| Antarctic Zebra(fiction) |
The birthday was just another embarrassment, peers singing the 1st graders song in ragged UN-tuned voices. I sat there cringing, sinking down in my seat, wishing DEARLY that Mom had let me stay home.
Once school was behind me I could be happy and I was. Skipping my way down the drive, and whistling to myself. Suddenly I landed on a slab of ice and tobogganed like a penguin to the bottom. It was sort of fun until I came to the bank. The snow buffer had froze in the last rain and rather hurt when I collided with it. In fact it hurt so much that I was bawling, sobbing and whining on the ice. I had a tremendous pain in my arm. So much I wanted to cut it off. I don't know how long I was lying on the ice crying probably only a couple of seconds. Mom was soon by my side. I remember a HUGE surge of overwhelming pain, so large that everything went black.
When I woke up I was lying on a hard cot in the hospital. The first thing I noticed was the heaviness of my arm. I lifted my head to discover I had broken my arm. The bright green cast stuck to my arm so tightly that I had to check for circulation in my fingers. I looked around, slumped in the chair by the window was Mom. Her hair was messily stacked on top of her head. Its gold color was catching the morning sun. That's when I figured it out, IT WAS MORNING! I groaned and laid my head back hard. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Mom snap to attention. She turned toward me.
"Oh good, you're awake," she said her voice tired and weak. Her face was dragging and she had bags under her eyes. " I kept your cake for you," she said, as if it had great importance.
"Thank you!" I answered trying to sound enthusiastic "and I still want to have my party at Pizza Hut." Her smile made me smile, which made her laugh, which made me laugh. It was very helpful.
I was sprung from the hospital 2 days after I turned 14. My party was intended on being a friend sleep over, including a movie and dinner at Pizza Hut. I got the movie, the dinner and the friends, but the arm prevented me from having the sleep over.
I survived and even had good spirits about it because of my 2 FANTASTIC gifts.
|
The first was from combined efforts of my Mom, my Grandmother and my Dad |
The second was SO neat. It was small and gray. It had wings and made sweet singing noises. Its yellow face and orange cheeks built on its character, leaving the beady black eyes and yellow crest to show emotion. Along with this bird was a handbook titled "You Know your COCKATEIL." I couldn't tell which was the better present. I didn't care.
The first couple of days after I broke my arm I stayed home. But finally, when I was up to it, I went back to school. I was so far behind that I almost gave up. I almost skipped the whole thing, but each day when I went home, the little thing that greeted me with my own little song, inspired me to keep high spirits and do my work. Her little eyes and crests shined and moved indicating her second by second mood swings. That little bird that I named "Peachy" was beginning to sing. We would sit there and sing to each other. After the 10th day she would come out on my finger. Sitting on my shoulder she would sing and sing. Peachy had to have her wings trimmed. She would scream and cry so much that you thought you were killing her. Little did she know it was necessary.
Peachy was a big problem. What should we do with her? 4 weeks is a LONG time. In the end my neighbors came and took her to their house. It worried me sick. I had no doubt that they were the best choice but I still had to worry.
The plane left at 9:00 am so we had to be there at 7:30. It's not very much fun getting up that early with a broken arm, but it's nothing like going to school. I was so exited I had butterflies in my stomach.
We got to the airport and went to the gate. The flight was departing from my homeland, Portland (Maine). We would fly down the coast and stop at the Orlando airport in Florida, where we were to get in a plane going to South America.
I was so tired that I fell asleep. The hum of the plane filled my ears. When I woke we were making an approach over Brazil.
"Hi" Mom said peering into my face "you slept the whole trip!"
"And how long was that?" I asked yawning and lifting my cast in what was supposed to be a stretch.
"Oh, I don't know, ever since we left Florida."
"I knew THAT!" I said laughing. She yawned and I realized she had probably fallen asleep too. We were on our way, our vacation had begun. What was there to worry about? I was determined not to let ANYTHING get in the way. Yet way in the back of my mind I couldn't seem to get rid of the name Peachy.
