Swimming With Dolphins

by Jessie Paddock

  Everyone else arrives almost on time. Mom and Dad must take the hint and embark on a long walk down the beach. Dad’s arm is over Mom’s shoulder, and her hair tangles in the breeze. EJ takes out his Bluetooth speakers and Kisa uses her phone to DJ while we chow down on Tommy’s burgers and melty milkshakes. Jas and Ayden hold hands. Lilly basically corners Lucy, making sure to name-drop all the high schoolers she’s met through her brother. She has a similar look on her face as Cady and Kaytee when she speaks to my big sister. Socks talks about hermit crabs for seven minutes straight, not stopping to take a single breath, balloon or otherwise. Juan Carlos’s camera hangs around his neck, but he doesn’t hide behind it. He chugs apple cider, “because this is literally the best thing I’ve ever tasted,” he confesses.

  Socks and I are wrapping up a debate about the three most interesting school mascots in history when I feel a tap on my shoulder.

  “Happy birthday,” Juan Carlos says. He hands me something thin that’s been wrapped in newspaper. “I’m not the best at presentation.”

  I remove the newspaper to find a photograph. No frame, just the print. It’s from Socks’s birthday party. He must have taken it from the dock right before I got out of the water. The image shows Cola and me in the water, looking into each other’s eyes. We’re both smiling.

  “Florida looks really happy on you, Iowa City,” Juan Carlos says. I smile almost as big as in the photo and don’t even care that I’m blushing. Nothing I can do about it.

  At two fifty-five p.m., I scramble among the folds of the sheet and Tommy’s wrappers for my phone. I want to make sure I have a good view of the ocean ready so that Cady and Kaytee get a stellar view of the beach for our video call. I’m about to call them when Lucy sneaks up behind me.

  “Cover your eyes,” she instructs me. “And no peeking. Sister Secret.”

  I do as I’m told. A moment later my friends’ swirling conversations hush. It must be the sight of the Rice Krispies Treat cake. They’ve probably never seen one before; it’s a very Iowa City birthday tradition.

  “I hope it’s okay to make a wish already,” I joke, gearing up to blow out fourteen candles in one breath (one extra for good luck). I think I hear Socks giggle, and I sense some movement coming toward me—Mom and Dad with the cake, I assume. I’m tempted to peek but … Sister Secret. I clamp my eyelids even tighter.

  “Okay, open your eyes on three,” Lucy says, her voice lively with excitement. “One … two …”

  But before Lucy gets to three, I hear two voices that I know so well, they sound like they’re coming from inside my heart.

  “SURPRISE!!”

  Cady and Kaytee sprint across the sand and tackle me with hugs bigger than any Midwestern sky.

  “How? When? Really?” are the only words I can formulate.

  “I told you I was getting YouTube famous and buying us tickets!” Cady insists.

  “Really?” I still can’t believe they’re here. Cady and Kaytee. In Fernbank, Florida.

  “My first sponsor fell through …”

  “And the second,” Kaytee teases.

  “But where there’s a will, there’s a way!” Cady says.

  They both cheer, sharing a quick look with my parents.

  C2K for life.

  I look to Mom and Dad. They shrug their shoulders, like this is all one big happy accident.

  “Thank you,” I whisper. “Thank you so much.”

  Their smiles say “Happy birthday” better than words ever could.

  “I’m sorry, I’m being so rude. Let me introduce you to my friends!” I say.

  Cady and Kaytee are just as outgoing as I remember. Within minutes, they’re chummy with the entire Fernbank squad. When Juan Carlos gets up for a cider refill, Cady mouths He’s cute! in a totally obvious way that everybody else sees, and Kaytee pinches my arm and wiggles her eyebrows. I blush big-time. I’m sure all present company notices, but I realize that I don’t mind. Like surprises, there are worse things.

  Cady and Kaytee marvel at the sight of the expansive ocean. Kaytee shares photos of early fall foliage along the Iowa River. Socks and Jas both can’t believe how grand the University of Iowa buildings look in the background. My heart swells, having experienced the beauty of both landscapes. As festivities start to wind down, Juan Carlos sets the self-timer on his camera. All of us—the best Iowa City and Fernbank have to offer—take photo after photo dog-piling onto the picnic blanket.

