Shark Lover (15 page)

“I’m
so glad you dumped him. You should have done it a long time ago.”

“Yeah,
I feel like I should have too. It’s just he was my first real boyfriend and I
thought I really loved him, but as time went on I knew he didn’t feel the same
way. I was just his trophy girlfriend.” She sighed in depression. “I just want
to find a guy who likes me for more than my looks.”

“Don’t
worry Cathy, you will find it someday. You have so much to offer a guy, more
than just how you look. You are an amazing and inspirational person. The way
that you handled that back there blew my mind. A lot of girls would have just
stayed with him because he is the most popular guy in school and he is the
quarterback of the football team. You are so much stronger than that. You won’t
stand for games and lies. Plus you always get what you want and you know it. So
stop worrying and just live life. You will find someone when the time is
right.”  

Cathy
looked at her sister with admiration. Never had she seen her say something so
remarkable. She knew Carly was right. She had to keep living her life. She
couldn’t let anything stop her. Whenever the time was right and the right
person came along, she could then think about settling down. As for now, she
needed to be fearless and free. The way her father would have wanted her to be.

“Hmmmm,
I do always get what I want,” Cathy said thoughtfully. “It’s because I fight so
hard for it. I never give up on what I want and what I think I deserve.”

“Tell
me about it,” Marc said as he took off his the rest of his equipment. “I
noticed. You are very strong-willed and stubborn, but it’s okay. I like that
about you. It’s a good thing.” He smirked.

“I’m
glad you see it as a positive thing. Most people don’t know how to handle me.
They see fearlessness and become afraid. I guess they are just scared about
what they don’t understand.” She looked away with distance in her eyes.

“Well
you don’t have to worry about me being afraid of you. I have been drawn to you
since the day we first met. There’s something different about you. You have a
big heart and a deep soul. Even though you are mysterious and full of
surprises, I feel like I understand you. As weird as that sounds, it’s true.”

“Thank
you. That means a lot to me. I’m glad you aren’t scared of me. You have taken
the time to really know me and I take that to heart. Just the fact that you are
here with me, shows me that you really care. You are different than any other
guy that I dated and I am glad about that.”

“I
can imagine that you must have attracted a lot of jerks. I’m sorry about that.
On the behalf of all guys I am sorry. I am glad that you think I am different.
I always say my mother taught me better than that.”

She
laughed at his joke as she sat down on the side of the boat. It was moving
slowly into the dock. She was shocked that they had gotten back so quickly. She
was happy to be back on land again. As much as she loved the water and loved
boating, she had enough for one day. She wanted to be able to feel her feet
again and be in control of her movements. Once the boat had docked, she was the
first one off. She ran up the steps and onto the dock. She could feel the solid
ground beneath her feet and she started to feel composed once again. Marc was
following close behind her as she walked back up the parking lot to her car.

“Cathy,
Marc! Wait up!” Chris called from behind running after them. “Do you want to go
back to the lab with me to track Mandy? We should be able to start seeing her
on the screen now since you tagged her.”

“Yeah,
that would be great. We will meet you over there.” She turned towards Marc. “Do
you want to ride with me? I’ll take you back to the volunteer lab and show you
around. I don’t think you have ever been there yet.”

“Sure
that sounds great.” Marc looked back at Chris. “Thanks for asking, we will meet
you there. We’re leaving now.”

“All
right. Great. Thanks for all your good work.” He ran back down the stairs to
help the rest of the crew unload all of the equipment. As he ran, he reminded
Marc of a drill sergeant. Marc could tell that Chris always liked to be in
control. He always wanted to be the one calling the shots and giving out the
orders to the crew.

“Was
Chris ever in the military?” He asked Cathy unexpectedly. 

“That’s
funny that you would ask that,” She said as she continued walking up the flight
of steps to her car. “He is an ex-marine, actually. He used to be a Ground
Intelligence Officer a few years ago. He was wounded in battle and awarded the
Purple Heart Medal. He took a few years off to recover, but he realized he
missed the water. Sailing was a big thing for him growing up, but he knew he
didn’t have the strength or physical ability to ever to that again. So he took
up a new hobby, marine life. Seeing the creatures in their natural habitats was
fascinating to him. He found that of all the creatures, he was most connected
to sharks. He noticed that a lot of them were in danger in the waters around
here. A lot of sharks were dying from people carelessly not throwing their
trash away or fishermen not cleaning up their supplies properly. He then formed
Shark Savors to better help the sharks and protect them from the dangers that
were affecting their everyday lives.”

“Wow,
that’s fascinating. I never would have figured he would have had such an
emotional back story. He seems like such a tough guy on the outside, but he’s
done so many caring things for people and for animals.” Marc shook his head in
disbelief as he ended the top of the stairs. He waited for Cathy, as she was
coming up the last few. He was shocked that he had beaten her. He never beat
her at anything. He was already blown away by Chris’s backstory and now he was
worried about Cathy’s tiredness. “Are you feeling alright? You never walk this
slowly. Maybe the boat made you seasick.”

“He
acts tough on the outside, but on the inside he is a huge softy.” She opened
the car door of her jeep and hopped in as she hit the unlock button for Marc to
get in. “And I am feeling okay. I think it’s the fact that I forgot to drink
coffee this morning. I always wake up to a cup of coffee, but I had been
running late this morning and I forgot to pour myself a cup. I normally don’t
get so seasick.”

“He
seems like a nice guy. I hope you feel better. I know what you mean. Coffee is
part of my morning ritual as well, without it I am lost.” He turned down the
radio in the car as he buckled his seat belt. She put it in reverse, backed out
and started driving down the road. He couldn’t help but admire his
surroundings. He always loved a good car ride. Especially if it was to the
beach. It reminded him of his father.

