Page 14 of Mail Order Splash

“It’s ten in the morning. Why are you always so happy after literally no sleep?” He covered his head with his blanket. “Go for a run or something, I need more sleep and why don’t you, by the way?”

“You know how it goes for me. If the sun rises I’m awake, then I stay awake. Besides, don’t you love the morning air?”

“Not when I only got three hours of sleep I don’t.”

“I’m going to check with Tony then go get us some food. Watch over Netty.” I ruffled his hair.

“Bring me donuts. I need something tasty,” he mumbled from under his blankets.

By the time I got back, Josh had the bedding cleaned up and Dr. Garcia was in the water with Netty. “Glad you’re back. She’s anxious to be free from this.”

Forgetting the food in my hand, I ran for the edge as Josh lowered the sling and released her. She swam around slowly at first then zoomed across the pool. I sat on the edge watching as she got closer. Thinking she was about to come see me, I put my hands in the water, but instead she swam close to Doc and nudged him.

“I leave for an hour, and this happens,” I frowned. “Netty, you’re a traitor. I’m the one that saved you, ya know.”

“She only wants more of the shrimp I’ve been giving her.” He pulled himself out of the water. “Her lungs sound good. I feel safe saying she’s gonna be alright.”

“I’m glad, because you and I both know we don’t get this lucky all that often.” I handed him a donut. “That, and there will always be more to save.”

“I’m glad you feel that way. Tony just called and it seems we have another to save in the same area and, this time, a pod is there trying to help.” Josh put his hand out to pull me up.

“Interesting. I wonder if it’s Netty’s pod.” I hurried to the office to change my clothes. “See ya, Doc. Wish us luck.”

Josh and I had been doing this rescue thing for years. We could be ready to go in minutes without speaking a single word to one another. Five minutes later, we were pushing away from the dock. The ride out to the rescue was always the worst for me. It felt like it took hours to get there.

“Kleine, are you on your way? Over.” The radio rang out loudly.

“We should be there in ten minutes. Over.”

“Good, you have another one like the last, but the pod is going crazy. I’ll stick around until I get a call.”

I suited up, ready to dive in without any further wasted time. Thank goodness for Josh for remembering to reload the floatation device I made. I could see upon our approach we would need it.

“You’re going to have your hands full with all of them wanting to help,” Tony called out. “I can try to scare them away.”

“No, don’t, they only care about a family member.” I sat on the edge of the boat.

“Are you going in with all of them? There has to be ten.” Tony shook his head.

“It’s the only way to complete the rescue so, yeah, I’m going in.” I leaned back. “They won’t bother me.”

“I’ll be back. I wanna get that boat coming toward us to change its course.”

Once again, I was cutting netting away from a dolphin, except this time his pod was acting aggressively to help out. They were bumping into me, but not biting. Eventually, they realized I was helping and stayed close, pushing him to the surface every few minutes. It had been amazing to me as a child as much as an adult to see how the pod takes care of their own. To see them in action, pushing him up so he wouldn’t drown, was one of those memories with my granddad that I would never forget, and one more reason why I would not let his dreams fall apart.

I’m going to find a way to save the aquarium even if it means I have to dress up and go to those dreadful parties.

Chapter Six

DALTON

“I’m going out on the water today. You wanna come with me?” I stood in front of the video game Eli was playing.

“Dude, what the heck? You made my guy lose.” He tossed his controller on the table. “Not cool.”

“What’s not cool is you’ve been playing that thing for two hours, like you do every morning, I might add.”

“So what, it keeps my brain active.”

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