Cry of the Sea (23 page)

I didn’t want to lie to them, but my mom,
ever the role model, nodded her head enthusiastically to insist
that I agree with everything she said. So, I’d pull my lips tight
into a fake grin and say, “I’m not the scientist. Dr. Schneider is,
as my mother clearly explained to you. I’m just a teenage girl who
did nothing but help get the mermaids to safety with my dad.” When
pushed, I added, “I do think the mermaids have the ability to
express emotion, though, because they looked genuinely stressed
when I found them and not just in an animal panic way. They looked
like they knew they were dying.”

It worked like Mom wanted. The reporters got
all excited about what we were saying and stumbled off to put
together their pieces with our juicy quotes about thinking, feeling
mermaids living in the Pacific Ocean. After we went through our
half-true story with a sixth reporter, I stole a moment to grab
Mom’s arm before she could signal the next guy over.

“What are you doing?” I asked her, still
holding her arm as I got up from my seat and crouched in front of
her to keep the reporters from seeing my face as I talked. “Dr.
Schneider doesn’t know anything about the mermaids. He didn’t clean
the one and the other ones are dead. In fact, he told Carter and me
he hadn’t managed to even take any pictures of them yet. He’s been
less than useless.”

“That doesn’t matter,” my mom said, waving me
off like an irritating fly. “It sounds better than it being your
opinion.”

“Why? Because I’m just a kid? Because you
don’t think my opinion’s worth anything?”

“Don’t take this personally,” my mom sighed
agitatedly at me. “This isn’t about you.”

“It isn’t?”

“Don’t be ridiculous, June. You don’t have
any degree, and we need something more authoritative than a high
school student’s perspective to hold weight with the bigger
presses. I’m sure Carl will back up all the statements we are
making. It makes him look good.”

“No, it kind of doesn’t, Mom. Being that the
mermaids aren’t there anymore, I don’t think that looks good at
all. What if the reporters go over there?”

“Oh hush,” she said, looking right over my
head. She waved over the next waiting reporter. “It’ll all be fine.
You’ll see.” With a flick of her wrist, she gestured for me to
return to my seat while she stood and shook hands with the guy from
the
Seattle Times
.

“What can we do for you?” my mom asked
him.

He turned to focus on me. “You can tell me
something exclusive, that you haven’t shared with any other
reporter today.”

“The only way I could do that would be to
start making crap up,” I told him. I reached over and patted my mom
on the shoulder pad of her raincoat. “I’m sure my mom can spin up
something for you. It’s her specialty.” Then I lurched out of my
seat and right out of our little interview station. I could hear my
mom calling after me, trying to come across as the cool, calm
mother she wishes she was and not have that crazy shrill she gets
when we’re at home and I haven’t cleaned my room. I imagined her
waving her hands around like she does and saying through a laugh,
“June just needs a little break. She’s been at this all morning and
that’s a lot for a girl her age. Why don’t you have a seat?”

She’s so together, even when she’s not. It
made me want to puke.

As I strode across the sand, I vaguely
noticed the people pointing at me and beginning to follow me. I
think some of them were calling my name, but I didn’t respond to
them at all. Out in the water, my dad looked up and frowned. I
thought he might come to me, but he didn’t. I didn’t go to him
either. I just wanted to get away for a minute, so I headed
straight for the ramp that led up to where we parked the truck, my
eyes on the ground so I wouldn’t slip like I had the other
morning.

I was halfway up the ramp when five sets of
shoes blocked my path. Two of the pairs were high heels, and I
didn’t need to see who was attached to the skinny legs to know who
was stupid enough to wear heels to a beach in the rain. With my
eyes closed, I lifted my head and inhaled deeply before taking in
the sight of Regina, Marlee, Ted, Gary, and Haley standing before
me.

“Aren’t you supposed to be at school?” I
asked with as little emotion as I could project.

Regina grinned madly. “Actually, Mrs. Slater
sent us here to fetch you and bring you back. She said,” Regina
imitated the Vice Principal’s voice “being interviewed for the news
is not an excuse to be out of school.” All her friends laughed.
Haley laughed too much and came across slightly mental. I shot her
look that was supposed to get her to shut up, but she wasn’t paying
attention to my cues anymore.