We were wandering around South America. The shops in the streets had a buzz of excitement. I had never seen so many people on one street, not even when Dad took me to New York. Mom and I were having so much fun that we even went to the fortuneteller. I stepped into the tent and was overwhelmed by incense. "Talk about second hand smoke", I thought "2 min in here and I will have lung cancer". The Fortuneteller sat at a table. In front of her was a shimmering "crystal ball". She was thin and had thick dark hair that poked out from under her turban.
"Hello" she hummed. Her voice buzzed so much that her hair shivered. "Sit…now focus and I will tell you your future." I sat down and stared in the ball. It looked like VERY large marble to me. "Ah…yes…OH MY!" She gasped. "You will have terrible trouble on your up coming journey. Your arm, a stairway…no more can I tell you. Cross my palm with silver and I will tell you." I pulled a $5 dollar bill out of my pocket and handed it to her. "Ah… I am sorry I need more. Cross my palm with more and I will tell you your future."
"I am sorry that is all I have." I said pocketing the $5 and leaving. I stepped outside the tent to find Mom waiting for me.
"What did she say?" She asked looking at me hopefully.
"Nothing important. She `needs' more than a $5."
"That's too bad, but we need to get to the dock anyway." We walked in silence for a few steps and I couldn't help but mutter:
"What a load of bull."
The dock was huge. It was made of stone pilings that reached higher then any I had seen. The ship was even bigger then the dock. Its hull had a steeply sloped bow and was full of lifeboats. Gilded on the hull was her name. I read it and wondered how they EVER came up with it. "The Polar Zebra. Right!" I thought. "That's exactly what we'll see."
Once on the ship Mom let me do a LITTLE exploring. I was allowed to look around our deck. I was disappointed to find that C deck had very little to offer. After Mom got settled down I was allowed to go explore the Rec. Room in the center of B deck. I found multiple people like me headed to check out the entertainment. I headed over to the fireplace. Across from the hearth was a row of neatly placed sofas and easy chairs. Behind them was a row of library shelves filled with books. In one corner there was a setup with chairs and a TV. In another corner there were 2 video games. Next to the books sat a little boy. Maybe 7 years old his head, buried deep in a large textbook. This fascinated me. As I looked harder I could see the subject was "Marine Mammologist".
On the second day of the trip I went back to the Rec. Room. This time the boy was sitting on one of the sofas. Again the book pulled up close to his face. I thought this would be a good time to meet this young biologist. I walked over and sat down next to him. "Hi, What ya readin'?" He looked up surprised.
"Oh,… just marine mammology" he said it as if it was a "Goosebumps" or an "Animorphs", not a high school or even college text book.
"That's a good subject but isn't it hard to read?"
"No I can figure it out. Mom and Dad got me this so I can take notes in it. It's got an AWSOME glossary so I can usually parse out what it's saying."
"Cool" I was at a loss of words. Most 7th graders I know think a `glossary' is something glossy. And here was a 7 year old explaining how easy it is to use.
"Do you like mammals?" he asked looking up at me with large curios eyes.
"Yes, very much."
"Then I think you'd like this book. Here take a peek." He lifted the book and dropped it in my hand. It was a lot heavier then I expected. My hand came down because it was so heavy.
"SORRY!" he cried.
"Don't worry `bout It. ..Happens all the time." I picked up the volume and balanced it on my cast. I flipped through it slowly, and couldn't help but notice the neatly taken notes explaining what the Hi-Lighted words meant. Diagram after formula after page on page of text. This made me do a double take on this kid.
"What grade are you in?"
"Oh." He looked embarrassed "Second."
"No Way!"
"Well I get extra work and stuff but my parents want me with my own age group." I looked at my watch. I had to go check in with Mom.
"Well I got to go." I said handing him back his book and standing up. "Oh, by the way, my name is Jean, Jean Bernard."
"Kenny Thomas, nice to meet you." I nodded and walked away dazed.
