PENNY G. THE TWEEN MARINE BIOLOGIST

By SAM Gordon

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For Penny I <3 You Giant. SAM Gordon

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Chapter 1 Ready To Go?

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I couldn't believe I was stepping onto that boat. It was a research ship

heading out to track and observe humpback whales on their migration

from the mainland to Hawaii. And it was all for me. A freckle faced

little twelve-year-old girl. I was given a staff of the most recognized

and acclaimed marine biologists. All I brought was my backpack full

of personal belongings, everything else we needed was already on

the boat. I had just stepped both of my feet onto the boat when the

captain of the ship yelled down to me, "Penny are we ready to go?"

…………………………………

Hi, my name is Penny Gordon and I've got a pretty unique story that I

want to share with you. I guess it all started right after I turned eleven.

I started to have a hard time sleeping so my dad got me this cd of

whale noises. They were really, really weird. If you don't believe me

Google it. It kind of sounds like a heart broken moose, crossed with a

helicopter, crossed with a trumpet. I am sure, like me, you are

thinking that sounds like the worst possible noise to fall asleep to

EVER!! I know right. But… it worked. It worked really well. For some

reason those noises made me feel calm and safe and cozy. After a

while, I started to have dreams about whales and I kind of started to

understand what their noises meant, and then I started totally

understanding the sounds that were on that cd. I decided that my

imagination had just convinced me that I could understand the

noises. That silly imagination of mine gets me into more trouble.

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But the next day I Googled "whale sounds" and I started to listen to

different recordings of whales and I swore that I could understand

what they were saying. It may sound really exciting but they weren't

exactly giving away the secrets of life. Whales seem to talk a lot

about which direction to swim, why humans keep sticking

microphones into the water near them, how they need to lose 100-

300 pounds before mating season, and other silly stuff like that. On

one recording I heard a young calf fighting with his mom about

swimming too far ahead of the pod. He explained that he wasn't a

little baby anymore and she should worry about him so much. I

thought it was kind of cool that even whales in the wide-open ocean

still have to put up with their parents telling them what to do.

So after listening to about ten different recordings and understanding

what they said I had to decide what to do with this new found talent. I

knew if I told anyone they would think I was crazy. I mean how could I

prove that I really have the power to understand what whales are

saying. So I convinced myself once again that it was probably all

made up in my mind. I had an extremely active imagination.

Sometimes I like to go to the world inside of my mind and explore

what is in there. When I am inside my own mind I have amazing

adventures, meet really interesting people, and have ridiculous

amounts of fun. But the problem is, sometimes I can't remember if my

memories are for real, or if they are from my adventures in my head.

My usual test is to ask my sister Quincy. Quincy is my big sister and

she is pretty awesome. We have a lot of fun hanging out with each

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other but neither of us will ever admit it because that wouldn't be very

"cool". If I tell Quincy about a memory I have and she gives me the

"why does my little sister have to be so weird" face then I know that it

just happened in my mind. If it were a real memory Quincy usually

tries to correct it and retell it from here point of view. So usually I can

use her as my craziness tester. But this one was too crazy to test. I

mean who wouldn't give a "why do you have to be so weird" look to

someone who just claimed that they can understand whale language.

I know I would.

I had to quit listening to the whale sounds to go to sleep, it was like

listening to two people have the same conversation about where to

eat every night. So I decided to try listening to a soundtrack of

manatee. It worked perfect. I fell asleep quickly for a couple nights,

and then… I started to understand their conversations too. Now I

knew that I was going crazy. I thought maybe the whale thing was a

fluke (get it… "a fluke", like the tail of a whale, … well I guess you had

to be there). But now I was understanding manatee too. The

manatee's talked sooo slow. I would get impatient waiting for them to

finish their words. Listening to manatee talk was a test of my

patience. I was frustrated because I had nobody that I could share my

frustration with.

The next morning at breakfast I decided to test the water a little bit

and said to my family, "Wouldn't it be cool if we could understand

what whales are saying." My dad said that would be cool then they

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could tell us all about why they love swimming so much. Quincy just

said, "You know what would be cool for us to be able to understand?"

