to flog him. I detest brutality but it is my duty to keep strict discipline aboard the ship and to make it a warning to the others that stealing will not be tolerated. Had I not done it, I am sure Mister Lockhart would have snatched the whip from out of my hand and been happy to complete the task. He urged me menacingly to give the boy thirty lashes and cried out with disgust when I stopped at five. As unlikely as it sounds, I feel certain he was amused by the spectacle. I am even suspicious of why he left his pouch open on the table to begin with.
To cheer the mood I ordered the men be given an extra ration of salt beef and a shot of rum for supper. It did the job somewhat. Then Mister Foster, my assistant boatswain, suddenly hailed us all to come observe what at first appeared to be a large black wave in the distance. As the entity drew nearer it became clear it was a whale — one so massive that it nearly equaled the Intrepid in length and breadth. Indeed, when it came up side of us there was such a stir amongst the men I am sure the earlier events of the day were near forgotten.
Some of the men are skilled in harpooning and wanted to kill the great humped animal. I forbade them on the premise that such a catch would take too many days to process and would put us far behind our schedule. Secretly I had not the heart to destroy such a magnificent thing. In the moments after the creature breached the surface, time seemed to stand still. I had felt it gaze into my eyes — and the event moved me beyond words.
For hours we could hear its deep, haunting song across the sea as it trailed behind us. It went on into the night and I found myself drifting asleep to this strange lullaby of nature. When I woke hours later the whale’s song had ceased. In my long career as captain I never felt such deep loneliness. I yearn as never before to be once again amongst kin and hearth. I believe with all my heart this is to be my final voyage.
Captain James Whittaker
Chapter Five
“Okay, kids, today is our last lesson in the pool. On Friday we’ll be diving in open water. Then Saturday you’ll have your dive test. If all goes well you’ll be certified divers. Cool, eh?” Tornado gave us the thumbs-up sign. I got goose bumps at the thought of it. “But hey, before any of that, you need to know one more thing — how to buddy breathe. It’s an important procedure that just might save your life one day. Who can tell me what the steps are to safe buddy breathing?” My hand shot up. I’d studied the manual the night before and knew all the steps by heart.
“Okay, Pammy, tell us what you know.” I was getting used to being called something new every day and hardly even noticed it anymore.
“Step one is to signal to your buddy. If you’re low on air do this.” I placed my hand against my chest with my fingers curled under. “But if you’re out of air this is the signal to use.” I sliced my hand back and forth across my throat, the out-of-air signal. “Then you should tap your regulator with one finger — that tells your buddy that you want to buddy breathe.”
“Very good, Patty. I can see you did your homework. You one of those smarty bookworms?” Tornado sniggered. I rolled my eyes — if only he knew how far he was from the truth. “Okay, okay, just kiddin’. So once you’ve signaled your buddy — what then?”
“You should stay calm and let your buddy take three breaths and hand the regulator to you. Before you take a breath, press the purge button on the regulator to clear it before you inhale. Take three normal breaths and pass it back to your buddy. When you’re both calm and breathing normally, signal your buddy that you’re ready to go up to the surface.” I paused for a moment trying to recall one more important point. “Oh yah, it’s important not to hold your breath, just exhale slowly when you don’t have the regulator.”
“And why don’t we hold our breath when ascending?” Tornado asked the group.
“I know, I know,” pleaded TB.
“Okay, Geronimo — tell us,” urged Tornado.
“Holding your breath while ascending can lead to an air embolism … that’s where you get air in your blood veins and you feel like your entire head, guts, and body is going to explode.”
“Gory stuff, man, right on. But that’s enough for now … don’t want to scare everyone.” By the looks on some of the kids’ faces I’d say it was too late to worry about that. Tornado turned to me.
“Okay, since you and your friend seem to know what you’re doing you’ll demo buddy breathing for the rest of the class.” Why not, I thought. I’ve got all the steps down pat, so it should be easy. Tornado gave us the signal and we got into the deep end of the pool. We had on extra weights so we dropped down fast. TB signaled that he wanted to be the first to practice being out of air and to share my regulator and air tank. Everything went perfectly. Then it was my turn to pretend I was out of air — it would be easy, since I knew more about it than anyone else in the class. I removed my regulator from my mouth and let it go. It floated behind my head. Then I gave TB the out-of-air signal. He took three deep breaths and passed his regulator to me. So far, so good. Then I pushed the purge button and took in three deep breaths. Then I immediately exhaled.
Wait! I wasn’t supposed to do that.
The second after I exhaled I realized what I’d done. It’s funny how when your lungs are empty your brain goes blank too. I started grasping around for my own regulator but couldn’t reach it. Then I grabbed at TB’s regulator. He kept giving me the hand signal to wait while he took two more deep breaths.
When he finally passed it to me I shoved it over my mouth. That’s when I made my second mistake — instead of purging the water from the regulator I immediately began to inhale. Instantly my lungs began filling with water instead of air and I started choking. Then I got completely disoriented. I couldn’t even tell which way led to the surface of the pool. As I tore frantically at my weight belt I saw the look of panic in TB’s eyes. That was the last thing I saw before everything went black.
I don’t know how long it was before I regained consciousness, but when I did I was laying flat on my back at the side of the pool and staring up at Tornado. He was shouting in my ear to “wake up.”
“I’m not deaf,” I moaned weakly. Then I quickly turned to the side and hurled all over his leg.
“So that’s the thanks I get for saving your life.”
“Ah, sorry, Tornado. I, uh …” Someone handed Tornado a wad of paper towel. I looked up to the other students and to TB. If I hadn’t been feeling as crappy as a flat cow patty I’d have laughed at the look on their faces.
“Okay, you guys, everything is all right. Pammy’s mistake makes for a good learning opportunity for everyone. She exhaled too quickly, leaving herself with no air in her lungs. Of course the worst mistake she made was panicking — something you’ll want to make note of in case you’re ever in a situation like this.” Great, now I’ll always be remembered as the kid who lost it in diving school and nearly killed herself panicking. “But don’t be discouraged — the more you practice with this stuff, the more comfortable you’ll get underwater. Just stick to the safety rules and procedures I’ve taught you and you’ll be fine.” Right then I heard a loud whining sound. “Okay, Patsy, the ambulance is here. The medics are going to have a look at you.”
“No, I don’t …” I tried rolling to my side to get up, but flopped back down, exhausted. I didn’t have the strength to resist. Soon I was prodded and checked over by two ambulance guys.
“Hey, that was pretty exciting,” Tornado joked with one of them. “But that artificial resuscitation