It was a good impersonation, actually. I had
to give Regina that. It just didn’t strike my funny bone at the
moment. “She sent all of you?”

“Mmmmm, no,” Regina hummed. “I kind of
arranged for their release by getting Mrs. Clefton to agree to us
doing a piece on you for the yearbook.”

“So, you’re all journalists now?” I pointed
down at the flock around my mom. “Join the fun. I’m leaving.” I
took a step up the hill, but five sets of hands reached out to stop
me. “Let me go.”

Ted had a tight grip on my shoulder. “I just
drove all the way out here. You aren’t leaving yet.”

“Besides you don’t have your own car,” Haley
pointed out, prompting a snide chuckle from the Student Council
rich kids. My old best friend wouldn’t have embarrassed me like
that.

“We just want to take some pictures,” Regina
said, gently leading me back down the hill to the sand. “And maybe
be in a couple with you.”

I sighed. “If this whole thing is just so you
can get on TV, it’s not going to work. They aren’t interested in
you.”

“They would be if we found a mermaid,” Marlee
said with a little giggle.

Okay, she’s too stupid to have come up with
that thought. I studied their faces and tried to figure out what
horrible plan they had hatched in the car on the way here. I
noticed they had some duffel bags with them. Nothing weird about
that. The bags could have towels and changes of clothes in them.
That made sense. It’s what sensible people did when they went to
the beach.

Except Marlee was turning her pumps over to
get out the sand and whining about how dirty she was getting, and
Gary kept running his fingers through his hair to try to keep his
hair up despite the fact that the drizzle had already washed away
most of his gel. These were not sensible people. Plus, Haley was
suddenly avoiding my eyes, and all of them were looking around at
the people on the beach and not out at the water, which would have
been more natural if they were really there to watch for
mermaids.

“There aren’t any bathrooms here,” Ted said.
“What kind of beach is this?”

“A small one,” I answered. “There’s a
restroom up at the campground.”

Gary nudged Regina, “That won’t work.”

I reached out and snagged the bag off Haley’s
shoulder, and before she could get her hands on it, I had it
unzipped with the contents spilling out onto the sand. Costume
make-up, a bald cap, some silver material...

“Oh, you’ve got to be kidding!” I shouted.
“Really? You were going to dress up like a mermaid? Did you really
think you could pull that off?”

Haley dropped to her knees and frantically
shoved everything back in the bag, her eyes darting around hoping
none of the reporters were looking. “It wasn’t supposed to look
real,” she muttered. “It was supposed to look like a hoax.”

Gary grinned his Student Council V.P. winning
grin at me. “Come on. It would’ve been fun to get everyone all
riled up out here.”

“It would make everything that my parents and
I are doing look stupid,” I said. “You guys need to leave.”

Regina put up her hands. “Okay, okay, June.
We won’t do the mermaid costume thing. It was kind of a lame idea
anyway.” She shot a look at Gary to make sure he got credit for
thinking of it instead of her. He shrugged like he didn’t care.
“Just let us hang around for a while. Okay?”

“Do whatever you want,” I said, moving back
toward the ramp. “I’m done here.”

“June,” Regina called after me.

At the same exact moment Marlee screamed,
“Mermaid!!!!”

I spun around fast. “Regina, tell her to shut
up. You aren’t doing the trick. Obviously, she didn’t get what we
were all just saying.”

“But there’s
really
a mermaid!” Marlee
shouted, pointing straight out at the ocean. “Look!!!
Mermaid!!!!”

Her shouting caught the attention of all the
people nearby. The crowd pushed toward the water’s edge, shouting
and pointing.

“Marlee!” I yelled through gritted teeth.
“Cut it out! Look what you’re doing!”

“No, June,” Haley said, yanking my arm and
pulling me to the water’s edge. “She’s right. Look.”

Haley pointed out toward the buoys. Sure
enough, I saw a silver tail flipping around in the water like the
creature was stuck. Enough of the long, slender body was out of the
water to reveal the absence of a dorsal fin so it couldn’t have
been a dolphin, and it was too large to be a fish.

Regina stepped up and patted me on the back.
“How’s that for timing, huh?”

I brushed her hand away and grumbled,
“Fantastic.”

