followed Desi’s progress as much as Pete has allowed her to.
He shrugs. ‘A worry.’
‘Just give her time.’
He doesn’t want to talk about it. ‘Look,’ he says, handing her the car keys, hoping he doesn’t sound rude, ‘I can’t stop. Thanks for the loan. Can I take it again tonight?’
‘Of course, any time. Sure you won’t stay for a coffee or something?’
He shakes his head and makes for the door.
‘What are you doing with yourself nowadays?’ Maggie asks, following him.
Maggie has slotted so well into the gap their mother left, Pete thinks.
Answering one question will only lead to another. He turns and kisses her on the cheek. ‘I’m fine, Mags. I’ll see you soon.’ Then he walks briskly around the side of the house, collects his bicycle and rides away.
8
Jackson
I t is five in the morning, barely light outside. Jackson is woken by someone walking in the corridor, ringing a handbell to get everybody up. His head is groggy – he has been kept awake most of the night by the noise of the engine as they travelled, a loud, chugging soundtrack to his mixed-up thoughts. Only as dawn was breaking had they stopped, leaving him dozing to the soothing slosh and gurgle of seawater against the boat.
He splashes cold water on his face and hurries upstairs to find that, impossibly, everyone has got there before him. The team are delving into platters of food – omelettes, vegetable rice, fruit and toast. The galley is the size of a toilet cubicle, and Jackson has no idea how they do it, but the food on this boat is amazing.
‘Ready?’ asks Ian.
‘Oh yeah,’ Jackson replies, wishing he could convey how grateful he is to be given this chance. Ian had begun involving Jackson in his research a couple of years ago, on his regular tripsto Ningaloo, but Jackson had never believed he’d be handed an opportunity like this. However, since Ian had damaged his leg in a car accident, he couldn’t do much swimming, and Jackson had become his trusted assistant in the water.
There is a small briefing while they eat, although most of the drill was outlined to them last night. They need to be kitted up and ready to jump in as soon as the first shark is sighted. When the captain comes to say the spotter plane is on its way, everyone gets up, people grabbing food off the platters and cramming it into their mouths as they leave. Out on deck, the focus is on getting ready, pulling on wetsuits, wetting masks and gathering fins. Two of the researchers have chosen to dive so they can film underneath the shark, while the rest, including Jackson, are snorkelling. As he moves to the stern of the boat, he hears a few whooshes of air as scuba tanks are turned on.
They stand on the dive platform in a line, waiting for the signal. Jackson’s adrenaline is pumping. The captain begins to shout ‘Ay-ay-ay-ay-ay!’, and Jackson looks up to see him shooing them impatiently. Someone else shouts ‘
Rapido, rapido!
’ and, as soon as one goes, they all fall in turn like dominos, leaving one world and entering another.
Jackson is so psyched that he hardly registers the cold as he hits the water. He loves this moment, the thrill of coming face to face with a living monolith. For the first couple of days he is here to learn about the new satellite tagging and retrieval techniques, but later on in the week, as long as they keep finding whale sharks, he should get a chance to try them for himself. When the time comes, he wants to be ready. The boat is full of people with letters after their names, and, although they are all remarkably kind and helpful, Jackson still wants to prove he is worthy of his place.
Jumping in with a whale shark is not an exact science. Theboat is moving, the animal is moving, and the first priority of a swimmer is to orientate themselves in relation to the whale shark and, if necessary, get swiftly out of the way. A whale shark can be slow to change its trajectory, and while collisions are almost
He shrugs. ‘A worry.’
‘Just give her time.’
He doesn’t want to talk about it. ‘Look,’ he says, handing her the car keys, hoping he doesn’t sound rude, ‘I can’t stop. Thanks for the loan. Can I take it again tonight?’
‘Of course, any time. Sure you won’t stay for a coffee or something?’
He shakes his head and makes for the door.
‘What are you doing with yourself nowadays?’ Maggie asks, following him.
Maggie has slotted so well into the gap their mother left, Pete thinks.
Answering one question will only lead to another. He turns and kisses her on the cheek. ‘I’m fine, Mags. I’ll see you soon.’ Then he walks briskly around the side of the house, collects his bicycle and rides away.
8
Jackson
I t is five in the morning, barely light outside. Jackson is woken by someone walking in the corridor, ringing a handbell to get everybody up. His head is groggy – he has been kept awake most of the night by the noise of the engine as they travelled, a loud, chugging soundtrack to his mixed-up thoughts. Only as dawn was breaking had they stopped, leaving him dozing to the soothing slosh and gurgle of seawater against the boat.
He splashes cold water on his face and hurries upstairs to find that, impossibly, everyone has got there before him. The team are delving into platters of food – omelettes, vegetable rice, fruit and toast. The galley is the size of a toilet cubicle, and Jackson has no idea how they do it, but the food on this boat is amazing.
‘Ready?’ asks Ian.
‘Oh yeah,’ Jackson replies, wishing he could convey how grateful he is to be given this chance. Ian had begun involving Jackson in his research a couple of years ago, on his regular tripsto Ningaloo, but Jackson had never believed he’d be handed an opportunity like this. However, since Ian had damaged his leg in a car accident, he couldn’t do much swimming, and Jackson had become his trusted assistant in the water.
There is a small briefing while they eat, although most of the drill was outlined to them last night. They need to be kitted up and ready to jump in as soon as the first shark is sighted. When the captain comes to say the spotter plane is on its way, everyone gets up, people grabbing food off the platters and cramming it into their mouths as they leave. Out on deck, the focus is on getting ready, pulling on wetsuits, wetting masks and gathering fins. Two of the researchers have chosen to dive so they can film underneath the shark, while the rest, including Jackson, are snorkelling. As he moves to the stern of the boat, he hears a few whooshes of air as scuba tanks are turned on.
They stand on the dive platform in a line, waiting for the signal. Jackson’s adrenaline is pumping. The captain begins to shout ‘Ay-ay-ay-ay-ay!’, and Jackson looks up to see him shooing them impatiently. Someone else shouts ‘
Rapido, rapido!
’ and, as soon as one goes, they all fall in turn like dominos, leaving one world and entering another.
Jackson is so psyched that he hardly registers the cold as he hits the water. He loves this moment, the thrill of coming face to face with a living monolith. For the first couple of days he is here to learn about the new satellite tagging and retrieval techniques, but later on in the week, as long as they keep finding whale sharks, he should get a chance to try them for himself. When the time comes, he wants to be ready. The boat is full of people with letters after their names, and, although they are all remarkably kind and helpful, Jackson still wants to prove he is worthy of his place.
Jumping in with a whale shark is not an exact science. Theboat is moving, the animal is moving, and the first priority of a swimmer is to orientate themselves in relation to the whale shark and, if necessary, get swiftly out of the way. A whale shark can be slow to change its trajectory, and while collisions are almost
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