Everyone at the table knew the answer but I was obligate to say,

"What?" "Your Face!!! boom that just happened," Quincy said. The

whole “Your Face” thing was a family joke that had gotten annoying,

then funny again, and then back to annoying. None of us knew if was

going to come back to funny again or if had found a permanent home

in the town of Annoyanceville. "Well I think it would be really cool if

we could understand animals. That way we could know how to take

care of them better," I said. My Step-Mom Smiley (we called her that

because she was always smiling) said, "Penny that is very sweet of

you. You have a really kind heart." Then Quincy said, "You know who

else has a really kind heart…"

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Chapter 2 Ocean World

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Early in that summer we went to Ocean World. I had been to Ocean

World before and my favorite thing about Ocean World was the Orca

Show. If my family stayed long enough I would watch it three times in

one visit. As soon as my family got to the park I went and checked

the times. I was bummed because we had just missed the first show

of the day. One of the trainers was leaving the Orca Stadium when he

saw me looking at the show times. He said, "I wouldn't count on that

next show, Luna is not in a very good mood." Luna was my favorite

orca. She was the oldest of the three orcas at Ocean World. There

was Luna, a young female named SuSea (that is what you get when

you let the public vote online for the orca's name) and the male Drew.

Usually only one of them would perform per show. That is why I liked

watching all three shows so I could see each one perform.

We had some time to kill until the next show so we all decided to go

to the jellyfish room. It was also one of my other favorite spots. It was

a really dark room at the center of the aquarium building and one

complete wall was just pink jellyfish floating up and down. It was

soothing and people always whispered when they were in that room. I

don't think there was a rule against talking loudly, it just seemed to

have a calming effect on everyone. I could have stayed there all day,

but my little sister Elle wanted to go see the penguins. She is

obsessed with penguins. She loves penguins, dreams about

penguins, draws penguins, and writes stories about penguins flying to

the moon. I kind of like penguins too. I like to watch them swim

underwater. I used to wish I could swim like them, but then I would

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have to walk with a funny waddle, so I guess I am good with the legs I

got. My dad had to drag Elle out of the penguin building because we

had to make it over to the Orca Show to make sure we got good

seats. We got there just as they were undoing the chain and letting

people into the stadium. I raced to the front row in the splash zone,

my dad and Smiley sat a couple rows behind us with my littlest sister

Amelie. She was sure if she liked the idea of being splashed by a

giant black and white dolphin sounded fun, so she decided that

Daddy's lap was a safe place to watch the show.

We had to sit for another 15 minutes before the show started. I

couldn't see them but I could hear the trainers and the orcas behind

the stage. It didn't sound to promising. I heard a lot of splashing and

the trainers saying "No Luna, No!" several times. After a while, the

music came over the speakers and the trainer walked out onto the

stage. She announced that she 'thinks' we are going to have a show

but Luna is in a bad mood so they may have to cancel. She explained

that at Ocean World they never force animals to perform. Just then

Luna swam into the stadium pool. Usually the orcas swim in super

fast and jump right in front of the splash zone, but Luna just kind of

floated in with barely a ripple of water. She swam over to where the

trainer was and rested her giant head on the side of the pool. The

trainer made a motion with her arms and blew into a whistle. But

Luna didn't move. The trainer did it again, still no movement from

Luna, but she did make a noise. I was startled. I looked around at all

the people in the stadium. There were at least 1,000 people watching

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and waiting for Luna to do something. Then Luna made the noise

again, and I understood her. But what was I going to do. The trainer

tried blowing her whistle again, still nothing. I still don't know where

the courage came from but I stood up and shouted, "She doesn't like

the ball trick, it is too far from the cameras. She likes the hoop trick

better because she likes to see herself on the jumbo TV."

My courage was met with laughter. If you haven't had 1,000 people

laugh at you before then you have no idea how small it makes you

feel. The trainer chuckled to herself and asked me, "Just how do you

know that young lady?" So I shyly replied, "Because I can understand

what she is saying." Again the entire stadium laughed at me. Quincy

and Elle's faces had turned bright red and they started to scoot away

from me, trying to hide that they were related to the crazy little girl in

the front row. "Well then, I guess we better do what you say," the

trainer said sarcastically. Then the trainer made the motion and blew

the whistle for the hoop trick, and Luna took off. I had never seen her

swim so fast. She started to circle the pool like a race car on an oval

track while the trainer made her way out onto a stage that hung over

the water. The trainer held out a large hoop and Luna soared into the

air and went right through the hoop. I think I saw Luna take a look at

the jumbo TV on the stage just as she was about to go back into the

water. The splash from her jump totally drenched the splash zone

and went all the way up to the row where the rest of my family was

sitting. It was awesome. Luna was fine the rest of the show until… the

trainer tried to get her to do the ball trick again. She got the same

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response from Luna, nothing. The trainer smiled at me and winked

and said, “I think that little girl might be on to something.” The

audience laughed again. I decided to not let it bother me because I

knew what the truth was and I wasn't going to let anyone make me

feel bad about my special gift. Luna swam back to her holding tank

and the show ended with a standing ovation for the trainer but more

importantly for Luna.

My sisters and I walked up to where the rest of the family was sitting.

