Shark Lover (11 page)

He
put his hand to his heart, in shock. She was always popping out of nowhere
scaring him to death. He was actually starting to get used to it for some
reason. “Uhhh ummm uhhh,” he said as he tried speaking through his mask and
tank, failing miserably.

“Hahaha,
uhhh,” Cathy tried to laugh as she watched Marc try to formulate words through
his equipment.

He
smiled, although nobody could see since he had just descended underwater. He
started to search through the misty seas for trash that would hurt sharks. All
he saw was water and a lot of it. It was all so dark and misty he could barely
see through his mask. He used his flippers to kick and swim lower to the ocean
floor. He knew that the boat was parked in the middle of the ocean close to
Marshall Beach, but he was surprised that he hadn’t come across any debris yet.
He looked around as the group was searching as well. They had already picked up
ten aluminum cans, one tire, a boot and tons of plastic bottles as well as
debris. He saw the other divers diving down to pick up the trash as fast as
they could and bringing it back to the boat to put it in the “trash net” as
Chris had called it. The group moved fast, he thought. They must be used to
working at a quick pace, since they cleaned up areas and then did scientific
work with sharks.

He
decided that this area was already clean and had more than enough help from the
other divers of Shark Savors. Venturing away from the area, he realized what he
was doing with dangerous. He knew it was safer to stay with the group and look
for more debris along with them, but he was tired of swimming around in the
same area and he did want to help save more sharks lives. He swam further away
from the group, gaining distance closer to a rock.

He
swam lower to see if there was any trash around the area. He saw something
silver in the water. He swam further down to see what it was. It was so close,
yet he couldn’t grab it. He pushed his flippers farther into the water, seeing
that it was an aluminum can. He just had to grab it. It could hurt one of the
sharks. Giving a large push with his arms, he swam as fast as he could,
reaching out his left arm to grab it. He almost felt like Superman for a moment.
Here he was in a scuba diving suit, diving into the cold ocean trying to save
sharks from debris.

Reaching
down further, he finally had the aluminum can in his hands. Even though it was
just one can, he felt as if he had saved a shark’s life. As he grabbed it
tighter, he felt success tingling through his bones. He never thought that
trash pickup could be so beneficial. He picked up the speed as he neared the
boat. He could see it coming closer and closer into his proximity. Once he had
finally reached it, he put the can in the trash net. He saw Chris on the side
of the boat, motioning for everyone to come back on board.

“All
right everyone. It looks pretty clean!” He picked up the trash net to show
everyone in the group. “We sure have a lot of debris here. I will bring it back
to base and sort through it for us all. Everything that is recyclable will go
in a recycling waste area and the rest will go to the trash. Now that we have
fully cleaned the area, we will proceed to the second part of this adventure.
So if I can have everyone come back up on board, we will start to prep Marc and
Cathy to go into the dive tank.”

Fear
slivered through Marc’s body as he thought about the possibility of going into
the dive tank. He had a pretty good time scuba diving, but shark diving was
another story. He wasn’t sure if he was strong enough yet to handle the
pressure that would bring. He comprehended at that moment that he was the only
one left in the water. The rest of the Shark Savor group had already evacuated
the water and were looking at him in anticipation to get out to start the next
round. He saw Cathy by the edge of the boat, motioning for him to come join
her.

“Marc?”
She cried. “Are you coming up? Chris is ready to leave. We need to get going
soon if we want to still be able to dive in the shark tank.”

He
gave her a thumbs up sign and swam over as to her as fast as he could. Even
though he really didn’t want to swim in the shark tank, he didn’t want to
disappoint the woman that he loved. He got to the ladder and started lifting
his mask up so he could speak again. He climbed the metal ladder slowly, he
didn’t want to trip over his flippers. As much as he had enjoyed scuba diving,
he couldn’t wait to take all of the equipment off. It was harassing his
intestines, he could barely breathe with all of it on him. He was surprised at
how heavy all of the equipment could be when it was all added up together.

“It’s
good to see you again, Marc.” Chris patted Marc on the back again. “Glad you
made it through your first time. I hope you enjoyed it. We really made a big
difference there. I can’t believe all the trash we picked up.”

“I
did enjoy it.” Marc nodded. “It was worth it. Even if it saves one shark.”

Chris
smiled. “That’s a good way to look at it.” He turned towards the group to
direct them. “Okay, now everyone you may now take off your scuba gear. Cathy
and Marc are the only ones who need to keep their gear on now. We will be going
to a more central location in the middle of the ocean so we can view the sharks
again.”

“Oh
goodie,” Marc whispered to Cathy as he noticed that she had popped up next to
him again. He found it ironic that she always disappeared and then popped up
again out of nowhere. It was a trait that was starting to grow on him. “I don’t
know if I am ready for this yet.”

“Don’t
worry too much. We will be in that huge silver tank over there. The sharks
won’t be able to eat us.”

“Eat
us?” He gulped as he pictured a huge shark destroying his intestines. It wasn’t
a pretty picture.

“They
are harmless creatures really. They don’t randomly devour creatures as a lot of
people think they do. They actually have a mechanism that allows them to just
bite creatures or objects to see if they taste good and they end up spitting
them out if they aren’t the meal they were looking for.”

“Well,
that makes me feel a lot better.” He laughed. “At least it will only take a
bite of me before it decides to either devour me or spit me out.”

She
laughed back. “Well I hope it is the latter. I would hate to see you devoured
by a shark. You are too good of a person.” She sat down as the boat started
moving faster. “Well, it looks like we are almost there. And don’t worry too
much. It will be fine. I promise. I wouldn’t take you into a situation that I would
see as being dangerous.”  

