“I’m sorry, we’ve had an emergency. That’s all I can say right now. But your ticket is good for admission anytime in the future,” Rebecca explained to the visitors with an edge in her voice.
“Rebecca!” Sawyer was starting to panic. “What’s going on?”
A lump filled Rebecca’s throat. She couldn’t break the news to Sawyer. “You better talk to Clay.”
Sawyer dashed upstairs and ran onto the deck by the rooftop pools. His stomach dropped when he saw the ropes cordoning off the area by the Main Pool. A volunteer let him pass through and Sawyer slowly approached Dr. Clay and the other staff and volunteers at the poolside. “Dr. Clay — ?” Sawyer started. He stopped when he noticed Kat sobbing into the shoulder of one of the staff members. What’s wrong? Sawyer’s eyes trailed over to the pool and he gasped. Two divers were moving the body of Panama onto a stretcher.
“What … what happened?” Sawyer stammered.
“We don’t know,” Clay said, shaking his head. “She took a last breath and went down to the bottom of the pool. Kat was here … but there was nothing she could do.”
Sawyer felt numb with shock, but when he heard a moaning sound, he jumped.
“Winter!” he exclaimed, rushing over to the East Pool.
“She was already gated when it happened. We needed Panama to be alone to run some tests,” Dr. Clay went on. Even though Sawyer was right in front of him, he seemed to be talking to himself. “She was just so old — it could have been anything.”
Sawyer kneeled down and reached out to Winter, but she pulled away. As the divers lifted the stretcher with Panama on it out of the water, Winter just wanted to be alone.
* * *
Along the marina, Rufus hovered overhead against a cloudy sky. He swooped down and landed next to Sawyer, who was walking on the dock. Sawyer turned toward the houseboat, but paused when he heard crying. He looked up to the boat’s crow’s nest. It was Hazel. Sawyer took a deep breath, boarded the boat, and began to climb the old rope ladder.
“Hey,” he said, reaching the top.
“Oh. Hey,” Hazel said, wiping her eyes. “Come in. Or up. Or whatever.”
Sawyer took a quick look around and stepped into the crow’s nest. He hadn’t been up here in a while and it looked like neither had Hazel. He remembered how much time she used to spend up here. It was like her own little tree fort at the top of the houseboat’s mast. “Thanks. How you doing?” Sawyer asked gently.
Hazel shrugged. Her eyes followed Rufus, who was now flying up to the wall of the aquarium. “Why do things like this have to happen?” she asked.
“I wish I knew,” Sawyer said, staring out in the distance.
“I loved Panama. I’m going to miss her so, so much.” Hazel sighed. “I know she was old, but …”
“Yeah, but she was just — good, you know? Gentle.”
A light rain started to fall but Sawyer and Hazel didn’t even notice. “Dad’s talked about it. He’s afraid Winter might get depressed and stop doing anything. Even eating.”
Sawyer nodded slowly. “That happens sometimes with dolphins.”
“Can you sit with me for a bit?” Hazel asked. “Let’s not talk, okay? Just sit.”
Sawyer took a seat next to Hazel on the crow’s nest floor. “Sure.” The two sat in the misty rain watching Rufus.
* * *
Later that night, when the rain had stopped, Clay sat by the rooftop pools playing his saxophone. He wanted to keep Winter company and thought the music might cheer her up. Clay stopped and gazed into the pool, hoping to see Winter swimming at the surface. But she wouldn’t come out. He could see her hiding under the platform.
Sawyer walked past Clay with a basket of pool toys and crouched down by the water. He felt a wad of wet papers sticking out of his jeans. He reached into his back pocket, grabbed the soggy SEA Semester brochures, and tossed them onto the deck. Then he pulled the yellow rubber-duck ring from the basket and held it out over the water, trying to get Winter to come out.
“How’s our girl?” Clay asked.
Sawyer sighed and put down the ring. “Just staying under the platform.”
Clay nodded and moved next to Sawyer.
“Do you think she knew Panama was dying?” Sawyer asked.
