Bone Deep by Gina McMurchy-Barber Page B

many days to process and would put us far behind our schedule. Secretly I had not the heart to destroy such a magnificent thing. In the moments after the creature breached the surface, time seemed to stand still. I had felt it gaze into my eyes — and the event moved me beyond words.
    For hours we could hear its deep, haunting song across the sea as it trailed behind us. It went on into the night and I found myself drifting asleep to this strange lullaby of nature. When I woke hours later the whale’s song had ceased. In my long career as captain I never felt such deep loneliness. I yearn as never before to be once again amongst kin and hearth. I believe with all my heart this is to be my final voyage.
    Captain James Whittaker

Chapter Five
    â€œOkay, kids, today is our last lesson in the pool. On Friday we’ll be diving in open water. Then Saturday you’ll have your dive test. If all goes well you’ll be certified divers. Cool, eh?” Tornado gave us the thumbs-up sign. I got goose bumps at the thought of it. “But hey, before any of that, you need to know one more thing — how to buddy breathe. It’s an important procedure that just might save your life one day. Who can tell me what the steps are to safe buddy breathing?” My hand shot up. I’d studied the manual the night before and knew all the steps by heart.
    â€œOkay, Pammy, tell us what you know.” I was getting used to being called something new every day and hardly even noticed it anymore.
    â€œStep one is to signal to your buddy. If you’re low on air do this.” I placed my hand against my chest with my fingers curled under. “But if you’re out of air this is the signal to use.” I sliced my hand back and forth across my throat, the out-of-air signal. “Then you should tap your regulator with one finger — that tells your buddy that you want to buddy breathe.”
    â€œVery good, Patty. I can see you did your homework. You one of those smarty bookworms?” Tornado sniggered. I rolled my eyes — if only he knew how far he was from the truth. “Okay, okay, just kiddin’. So once you’ve signaled your buddy — what then?”
    â€œYou should stay calm and let your buddy take three breaths and hand the regulator to you. Before you take a breath, press the purge button on the regulator to clear it before you inhale. Take three normal breaths and pass it back to your buddy. When you’re both calm and breathing normally, signal your buddy that you’re ready to go up to the surface.” I paused for a moment trying to recall one more important point. “Oh yah, it’s important not to hold your breath, just exhale slowly when you don’t have the regulator.”
    â€œAnd why don’t we hold our breath when ascending?” Tornado asked the group.
    â€œI know, I know,” pleaded TB.
    â€œOkay, Geronimo — tell us,” urged Tornado.
    â€œHolding your breath while ascending can lead to an air embolism … that’s where you get air in your blood veins and you feel like your entire head, guts, and body is going to explode.”
    â€œGory stuff, man, right on. But that’s enough for now … don’t want to scare everyone.” By the looks on some of the kids’ faces I’d say it was too late to worry about that. Tornado turned to me.
    â€œOkay, since you and your friend seem to know what you’re doing you’ll demo buddy breathing for the rest of the class.” Why not, I thought. I’ve got all the steps down pat, so it should be easy . Tornado gave us the signal and we got into the deep end of the pool. We had on extra weights so we dropped down fast. TB signaled that he wanted to be the first to practice being out of air and to share my regulator and air tank. Everything went perfectly. Then it was my turn to pretend I was out of air — it would be easy, since I knew more about it