Chapter 8 – Orca Hoist
present time
After cutting away the loose net and
weights from Pepper, Josh is still faced with wire cable imbedded in her flesh.
“She’s not sinking anymore,” says
Charley, “but that wire has to be cut. If
Pepper and her mommy will let us move her over to the hoist slip, we can try to
get at it with a cable cutter. That is—If they will let us.”
“We have to do something; it’s worth a try, any ideas how to get Pepper
over there?”
“Use the rope,” says Charley, “toss one end to Sammie and have her tie it
fast to the floating dock.”
Josh’s intuition tells him to ask big momma for permission, but all he
has at his disposal is a long skinny stick, two oars, a hunk of rope, and a
little aluminum boat. So far, he has
been touching, scratching and talking to the big orca occasionally, now he does it in earnest.
“Hey momma, please don’t get upset, if you can read my mind, now would be
a good time. Use your esp. you people
have esp. right? How about a good rubbing on these barnacles here. You would rather not have them right?” Josh
is sure that Pepper enjoyed being scratched in front of her dorsal fin but big
momma is so big, he can’t reach the middle of her back without shoving Pepper
away or climbing out of the boat and standing on her. Still soaking wet, the
thought causes him to shudder and then he shivers for the first time since
falling in.
“I’m gonna give these barnacles some
rough scraping, let me know if it hurts?
You’re listening right? You got
your esp on?” He spends five minutes
giving momma whale personal attention. Charley
uses the boat hook, and holds them steady and strokes Pepper while Josh reaches
over her and scratches momma. Pepper
continues soothing whistle sounds, but momma is quiet. Suddenly she lifts her
tail out of the water causing them to freeze, no one moves or speaks. A small wave rocks them as it rolls across
the cove. From deep inside momma orca,
they feel and hear her exhale and sigh.
She slowly lowers her tail leaving only a feint ripple. Josh and Charley breath again, Sadie whimpers.
The orca’s deep breaths are regular and stink. Thankfully, there have not
been any more explosive spouts. Josh is running on adrenalin, he trembles and
his voice quivers, but his instinct to help overcomes his fear.
“Okay big momma, it’s time to give it a try,” and he raps her extra hard.
“Wake up and pay attention, we don’t want any sudden surprises, like you
knocking me into the water again.” Josh
gently pulls on the rope Sammie tied to the dock, moving the boat. Using the boat hook pole Charley hangs onto a
piece of net that’s still attached to Pepper and holds tight. Pepper weighs nearly half a ton, but she is
easy to pull slowly through the water.
Josh keeps steady tension on the line, Charley hangs on to Pepper and
they all move away from big momma.
“It’s okay, momma, don’t do anything crazy. Read my mind, use that esp. we’re just moving
over here a little bit. You can come too
if you want, just keep calm, ok momma, chill. Do you use that term?”
Handling the rope and the stick together, Josh manages to give Pepper a
few more dorsal fin scratches when they are about halfway to the dock, and is
rewarded with an immediate drawn out
whistle, a pleasure sound she has repeated many times. Hearing the whistle reassures
Josh and Charlie but, as Charley was so thoughtful to point out earlier, separating a mother from her child, whether
it is a bear cub, or killer whale, goes against nature.
“So far so good,” says Charley, “I think we should turn her around and pull
her tail first into the lift slip, she may panic if it looks like a cage, which
it does. Your grandpa built this lift to raise rental boats for making easy
bottom repairs; I’ll bet he never figured an orca would use it one day.”
Charley climbs out of the dinghy onto the floating dock and loosely ties
the rope letting the boat with Josh in it, and Pepper, float free. Momma drifted or swam, no one noticed, but
she is further away near the mouth of the cove.
Josh looks over at the adult killer whale and notices she has turned
around. Her other side is badly scarred. On her side, behind her white
eye-patch, is a row of sharply curved scars, evidence of her being cut by a
boats slashing propellers.
“Look at momma,” says Josh, “she’s all cut up.” Maggie snaps some images, zooming in on the
scars. As the rowboat, and Pepper came
near them, Maggie, Sammie and Sadie moved further down the dock keeping a
comfortable distance so as not to alarm Pepper.
Sadie’s barking may be enough to cause her to suddenly thrash around,
warned Charley. Sammie has her by the
collar, but Sadie only whimpers her concern. Charley cranks the old winch
handle lowering the cradle until it is about three feet below the surface.