  Two months ago, I never would have imagined this would be my birthday. It’s different than I ever could have predicted, and it’s also great. Bring it on, thirteen. After my friends leave, I stay on the beach with Mom, Dad, and Lucy. Cady and Kaytee are a ways down the beach, splashing in the sea and drawing in the sand with their toes. With my family, I nibble on the remains of the cake and gaze at the water. It looks nothing like the Iowa River, but the way the late-afternoon sun dances on the surface feels familiar, a picture that’s been part of my consciousness for a long time.

  Lucy tugs on my ponytail.

  “Look,” she whispers. She points out into the ocean to her left. I follow her finger with my eyes. I don’t gasp. Instead, I take one long balloon breath, savoring every pixel my eye can take in, and grab her hand in mine.

  Two dolphins swim in the distance. Their dorsal fins slice through the water. Maybe they’re making bubble rings, maybe they’re diving for fish, or maybe they’re just playing. They could be the same ones Lucy and I saw that first time we went to the beach. They could be sisters or best friends. Or maybe they’ve only just met, each traveling from their own world, finding each other for the first time in a new, unexplored ocean.

  KT Wynn, Seventh Grade, Junior Reporter

  Dolphina Cove is Florida’s oldest dolphin sanctuary, just one zip code over on the Gulf Coast. A total of seven Atlantic bottlenose dolphins are cared for there, swimming, playing, and feeding in a natural, open-water lagoon (think nature preserve, not marine mammal amusement park). This article is composed of interviews with Tara and field notes I made while observing sessions and being behind the scenes. Here is a day in the life of Tara, a veteran dolphin trainer.

  5:45 a.m.

  Rise and shine! Tara has worked as a dolphin trainer for years now, but she’s still not used to these early mornings. Two snoozes later, though, she’s up!

  6:15 a.m.

  Tara has a long, physical day ahead, so breakfast really is the most important meal. Her go-to is a fruit smoothie (secret ingredient: cocoa powder!), eggs, toast, and avocado.

  6:45 a.m.

  Bag packed with an extra swimsuit and mineral-based sunscreen that won’t harm any of the dolphins, Tara steps into her flip-flops and she’s off to Dolphina Cove!

  6:47 a.m.

  Oldies, hip-hop, and a sprinkle of jazz make the perfect pre-Dolphina soundtrack.

  7:00 a.m.

  Tara arrives at the office. But for Tara, her office is a sprawling dolphin sanctuary equipped with a welcome center, trainers’ office, and open-water lagoon that houses not one, not two, but seven Atlantic bottlenose dolphins. Though the first visitors won’t arrive until 10:30 a.m., Tara has no time to waste. Little-known fact: Dolphin trainers are always on the move prepping and documenting nutrition and care for our dorsal-finned friends.

  7:05 a.m.

  Did I mention prep? First order of business is organizing fish for that day’s meals. Each dolphin will eat about twenty-five pounds a day. I’ll let you do the math, but that’s a lot of fish! Tara gets to work right away. She has only a couple of hours to wash, weigh, and organize the fish into multiple pails for feeding and treats. Each dolphin receives a specific combination of fishies based on their dietary needs. They even get vitamins, which trainers will carefully stuff into the fish gills.

  8:45 a.m.

  Tara heads to the trainers’ office for a staff meeting, where she meets the two other trainers working that day. Together they discuss feeding schedules, upcoming visits, and any training notes from the day
before.

  9:30 a.m.

  Breakfast! Tara loads her arms with as many buckets of fish as she can carry (Tara has biceps for days) and makes her way down to the lagoon. The dolphins are still able to hunt for their own food because the lagoon barrier allows fish from the wild to swim in, but since they’ve been at Dolphina, the dolphins have gotten a little lazy (shhh, don’t tell them I said that!) and mostly wait to be fed by one of the trainers. Then, after a quick belly rub here, and a high five or two there (another fun fact: Dolphins’ pectoral fins—the two on their underside—have individual finger bones inside! Probably from back in dinosaur times when they were land creatures), Tara returns to the trainers’ office to prep for the first guest visit of the day.

  10:30 a.m.

  Tara leads the first visitor session. Two families with little kids and a couple from Spain arrive for a shallow-water encounter, which means they’ll get into the water up to their knees. Tara explains important safety info before she walks them down to the lagoon to meet mother-and-daughter pair Luna and Sammy.

  Tara and the other trainers use a special whistle called a bridge to communicate with the dolphins. It lets the animals know when they’ve followed instructions and are in store for a reward (clear Jell-O or more fish!).