Clay was thoughtful. “Hard to say. Echolocation is an amazing thing. She might have seen something inside Panama that we couldn’t. Maybe she was trying to tell us. When the necropsy is done, we’ll have a better idea.” He looked at Sawyer. “It’s good you’re keeping her company.”
“I think she liked your saxophone playing.”
Clay smiled. “Which proves she’s not a music critic. Hey” — Clay picked up the wet brochures — “what’s this?”
“Oh. Yeah.”
Clay turned the pages of the brochures. “I know this program. It’s out of Boston, right?”
Sawyer nodded. “They invited me.”
“Whoa. Really? Sawyer, that’s very cool.”
“Kyle put my name in. They’re giving me a scholarship.”
Clay raised his eyebrows, impressed. “That’s fantastic, buddy! This is a big deal. When do you go?”
Sawyer shrugged. “September something,” he mumbled. “But it’s for three months. You think it’s okay for me to leave Winter that long?”
“She’ll be fine.”
“But we have to pair her with another female, don’t we?” Sawyer knew that because dolphins are such social animals, a law required them to live with at least one other.
“Yes, that’s the law. And it’s a good one.”
Sawyer was tentative. “We’ve got Mandy now….”
“Yes, we do,” Clay replied carefully. “And you know what they say — when one door shuts, another opens. But let’s get through this one day at a time.”
A moment later, Winter came out from under the platform and swam to the surface to take a breath. Sawyer nodded as she retreated back under the water.
The CMA board of directors stared at Clay across the big conference room table. Years ago, Clay didn’t enjoy meetings with the board of directors. But ever since the real estate developer Phil Hordern had bought CMA, he had not only alleviated its financial problems, he had invested in its amazing expansion. The recent board meetings had been full of exciting updates. Now Clay shifted in his seat, hating to be the bearer of bad news.
“So …” Patricia, one of the board members, probed. “Winter is basically depressed?”
“In dolphin terms, yes,” said Clay. He consulted his notes. “Lethargic. Not interacting. Refusing food for the most part. We’re increasing supplements.”
“And the prosthetic?” Jackie, another board member, inquired.
“Refusing that, too.”
“So it’s possible that her spine is deteriorating again?” Patricia asked.
“Possible,” said Clay. “I have an ultrasound and X-ray set scheduled for Friday.”
Phil Hordern leaned into the table and looked directly at Clay. “It’s been three weeks. During which time, you’ve kept the public away from her.”
Clay held his gaze. “Yes. I have.”
“It sounds like she’s missing Panama,” Jackie noted.
“But isn’t it against USDA regulations? To keep a dolphin alone in a pool?” asked Patricia.
“It is,” said Clay.
Patricia was puzzled. The hospital had just recently rescued a young female dolphin. “Why don’t we just put Mandy in with her? Wouldn’t that solve everything?”
Clay was guarded. “I can’t give you an answer on that right now.”
The board members exchanged a look. Why is Clay being so difficult?
No progress was made during the rest of the meeting. Afterward, Phil held Clay back to talk to him. “We’re more than a hospital now, Clay. We’re a full-blown aquarium. People come from all over the world to see, to learn —”
“I’m aware,” Clay said.
“And how many of those people come to see Winter?
”
“I have a medical obligation, Phil.” Clay didn’t like the situation any more than Phil and the rest of the board, but he had additional concerns.
“And we’re meeting it, Clay. But you’ve seen the faces of the children, the veterans — how moved they are. Isn’t that part of our mission, too?”
Clay was getting frustrated. “But you can’t just throw two dolphins into the water together! It doesn’t work that way. These are intelligent, sophisticated creatures. If they don’t get along, there’s not a thing on God’s green earth we can do about it.”
Phil sighed. “Clay. I’m not telling you how to do your job. But I just think that putting Mandy in with Winter — and soon — would be one heck of a good idea.”
* * *
Back at the medical pools, Hazel went to check on Mandy. “How’s she doing?” she asked Phoebe and Sawyer.