“Good
because I was starting to trust you.” He looked out at the ocean, the waves
rolling slowly towards the bottom of the boat. It was all so peaceful. He could
almost feel himself relaxing. He never took the time to relinquish a quiet
moment when he had the chance. Enjoying his peaceful moment to the fullest, he
realized that it would indeed end soon. The sun was blasting down through the
clouds and shining upon the boat. He took it as a sign that God was shining
down on him, pleading for him to take the chance. Marc looked up into the sky
and then back downward at the boat. He wasn’t going to let this opportunity to
help a shark pass him by. He wanted to face his fears and help another shark
survive. And he would succeed.

            “So
how do we know if it is really Mandy we are tagging or if it is just some other
shark that looks a lot like Mandy?” Marc asked Chris as he helped prepare the
metal cage for the voyage.

            Chris
paused, thinking of an answer. “Well, Mandy is a very distinct looking shark.
We can always tell it is her from her fins. Most shark fins look the same, but
not hers. Mandy’s fins have a design to them, they are rounded, but they also
crease. If I could think of an object to compare them to, I would probably say
a key.”

            “Why
would you say a key? Does she have any other distinct markings?” Marc
questioned.

            “The
ridge of a key has diverse markings. It goes up and down in different patterns.
Her fins are similar to that. And yes now that I think about it, she does have
some distinct features. Our group is very connected to Mandy because on our
first outing as a group, she was there. It wasn’t under normal circumstances
either. She was trapped in a net. One of our divers found her all tangled up in
what looked to be a disposed fisherman’s net. Sharks need to be constantly
moving to keep breathing. If they get tangled up in nets they can drown. If we
wouldn’t have gotten there at that exact moment, she probably would have died.
Once we found her, we untangled the net and we set her free back into the
ocean. We would like to think that she is forever grateful to us for saving her
life and that’s why she comes back. But who knows, it could be something else
bringing her back.” He spoke with passion in his eyes as he helped open the
large metal cage for Cathy and Marc to get in.

            “Wow
that is quite a story. I had no idea that your team had rescued her, no wonder
she has stuck around so faithfully throughout the years.”

            “Yeah,
we were lucky to get her when we did. A moment later and she would have
drowned. It could be the fact that we saved her life or it could be the tuna
that we drop off the deck. You know how sharks are with their tuna.” He grinned
as he let Marc inside the metal cage. “Now where did your girl Cathy go? I
haven’t seen her in a while again.”

            “I’m
not sure where she went. Maybe she went to get a fresh change of clothes. I
know she doesn’t like the feeling of being damp.”

            “That’s
strange, especially since she grew up in the Bay area. I don’t know about you,
but being damp and wet is like second nature to me. I grew up in the sea. I was
always addicted to the ocean and its striking creatures. Suits me well that
thirty years later, I’m still here working with the water and the animals.” He
looked thoughtfully out into the sky, admiring the beautiful day it had become.

            Marc
didn’t have time to answer as Cathy ran through the group of divers, while
still wearing all of her equipment. She ran fast for wearing all of that
equipment, he thought to himself. He could never get around that fast with all
of this heavy gear on. Although he wasn’t as coordinated or athletic as she
was. Maybe he used to be in past years, but not anymore. He seemed to have lost
his athletic touch the older he got. He didn’t know what happened to it. It
just seemed to have vanished into thin air. She then jumped through the metal
cage like it was a hurdle and landed right next to him.

            “Hi,”
She breathed heavy, smiling ear to ear at him.

            “Where
were you? Chris and I were looking for you. It’s time for us to go find Mandy.
I’m actually pretty excited about this now.”

            “I
was just feeding the seagulls. A whole flock of them were chasing our boat. I
started giving them pieces of my sandwich. It was hard to stop, they were
enjoying it so much.”

            “You
and your love for animals,” He sighed before saying, “I’m glad we are having
this experience together. We both love animals and are eager to help them. I’m
thinking that we must be perfect for each other.”

            “You
think so?”

            “Of
course. I can’t think of anyone else that I would rather be with.”

            “All
right you two. Enough love talk.” Chris laughed. “We are about to lift the cage
up. Don’t get too nervous. It will be lifted slowly and placed in the water gradually.
Now you have your headsets, listen to our instructions when tagging Mandy.
Cathy has more experience in this area, but I am sure as a marine biologist you
know what you are doing as well, Marc.”

            They
both nodded as the cage started lifting up slowly. Marc looked around at his
surroundings. Never in a million years would he have predicted to be here. He
was next to a beautiful girl, rising up in a metal shark tank, about to be
dropped in the dangerous sea. The cage was large. He didn’t know that they made
cages this enormous. It reminded him of the cage that he had as a child for his
hamster, Henry. He had bought his Henry a metal wire cage rather than a glass
one, so that he could reach through the cage and pet him anytime he wanted. He
loved feeling the soft fur on the tips of his fingers. His hamster loved
carrots and through the metal cage, he would hand feed them to him.

When
Henry was upset or angry he would often chew on the metal wires of the cage,
Marc would then let him out of the cage and put him in his hamster ball. Henry
would run wild for hours in that ball. He loved the freedom. He often felt bad
for Henry, the fact that he was trapping him made him feel upset. He knew Henry
wanted to be wild and free. There were some days that he hated being stuck in
that cage. Marc felt the same way today. He felt the same helplessness that
Henry had felt when he had been trapped in that cage every day of his life.

“Testing,
testing,” Chris announced over the speaker. “Can you both hear me?”

Marc
shook his head back and force, wondering where Chris’s voice was coming from.

“Yes,
I can hear you Chris.” Cathy replied slowly looking over at Marc in confusion.

“Marc,
you’re shaking your head no. Can you hear me now?” Chris repeated again.