Shark Lover (35 page)

*
* *

            “Today
is the day, I can just feel it.” She said as the wind blew through her blond
curly hair.

            “How
do you know?” He asked with uncertainty.

            “You
know how sometimes you can just feel things?” She said as she rested her hands
on the metal bars of the boat. “That’s how I feel today. I just know today is
the day. It’s been three long months with no trace of her, but today I feel
certain we will find her.”

            “So
you’re just going off of your intuition?” He asked curiously.

            “Yes,
something like that.” She stared out into the sea with fortitude. Cathy could
feel it in her soul. Today was the day. Mandy would finally face her sentence.
She had spent three long months on the run, but her freedom was over now. Cathy
was confident that she would finally be able to put Marc’s killer to rest. She
only wished her sister would have been able to come with them. Carly was too
busy these days for anything it seemed. Cathy missed her, but she was glad
Chris was with her today. He probably thought she was crazy, but she knew her
gut was right. It had to be.

            “My
mobile shark tracker is picking up her signal at Ocean Beach now. So she won’t
be too far away from us. We should be there in about ten minutes. At least we
don’t have to go on an hour long boat ride to capture her. It’s surprising that
she moved areas. I figured she would have stayed in the Stinson Beach area
throughout this entire fall season.” He paused looking down at the tracker.
“I’m just glad we’re still picking her signal up again. I didn’t think we would
ever find her again. We’ve been blessed but, I honestly don’t know how much
time we have left. I really hope you’re right and today is the day.”

            “It’s
a shame she switched locations. I really wanted to capture her at Stinson
Beach. It would have been more fulfilling, but at least we have our chance
now.” She looked down disappointed at the outcome of the search. “I know we
don’t have much time left. The tracker will probably expire soon, but I really
do feel like today is the day. It feels like the day. With the wind blowing
furiously through my hair, it’s weird to say this but I feel like Marc is here
with us. Like he’s watching over us. I get a warm feeling. I have good vibes
that today will be the day.” She sat down on the floor of the boat and began
putting a large fish on the hook that would be used to capture Mandy.

            “I’m
not doubting you at all. I just want you to be realistic. We’ve been doing this
for three months and I just hate coming back home with nothing. I don’t want
you to get crushed again. I hate seeing you down. I am determined to find her
today though. I won’t give up until we do. I don’t want you to give up either.
I see you have the fish ready. Perfect.” He pulled up his red cap so he could
get a better look at his tracking device. It was making loud beeping noises and
Cathy figured it was time to throw the fish in.

            “I
won’t give up. We are so close. Let’s throw the fish in now.” She handed the
line over to him and he picked up the fish and threw it overboard the boat. A
loud splash sounded as water was splattered all over her white shirt. “Oh, no!
How embarrassing. Do you have an extra shirt by chance or a jacket?” She looked
down at her shirt as her face blushed. Chris was so distracted by the line that
it took him awhile to answer.

            “Oh,
sure there’s a jacket in the back of the boat. I usually keep spares there.” He
said without looking up.

            “Thanks.”
She walked to the back of the boat and slipped on the jacket. It was large and
it had a musky male scent. She figured it was Chris’s jacket based on the size
and the military logo sprawled across the front. Taking a minute to take in all
of her surroundings, she realized how alone they really were. They were in the
middle of the ocean without a soul around them. She shivered as the wind blew
and she grew cold. She wasn’t used to the cold air, she could feel that winter
was coming. Today would be one of their last chances to capture Mandy. Cathy
hoped that she would be hungrier than she was on their last attempt. The seals
were migrating, she might be on a food shortage. Cathy could only hope that her
strategic thinking was correct. For her and Chris’s sake.

            “Cathy!”
Chris screamed from the front of the boat. “Hurry, I think she’s on the line.
This thing is beeping like crazy.” He quickly glanced over at his mobile
tracking device and saw the yellow dot lighting up right underneath the boat.