“Okay Josh, it’s up to you now.” Charley stands back to watch.
It’s been an amazing experience for everyone. Josh is making it up as he goes and so far,
he’s got it right. He is still wet from the earlier dunking so it’s not
surprising when he climbs out of the boat and stands waist deep on the
submerged cradle. With his stick, he pushes Pepper, turning her around. The
excess weight is gone so she floats like a space walking astronaut, except in
her world, she breathes the air. Josh
has poked, prodded, and scratched Pepper so much that she is okay with him
pulling on her tail and dorsal fin. He
very carefully guides her into the lift slip next to him. Pepper is facing out
toward where momma was last seen, but her mother has slipped beneath the
surface.
“Okay Charley, raise it up just a little bit at a time.” Says Josh.
With each crank of the handle, the boat cradle rises a little, it pushes
upward on Peppers belly lifting her partially out of the water; with each ratchet click her blubbery sides
squeeze out a little more, until a section the wire cable is exposed in front
of one fin.
“That’s it, perfect—hold it right there,” Says Josh, “hand me the cable
cutter.” He hooks the curved jaw and pulls the handles together. The sharp jaws, and long handles do the job
perfectly, and he cuts the first of two cables encircling her body. He hesitates before pulling the handles for
the last cut, she may violently react when the pressure is released, and he
will be pinned, unable to jump clear.
“Are you thinking what I’m thinking Pepper? You need to hold still.” He slowly squeezes until he feels the cable
sever. “Got it Pepper girl, we’re almost
done.” Next, he very slowly pulls the
loose ends out of Peppers flesh. “I’m
sorry Pepper, this must really hurt. You
and your mom are being very brave. Where is momma anyway?” When the cable is halfway removed, he stops
to get a better grip. He flexes his cold
fingers forcing them to function and then strokes his bare hand along the white
patch above her eye. Pepper whistles
quietly, only it’s a new sound, one she hasn’t made until now. It’s unmistakable,
so quiet, like a purr, Josh feels a rumbling with his hands, and through his
leg jammed against her side. I guess you’re
telling me you’re okay.
He considers finishing the job with a sudden yank; the way people wax
their legs, jerk out a baby tooth, or remove a band-aid, except no one really enjoys
the process, why would an orca be any
different. He continues talking to
Pepper while he gently pulls the embedded wire rope from her flesh.
“That’s it, young lady, your free; the rest is up to you and momma. You can lower the lift now,” says Josh, “I
think you should crank it down until Pepper is floating free on her own, but
leave it up enough to support her on the surface, that way she can leave or
rest. For all we know she may need to sleep for a month.”
Sammie and Maggie have been creeping closer as Josh pulled off the last
of the cable. When Josh climbs onto the float, they converge next to him. Sadie sniffs his dripping legs, then turns to
Pepper, and gives her a couple welcome barks.
Before Sammie can clamp her muzzle, she lies down with her paws hanging
over the edge of the wood decking and stares eye to eye with Pepper. Sadie acts
as if she wants to play with her new friend, but settles for watching, whining,
and whimpering.
Josh has been preoccupied with helping Pepper, but now watches from the
dock. Sammie throws her arms around him just
like she did to her dad earlier, and plants a kiss on his cheek.
“You are an absolutely crazy hero,” Says Sammie, while hugging him, “you
saved her life—ewe, and you’re all wet.” and then she pushes away from him
because water is soaking through her clothes.
“How did you know what to do, weren’t you afraid?”
“I don’t know, I just did what seemed right, and talked to her, I think
we connected somehow. Isn’t that right
Pepper, we speak the same language.” All of a sudden, Josh shivers a huge
uncontrollable whole body shake. “You’re
freezing.” Says Maggie, “You should go put on some dry clothes.”
“I guess all the excitement has kept me warm, but I’m sure shaking now,
you guys keep Pepper and her mom company, I’ll be right back.”
As if on cue, momma lets loose with a big noisy spout, the spray hangs in
the air, but fortunately drifts away from them. They all direct their attention
to her, in time to see her lift a fin, and then ease it back under water. Sadie jumps to her feet, and barks once while
giving a big tail wag. Sammie hushes her
and Sadie resumes her vigil, whining her concern. She lies on the dock only feet from Pepper,
their eyes watching each other.
Chapter 9 - Friends
