A Whale of a Tale Read online

  “No way! No way!” yelled Pearl. She dashed over to Mrs. Karp and the girls, her long pearl necklace trailing behind her. “Why should we let Kiki ruin the trip for us?”

  Rocky joined in. “Yeah, Mrs. Karp. That little squirt is probably too scared to show up!”

  Mrs. Karp clapped her hands three times. “We will wait two more minutes for Kiki, and then I’m afraid we’ll have to go,” she announced.

  The class lined up two by two, Shelly and Echo in the rear. Just when the friends thought they would have to leave, they heard a splash behind them.

  It was Kiki! Out of breath and looking as pale as mother-of-pearl, the little mergirl swam over to her friends, her head down.

  “Where have you been?” Shelly said. “You had us worried.”

  Echo called out to Mrs. Karp, “Kiki’s here! Let’s go!”

  Rocky looked over his shoulder and blurted out, “It’s about time, shrimp! Who do you think you are, anyway—Neptune?”

  “Rocky, that will be enough out of you,” Mrs. Karp said sharply, and handed Kiki an ID tag. “I expect everyone to be on their best behavior.”

  “Are you feeling okay?” Shelly whispered to Kiki.

  Kiki didn’t lie. “No, I feel terrible. My stomach really hurts. That’s why I’m so late.”

  “Maybe you shouldn’t go,” Shelly suggested. “I could stay with you.”

  Kiki smiled at her friend. She knew how badly Shelly wanted to see the whales.

  “No,” Echo said. “You go, Shelly. I’ll take Kiki back to her dorm room.”

  Now Kiki smiled at Echo. Kiki knew that Echo hoped to see humans at the surface, even if just for a minute. Kiki couldn’t ask her friends to give up this adventure. “That’s okay. I’m sure I’ll be fine.” Kiki nodded at her teacher but held her arms around her stomach.

  Mrs. Karp said to the class, “Now that Kiki’s arrived, we can be on our way.”

  “All right!” Rocky shouted.

  Mrs. Karp frowned and continued, “Listen carefully to these important instructions before we go. The sunlight is very strong, so keep your eyes closed at first. You may swim around to study the whales, but do not wander far. I will blow the conch horn when it’s time to return below to school.” Mrs. Karp patted the shell she had slung around her shoulder.

  “I hope I can do this,” Echo whispered. “I’m excited, but I’m also a little nervous.”

  Shelly patted Echo’s arm. “Don’t worry. We’ll stay with you, right, Kiki?”

  Kiki nodded. She thought Echo was brave to admit she was a tiny bit scared. Why couldn’t she do the same?

  “If there are humans around, I will blow two quick blasts on the shell and we will immediately submerge,” Mrs. Karp added. No one needed to be told about the dangers of humans seeing merkids.

  Echo’s tail fluttered. “Let’s hope there are humans and we can get a quick peek,” she whispered to her friends.

  Shelly nodded. “Grandpa told me humans like to watch humpbacks because they breach so often.”

  Shelly held out one hand to Echo, the other to Kiki. Kiki held on to Shelly, her shell purse swinging back and forth on her wrist. Kiki closed her eyes and wished to herself, Please let me be brave.

  To the Top

  REMEMBER, YOU MAY EXPERIENCE some discomfort on the way to the surface,” Mrs. Karp told the class.

  “Discomfort?” Kiki said, popping her eyes open and growing paler. “That doesn’t sound good.”

  “It’s all right,” Shelly told her. “If your stomach feels worse, just tell us.”

  “Pay close attention to the whales,” Mrs. Karp continued. “When we get back to school, you will write an essay on your experiences.”

  Rocky couldn’t believe his ears. “An essay?” he groaned. “I knew this was too good to be true.”

  Kiki’s throat got tighter and tighter. She felt as if she was going to pass out. She had seen whales from far away, and that had scared her. Now she was going to be close. Too close.

  “When I count to three, you may swim to the surface,” Mrs. Karp instructed. “One, two…”

  “I think I’m going to throw up,” Kiki whimpered to herself.

  “Three!” Mrs. Karp said.

  Several mergirls squealed. Some of the merboys cheered. But they all began rising in the water.

  Merfolk live in the deep parts of the ocean, for protection from sharks and humans, and their eyes are used to the darkness. Even so, Kiki accidentally bumped an old merwoman, who shook her finger at the entire class. “You should be in school instead of knocking decent merfolk about.”