            “Are
you sure?” Cathy came over to him looking skeptical. It seemed too good to be
true. She couldn’t believe it yet until she saw Mandy’s face.

            “Yes,
I believe so! Hold the end of this line and help me pull.” He threw one end of
the line at her as he pulled with all of his might to get the creature out of
the water. His muscles were burning with sweat and Cathy could see the tension
in his body. He was giving it all that he could to get what he thought was
Mandy, up into the boat.

            “I
hope so. I just don’t want to hurt another seal or some other poor animal who
was just minding its own business.” Worry crossed her face as she looked down
from the boat. She wouldn’t be able to look if they had accidentally caught an
innocent animal. She hated seeing animals in pain and she felt guilty for
taking a chance that was risky of hurting another animal. She just hoped
catching Mandy was worth all of this strife.

            “It’s
her. Look at the key shaped fin,” He said pointing at the fin that was swirling
around in the water. He had used all of his strength to get her as close as he
could. “Just let me get her in the boat here and everything will be alright.”

            “Be
careful Chris! We don’t want to lose her. We have waited months for this. Also
be careful that she doesn’t bite you.” She looked away from Chris and Mandy
momentarily. It was too much for her to watch. She couldn’t bear to see Chris
get hurt. Over the past couple of months, she and Chris had grown so close. She
didn’t know what she would have done without him. He had been there with her
through some of the worst times in her life and he had eased her grief. Now she
was watching him making the ultimate effort for her, capturing a shark that had
taken the love of her life away from her.

            “I’ve
got it,” He said calmly as he pulled her swiftly aboard the boat like it was
nothing. “Well here she is.” He stood back and looked at her as Cathy did the
same thing. They both were in awe. They had waited so long for this moment. It
had been months of worrying and going out on a hunt every day. It had finally
paid off.

            Cathy
took Chris in her arms and hugged him as tightly as she could. She couldn’t
believe that they had finally accomplished their goal. She had dreamed of this
moment for months. It felt good to have finally captured the evil creature that
had killed Marc. So many emotions were running through her that she didn’t know
exactly what to feel. For once in her life, she was actually speechless.

            “I’ll
prop her up for you.” Chris tied her back fin up on a rope and then hauled her
into the air so Cathy could take a better look at her. Cathy couldn’t believe
Chris’s strength. He had to be one of the strongest people she had ever known.
He was able to lift up a five-foot shark on his own, she couldn’t help but to
be impressed by his power. Mandy was now hanging by her tail right in front of
Cathy. She stared at her in awe and then looked at Chris. “I’ll let you have a
moment with her.” Chris said as he walked away giving Cathy time to make a
decision.

            Cathy
didn’t say anything. She could barely even nod. She was looking at Marc’s
killer straight in the eyes. This was the shark who had ended his short life.
She had ruined Marc’s future and Cathy’s as well. Cathy felt a pang of
jealousy, this was the creature who got to spend time with Marc in the last few
minutes of Marc’s life. She hated this creature. Cathy never in her life
thought that she could hate an animal so deeply, but she did. This shark had
taken everything away from Marc and it had taken away her future with Marc.

            She
clutched her fists in anger. She didn’t want to be angry, but she was. Mandy
didn’t even care that she had ended Marc’s life. Cathy hated her for that. As
Cathy looked at her longer, her hate faded away. She still had a love for
marine animals and even though Mandy had killed Marc, she still felt sympathy
for her for some unknown reason. Looking into her eyes, she saw pain. Mandy was
losing her life right in front of her. Sharks couldn’t survive long without
water, they needed to constantly be swimming to stay alive. Even though she hated
Mandy for killing Marc, she wasn’t sure that she could kill her for it.

