Whale Song Read Online Free PDF Page A

supper.
    “ I’ll be here tomorrow,” I said. “Where do you live anyway?”
    She pointed down the beach and told me that her house was around the bend, just beyond a small dock. I promised her that I’d return the next day.
    Then I raced home.
    As I sprinted up to the deck and entered through the sliding doors, I glanced at my watch. “Shoot.” I was late.
    “ I’m home,” I hollered.
    I heard footsteps overhead. “Sarah, is that you?”
    “ Yeah, Mom.”
    A minute later she appeared. “I was just about to go look for you. It’s almost half past four.” She tapped her watch.
    “ Sorry,” I said. “I met an Indian girl when I was swimming and we started talking…and I forgot about the time.”
    My mother sat down at the dining room table. “What’s your friend’s name?”
    I told her all about Goldie. When I got to the part about her brother, my mother’s smile vanished.
    “ Mom, did you know that some Indians believe that if a person drowns they can come back as a whale?”
    “ That’s a wonderful legend,” she replied, her smile returning.
    Outside, a car engine rumbled to a stop. A second later, the back door opened and my father appeared.
    “ Hey,” he said. “What have you two been up to all day?”
    Before he could take his shoes off, I told him all about Goldie, her brother and the whale in the bay.
    “ She’s afraid you’ll hurt the whales,” I said.
    He patted my hand. “Tell her I’m just studying them. I promise I won’t hurt them.”
    At suppertime, my father told us he had some exciting news.
    “ Sea Corp is getting a new schooner with state-of-the-art electronic equipment. It’s coming all the way from Finland.”
    He was so excited that he couldn’t stop talking. He told us that the boat had been built a few years earlier and that one of his co-workers knew the previous owner and had convinced the man to sell it after a year of negotiations.
    “ We’re going to study echolocation,” my father said. “Then we’ll look at whales’ dialects.” He turned to me. “Sarah, did you know that whales emit short sounds or clicks?”
    I shook my head, trying hard not to laugh at him.
    “ They listen for the reflecting echo,” he continued. “That’s how they can tell how far away an object is. Whales measure the time it takes for the echo to return. That’s called echolocation.”
    He loved explaining things to us with his scientific mind .
    Sometimes my mother would roll her eyes and say, “Here he goes again.”
    “ Killer whales are also called Orcas,” he added. “And they’re divided into three ecotypes. Do you remember what they are?”
    My father was a wonderful teacher. Over the past two years, he had taught me all about whales and dolphins.
    “ I think so,” I answered. “Residents are the ones that stay in the same area. Uh, offshores are the ones that are offshore and don’t come too close in. And…I forget the last one.”
    He gave me a patient smile. “Transients. They’re the ones that move around a lot. Some have even been sighted miles away from their original location. They’re a bit unpredictable and often eat other mammals.”
    “ Well, Professor Richardson, are you ready for dessert?” my mother said with a laugh as she reached for his plate.
    His hand shot out and grabbed hers. With a shriek, she jumped back. My father stared at her, then kissed her fingers.
    “ I thought that was dessert,” he teased, his eyes wide with feigned innocence.
    “ Yeah, but you never know where my fingers have been, Jack.” She snatched her hand back and pretended to pick her nose.
    “ Ew!” I groaned.
    My parents started laughing and it was contagious. Soon I joined them. Every time my mother snorted, we’d break into another fit of laughter.
    Sometimes my family was so weird.
    My mother and father were always touching each other, holding hands and kissing like teenagers. Most of the time I quite liked it. But sometimes when my friends were around,