Fluke: Or, I Know Why the Winged Whale Sings

it was that he did?"
    "No, ma'am, I just assumed he was an officer."
    "I can understand how you might think that, but all the money came from my family. No, sweetheart, he was a noncom, a chief petty officer, a sonar man. In fact, I'm told he was the best sonar man in the navy at the time."
    "I'm sure he was, Elizabeth, but -"
    "Shut up, Clay. You came here for help, I'm helping you."
    "Yes, ma'am." Clay shut up.
    "James – that was Mr. Robinson's first name – he loved to listen to the humpbacks. He said they made his job a damn sight harder, but he loved them. We were stationed in Honolulu then, but submarine crews were on and off on hundred-day duty shifts, so when he would have time in port, we would come over to Maui, rent a boat, and go out in the channel. He wanted me to be part of the world he lived in all the time – the world of sound under the sea. You can understand that, can't you, Clay?"
    "Of course." But Clay was getting a not-so-good feeling about this trip down memory lane. He had things he needed to know, but he wasn't sure that this was part of them.
    "That's when I bought Papa Lani with some of my father's money. We thought we'd live there full-time eventually, maybe turn it into a hotel. Anyway, one day James and I decided to rent a little powerboat and camp on the ocean side of Lanai. It was a calm day and an easy trip. On our way over, a big humpback came up beside the boat. It even seemed to change course when we did. James slowed down so we could stay with our new friend. There were no rules then about getting close to the whales like there are now. We didn't even know we were supposed to save them back then, but James loved the humpbacks, and I had come to as well.
    "There was no one but the pineapple-company workers on Lanai at that time, so we found a deserted beach where we thought we'd build a fire, cook some dinner, drink highballs from tin cups, swim naked, and… you know, make love on the beach. See there, I've shocked you."
    "No you haven't," said Clay.
    "Yes I have. I'm sorry."
    "No you haven't. Really, I'm fine, tell the story." Old ladies, he thought.
    "When the trade winds came up that evening, we pitched the tent a little ways off the beach in a small canyon sheltered from the wind. Well, I gave James my best hummer, and he fell asleep right away."
    Clay choked on his iced tea.
    "Oh, my dear, did an ice cube go down the wrong pipe? Kona, come here and Heimlich Clay, dear."
    "No, I'm fine." Clay waved the surfer away. "Really, I'm okay." Tears streamed down his cheeks, and he wiped his nose on his shirttail. He was suddenly incredibly grateful he hadn't brought Clair. "Just need to catch my breath."
    Kona sat down cross-legged at their feet, having suddenly found that he was interested in history. "Go ahead, old Auntie."
    "Well, I got a little bit of a headache. So I decided to go back to the boat to get an aspirin from the first-aid kit. Come to think of it, it must have been from the tension in my neck. I always got a crick in my neck when I did that, but James loved it so."
    "Jesus, Elizabeth, would you get on with the story," Clay said.
    "I'm sorry, dear, I've shocked you, haven't I?"
    "No, I'm fine. I'm just curious to find out what happened."
    "Well, as long as I didn't shock you. I suppose I should be more discreet in front of the boy, but it is part of the story."
    "No, please. What happened on the beach?"
    "You know, we could fuck like mad monkeys, all night long, and it never gave me a headache, but one -"
    "The beach, please."
    "When I got to the beach, there were two men near the boat. It looked like they were doing something to the engine. I ducked behind a rock before they saw me. I watched them in the moonlight, a short one and the tall one. The tall one seemed to be wearing some sort of helmet or diving suit. But then the short one said something, and the tall one started laughing – snickering, really – and I saw his face in the moonlight. It wasn't a helmet, Clay. It was a face – a smooth, shiny face, with a jaw full of teeth. I could see the teeth even from where I was. It wasn't human, Clay.
    "Well, I went back and woke James, told him he had to come see. I took him back to my hiding place. The two men, or the man and that thing were still there, but behind them, right there almost on the beach, was also a humpback, a big one. The water couldn't have been ten feet deep where he was, yet he was sitting there calm as could be.
    "Well, all James saw was