“Dad,
stop the car.” He told his father instructively.

“Why?
Is something wrong Son?” His father looked back at him fretful. “Are you car
sick?”

“No,
just stop the car. Please Dad. Just stop the car.” He begged his father.

He
pulled the car to the side of the road. Putting the gear in park, the car came
to a complete halt. “Okay, Son. I stopped the car. Is everything okay?”

“Yes,
everything is fine.” He opened the car door and sprinted out as fast as he
could. Normally he loved going to the beach, it was his favorite drive. His
father would bring him along with him to the beach every week. It was a day
that he looked forward to. Today was different. He couldn’t keep going without
looking back. He couldn’t leave what he had left behind. He ran and ran. He
backtracked where they had been and where they had gone. He finally found what
he had been looking for. It was what he had lost.

“Marc?
Where are you?” He could hear his father shouting out in the distance.

“I’m
coming! I found what I lost!” He picked it up carefully, making an effort not
to hurt it. He wanted to bring it back in one piece. He took off his shirt and
wrapped it around his newly found treasure. Running back to his father, he
tried to run without hurting his beloved prize. Cars were blasting by him at
what seemed like 100mph. He held it closer to his body, to shield it from the
fast paced cars. He wasn’t going to let anything hurt it. Not again, not ever.

He
was nearing his father. He figured his father could see what he had in his arms
now and he had to figure out a way to explain it to him, so that he would
understand. Moving his shirt around, he tried to recover the item. He knew they
were almost to the beach and his father had wanted to surf. Marc had other
plans. Plans with more meaning.

“Marc,
what do you have there in your arms?” He asked hastily. “Is that why you ran
off?”

He
tried to cover it in his arms, but it was too hard to conceal. “Oh nothing, Dad.
It’s just something that I need to surf with. Let me just put it in the
backseat of our car and we can get on going to the beach. We better hurry
because you know the sun sets pretty soon. Your favorite time to surf is right before
the sunset, so let’s go Dad!” He started to hurry back to the car, but his
father stopped him with a swift movement of his arm.

“Wait
a second there, Son. Now what is that? What do you have in your arms?” He asked
imperturbably.

“Oh
nothing Dad, I just realized something was dropped out of a car and we could
use it. That’s all.” He explained cautiously.

“But
what is it Marc?” He tried to lift the shirt up, but Marc expeditiously took a
step back.

“Now
Dad, before I let you know what it is, you have to promise to be understanding.
You can’t just automatically say no without putting any thought into it. I saw
it get thrown out of a car and I wanted to save it. I couldn’t just leave it
there…”

“Woof!”
A small bark came out of Marc’s shirt, as a small head popped out with big
floppy ears.

“Marc,
is that a puppy I heard? Please don’t tell me it was a puppy. You know we can’t
take another one on. We already have three dogs. Four would be just too many to
handle.”

“But
Dad! A car just threw him out! I can’t just leave him on the side of the road
to die! Plus a car could hit him. I’m not going to just leave him here.” Marc
said with force as he walked back to the car and got in.

His
dad followed behind him as he got back into the driver’s side of the car.
“Marc, we will take him with us today. We can’t keep him though. We will bring
him to the shelter and they can help us find a nice home for him.”

“But
Dad! I want to keep him.” He wailed. “The shelter won’t do anything. Most of
the dogs end up getting euthanized. I don’t want that to happen to him.” He
looked at the puppy’s small white face. He held the dog up to his face and he
licked him. The dog appeared to be a mixed breed. Marc could tell that he had
some Cocker Spaniel in him, with his big floppy ears and his furry light gold
hair. He couldn’t think of having to give up this sweet, innocent dog. His
father didn’t understand how hard the pound was on dogs. Looking at the puppy’s
little face, he couldn’t bear the thought of parting with him. He had to make
his father understand.

“Marc,
I…”

“Dad,
how can you say no to this little face?” He held the puppy straight up into his
father’s eyes. “Plus what would Mom do? She would never want to leave a puppy
abandoned on a congested road. She would want to keep him. Gold is her favorite
color. This puppy is gold. It’s fate.” He stated factually. From his father’s
expression, he could tell that he was wearing him down slowly, but surely.

“We
will see Son. Let’s take him back to the house. We’ll let your mother take a
look at him.” He sighed knowing that he had lost the battle.

“Yes!”
He knew that the puppy was his. They couldn’t bring an abandoned animal back
into their home without his mother wanting to keep it. She never turned down an
animal in need. It was the inner animal lover in her. She had become a
veterinarian to save animals, just like the puppy that he had found on the
highway. He knew that the dog was his now. He stared at the beach as they drove
along in silence. He had saved a dog’s life. He felt as if he had done
something important in his young life. Even though he was only fourteen years old,
this was the best thing he had done with his life yet.

            “Wow,
she really makes her way up and down the coastline pretty fast.” Marc stated as
he looked intently at the computer screen on Chris’s desk.

            “She’s
a fast creature. She’s got a lot on her agenda.” Chris responded restlessly as
Cathy and Marc crowded closer towards him in order to get a better look.

            Back
in the lab at the Shark Savor’s headquarters, Chris had put in the tracking
information for Mandy. Marc and Cathy had pulled up chairs in the empty lab to
start observing Mandy’s whereabouts. The little yellow dot that represented
Mandy showed them where she was and would help them to track her to see where
she mysteriously disappeared. They all glared at the screen with intense eyes,
waiting for her to make her next move.

            “She’s
already made her way from Ocean Beach to the Aquatic Park. I wonder if she’s
looking for something.” She looked at Chris in wonderment. “I mean why else
would she stay in this area for long periods of time and then flee for months.
She must like a particular species of food or possibly the climate here. Maybe
that’s what keeps her returning.”