by C. Fennessy
Chapter Four
When they got back to their hotel suite, everything looked fresh and clean.
"Wow, this place looks great!" Emma exclaimed, "Talk about maid service, she even hung up our clothes in the closet!"
"Look, here's a note from our maid," Kacey said, reading a card from the table, “Welcome! I hope you will enjoy your stay. If you need anything, please call Housekeeping. Latanya”
"How nice. Maybe we'll get to meet her sometime," Emma replied.
"Let's get ready for dinner," Kacey suggested.
While waiting for Emma and Ava to finish getting ready for dinner, Kacey called her father.
"Kacey!" her father greeted, "Are you all right?"
"Yeah, sure Dad, why do you sound so worried?"
"I saw on the six o'clock news about what happened at Cocoa Beach today! I saw you and Ava jump off that pier! Did you hurt yourself?"
"Wait- what do you mean you saw me jump off the pier?"
"It was on the national news! Someone made a video of you and Ava rescuing that girl from a shark. Are you okay? Is the girl all right?"
"Wow! You're kidding! A video of us on the news? Oh, yeah, Dad, we're fine, and the girl is going to be okay, too. But if Ava hadn't scared that shark away, he probably would have drowned that girl. The shark kept pulling the girl down under the water. We just took her back to shore and gave her first aid for the bite on her leg. The medics came pretty quickly and took her to a hospital. That reminds me, I should call and see how she's doing...but I don't even know which hospital they took her to."
"On the news they reported that she was taken to Cape Canaveral Hospital, and that her name is Jennifer Banks, from Fort Wayne, Indiana. I think they said that she was in stable condition. But I must hear all the details about how this happened," her father said.
Kacey told him the details of how Ava spotted the girl drowning, and how they both jumped off the pier to save her after they tried unsuccessfully to get a lifeguard's attention. When she finished her story, he said,
"Well, I am grateful that no one was hurt, and the girl, Jennifer, will be all right. You were very brave to jump into the water from the pier. If there had been any rocks under that water, you both might have been killed."
"I know, Dad. But luckily, we were safe. The water was really deep where we jumped in. In fact, I'm not sure why the girl was out so far from the beach. But everything worked out okay. But that's not the only life we saved today."
Kacey went on to tell him about saving the sea turtle and taking it to the emergency rescue center at Sea World. He was surprised to hear about another rescue and at the end of her tale, he said, "It sounds like you three have been very busy. Have you been enjoying yourselves?"
She assured him that they were having a great time, and told him about the surfing they did.
"Weren't you afraid of seeing more sharks?"
"Our instructor said it was really rare for a shark to be there this time of year, but the lifeguards kept a close eye out and promised to warn us if they saw any. We were really far from the place where the shark attacked, so we were fine. And, I think Ava scared off all the sharks!"
"Well, I hope the rest of your trip will be less dangerous and more fun. What are you planning to do tomorrow?"
"We plan on going to Sea World to check on our sea turtle, and then spend the whole day at Sea World until the fireworks show at dusk. There are lots of things to do there. Then we'll come back to the hotel and have a late dinner and maybe go for a swim. The pools at the hotel are heated and really nice, Dad!"
"That sounds wonderful. I'm glad to hear that. Do you like the hotel?"
"It's amazing! The manager greeted us when we checked in and gave us a beautiful two-bedroom suite. He also said we could order anything we want from room service or the restaurants. That reminds me...we have reservations for dinner, and I'd better get going or we'll be late."
"Thanks for calling, Kacey. I love you."
"I love you too, Dad. Bye!"
As they were taking the elevator down to the second floor of the hotel, Kacey told the girls that they had been on the evening news.
"See?" Emma said, "I told you that you'd be famous!"
"I can't believe it made the TV news back home," Kacey said. "When we get to our table, I'll find the video online and we can watch it."
Ava smirked, "I guess it must be a slow news day if we made headlines!"
Their dinner was prepared by one of the best chefs in town. Emma evaluated everything that they were served, and gave the chef her highest approval.
"Oh, I wish I could see the kitchen here. I bet it's really something!" she said.
