The One That
Didn't Get Away
by Rick Tornello
YOU CAN’T MAKE ME!”
Ida screamed at her mother, the senior matriarch
of the orca pod.
“Dear, her mother said,
“you are of age, and it is time you
considered…”
I DON’T WANT TO GET
MARRIED. I DON’T WANT BABIES. NOT NOW! NOT
EVER!”
“Maybe you should talk
with your father.” Ida is so much
like him, she thought. Maybe he could say
something.
Talk was one thing her
father didn’t want to do. He knew he was
wrapped around his daughter’s dorsal fin,
but what could he do? His wife was the boss.
They spoke privately. He
said to Ida, “I’ll do what I can. I do
understand. Maybe it is too soon…” She
interrupted swishing her tail,“TOO soon?
Never! Never!Never!”
“Please, Ida,” he
begged. She’s so much like her mother,
he thought. “Please, just be a bit calmer,
please. Your mother doesn’t like
contradiction. You know that. And you know there
is more to life than just play. You have to have
a meaning, a purpose.”
“Yes Daddy,” she
said giving him that look. Ida knew that as long
as her father sided with her, her mother would
back off, if only for a while.
Well, maybe not today.
Her mother came back and
started in again. Ida let out a mind numbing, sea
lion stunning echo-ping, flipped her dorsal fin
at both of them, breached the surface, and all
three tons of her swam off at a top speed of 30
knots, porpoising as she went.
Ida swam and swam for what
felt like an eternity. She eased down to a slow
float, then skyhopped to see where she was. The
location was familiar from a long time ago. There
was a beach up ahead. She remembered it as where
her mom first beached her to teach her how to get
sea lions and other animals on land that were
close enough to the water to eat. She remembered
how scared she was at first. Then it became fun.
Ida was startled by a
splash to her starboard. “Ping,” she
sent. “Who are you?” A double ping came
back, but a different dialect. Well at least it
was related, she thought. She swam toward the
source, pinging.
Then she saw him. “A
porpoise, a little porpoise. How cute,” she
said. “He’s chasing fish. I think I’ll
play too.”
Ida swam up beside him and
gave him a nudge. She was huge compared to him.
He didn’t care. He was having fun and now he
had a playmate. The two of them corralled a
school of fish and pinged to stun. Occasionally
each one would hit a fish with their tail fin. It
would fly out the water. The other would leap to
catch and eat it. They ate until their bellies
were full.
She was going through all
the dialects she knew from different pods, trying
to get verbal communication going. Finally she
hit one that they both knew. “Hello,”
she said. “My name is Ida. What’s yours?”
“Aqua,” he said.
“Where are you from and what are you doing
here?”
“I’m from out
there and I just swam away from my pod.”
“That’s not too
good. Are you okay?” he asked. “I’m
just fishing. I come here a lot. There’s
always a feast and when the tide is right, I can
surf the waves. You should try it!”
“I never surfed before,”
she said. “Show me how.”
“The tide is coming in.
Sure,” he replied.
She was a quick learner and
soon became his equal. They played all day. They
both noticed the sky getting darker. “There’s
a nice cove we can stay in until the morning. It’s
safe,” he said giving the geolocation.
“We usually never
leave our matrilines for more than a few hours.
Mom and Dad are probably going nuts,” Ida
said as she raced him to the cove.
Aqua said, “We
sometimes go alone but not too much. We’re
not as big as your kind.” Aqua knew they
were the apex of the predators and had nothing to
fear.
They talked all night long.
Ida thought, he’s so different from the
others. He nice, fun to be with, and she hit
upon an idea. “Do you want to come home with
me? It’s okay. My mom is the head matriarch.
No one will bother you. Trust me.”
Aqua was a bit surprised,
and concerned. Yes they were related but he never
heard of an orca and porpoise being friends. If
her family was like she was, what the hell.
“Sure why not,” he answered.
As they headed back she
told him more of what was going on. He said,
“No one ever does that in my family. I’m
not sure how we would take to that.”
“I’M NOT DOING
IT!” She screamed.
Aqua was stunned by the
ferocity of the outburst.
“I’m sorry,” Ida
said as she turned toward him. He was still there,
staring at her. He’s a friend, that’s
good, she thought.
They swam past the guardian
orcas that were searching for her. The guardians
looked and couldn’t believe their eyes. They
communicated the sighting. Bad news and gossip
travel quickly, especially in water. Ida’s
mother knew of the situation long before Ida got
home. She had an idea.
When Ida’s father got
wind of this, he went up to his wife and said,
“Relation or not, he’s out of here or
he’s dinner.”
“Now dear,” she
said, “look at it this way, it’s a
start in the right direction. Don’t say
anything. Just go along. I’m sure it won’t
be anything to concern ourselves with, as long as
we don’t make a big deal about it.”
“I hope you’re
right,” he replied as Ida entered the pod.
As if nothing had happened
the day before she said, “Mom, Dad, I’d
like you to meet my good friend and companion,
Aqua. And Daddy, as you said, I should have a
porpoise in life. He’s mine.”
|
