Chapter 48

All six rubbed their bottoms... 4 girls ... two boys.

“You speak Dolphin?”

“And Southern Ocean Right,” the girls said, “Whale is harder than Dolphin.”

The boys nodded. “It’s the bass undertones ... the girls never get it right.”

And I said, “Oh really?”

The boys said, “Uh huh.”

The ‘uh huh’ was said like twins ... but one twin was a tenor and the other one was a basso profundo. Harmony like I’d never heard. I actually felt the boat vibrate.

The girls said ... like quadruplets... “Uh huh...” except there were clicks and clacks, screes and cries and high pitched tones almost too high to hear.

And we were surrounded by Pacific Bottlenose, Spinners, Chinese Whites and Hector’s Dolphins.

The boys said, “The whales will be along, they were miles away. Daddy, we need to move the boat to deep water.”

I said, “You don’t make a distinction between McWilliams and Flintkote?”

“We’re ALL Flintkotes.”

The girls said, “The pods are coming. We’re too shallow here.”

Everyone started doing boat stuff ... blowers and singling up, taking off covers and unplugging shore power. Down and stowed were the canvas wind-scoops and cockpit shades.

Everyone knew what to do and where it all went.

And we were in at least one hundred feet of water when the small pod of Southern Ocean Rights showed up.

“Okay ... you speak whale and dolphin. I’m convinced. Where are you going?”

The Flintkotes all six of ‘em, stripped off, took stiff bristled brushes and scrapers, dove in and started cleaning whales. And everybody was having fun ... whales included. The dolphins were patrolling the area for sharks and the juveniles were putting on aerial displays.

An interesting afternoon.

A Robinson helicopter ... the local whale lookout ... flew over and zipped back to the island.

Soon South Sea Cruises and Moana Sailing showed up with tourists and watched. Facebook was going to be very busy.

As soon as I had my fill ... and jealousy reigned in my heart ... I cornered Zoe.

“I’m ... we’re ... supposed to be testing ... for placement ... at the University of Texas Austin at 8 am ... tomorrow.”

“You hold the watch, don’t you?”

“Seven wouldn’t let us use it to get here.”

“Well ... you’re here ... go ... test and come back.”

“I don’t know how.”

“SEVEN!”

“WHAT!”

Zoe said, “Show Tyche how her watch works.”

“Didn’t Surprise show you anything?”

And I said, “Little Miss Independence here.”

“You Flintkote’s are almost as difficult as the Austins.”

So ... after a quick lesson in GPS locating, Alice and I were seated on the green bench under a tree waiting for an empty bike rack Route 18 Metro bus. We were east of Hilldale and Martin Luther King Jr. Just east of us was a man and his dog ... the dog was taking a dump in the grass next to a 969 route sign. The pile was still there when the bus picked us up. Our UT ID’s were good for the fare.

I don’t know what the dog had been eating ... but we were glad for the bus.