Shark Lover (8 page)

“Daddy,
I’m sorry I ran away. I know it was wrong. I won’t do it again.” She looked at
him with earnest eyes. “Next time I will talk about my problem instead of
running away.” She moved closer into her father to feel his warmth.

“Well,
I am very proud of you for apologizing to both your sister and me. You did a
good job today, Cathy. You girls both did. You made me honored to be a dad.”

“Oh
Daddy, please stop!” Carly cried while giggling.

“Yeah,
Daddy. We aren’t that great. You’re the great one.” Cathy said smiling.

He
scooped up both of his daughters in his arms and held them as close as he
could. “I love both of you so much. You both are my world.” He set them down
and looked at their little faces burning in the hot sun. “We better head back
now, you both are going to look like lobsters by the end of the day.” He poked
them both in the stomach as they laughed.

“Let’s
go Daddy! I am so hot!” Carly shouted as she pulled her pink hat down over her
eyes. Remnants of her curly hair stuck to her forehead in perspiration.

“Me
too.” Cathy looked up at her dad and ran to the other side of his body,
grabbing his hand and leading him down the beach. She slowed down realizing
that she was tired from all the running she had already done that day. For once
in her short life, she had run out of her endless energy and trotted slowly
next to her father as he used his other free hand to grab Carly’s. Cathy looked
all around her, taking in all of the scenery, enjoying every minute of it. She
felt free and carless, a feeling that could only be captured for a moment. If
only life could stay like this forever she thought to herself peacefully. With
her father holding her hand on his left side and holding Carly’s on the right
side, they walked down the shore hand in hand without a worry in the world,
never wanting the moment to come to a culmination.
Chapter 6

           
The
hills were green, full of trees in bloom on a spring day. She felt the warmth
in the air that summer was fast approaching. She could smell the sweet rain in
the air as the birds chirped a song in the branches, the flowers blooming in on
their petals. The mountains were a cool white in the distance. She would climb
every one of them if she could. Rivers ran through all the turns in the land.
She closed her eyes as she listened closely hearing the soft sound of their
flow through the mountains. This was paradise. Her happy place that she came to
when all was wrong with the world. This was the place where everything felt
completely right.

            He
was sitting next to her. Her hand was in his and she didn’t want to let him go.
His brown eyes were looking off into the distance and she wondered what he was
thinking. Was he as happy as she was? Did he feel complete with her? She
wondered if he thought about spending his life with her. She loved the way his
brown hair curled when the weather was muggy outside. She loved everything
about him.

            “The
mountains are so far away, yet so close.” He said observantly.

            “What
do you mean?” She asked closely studying his face as he looked out into the
distance.

            “It’s
almost as if I can see them, but I can’t. I feel like I’m there, but I’m not.”
Lost in his thoughts he stared into her eyes.

            “It’s
not philosophy class.” She joked mockingly as she moved closer to him in the
grass. She put her hands on his knees and looked at all of the flowers
blossoming all around her. Orchids, sunflowers and daisies; all her favorite
flowers. She didn’t picture herself enjoying the mountains in Colorado, but it
was perfect with him. Everything was perfect with him.

            “I
know, but doesn’t it remind you of life?” He asked questioningly.

            “I
don’t understand.” She looked at the ground, pulling out an orchid and
twiddling the stem in between her hands. “We could move closer and it wouldn’t
be so far away. Isn’t that life? You change what you can to make it want you
want.”

            “That’s
one way of looking at it. It’s just some things in life are so close to us that
we can touch them, but we can’t have them. As much as we want to, it just won’t
ever happen.” He spread out his legs across the grass, leaving the strands
sticking to the ground.

            “What
do you want that you can’t have?” She asked quizzically.

            “You.”
He looked away from her.

            “You
can’t have me?” She questioned him confused. “You already have me. We’re
together. You know that.”

            “I
don’t have you. I don’t own you. You could leave me any day, any hour, any
minute.”

            “But
I won’t. You know that. We’re perfect for each other.” She reassured him.

            “I
know you won’t, but I could leave you.” He scooted away from her, dazed in his
own troubled thoughts.

            “Why
would you do that? I thought everything was going well?” She said with concern.

            “I
wouldn’t leave you by choice.” He answered slowly.

            “Then
why would you leave?” She moved closer towards him in an effort to regain the
closeness that she could feel slowly fading away. “Why are you saying all of
this? I just don’t understand what I did.”

            “You
didn’t do anything. It’s just life. We don’t know when the end is near. It
could be today, tomorrow, it’s unknown.” He dipped his feet in the river,
feeling the rush of the water through his toes.

            “Stop,
don’t talk about stuff like that. You’re scaring me. I don’t want to think
about living without you. I wouldn’t know what to do.” She cried as she
attempted moving his feet from the water.

            “Don’t
you ever think about dying? You do realized that you’re not going to live
forever right?” He forced his feet back into the water and waded his toes gracefully
through the rushing current.

            “Well
yeah, but I don’t want to think about it right now, not while we are here
together having a good time. Can’t we talk about something else? This is making
me depressed.” She slid her finger quickly under her eye to remove a silent
tear.

            “I
don’t want you to miss me too much when I’m gone. I want you to go on and live
your life. I don’t want to hold you back from chasing your dreams. I hope that
you will find someone else. It can’t just be any guy either. He has to treat
you right. The way that I would have.” He kissed her forehead passionately and
wiped away her tears.

            “I
don’t want you to go.” She sobbed through her tears pulling away from him.

