The Giant
Between nowhere, everywhere and somewhere, the River Novus had given life to the good citizens of Concordia.
Rumoured to be as broad as it was deep; the waterway measured almost a two kilometres across at the point where it flowed into the Boreal Ocean.
The Concordians were peace-loving citizens, with very little to upset their quiet lives. Except for bad weather or the odd measles outbreak, things ran fairly smoothly in their kingdom. But that was about to change.
Soon they would be leaving their comfortable couches and chic coffee shops to get involved in life rather than just watching it on television or reading about it in newspapers.
On the river’s west bank in the city’s poshest borough stood a Very Grand House. Its impressive size loomed over the neighbouring houses that crowded around its park-like gardens.
Inside the House, a young girl threw herself onto a large cushion on the living room floor. A Jack Russell terrier trotted behind her, curled up on a rug in front of the fireplace, and dozed off.
Zoey (for that was her name) was exactly the same age as Chilli. But that was where the similarity ended. For where Chilli lived with heat and passion, Zoey could be compared to an Arctic winter.
These two young girls, who had never met before, would be making choices that would move them towards a common destiny.
Zoey’s luxurious mane of long, blonde hair burned brightly in the warm light of the open hearth. Her astonishing glacier-blue eyes were in startling contrast to her pale hair, making it difficult to focus on anything else when talking to her.
“Time for our favourite programme Benji” she said to her faithful dog. “Mmmm, telly and chocolates. My favourite things on a lousy day.”
She reached over to a silver dish piled high with chocolates standing on an antique coffee table. Her hand circled the heap as she decided what to choose.
“Mmm, yum” she said as she chose one wrapped in the dark green colours of an exclusive department store. She peeled open the sweet and popped it into her mouth.
Zoey picked up a remote control and punched the ‘on’ button, making a large television set on a cherry wood unit leap into life. It was the biggest and most expensive on the market. In fact, everything in in the room was pricey.
Every piece of furniture was a rare antique collected over many hundreds of years. And only the finest of silks had been used on the furnishings, curtains and rugs. Zoey came from a very, very wealthy family. This was no ordinary schoolgirl.
She flicked through the channels, searching for her favourite music programme. By now, she had sucked all the chocolate off the sweet and had reached its centre. She dropped the control on the coffee table in disgust, leaving the television on a news channel.
“Eew! Marzipan! Here Benji, you can have it.”
The Jack Russell jumped up and sat begging on his hind legs. He wagged his tail excitedly as his mistress held the sweet out to him. He took it daintily with his tiny front teeth.
On the television, the familiar tune announcing the evening news blared out. It died away as a pretty news anchor appeared on the screen.
“Good evening viewers.” greeted the anchor. “We begin with our top story tonight in Washington where the run-up for the election for the president of the United States is underway. We are joined live by...”
“Oh groan, not the news.” Zoey reached out for the remote control. But her hand stopped half-way as she watched the news anchor suddenly become flustered.
“I... I... er, I’m getting an urgent message from my controller.”
The newsreader pressed her hand against the microphone in her left ear. She listened with a startled expression on her face to a voice barking out instructions. The news strap filtering across the screen turned bright red and the words ‘Breaking News’ slid across the bottom. The remote control forgotten, Zoey stared curiously at the screen.
“We apologise for the interruption ladies and gentlemen,” said the anchor “but we’ve just been informed about some strange developments on the River Novus near the Halls of Governance. We’re now going live, where we’ll be linking up with Des Johnson from our sister news network, Earth News.”
The anchor’s perky face disappeared from the screen and was replaced by a man standing on a bridge. Zoey recognised the Halls of Governance near her home behind him. The freezing temperature made the reporter’s nose red and an icy wind teased his cheesy hairpiece, making it stand on end.
“Good evening Des. Can you tell us what’s happening?” the asked news anchor.
“Good evening Angela. An extraordinary event has taken place. An eighty-foot blue whale has swum up the River Novus and beached itself in front of the Halls of Governance.”
The camera swung away from the reporter and panned over a gathering crowd of curious onlookers. It stopped as it focused on an enormous whale twisting its huge body from side to side in distress in the shallow brown waters.
A dozen or so people dressed in office wear were standing waist deep in the icy water frantically bailing water onto the whale’s skin. They were using anything they could lay their hands on; some were even using their lunch boxes. But their job was made almost impossible by the whale’s huge flailing fins.