“Comin’ along,” Phoebe said, continuing to rub lotion on Mandy’s back. “Sunburn’s a lot better.”
Squawk! Rufus landed on the wall, flapping his wings dramatically.
“What’s with Rufus?” Hazel asked, eyeing the big bird.
Sawyer shrugged. That bird is always acting nuts, he thought. “I don’t know. He’s been doing that for a couple of days. Back and forth. I think he’s losing his mind.”
“Not that there’s much to lose.”
Rufus gave Hazel a pointed look, then flew back down to the dock. Aaaaark! he cried.
Sawyer and Hazel looked back at each other, puzzled. “Let’s go find Rebecca and check it out,” Hazel proposed.
A few minutes later, Hazel, Rebecca, and Sawyer hurried over to Rufus on the corner of the dock.
“Okay, quiet now,” Rebecca instructed. “We don’t want to spook him.”
Aaaaark! Rufus responded. He leaned over the edge of the dock and looked into the water at a small splash of movement.
The group leaned out to peer underneath the dock. “What — what’s that?” asked Sawyer, craning his neck.
Hazel kneeled down and reached both of her hands under the dock. “Oh! Oh my gosh!” Hazel exclaimed, pulling out a struggling green sea turtle snarled in fishing line.
Rebecca reached down to help. “Poor thing. How long has she been under there?”
Hazel fingered the fishing hook attached to the line that was wrapped tightly around the turtle and cutting into her front flippers. “Well, at least she didn’t swallow the hook.”
Up in the operating room a short while later, Rebecca took charge of examining the turtle. “Lacerations aren’t too bad, I guess,” she said, untangling the last bit of fishing line and placing it in a pile on the exam table. “Saline.”
Sawyer picked up a syringe and squirted the solution on the cuts.
“These fishermen threw old line in the water. They just don’t realize…. Hazel …”
Without another word, Hazel handed over a tube of ointment.
Rebecca took the tube, squeezed out some ointment, and spread it on the turtle’s wounds. “We’ll need X-rays to make sure nothing’s broken.”
Sawyer looked up. “CT scan?”
“And blood work?” Hazel added. “Check her glucose. If she’s lost blood, her iron will be low.”
Rebecca smiled. These kids know their stuff, she thought.
Before she could answer, the group heard a loud bang at the window. They looked up. Rufus had smacked against the window and was now peering in, flapping his wings wildly.
“What on earth is wrong with that bird?” Rebecca wondered.
Hazel shook her head. “Where do I start?”
After an hour, Rebecca was lowering the turtle into one of the smaller pools in the aquarium’s new turtle area. The three watched as it paddled around, exploring the new environment. “What do you think? What shall we call her?” she asked her assistants.
Hazel was thoughtful. “Mavis,” she declared.
Sawyer and Rebecca looked at her with scrunched eyebrows.
“From The Andy Griffith Show,” she explained.
“Don’t you watch any TV from this century?” Sawyer asked.
RAWP! Rufus was back. He perched on the wall above the pools, fluffed his feathers, and settled in.
“Great,” Hazel said, rolling her eyes. “Now he’s a bodyguard.”
* * *
“No, I do NOT have a ticket! Nor do I intend to BUY one!”
The aquarium’s teenage volunteers looked at the ornery old man wheeling a metal case behind him and froze. The surly patron had walked into the aquarium and pushed his way past the ticket booth without stopping, causing the crowds in line to grumble. “But … but, sir —” a volunteer stammered, holding out a hand to stop him.
“Stop clawing at me!” the man said, batting the hand away. “I’ve got jars of peanut butter older than you.”
“Sir, if you don’t have a ticket, we can’t —” another volunteer began.
“And keep your grubby paws off of my case. Piranhas!”