By the next day I had taken that book out of the `library'. Just to suit my curiosity I gave it to Mom to interpret. She got stuck LONG before Kenny did. The trip down had many stops. At one especially interesting stop, the Falkland (islands), we saw Jack-ass Penguins, and Rock-hopper Penguins along with others seen at South Georgia. At South Georgia Island, We saw so many animals. We saw: Elephant Seals, Fur Seals, Macaroni Penguins, Gentoo Penguins, King Penguins, and Wandering Albatross. We saw Orca whales, Humpback Whales, Minke Whales, Dalls Porpoises, and Leopard Seals in between the islands and while on our way to Antarctica. In the times I wasn't on deck I was reading with Kenny in the Rec. Room. If I didn't understand something Kenny could usually explain it to me. This was one of those days. The weather wasn't pretty. There was a fierce wind that made the boat roll on uneasy seas. Wet icy rain pelted the deck and the sky was gray and the sea was murky. Kenny and I sat there, now reading a book on sociobiology. I was just committing Zoosemiotics (the study of animal communication) to memory when I suddenly felt queasy. I had just got off of the sofa when the boat rolled and I had to catch myself with my good arm. I straightened and said to Kenny.
"I'm going out side to get some fresh air. Be right back,"
"Okay." He said hardly lifting his head from the book. I walked down the corridor. My steps were swaying. I started climbing the gangway to A deck. When I was about half way up the boat swayed hard. I lost my grip and tumbled down the stairs. I landed on my cast and had another overwhelming surge of pain. Similar to the pain I had when I first broke my arm, but this time it was worse. The first person I remember was a grand-motherly like lady who must have gotten help. She arrived with the ship doctor. I was moved to sick bay where Mom showed up. After some work had been done for the pain the doctor explained what happened.
"The Knitting bone was broken again. You have the same issue as before just now you have to stay in the cast longer. You would be wise to have some one escort you around for a while. You need someone to help you on the stairs and it would be wise any way… if it was ME, I would get a friend to come with me, not my mom." He winked at me and I was grateful he knew to say this in front of her.
"Can we go?" I asked looking at Mom. "I really want some fresh air."
"Sure" we stood and walked out of sickbay and headed for A deck.
"Mom, do you think if he wants to and if his parents will let him, could Kenny escort me?" I couldn't help but ask.
"Well if he wants…" Mom had no intention of finishing that sentence. There was no need.
The next day we arrived at Antarctica. It looked like a giant sheet of ice. Kenny was allowed to "escort" me. I liked that a LOT more then I liked having Mom tag along. I had become a friend with the grandmotherly lady that helped be when I broke my broken arm. Her name was Terry-Lynn Johnson and had served on this ship many years back. She loved being asked questions about the old trips. Sooner or later I came to the question:
"Why is the ship named The Polar Zebra?" I saw excitement fly into her eyes.
"Oh because it's REAL! There is such a thing as a Polar Zebra! I wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't seen it. It is only visible when the tourists go ashore. The boats land and about a mile away along the coast the zebra runs the shore. Many of us saw it so I KNOW it wasn't my eyes."
"Really!? An Antarctic Zebra!" I was astonished.
The next day there was a trip. Because of my arm I was not allowed to go ashore. I needed an escort so Kenny stayed on the boat with me. When the zodiacs with Mom, Terry-Lynn, and Kenny's parents left, I couldn't help but wonder about the Zebra.
"How `bout we go see what we can from here."
"Good plan" he said "but we will probably need some binocs"
"Right" I thought about it for a second and added "I think I have 2 pairs in my room." We went down and got them and came back up to A deck using the method of gangway travel we had worked out. I would grip the rail with my good hand, lock elbows with Kenny and we would go upstairs as one. When we came to the deck and got to the rail the zodiacs were just landing. I took out the binoculars and scanned the shore. Suddenly I saw it, white with black patterns moving gracefully across the shore
"LOOK! It's the POLAR ZEBRA!"
Kenny looked at me for a second the he said
"What do you mean? We are ON the Polar Zebra."
"No! Look! It's what the ship is named after!" I pointed to it and he lifted his binoculars. I have never seen such excitement anywhere, and for the first time I was glad I had broken my arm.
| One World | home |