  12:15 p.m.

  Lunchtime, finally! More fish for the dolphins, and anything but fish for Tara. While she eats a peanut butter and jelly sandwich on a picnic bench overlooking the lagoon, she sends a photo of Cola to her mom. Her family lives all the way in New Hampshire.

  1:00 p.m.

  Time for session number two! A few more guests arrive for another swim. This time, Tara doesn’t lead, but plays a backup role instead. She keeps an eye on all the dolphins in the lagoon and lets the other trainers know where the animals are located by shouting “Away!” when one swims out of sight. To give Luna and Sammy a break, Ginger and Cola play with the guests.

  2:15 p.m.

  Free swim—the best part of the day! Every afternoon Tara and the other trainers get the chance to work one-on-one with an assigned dolphin. Recently, Tara’s been bonding with Cola, and today is no exception. Cola has been at Dolphina for only a couple of months, and finally he and Tara are starting to really connect. Trainers use free swim to work on new behaviors (think tricks, but not exactly, because the dolphins aren’t actually performing). These sessions are fun for the dolphins because they are very intelligent creatures and need a lot of stimulation to feel engaged and happy.

  When Tara gets to the lagoon, Cola and Sammy have already started playing without her! Cola especially likes to make bubble rings in the water, which is when he shoots air out of his blowhole and uses his nose to spin the bubbles into a little ring. It’s one of his favorite pastimes, and probably something he did before he came to Dolphina Cove, when he lived in the wild. Tara begins the session by throwing him a full bucket of fish. Trainers like to begin and end sessions differently every time so the dolphins don’t get bored by things becoming too predictable.

  3:30 p.m.

  Last session of the day. Geared up from the free swim, Cola wows the small afternoon crowd by flipping high in the air and letting a pair of twin girls rub his belly.

  5:00 p.m.

  Clean-up time. Tara and the other trainers spend the final hours of the day washing the prep area and every piece of equipment until it’s sparkling and fresh. Well, maybe not fresh. The scent of fish is pretty constant at Dolphina Cove.

  6:00 p.m.

  Tara is about to leave when she remembers that she still needs to write notes on the day’s activities. She documents details about the play session, including number of guest visits, and how much food each dolphin ate, and she updates the health records with that day’s stats.

  7:00 p.m.

  Home sweet home. Tara is sticky with salt water, has fish scales underneath her nails, and is exhausted, but one thing is clear:

  She wouldn’t trade this job for anything in the whole world.

  Orlando Dos Reis, editor supreme, the ride thus far has been zippy, exciting, and more fun by the book. You’ve been a wonderful captain on this particular dolphin-themed ship. A big thank-you to the entire Scholastic squad: David Levithan, Keirsten Geise, Caroline Flanagan, Courtney Vincento, Jessica White, Priscilla Eakeley, and Erin Slonaker—I am grateful for everyone’s work to make this book whole.

  To Ali Stroker: for your candid and generous consultation, thank you. I hope KT is a kid you would have liked to read about back in your middle school days.

  Thank you Teachers & Writers Collaborative and the Cerimon Fund for supporting my work outside the classroom.

  Shout-out to Dolphins Plus and the real-life Tara, the inspiration for Dolphina Cove. My intro to dolphin swimming and care was truly a day of thrills and laughter.

  For guidance when researching and writing KT’s story, I found incredible resources online, specifically www.thesqueakywheelchairblog.com, disabilityvisibilityproject.com, wordsiwheelby.com, and “The Accessible Stall” podcast. Finally, thank you to Donna Lowich for all your insight and advice, and to those who take the time and energy to show others your worlds.

  And of course, the usual suspects: Megan, Marja, Momma, Dad, and Ham: I’m ever appreciative of your brains and your hearts. Xo.

  Jessie Paddock is the author of Gemini Academy, The Crush Necklace, and The Secrets Necklace. She holds an MFA in writing for children from The New School. She has lived in New York City for a while now, although she sometimes misses her hometown of Atlanta. She loves summer, soccer, and ice cream cones with extra sprinkles.

  Copyright © 2020 by Jessie Paddock

  All rights reserved. Published by Scholastic Inc., Publishers since 1920. SCHOLASTIC and associated logos are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of Scholastic Inc.

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  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  First printing 2020

  Cover art © 2020 Allan Davey

  Cover design by Keirsten Geise

  e-ISBN: 978-1-338-63371-9

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