  “S-sorry,” Kiki stammered.

  “I’ve seen that lady near the Manta Ray Station,” Shelly whispered.

  Pearl and Wanda swam by. “What a grouch,” Pearl said.

  Wanda chimed in, “She should meet Mr. Fangtooth.” Both mergirls laughed as they passed Kiki and her friends.

  As the class got closer to the top, the water became clearer and quite bright.

  “I’m feeling so strange,” Echo spluttered.

  “It’s just your merbody adjusting to the different pressure in the water,” Kiki said, remembering Dr. Mousteau’s talk. She tried not to think about the whales up above. I could still turn around and swim back to school, she thought, but at that moment Shelly gripped Kiki’s hand even more tightly.

  “Close your eyes when you get to the top, so the sun won’t blind you,” Shelly said, reminding her friends of Mrs. Karp’s surface instructions. “Open them carefully when you feel the sun’s heat.” The girls quickly closed their eyes.

  Suddenly a loud shriek filled the water: MOOOOOOOWHAWK! The sound vibrated throughout Kiki’s body.

  “What’s that noise?” Echo squeaked.

  Kiki and Echo froze, but Shelly pulled them along. “It’s the male humpback’s song,” she explained.

  “Whales sing?” Echo asked, still squeezing her eyes shut. “I don’t remember that from my second-grade report.”

  “Of course they sing,” Shelly said excitedly. “Didn’t you hear Dr. Mousteau’s lecture? Grandpa told me they have the longest songs of any creature.”

  “I wonder if the humans are near and can hear it too,” Echo said. “Swim faster so we can see for ourselves!”

  Splash! The class broke through the surface of the ocean.

  Kiki felt the burst of air on her face. She felt the pleasant warmth of the sun.

  “Students, slowly open your eyes,” Mrs. Karp instructed. Kiki did as she was told. Little by little, she opened her eyes.

  And then she screamed and screamed!

  No More Secrets

  AAAAAAH!” KIKI HOWLED OUT. “AAAAAH!”

  “What’s wrong?” Echo asked.

  “What is that?” Kiki cried, and pointed to an oval object, shiny and huge.

  “It’s just an eye,” Shelly laughed.

  Kiki stopped screaming. “That’s the biggest eyeball I’ve ever seen. Let’s get out of here!” she said, and started to dive.

  “Wait!” Shelly said. “Where are you going? What’s wrong? I thought you liked whales.”

  Kiki started to cry. “Are you kidding? I’m petrified of them! I can’t believe how big they are!”

  Shelly and Echo looked at each other in surprise. “Why didn’t you tell us?” Echo asked.

  “Are you merladies all right?” Mrs. Karp asked, looking sharply at Kiki.

  “Of course,” Shelly quickly answered. “Kiki was just startled by how big this whale is.”

  Big didn’t begin to describe the creature in front of Kiki. It was massive! Part of it floated above the water, and that part was as big as ten ordinary merhouses put together. The whale had large creases in its neck, and Kiki saw two huge scars on its side. For a moment, she felt sorry that the whale had been hurt. But then she went back to being scared again.

  All around her, she could hear excited merkids shouting. “Wow, this one is like an island!” Rocky yelled.

  “Ick!” Pearl scre
eched. “This one is covered with barnacles.”

  “Mine is the biggest one ever!” Adam shouted.

  Kiki’s eyes darted around. There must have been at least twenty enormous humpbacks in this pod. Just then, one of them spouted water from its blowhole and showered the kids.

  “I think that whale just spit on us!” Rocky yelled.

  Kiki wanted to race home as fast as possible. But she was frozen in place. “Please don’t tell anyone in class how scared I am,” she whispered to Shelly and Echo. “Especially Pearl and Rocky. Pearl will make fun of me, and Rocky will tease me about how scared and small I am.”

  “Kiki,” Shelly said, “don’t worry. Relax. The whales won’t hurt you. I promise.”

  “And we won’t tell anyone your secret. It’s safe with us. I bet you a lot of merkids are frightened—more than you think,” Echo said reassuringly. “I still am, a little bit.”

  Then Kiki heard Shelly speaking to the whale. And even though Kiki was terrified to the tip of her tail, she understood every word.

  “Hello,” Shelly said. “We are excited to meet you. May we touch you?”

