It's a pretty complicated computer-controlled networked system with a serious firewall and redundancy built in.”

“In
English
please,” Ms. Sanchez interjected.

“Well, the basics are that seawater is pumped in
from the lagoon, filtered, tested, and then sent to different areas of the park, including here. We also test the water in different preprogrammed locations several times a day to ensure the right parameters are met, like temperature, salinity, and clarity.”

“Okay, thanks Mark.”

Hugh raised his hand. “What happens to the seawater system if the power goes off?”