“Look at that Benji. That’s amazing!” The girl drew herself up onto her knees and shuffled closer to the television to get a better look.
“That’s horrible. It looks terrified!” she whispered to herself.
The camera focused on the reporter again who had been joined by two other people. He turned to address one of them, a dark-haired woman wearing a wetsuit.
“We’re joined by Dr. Gomez, an expert in the study of marine mammals, to talk to us about this unusual beaching. Good afternoon Dr. Gomez. Are you able to tell us what happened to this whale and why it’s beached itself so far up the river?”
“Good afternoon Des. So far, we’ve only been able to find out it’s a female and that she recently gave birth.”
“We can only guess that she came from somewhere near the North Pole”, the scientist contined. “It could be that she and her calf were being hunted and she became disorientated. That must’ve been when she was separated from her calf.”
“But as to how and why she swam so far up the Novus... I’m afraid we don’t know at this stage. I doubt that a whale could have swum this far by accident. I know this sounds crazy, but it almost seems like she swam here on purpose.”
“Is there anything else you can tell us?” asked the reporter.
“She’s a blue whale, the largest whale in the world. We’ve named her Vida, the Spanish word for ‘life’. We’ve examined Vida for injuries, and we found a deep wound on her head, just above her right eye. The size and shape of the wound suggests she may’ve been injured by a harpoon. We’re doing blood tests to find out whether she has any infections.”
“And her calf?”
“We estimate that Vida gave birth a few days ago. We’re very concerned about the whereabouts of the calf, if it’s still alive. It won’t survive for long without its mother, so we have to try and find the calf before it’s too late. Vida would also fare better if she had her calf with her; sea mammals have very strong family bonds and she’s most probably missing her baby. So we’re appealing to everyone – if you see anything that you think could be the young whale, please call your local police station immediately.”
At this point Des addressed the camera directly, saying: “Or you can call our news centre and we’ll assist you. Dr. Gomez, how are you and your team trying to help the whale?”
“We’re going to try and lift Vida out of the water and transport her back to the ocean. But we don’t have much time. The shallow water is putting enormous strain on her internal organs.
The scientist flicked away a strand of hair that had swept across her face, saying: “Not many beached whales survive. The longer she stays here, the weaker her chances are for survival. We’re hoping she’ll be able to swim out to sea on her own when the tide rises.”
“Thank you for your time, Dr. Gomez. We wish you luck.”
“Thank you. We’re going to need it.”
The reporter then turned to the man standing on his other side.
“Also with us is Mr Jimmy Dixon, the first person to spot the whale. Good afternoon Mr Dixon, can you please tell the viewers what happened?”
“’Ullo. Well, I was on me way ‘ome from work this afternoon when I spots somefink in the river. At first I fawt it was... I dunno, I fawt it was a big log. But then it started splashing about like, and I thinks to meself: Jimmy me boy, you either had too much of the strong stuff last night, or else you’re going barmy. But then the whale blew air out of its spout and that’s when I realised what it was. I rang the ol’ Bill. I mean, ‘oo do you call if you sees a whale in the river? The flippin’ zoo? ”
“Then what happened?”
“The police fawt it was a crank call. Mind you, can’t say I blame ‘em. Anyways, I finally convinces ‘em, and that’s when they makes their way down here post haste.”
“The one copper got such a shock he asked me to punch him in the arm ‘cos he fawt he was dreamin’. I was only too happy to oblige” he said with a sly grin.
“And then?”
“Well, then it was flippin’ bedlum, mate. First your lot shows up, the crowd from the aquarium pitches up and them guys” (he pointed at the people in the water) “jumps into the water and starts chucking water over the whale.”
“Thank you for your time Mr Dixon.”
“Anytime. It’s been a pleasure mate.”
Des turned and faced the camera again.
“We’ll keep you updated throughout the day on any developments. Please send us your pictures and comments. For now, this is Des Johnson for Earth News handing you back to the studio.”
Back in her living room, Zoey switched off the television. She leapt up from the floor and headed towards the doorway.
“Let’s go Benji! I want to see Vida before they take her away.” She ducked her head into the passage, checking to make sure the dark-suited men wouldn’t follow her.
“The coast is clear. C’mon Benji!” she whispered urgently. The little dog followed her, his tail and bottom wagging madly at the prospect of an adventure.