  “It winked at us!” Echo said with a nervous giggle.

  “It’s soooooo huge,” Kiki said quietly. It was true. The girls weren’t even as big as this whale’s flippers. “One smack of its tail and we’d go flying.”

  “Don’t worry. He’s very gentle,” Shelly said. She reached out her hand toward the enormous whale.

  “Don’t touch him!” Kiki yelled. But Shelly patted the whale and spoke to him again. The whale let out a sound like a moan.

  “Really?” Shelly answered.

  “What did he say?” Echo said. “Did Dr. Mousteau teach us those words?”

  “He said, ‘It’s okay,’” Kiki explained.

  “What’s okay?” Echo asked.

  “This,” Shelly said. “Watch!”

  Whale Ride

  SHELLY!” KIKI SCREAMED. “GET down off that whale! You’ll get hurt!”

  Shelly waved from the whale’s back, her long red hair swirling around her. “He said we could all ride him.”

  “Wow! Come on, Kiki, let’s do it. Maybe we’ll see a boat or something human!” Echo said.

  “We’ll fall off!” Kiki answered.

  “No, we won’t,” Shelly said. “Kiki, Echo, meet Mortimer. He said we can hold on to his bumps.” Shelly pointed to three knobs on the back of the humpback’s head.

  “Well, you can just tell Mortimer that you are not going to do any such thing,” Kiki said desperately. “Mrs. Karp will not allow it.”

  Kiki, Shelly, and Echo quickly looked at Mrs. Karp, who was trying to keep Rocky from pulling another whale’s tail.

  “She didn’t say we couldn’t ride a whale,” Shelly said.

  Echo grinned as Mortimer let out another long moan.

  Kiki folded her arms over her chest. “Mrs. Karp never told us not to ride a shark, either, but we’re smart enough not to try that.”

  “This is different,” Shelly said. “Mortimer invited us.”

  “I’m doing it,” Echo said, surprising both Shelly and Kiki. “I may never get another chance to do anything like this again.”

  “No!” Kiki squealed. “Echo, you’re going to get up on that monster?”

  “He’s not a monster,” Echo said. “Just because he’s big doesn’t mean he’s a monster.”

  Kiki knew Echo was right. She didn’t like feeling this way. Maybe it was because she was so small herself. Or maybe it was the scary stories her brothers had told her about whales. For whatever reason, she couldn’t help being afraid.

  “Come on,” Shelly begged. “He’s really nice. He wants you to come too.”

  “Well, maybe,” Kiki muttered. Maybe if she held on to her lucky starfish, she could safely join Shelly and Echo. She went to open her purse to get her charm… but the purse wasn’t there! Her purse and her lucky starfish were gone!

  Kiki jumped away from the whale. Oh no! “I… I can’t!” She really couldn’t go, not without her good-luck charm.

  “Then stand back,” Shelly said, “because here we go!”

  Echo jumped onto Mortimer, behind Shelly. “I can’t believe I’m doing this,” Echo said with a nervous giggle.

  With a flip of his tail, Mortimer sprayed Kiki with a big splash of water. Then Mortimer, Echo, and Shelly were gone.

  Deep-Sea Danger

  WHEEE!” SHELLY, ECHO, AND Mortimer dove deep into the ocean.

  “Come back!” Kiki yelled, but her voice was lost in whale song. All around her, whales sang. Kiki held her hands over her ears to block out the noise. “We’ve got to stop them. They’re going to be hurt! Won’t someone help me?” Kiki cried.

  Everyone was too busy talking, touching, splashing, and learning about the other whales. No one heard Kiki. She couldn’t see Mrs. Karp anywhere.

  “I have to find her,” Kiki said. She rushed between the huge whales, searching desperately for her teacher. “Where did she go?”

  With no sign of Mrs. Karp, Kiki was frantic. She realized she would have to be the one to save her friends—there wasn’t a second to waste. Up went her tail, and down went her head into the water.

  Whoosh!

  Mortimer raced by. Kiki swam as fast as she could, but a small mergirl is no match for a speeding humpback whale.

  As she got closer, she heard her friends screaming.

  “Oh no!” Kiki said. “They’re in danger! I knew it!

  “Help!” she yelled. “Somebody help me!” If only I hadn’t lost my starfish, she thought, none of this would have happened!

