Page 98 of Haze of Obedience
"Yes. Hang on. It's choppy."
For several hours we travel through harsh conditions until the rain stops and the waters calm. The navigation system beeps.
"Finally!" I turn the boat to go closer to shore. We ride for several minutes, and I point ahead. "What is that?"
Zoe rises. "It's a trash island."
"What's that?"
"Honduras blames Guatemala for it. The communities dumped their garbage into a river that flows into the Gulf. Guatemala denies it, of course."
"It's massive," I mutter.
"Yeah. Sad, isn't it?"
"Horrible."
I slow down, several feet from the edge of the waste that is littered everywhere. It seems to go on forever.
"Oh no!" Zoe exclaims.
"What?"
She points. "Look at that dolphin!"
Several feet from the edge, a baby dolphin is stuck in the trash, flopping around. A plastic ring that would hold a six pack of beer together is on his nose. The closer we get, the louder the noise from his fin hitting the garbage sounds.
I stay on the side of the trash, hoping we don’t get any trash in the motor. "He must have swam underneath and gotten stuck."
Zoe holds her hand to her heart. "We have to help it!"
I idle the boat. “We need to find something to scrape the trash aside. We can’t take the boat in that mess or we could get stuck.”
Zoe pulls a fishing net out of the side panel. "Get me closer." She leans over the boat.
"Be careful." I hold onto her waist, and she bends further. "You're too far."
"Make sure I don't fall then." She drags the net through the trash, trying to create an opening. "There's so much of it, and it's so deep."
"Let me try. You're too far overboard."
"No. I can do this."
"Zoe—" The dolphin jumps up and swims through the path she cleared.
"Yay!"
I pull her back in and spin her into me. "Great job."
She points. "Look!"
Three dolphins flip in the air.
"Aww. They're playing!" Her face lights up. All the anger and sadness I saw all morning is gone.
I circle my arms on her waist and murmur. "I love watching you like this."
She freezes. "We should get going before we drift into the trash, and it gets stuck in the propeller." She puts the net away and sits in her seat.