“Dr. McCarthy!” Sawyer called out. He ran up to his old friend and noticed his familiar metal case. Sawyer realized the doctor must be there to measure Winter for a new tail. Dr. McCarthy was an expert at designing and fitting prosthetic limbs. Sawyer first met him when he was fitting Kyle’s leg brace. Even though it had been several years, Sawyer was still amazed that the doctor agreed to fit Winter with a prosthetic tail. As Dr. McCarthy had said back then, no one in his right mind would ever consider such a thing. But fortunately for everyone — and most of all Winter — Dr. McCarthy claimed he was never in his right mind. “I’m sorry,” Sawyer went on. “We have so many new people. They didn’t realize who you were.”
“That much” — Dr. McCarthy paused and straightened his jacket — “is obvious.”
Ten minutes later, up at the rooftop pools, Dr. McCarthy continued to be indignant. “But we have a standing appointment,” he said to Dr. Clay. “Every six months.”
“I’m so sorry, it completely slipped my mind,” said Clay.
“Well, surely the fish has outgrown her last tail by now.”
Dr. McCarthy could see Clay’s reluctance to answer. “Actually …” Clay said, running his hand through his hair. “We don’t really know.” He took a deep breath and let it out slowly. Then he explained how Panama had died and how it was affecting Winter.
The doctor took a moment to process all the news. “Doesn’t she come out at all?” McCarthy asked about Winter.
“Not much,” said Sawyer.
Clay thought for a moment, then decided to see if they could coax Winter out from under the platform. He walked over to the winch that controlled raising and lowering the stretcher into the water and signaled for Sawyer to beckon Winter.
Sawyer crouched down on the platform and held out the yellow rubber-duck ring. “Come on, Winter. Up you go.”
Winter looked up from the bottom of the pool and saw Sawyer peering down at her. She slowly drifted up to the surface.
“Don’t rush her, now….” Clay coached. “Nice and slow.”
“Come on, Winter,” Sawyer encouraged. “We gotta make another cast of your tail. You keep growing.” He pet her gently as she floated at the pool edge. “It’s easy…. Up you go….”
Winter bumped the yellow ring with her rostrum, but she didn’t spear it. She looked from Sawyer to Clay to Dr. McCarthy. Then she poked her rostrum through the ring and flung it away from the pool.
Clay looked concerned. “She okay?”
Sawyer continued to stroke Winter and speak softly. “I think so.” He nodded to Clay, who hit the winch button. Winter flinched as the machine powered on with a metallic groan. Sawyer lowered his face next to hers. “It’s gonna be okay, Winter.”
Clay hit a switch and the stretcher began to descend with loud clanks and whirs. Winter looked around frantically. As soon as she saw the stretcher, she reared up and wheeled around, belting Sawyer across the face, making him tumble into the water.
“Winter!” Clay exclaimed.
Sawyer grabbed the platform edge, but before he could pull himself out, Winter came for him. With piercing high-pitched squeals, she head-butted him in the ribs, knocking him into the side of the pool.
“Get ’em apart!” Clay shouted to the staff across the pool. Phoebe dove in, dodging Winter, who was thrashing wildly. Phoebe grabbed Sawyer’s arm and pulled him to the platform as others hurried to lift him out. Then Phoebe turned back to settle down Winter, but the dolphin had already plunged to the bottom of the pool and under the platform, out of sight.
* * *
Surrounded by crystal-blue waters, a group of teenagers swam through a circle of wild dolphins. A boy just a bit older than Sawyer grabbed onto one of the dolphin’s dorsal fins and smiled wide as the animal took him on a spectacular underwater ride.
“Hey,” Lorraine said from the doorway to Sawyer’s bedroom. Sawyer paused the video he was watching on the SEA Semester website. “I thought you might have trouble scooping it yourself,” said his mother, walking over and handing him a bowl of ice cream.
“Maybe later,” Sawyer said, taking the ice cream and setting it aside.
His mother nodded and leaned over to check Sawyer’s lip. She didn’t really think he would eat the ice cream, but she needed a reason to go in and check on her son. Sawyer’s lip was still swollen. His ribs had been bandaged and his wrist was in a soft cast for a sprain. After a few silent moments, Lorraine spoke gently. “Do you have any idea why Winter might have done this?”
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