Chapter 7

“Are we sure this is a good idea?” I asked the next day. We stood in the bright sunshine, staring up at a wide blue-painted arch that read Oceanarium.

“I think it is,” Olivia replied. She pulled me toward the entrance, making our way through crowds of families and vacationers outfitted in shorts and ball caps.

“It definitely is,” Cooper said on my other side. “I want you guys to see this in person.”

We made our way past tanks of turtles and fish, an outdoor habitat for seals and one for otters, and a large dolphin pool. Cooper led us up onto concrete bleachers that surrounded a huge pool on three sides. A large digital sign above the pool read: Orca Show featuring Kaya and her trainer, Samantha!

It was strange to realize we’d be seeing an orca soon. I felt more like I was at a public swimming pool. The water in the pool was so blue, and the concrete was hot under my shorts. The bleachers around us were filled with kids grasping melting ice-creams and couples aiming their phones at the pool.

Suddenly music filled the air, and a voice on a loudspeaker boomed, “Oceanarium patrons, welcome to the Orca Show! Please welcome Kaya and her trainer, Samantha!”

Gates I hadn’t noticed before opened at one end of the pool, and with a giant splash, an orca swam into the pool with a trainer in a wet suit riding on her back. The trainer was almost surfing above the water, smiling and waving, as the orca swam rapidly around the perimeter of the pool. The crowd around us cheered as music played.

“The beautiful Kaya!” the announcer’s voice boomed. The orca suddenly dove, flinging her tail up, and the trainer did a somersault and landed beautifully in the water.

As we watched, the trainer swam to the edge of the pool and jumped out. She tweeted a whistle, and Kaya swam over to a large white platform that extended out from the side of the pool, just below the surface of the water.

The trainer knelt beside the orca and gave some kind of hand signal. In response, the whale blew a plume of water out of her blowhole, soaking the first two rows of people, all of whom shrieked with delight. Another signal followed, and the orca flopped off the platform and back into the water.

My stomach felt sick as I watched the show. I looked over at Olivia and Cooper. They both had the same expression on their faces, like they were being forced to hold something sour in their mouths.

“Oh, oh, oh,” Olivia was muttering. Her hands were clenched in her lap.

“I’ve seen enough,” I told the other two.

My friends nodded, and we edged past people out to the aisle. Everyone else seemed enthralled, but I couldn’t watch another minute. We made our way down the steps and away from the pool.

“Sick!” I exploded as soon as we were away. “That’s sickening!”

“They’re treating that orca like a trained dog,” Olivia agreed. “No ocean water, no hunting, no pod, just a whistle and …”

She trailed off, pressing her hands over her mouth. I could see tears coursing down her cheeks.

“I told you,” Cooper said. He gestured toward the dolphin pool we’d stopped by. “It’s the same for these bottlenose dolphins. This is a totally unnatural place for an orca. Orcas are super smart. They have a whole culture within their pods. They have their own language. They’re meant to stay together for their entire lives.”

I sank down onto a bench and rested my arms on my knees. I stared at the concrete beneath my feet, where a group of ants were attacking a chewed-up wad of gum. “I didn’t realize it was this bad.”

“It gets even worse.” Cooper was pacing now, as if he were too upset to stand still. Then he edged toward us and lowered his voice. “Orcas at Oceanarium attack each other and fight, which they never do in the wild. Some orcas have even killed others because they’re just tossed in a tank together. They’ve even attacked their trainers and hurt them.”

Olivia inhaled. “That’s awful!”

“It’s like prison. Imagine being thrust into a cell with a total stranger. That’s what it’s like,” Cooper went on relentlessly. “Orcas never attack humans in the wild. It’s a sign of how stressed they are in places like these.”

I couldn’t bear to think of August winding up at Oceanarium. They couldn’t get him. They just couldn’t. He was only a baby. He deserved to be with his pod, hunting seals and swimming hundreds of miles through cold ocean waters.

“We have to make sure my mom and yours are prepared to make the case to NOAA,” I said, standing up from the bench. “We have to keep August out of here.”

A man walking by gave us a strange look. He was wearing a wet suit, just like the trainer from the Orca Show, and his hair was wet. His face was familiar, but I couldn’t quite place him.

Suddenly the man stopped, and at the same time, I realized who it was: Davis Hammond, the head trainer who’d been lobbying to get August. He was the one who’d sent the letter to SJS. I hadn’t recognized him out of normal clothes and with his hair slicked back.

“Hey, kids,” Davis said, offering us a big smile. “Checking out the show? It’s nice to see you on Oceanarium’s grounds. I hope you saw Kaya and Samantha back there. Pretty impressive, isn’t it?”

I took a deep breath and glanced over at Olivia and Cooper. They both gave me looks that said, Do it!

“Actually we’re pretty worried at even the possibility of August coming to live here.” I hesitated. I’d never said anything like this to an adult before. “We think he’d have a happier life in the wild, with his pod. You have to admit, that’s where he should be, right?”

The smile disappeared from Davis’ face as if it had been sucked off. “As a matter of fact, I don’t agree,” he snapped. “You kids are beyond naïve to think that the orca could be reintroduced into his pod. And so is the rest of the SJS staff. You do know that it’s never been done before, right? No orca has ever been successfully returned to the wild after being rehabilitated by humans. Your orca will starve to death in the ocean, alone. That’s a long, slow death. Is that what you want for him? Is it?”

My face was flaming, and my throat was aching as I faced down his anger. I tried to swallow past the lump in my throat. Thankfully I felt Cooper and Olivia crowding behind me. They gave me the courage to say, “It’s not what I want, but I don’t think that’s what will happen.”

Without waiting for a response, I turned and walked blindly toward the exit, with Cooper and Olivia hurrying behind me. We had seen more than enough. Now we had work to do.