When the waiter refilled their drinks, he smiled and said,
"Oh, and by the way, congratulations on saving that young girl. I saw it on the local news. You were both very brave!"
Kacey blushed and looked at her friends, saying, "Well, we all worked as a team."
The manager nodded, "That's good. I'm sure the parents of that girl are very grateful."
As he walked away, the girls laughed at the idea of being famous. Emma insisted that she didn't do anything to rescue the girl.
"Are you kidding?" Ava asked, "You're the one who told us to 'do something!'"
Emma nodded, "Yeah, I guess I did. And I held onto your stuff while you were in the water. And I did give you the pen for the tourniquet. So yeah, I guess I did help!"
Kacey smiled warmly at her and Ava nodded in agreement.
The girls ordered dessert and tasted each other's to sample all three, but they could barely finish eating them. The waiter gave them a copy of the bill and told them there was no charge. However, the girls left him a generous tip.
On the way back to their room, Kacey's phone rang. It was her boyfriend, Josh, who wanted to hear all about the rescue he had seen on the Internet. As Kacey was talking to him, both Ava's and Emma's phones rang as their boyfriends called asking the same thing.
Ava finally hung up and said to the others, "I don't think we're going to have time to swim tonight. We have a ton of texts and phone calls to answer."
"Yeah, and I'm tired out. Let's just stay in our room," Emma replied, and they headed into the elevator.
"I never thought being famous would be so much work!" Ava commented.
"Ow! Ow, that hurts!" Emma cried, tears springing to her eyes.
"Well, hold still!" Ava snapped, "I'm trying to be as gentle as I can."
Emma held her mouth closed and groaned in pain as Ava applied lotion to Emma's back to alleviate her sunburn pain. Emma had woken up in pain early that morning after a restless night's sleep. She was the first one up that morning, and was shocked by her red reflection in the mirror.
Kacey came over to take a look, and then made a face.
"Oooh! That's really red. I bet it hurts," she said.
"No kidding!" Emma replied, "Okay, Ava, that's enough! I can't take it anymore!"
"I'm finished, anyway," Ava said, closing the spray bottle, "If only you had used sun block yesterday, then--"
"Yeah, I know! I wouldn't have this sunburn. But I thought once I had a tan I wouldn't get a burn," Emma explained.
"Be sure to keep your skin covered today while we're at the park," Ava advised.
Kacey called Dr. Cramer at Sea World and told her that they would like to visit the sea turtle and asked about his condition.
"He went through surgery very well," Dr. Cramer reported, "We removed the hook and line, and sutured his esophagus. His throat is probably a little sore, so we're feeding him a liquid diet. He should be ready to go home in a few days."
"That's great news! Well, we'll see you later this morning."
"I'll let the guard at the gate know you're coming."
"Thanks," said Kacey, "Bye!"
The girls gathered their belongings and headed out for breakfast at the hotel café, which overlooked a large, bright blue lake. As they passed an open door across the hall from their room, they peeked inside. A m
aid was carrying an armful of towels to her cart.
"Good morning," she smiled.
Kacey noticed her name tag read, 'Latanya'.
"Hey, you're the one who left us that nice note yesterday. It's great to meet you," Kacey said, extending her hand. Latanya looked to be the same age as Kacey and her friends.
Latanya put the towels into a large laundry bag and wiped her damp hands on her uniform before shaking Kacey's hand.
"It's nice to meet you, too."
"I'm Kacey, and these are my friends, Emma and Ava."
Emma said, "Our room looked really nice when we came back yesterday. You even hung up our clothes. That's great service!"
Latanya smiled shyly, "Oh, you're welcome."
"It's nice meeting you," Kacey said, "We'll let you get back to work. Maybe we'll see you again sometime."
"I hope so. Thanks for stopping to introduce yourselves," Latanya said, and waved as they left.
"She seems really nice," Emma remarked, and the others agreed.
The girls climbed into the convertible and put the top down so they could enjoy the warm, sunny weather. As Kacey backed out of the parking space, she said, "Let's call Cape Canaveral Hospital and see how Jennifer Banks is doing."
