Chapter 35 The Swimmer
The Swimmer
Mana: supernatural or divine power; spiritual energy, universal life force
Carpinteria, California
A bright April sun reflected on the water and scattered down into the kelp. Minnow had been back now for over a month and
in that time had christened her new boat, Luna, a used Boston Whaler Outrage 26. It was not much longer than a large white shark but was exactly what she needed. Solid,
spacious, maneuverable. She’d also budgeted out half of Angela’s donation and would be using it for shark tags, cutting-edge
underwater camera and video equipment, and a new computer with the latest software that would enable her to better manage
all of her data. The rest of the funds she would save for the future, maybe even for research trips. To Guadalupe. Or Hawai?i.
The island was never far from her mind, even when she was sleeping.
Her dreams were all over the place. From friendly run-ins with Hina, to thunderstorms that rained down baby sharks, to moonlight swims with Luke.
Stupidly, she had thought that with the distance between them, her feelings might fade.
In actuality the opposite had happened. She craved him in a way that slanted her whole world.
They had fallen into the habit of having long and leisurely conversations every Sunday evening, catching up on their weeks.
They talked about everything and nothing, and Minnow was content just to hear the sound of his voice.
The one thing neither spoke of was the future.
It was too soon for that. Or was it? Minnow felt the pull to hop a plane back to Kona, but Luke sounded busy trying to find
work that was meaningful to him. For now, to make ends meet, he had a gig at a new seahorse farm, raising seahorses. He was
also still at George’s place on Hualālai, but he worried about overstaying his welcome. Part of her wanted to suggest he come
to California for a while, but she knew he had to find his own way.
Today three undergrads from UC Santa Barbara were on the boat with her. Nothing formal, just an outing to count juvenile white
sharks in waters off of Carpinteria. Pupping season was in full swing, and Minnow had always had this unyielding dream to
see a newborn white shark—even though no one had ever seen one. There was always a first for everything. These girls were
all marine biology majors but still early in their studies. None of them had ever been in the water with a white shark. Minnow
almost envied them their first encounter.
They floated just outside the surf line, waiting and watching. The girls were all so eager and excited to be out there, and
it brought Minnow back to her days in school, when everything was so fresh.
“What is the one thing you love most about white sharks?” asked Beverly, the quietly observant one.
“Just one thing?”
“Yes.”
Minnow thought for a while. “If I had to pick, it might be the power of their presence and how you can feel them even when
you can’t see them. They really do activate some primal part of our brains, as though we were somehow wired together. Someday
maybe we’ll discover that they have an energetic field. A big one.”
“Like an aura, you mean?” Bev asked.
“I guess you could call it that.”
Beck added, “My mom says horses have big auras, so why not white sharks?”
Why not indeed?
Over the next two hours they spotted two eight or nine footers cruising through a shallow, sandy spot just inside of them,
fins cutting through the surface with their telltale triangular shape. The girls were mesmerized.
“Can we jump in and swim with them?” Shelly asked, as she hung half her body over the edge of the boat.
Beck nudged her. “Don’t be stupid. That’s how you get munched.”
Shelly pulled herself up and looked to Minnow. “Would the juveniles really hurt us? They’re so cute.”
Minnow couldn’t help but smile. “Generally, the juveniles are nonaggressive, but we still wouldn’t jump in. Mainly because
we don’t want to bother them.”
“But you’ve swum with them, haven’t you?”
“I have but under different circumstances.”
“Tell us what it’s like.”
And so she did. By the end of their conversation, she guessed that out of the three of them, Beverly might be the only one
who actually would go on to become a shark scientist. Shelly and Beck were intrigued by the idea of big sharks, but neither
actually knew anything about them. Beverly, on the other hand, had done her research and reminded Minnow a little bit of herself.
Their last stop was near a popular point break. A small swell brought in knee-high and peeling waves, and a few surfers were
out, so they pulled farther into the cove and dropped anchor. Minnow knew they had a better chance at seeing leopard sharks
than white sharks, but she figured the girls would be thrilled to see any kind of shark.
“You guys want to swim toward shore and snorkel for a bit?” Minnow asked.
Their faces all lit up. “Yes!”
They suited up and jumped in, all staying close to Minnow, and soon were in the shallows floating over a scattering of leopard sharks.
Small, spotted and stunning, the sharks had a completely different vibe than white sharks.
Kittens versus lions. It was still hard to get used to the bite of the cold water after spending so much time in the warm waters of Hawai?i, but Minnow acclimated.
The sharks darted this way and that on the bottom, shy creatures that they were.
Minnow hung suspended, watching the girls study the sharks, when she felt a presence behind her. She spun around and saw a
large shape in the turbulence of a small breaking wave. After that first jolt of adrenaline that she usually got when encountering
a large creature in the ocean, she relaxed. It was just some crazy guy out for a swim wearing only surf trunks in fifty-three-degree
water. He kept coming, and Minnow kicked to get out of his way, but he followed. Did he not see her? She popped her head up.
The man did the same. They were face-to-face, and when she realized who it was she tore off her mask.
“Oh my gosh, you scared me! What are you doing here?” she said, unable to keep a smile from spreading throughout her whole
body.
Luke seemed almost nervous. “You told me you’d be here, and I wanted to see you. I hope you don’t mind.”
She let herself float into him and he wrapped his arms around her, giving her a long saltwater kiss.
“I missed you,” he whispered. “Badly.”
“I missed you too. We’re going to need to figure something out,” she said, staring deep into his kelp-flecked eyes.
One side of his mouth lifted. “I have a proposition for you.”