Chapter
Fifteen

I immediately tore my arm from Haley’s grasp
and propelled myself forward, ankle-deep into the water. Regina and
Gary grabbed me by my shoulders and prevented me from diving into
the waves while people dashed forward around me.

“What are you doing? Let me go!” I shouted at
them.

“What? Are you going to swim all the way out
there?” Regina asked. “You need to stay dry for when you’re on
camera in a few minutes. Let your dad go get the mermaid and bring
her to you.”

I screamed, “Dad!” My dad was just standing
there, gawking at all the people splashing toward him and tripping
into the water. He didn’t hear me. I screamed again, “Peter
Sawfeather!” My so-called friends joined in. “Peter Sawfeather!”
Finally, we caught his attention. I pointed at the flapping tail.
His face became instantly alarmed.

“Call Carter!” he shouted back. “And get
these people out of the water!” He dove under the water and began
swimming toward the buoy nearest the flailing creature.

I dug my phone out of my pocket and dialed
Carter’s number. To my surprise he answered right away.

“Hey, we’re having an emergency. It looks
like a mermaid has been spotted. Dad needs you at the beach.”

“I’m almost there already,” he said and then
hung up.

I flipped around and addressed Gary and Ted.
“Help me.”

“Do what?” Ted asked.

“Keep these people back.”

“Seriously?” Ted stared at me, completely
useless. “It’s a mob. What do you expect me to do?”

“You and Gary need to help push them
back.”

He didn’t move, and the crowd kept going
farther and farther into the water.

“Look,” I said. “Your girlfriend is going to
be pissed if her mermaid gets damaged by all these crazy people,
and she won’t be able to get the best view. Do you want to deal
with that all afternoon?”

Ted sneered at me, but he knew I was right.
He grabbed Gary by the arm, said something in his ear, and they
both took off chest deep into the water, hollering at people to get
back to land. We had to push people a couple times, and Gary helped
one man who’d fallen face first into the waves by grabbing the back
of his shirt and pointing him back toward the sand.

“My dad is taking care of it. Wait on the
sand, please!” I said over and over to the masses. “You’re making
it harder for him by trying to come out here.”

Eventually we got all of them out of the
water, but they still formed a wall at the water’s edge, snapping
pictures to capture every moment of the rescue. Out in the water,
the flapping of the tail got weaker by the moment, losing its
struggle against the oil. I was completely drenched from the waist
down in saltwater, and the rain had done a number on the top half
of my body. I certainly wasn’t going to be taking any better
pictures at this mermaid recovery than the last one. I stood in the
water with Gary and Ted to make sure no one went past us. Over at
the interviewing station my mom was up out of her director’s seat,
standing behind the row of journalists trying to figure out how to
break through and become the center of attention again. At the
other end of the beach Regina, Marlee, and Haley were all fixing
their lipstick and hair as best they could, using matching compact
mirrors.

My dad rested on the buoy for a moment to
catch his breath. I saw him dodge the frantic tail and a couple of
times he put out a hand to block his face from getting smacked. He
couldn’t pull in the mermaid by himself. I remembered the mermaids
being pretty heavy. Two men from the crowd were swimming out there,
but they stopped halfway to tread water and catch their breath too.
One of them raised a finger to my dad as if to say, “Just a minute.
We’re coming.” He was too out of breath to talk. Equally, my dad,
whose shoulders heaved with his breathing, seemed too tired to
answer them back.

Carter’s voice pierced through the crowd.
“June!” He dashed down the ramp and passed the girls right by
without a glance. I know he was only a year older than Gary and
Ted, but that year made a big difference. His body was much more
sculpted and manly than theirs. He was a young man, and they were
still boys. My heart raced at the sight of him in his t-shirt and
jeans as he hurtled through the small waves to get to me. “Where’s
your dad?”

“Out there!” I shouted back, pointing to the
buoy. “He needs help.”

“I’m on it.” Without hesitation he dove into
the water and began to swim. He passed the old farts in a minute
and didn’t need to stop once before he got to my dad. By now the
tail only flapped a couple weak times a minute. This meant the
creature was probably dying, but it also meant that Carter and my
dad would have a better chance of being able to capture it. They
both lunged toward the creature and dove underwater.