The Whale Who Was Afraid of Depth
A harbor librarian and a retired diver help a whale that refuses to leave a puddle.
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How it begins
There was a whale in the puddle outside the library.
Faye stepped around it with the returns trolley.
Then she stepped back.
The whale looked up.
"Please don't make a fuss."
Faye considered this a reasonable request from anybody outside a library.
"Are you lost?"
"No."
"Are you sure?"
"I know exactly where the sea is."
Beyond the square, the harbor lay empty. Boats leaned in the mud. The tide should have returned an hour ago.
The whale tucked its tail beneath itself.
"I'd rather stay here."
It was no larger than a wheelbarrow, though Faye had the peculiar feeling that size was something it was doing politely.
She parked the trolley.
A fisherman crossed the square carrying a bucket.
"Has anyone seen the water?"
The whale closed its eyes.
Faye decided not to answer immediately.
She fetched Otis Brine from the reading room, where he had been pretending to read the same newspaper since retirement.
He knelt beside the puddle.
"Morning."
The whale opened one eye.
"You're not going to carry me?"
"Bad back."
"Good."
Otis sat on the curb with a small sound of relief.
For several minutes they watched a leaf drift around the whale's nose.
Faye was about to suggest a bucket when Otis shook his head.
"Let it tell us."
The whale breathed.
"The deep used to be quiet."
Faye looked toward the harbor. Even without the water, the town was full of sound: engines testing, cranes turning, metal striking metal.
Underwater, she thought, sound must travel differently.
She did not know enough to guess how.
That was what the library was for.
Behind them, somebody began ringing the harbor bell.
The whale shrank a little.
Faye reached into the returns trolley and took out the oldest book of tide records.
"Would you mind," she asked, "if we started by listening?"
The whale looked at the book.
"Does it have pictures?"
"Several."
"Then perhaps," it said, "we could sit here a little longer."
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Outline and characters
- Faye finds a whale living in a puddle outside the library.
- The harbor tide fails to return while it remains ashore.
- Otis advises against forcing the whale into deeper water.
- They learn that the ocean has become unbearably loud.
- The town initially treats the whale as an obstacle to trade.
- Faye maps the sounds beneath the harbor using old tide records.
- Residents change noisy practices rather than demand that the whale adapt alone.
- The whale practices small journeys with the freedom to turn back.
- A quiet channel lets it choose to return and the tide follows.
- The harbor keeps a listening station and leaves the puddle undisturbed.
Characters
- Faye Nett, 43. A harbor librarian responsible for the town's tide records
- Otis Brine, 68. A retired diver who knows the difference between bravery and pressure
Series possibilities
- Faye's tide library receives a request from an island that is afraid of boats.