Ava looked up the number and called the hospital. She spoke with someone who told her that the girl was in stable condition. Ava asked the person to let Jennifer know that the girls who rescued her had called and hoped she would get well soon. After hanging up, Kacey mentioned that it would be nice to visit her, but they all agreed that the hospital was too far away for a personal visit this morning.
"Hey! Do you know what we should do?" Emma asked.
"What?"
"Let's stop at a florist's shop and send Jennifer a bouquet of balloons or something!"
Kacey said enthusiastically, "That's a great idea! Where's the nearest florist shop?"
Ava looked it up on her phone and found directions. In fifteen minutes, the girls were parking the car outside the florist shop in a long strip mall.
Once inside, the florist showed them all sorts of gifts they could send, including toys, fruit baskets, candy, balloons, and flowers. The girls decided on a large stuffed teddy bear holding a small box of candy and a single helium balloon that read, "Get Well Soon!" After paying for the gift, the florist assured them it would be delivered that afternoon to Jennifer at the hospital.
Soon after, Kacey was driving up to the gate at Sea World Rescue where a security guard smiled at them before checking their ID, and letting them pass. Kacey parked the car in the small lot next to the emergency rescue hospital, and the girls went inside.
Amanda, the veterinarian technician, led them to an outdoor area where there were large tanks and small pools. They followed her to a pool where the sea turtle was floating in salt water.
"Oh, he looks better already!" Emma declared.
"Well, he's a little groggy from the anesthesia, but he'll feel much better in a day or two."
The girls took turns gently stroking the turtle's head, and he didn't swim away in fear.
"Do you think he remembers us?" Emma asked.
Amanda shrugged, "I don't know. But he doesn't seem to be scared of you."
"Maybe he just knows somehow that we wanted to help him," Emma replied.
Ava said, "Actually, he's probably just too groggy to be afraid of us."
"Gee, we should have brought him some 'get well' balloons, too," Emma joked.
Kacey asked, "When you let him go, will you take him back to Banana River, near the bridge where we found him?"
"No, we have a better spot on Cape Canaveral, at the beach, where we release animals into the ocean," Amanda.
The girls thanked her for letting them visit, and waved goodbye to their sea turtle knowing they would probably not see him again.
They drove around to the main entrance of the park and parked their car in a huge lot among rows and rows of other cars. A park tram drove around picking up people and taking them from the lot to the main entrance. After purchasing their tickets, the girls looked at their maps and planned the activities they wanted to do at the park. Emma wanted to go shopping in all the gift shops, but Kacey and Ava convinced her to do that later when the lines to the rides became longer. So they headed for their first roller coaster ride, Manta.
The girls were excited as they climbed into their seats in a giant, blue manta ray coaster. The ride began with the seats lifting up backwards so the riders faced down. Slowly, they climbed upward, facing the ground as they climbed higher and higher. Suddenly, they fell in a fast nose-dive down head-first that made the girls scream in terror.
"I'm flying!" Ava screamed, but Kacey and Emma were screaming too loud to hear what she said.
The Manta took them back up and twisted them around and around in a 360 degree roll before speeding down toward a large pool of water.
"We're going to get soaked!" Ava screamed, feeling as if they were heading into the pool at a tremendous speed. But at the last minute they turned sideways and skimmed along the surface, sending a jet of water splashing over everyone. Everyone shrieked louder after getting splashed, and the Manta soared upward for a final twist and turn before it sped downward again. Finally, it began to slow down as it approached the loading platform.
The girls laughed hysterically as they got off the coaster and followed the crowd to the exit.
"That was amazing!" Kacey cried.
"I can't believe how fast we were going!" declared Emma.
"I felt like I was flying!" Ava exclaimed, "Especially when the seats went back and we were facing the ground!"
The girls hurried to the next coaster, Kraken, and got in line. Soon they were getting into their seats and heading up to the sky again. On this ride, their feet were left dangling, but their bodies remained upright. The coaster soared higher and then dived down toward the ground at an astounding speed. All the girls screamed in reaction to the speeding and twisting turns that brought them around a big circle, then down to the ground like a rocket. After a few more terrifying twists and turns, the coaster slowed as it approached the end of the ride.