            “I
don’t want to go either. I wanted to spend my life with you, but life had other
plans. I know you will be okay without me. I need you to face all your fears
and go on to live out all of your dreams. I will always be with you, even if I
am not physically here. I will always be in your heart. When the pain is too
much to bear and you are missing me, look there to find me. You won’t be
disappointed, I’ll always be there for you. I love you.” He stood up while
holding both of her hands. “I have to go now.”

            “Where
are you going? Don’t leave me! Please don’t leave me!” She cried holding on to
his hands tighter and tighter.

            “I
have to, just remember what I told you. I love you. Be strong.”

            And
just like that he was gone.

            “Beep…beep…beep…beep…beep!”

            “Oh
it was just a dream!” Cathy murmured to herself as she pulled the covers over
her head, the light was shining through her window showing the red through her
eyelids. She moved her arm from her body and slammed her hand down on the
snooze button. She didn’t feel like waking up. Her deep, restless sleep had
fulfilled her needs; until she had that awful dream. What did it even mean
anyways? She pondered over the possibilities, tossing and turning over in her
bed. She glanced over and the clock and was shocked to see the time.

            “It’s
already 9 o’clock! I was supposed to be there already!” She popped out of her
bed and started throwing clothes around from her drawers. Whenever she needed
to be somewhere, she could never find the right outfit to wear. Why was that?
She threw out all the shirts in the second drawer of her dresser, frustrated
that she couldn’t find something to wear. She ran into her closet picking
through more clothes that just weren’t right for the occasion.

            “Wait,”
She said to herself as pants flew across the floor. “Why am I stressing out
over an outfit when I am just going to put a wetsuit over it when I get there?”
She patted herself across her forehead and threw on the next pair of shorts she
found in her drawer. She found a loose pink T-shirt and pulled it over her head
quickly. She glanced at her appearance in the mirror and groaned. “Ugh! I look
terrible! I don’t even have time to put on makeup. And my hair!” She ran her
hands through the tangled mess that was her normally beautiful, blond hair.
Looking at her reflection again, she decided against brushing through her hair
and threw it up in a ponytail. Running out toward the kitchen, she opened the
pantry, grabbed a banana and fluttered out the door to get to her jeep as fast
as possible.

            Rushing
down the steps as quickly as she could, she looked up at the sky and saw the
darkening clouds. “Ugh, it wasn’t supposed to rain today.” She muttered under
her breath as she opened her jeep door and hopped in. Driving down the freeway,
she felt raindrops hitting the tip of her skin, melting away swiftly in the humidity.
She could smell the ocean in the breeze. The smell brought her a feeling of
comfort as she reached her destination. She saw him standing by the rest of the
group, fastening his scuba tank to his body.

            “I’m
so sorry I am late,” She said out of breath from all the running. “I overslept.
I never do that either. I don’t know how it even happened. I….”

            “It’s
okay,” He replied laughing. “I just got here ten minutes ago. The crew has
really been helping me get all this gear on. I had no idea just going scuba
diving would require all of this equipment.” He stared down pointing at all of
his apparatus.

            “Yeah
it’s a lot.” She laughed as he waddled around in his flippers. “So how are you
feeling about it? I know you were nervous the last we talked.”

            “Shhhhh,”
He whispered quietly in her ear. “Don’t tell these shark lovers that. I’ll
never hear the end of it.”

            She
laughed, assembling her gear. “I was just wondering. I was worried for you.”
She slid her exposure suit on over her bathing suit, observing the ocean, just
steps away from her. She put on her mask and her dive regulator, watching
Marc’s eyes on her. Boards underneath her were creaking as the wooden dock
moaned in the roaring waves. The large boat rocked as the water pushed it
closer and closer to the dock. She could feel Marc’s tension and nerves as he
moved closer to her, his eyes growing big in fear.

            “You’re
scared aren’t you?” She asked suddenly.

            “A
little bit. I don’t know if we can trust these sharks. How do we know they
won’t attack the cage?” He pointed towards the large metal cage sitting in the
middle of the boat.

            “Oh
they won’t, they usually don’t venture too far when they discover something
doesn’t taste very good,” A man said interrupting sticking his hand out in
Marc’s direction. Marc took his hand and shook it with firmness in a
professional manner. “By the way, I am Chris. I don’t think we have met before.
I’m the founder of Shark Savors. There’s nothing to be scared about. Cathy
tells me you’re getting your graduate degree in marine biology?”

            “That’s
good to know,” He sighed in relief. “Yes, I am currently in grad school
pursuing marine biology. I have a passion for marine life.”

            “Well,
welcome to the team. We are glad to have you!” He stiffened his back and turned
towards the group. “Okay Shark Savors, listen up! Today we are going to clean
the shore of Marshall Beach. That means we pick up all the trash, no matter
what it is. We are looking out for fishing nets, aluminum cans, plastic and
other unidentified sharp objects in particular that will hurt sharks. This is
our number one priority to get the trash out of the water to protect the
sharks. Today we have a special guest. This is Marc everyone.” He pointed at
Marc as he flinched in embarrassment.

            “Hello,
Marc!” The group yelled out.

            “Marc
is a graduate student in marine biology. He will be joining Cathy in the tank
today. We will try to tag our favorite shark, Mandy. Now some of you who are
new may not know who Mandy is. She is a female shark who mysteriously
disappears every spring. We have no idea where she goes and we are curious to
know about her whereabouts. Mandy has followed us since day one of our group
formation. When we first started our group, our main goal was to tag sharks and
figure out their patterns so that we could understand their movements better.
By understanding their movements, we will be able to help them in a more
efficient way.”