  “I can help,” a voice said.

  Kiki came face to face with… a whale!

  A Big Decision

  DON’T EAT ME! DON’T HURT me!” Kiki pleaded in the humpback dialect.

  “Why would you say that?” the whale asked.

  “Because that’s what whales do. They eat everything in their sight. Especially small things. Like me,” Kiki whimpered, and backed away. This whale was only half as big as Mortimer, but that was still too large for Kiki.

  “Please don’t leave,” the little whale said. “I’ve never met a mergirl before. And all these merkids are splashing and making so much noise, they’re scaring me!”

  Kiki stopped. “What? You’re scared? How could something as tremendous as you be scared of something as little as me?”

  “I’m just a baby whale,” he said. “But my uncle Mortimer always told me to help all creatures of the sea. And you were calling for help. What’s wrong?”

  Kiki couldn’t believe her ears. “Wow!” she said. “You sure are big for a baby.” Surprising herself, she didn’t swim away. After all, the baby whale was kind of cute. Kiki continued, “Your uncle sped away with my friends on his back. They’re in danger, and I’ve got to find them now!”

  “If you want, you can hold on to my tail and we’ll go look for them,” said the young whale. “But you should know that my uncle would never harm anyone. You can ask any of the whales in our pod.”

  Kiki wasn’t sure what to do. She didn’t want to touch or go near this whale, but she had to save Shelly and Echo. Slowly she put her fingers around his left fluke. He didn’t feel icky at all. Kiki was surprised to find that his fin was pretty smooth.

  “My name is Orman. Hold tightly—I won’t swim too fast,” he assured her.

  “I-I’m K-Kiki,” she stammered as Orman dove deep into the water. At first, Kiki was so nervous she squeezed her eyes shut. She felt the water rushing past her cheeks. After a few minutes, she dared to open one eye.

  The undersea world swirled by in a colorful blur. It wasn’t scary at all. It was really very pretty. Kiki was having so much fun, she almost forgot she was searching for her friends. Suddenly a mass of bubbles swirled around her and Orman.

  “Kiki!” Shelly and Echo yelled.

  “Shelly! Echo!” Kiki shouted back. “Where have you been?” She shook a finger at them. “You could have been injured!
You could have lost a fin! You are both so lucky Orman and I were able to find you.”

  Mortimer let out a hearty laughing sound. Shelly and Echo joined in.

  “What are you all laughing at?” Kiki asked. “This is serious!”

  “Save us from what?” Echo asked.

  “From… from that huge whale,” Kiki said. “He—he might eat you.”

  Shelly smiled. “Oh, Kiki, thank you for being so brave and trying to help us. But we don’t need saving.”

  “You don’t?” Kiki said.

  “No,” Shelly said. “We were having fun.”

  “Then why were you screaming when Mortimer took off with you?” Kiki asked.

  “Screaming? We were squealing because we were so excited,” Echo told her. “But I’m sorry we left you alone. I forgot that you weren’t feeling well.”

  “And that you were scared,” Shelly said. “But, Kiki, if you’re so terrified of humpbacks, why are you with one now?”

  Kiki looked from Orman to her friends and explained, “His name is Orman, and he’s only a young whale. I would never ride on his back. I only held on to his fluke, and he wasn’t swimming all that fast….”

  Shelly laughed. Then Echo. And then Mortimer and Orman. Kiki was mad for a second, but then she laughed too.

  “Well, at least we don’t have to ride the whales anymore,” she said. “I’m not as frightened as I was at first, and Orman is really nice, but now we can all go home.”

  Shelly and Echo smiled and shook their heads.

  “There’s one more adventure today,” Echo said. “Mortimer is going to breach with us on his back.”

  “No!” Kiki said.

  “Yes!” Shelly said. “And you can do it too.”

  “I would never,” Kiki said.

  “If you don’t do it, you’ll never know the fun you’re missing,” Echo said. “This may be your only chance to do something this exciting.”

  Shelly held out her hand. “Come on, Kiki.”

  Kiki looked at Shelly’s hand and made her decision. “I can’t. I’m terrified of such a large creature,” she said in the humpback dialect. “I’m sorry, Mortimer; I’m sorry, Orman, but I just can’t help myself. Maybe it’s because I’ve always been so little for my age.” Kiki began to cry. “And… I lost my lucky starfish charm.”