Cathy’s
love for animals was getting in her way of taking a stand for Marc. She closed
her eyes for a moment, unsure of what to think. She wasn’t intending on making
such a tough decision. When Mandy was captured, she figured she would just want
revenge. Guilt was filling up inside of her as she tried to decide what the
right thing to do was. Staring at her once again, she noticed a large bulge on
Mandy’s stomach. She took a step closer to Mandy and put her hand on her
stomach. The bulge felt hard and stiff as she ran her hands along the side of
Mandy’s stomach. She couldn’t believe what she was feeling. She didn’t want to
believe it. Mandy was pregnant.

            “You
okay?” Chris came up behind her and put his hand gently on her back trying to
comfort her.

            “I
just can’t believe we caught her. It’s so surreal.” Her eyes were still glued
on Mandy. “I can’t believe I am having second thoughts about this. I thought
when I saw her, I would just want her dead. Chris, she’s pregnant.” She turned
her gaze towards him with indecision in her eyes.

            He
looked at her with widened eyes. “Are you sure?”

            She
brought him into another hug as she started to cry. “Yes, I have studied sharks
and animals for years. She has a hard bulge in her stomach. It makes me hate
her less. I hate looking at her like this Chris. I don’t want to see her in
pain. Even though she killed Marc and took him away from me, it just doesn’t
feel right to take her life. She’s going to be a mother. She was probably just
hungry and trying to feed her baby when she attacked Marc. It was a pure
accident. He was surfing and looked like a seal, she just wanted some food. I
can’t hate her for trying to take care of her unborn child.”

            “Oh,
Cathy I am so sorry.” He pulled her closer. “I know it was just an accident. I
know it hurt you. Whatever you want me to do, I will. I know you love animals,
I do too. I am here to support whatever decision that you want to make. It’s
your decision to make, not mine. I want you to be one hundred percent sure so
that you don’t have any regrets.” He pulled away from her and looked her in the
eyes. “I’ll let you have a few more minutes alone with her to decide.” He
walked away once again as Cathy was left alone with Mandy.

            Cathy
focused her full attention on Mandy. She noticed signs of a struggle. Her top
fin looked scratched. She wondered if Marc had put up a tough fight when he was
getting attacked. It saddened Cathy to even think about the attack, she wanted to
think of Marc as being alive. But she knew he wasn’t and he wasn’t coming back.
Cathy only had a few minutes to decide what she wanted to do with Mandy. Mandy
wouldn’t survive long out of the water and she was breathing heavy. She was
upside down and ended up throwing up all of the contents in her stomach.

            “Is
she okay?” Chris came over and looked. “Wow, she had some interesting stuff in
her stomach.” He kneeled down to get a better look. “A tire, a boot, a shovel,
another fish swallowed whole. This is crazy. Her stomach can’t even digest
these things. I guess we helped her out.” He stood back up, still amazed by the
findings.

            “Chris,
I want you to let her go. I can’t do this. I don’t think Marc would have wanted
us to kill her. I remember that he loved all the sea life. Even though marine
biology wasn’t his first career path, he still loved animals and had a passion
for them. Now looking at Mandy, I can’t help but to feel bad for her. She
didn’t mean to attack Marc and if she could take it back she probably would.
Let’s just throw her back. I thought it would feel good to catch her and kill
her, but it’s just making me feel worse. It’s not the right thing to do.” She
looked at Mandy knowing that the decision she had just made was final.

            “I
figured you wouldn’t be able to do it,” He said giving her a slight smile.
“I’ll put her back in the water. Do you want me to remove her tracking device?”
He started to lower her in the water slowly on the levee.

            “No,
keep it. I know what you’re thinking, that it might be tempting to come back
and find her. I honestly don’t want that anymore. After seeing her and thinking
about what Marc would have wanted, I think she should stay alive. I might want
to come back and observe her some other day. I know that the tracking will wear
off at some point, but until that point I want to keep it on.” She looked at
Mandy one last time before Chris had finally lowered her entire body in the
water. Cathy was saddened to say goodbye. It was almost as if she was saying
goodbye to Marc in a way.