We were all dripping wet. My Dad asked me, "How did you know she

didn't like the ball trick, did you notice last time we were here?" I

explained to my Dad that I could understand what whales, dolphins

and manatee were saying. Quincy and Elle laughed at me, Smiley

smiled, and Amelie asked, "How do you do it Penny?" I just shrugged

my shoulders, it was a gift, and no one knows where gifts come from.

Just then the trainer from the show walked up behind us. She

introduced herself, "Hello, I'm Carol Shielding the head orca trainer

her at Ocean World. How did you know Luna didn't want to do the ball

trick?" I had wondered what it would be like to let other people know

my secret and now I was finding out and I said, "I can understand

their noises and what they mean. I can understand orca." Carol

Shielding smiled in disbelief and looked at Smiley and my Dad for

some validation. They both just shrugged their shoulders because

they didn't understand it either. Carol said, "So you are telling me that

you understand the noises and language that these orcas speak?" I

nodded yes and explained "Well, not every noise is a word, just like

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us, they make laughing sounds, crying sounds, they growl when they

are frustrated or angry, you know stuff like that." The trainer went on

to explain that if it was true I would be the first person in the world to

ever be able to understand orcas. She said some people have spent

their entire life studying those sounds and they had never found any

consistency or proof that the sounds meant anything at all. I didn't

know what else to say, I didn't know how to explain how I did it, I just

could.

Carol asked my Dad if it would be ok for us to all go back to the

holding tanks so I could show her how I understand what they are

saying. My Dad was curious too, so he agreed. First she took me to

Luna's tank. Luna looked up at me and made some noises and clicks.

Everyone looked at me waiting to hear what she had said. I was

embarrassed to tell them at first because it kind of sounded like I was

bragging. I told them that she thanked me for explaining to Carol that

she didn't want to do that dumb ball trick. Quincy was quick to let her

pessimism show. "No way, you just made that up," Quincy said. Next

we went to SuSea's tank, and SuSea made some different clicking

noises and low groans. Then I explained to Carol that SuSea told me

to be careful if Carol makes food for me because she always tries to

hide medicine in it. Carol laughed, because it was true but she still

didn't believe that I was really understanding them. Then we got to

Drew's tank and we heard SuSea making a bunch of noise and then

Drew replied back. I told everyone that SuSea had said, "I think this

little person understands us." And then Drew said, "Don't be

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ridiculous people can't understand orca." Quincy did a little dance and

said "See there, even the orca's don't believe you can understand

them." By the time she got to the end of her sentence Quincy realized

the flaw in her celebration. If I could understand that Drew had said

that humans can't understand orca then I did understand orca to hear

him say it.

Then Drew started making a bunch of noises they were loud and fast.

After he stopped I told everyone that he had said, "Hey little person, if

you can understand me ask Carol if I am ever going to get to see my

brother again. We were separated after we were both caught by a

fishing boat. I miss him." I watched the disbelief fall out of Carol's

face. She explained that there was no way I could have known that

history. Drew's origin was kept secret so that fishermen wouldn't

know where young orca calves are born. Some fishermen would

catch the baby orcas and sell them on the black market. As Carol

explained to us the secret the disbelief fell away from everyone else.

Well, there you go. That is how the world came to learn that I could

understand whales, dolphins, and manatee.

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Chapter 3 Catch

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Carol the Orca Trainer was truly excited that I was able to understand

the orcas. But she was kind of sad about Drew and his depression

about missing his brother. She asked me if I could ask Drew if there

was anything we could do to make him happier. I had to explain to

Carol that I understood the orcas but I wasn't capable of making the

noises that they made. I couldn't speak orca, I just could listen and

understand them. Elle and Amelie both started trying to make orca

sounds but they sounded more like a fire truck at the front of a

parade. I was sad for Drew too, I asked Carol if they knew where his

brother was. Carol walked us back to her office to see if she could

find any paper work on Drew that might have some clues about

where his brother was sent. After she found a couple found

documents and my Dad searching the internet on his phone we

discovered that his brother was at a marine park in Argentina. My

Dad explained to me that was pretty far away from California.

Carol asked me if I could come back and visit with her and the orcas

so I could tell her what they needed and wanted. So she gave my

whole family a season pass to Ocean World and we I went almost

everyday. It was fun getting to know Luna, SuSea, and Drew better.

SuSea was a prankster, Luna was a bit of a diva, and Drew loved to

do athletic tricks that showed off his strength. Once the orcas figured

out that I understood them they talked and talked and talked and

talked. Even when I couldn't make it to Ocean World Carol would

send me recordings that she made and I would email back to her

what the orcas had said. It was fun, and awesome. Carol had me and

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my family come down to her office one afternoon. Once we all got

there she invited my whole family to join her in Mexico for the

International Marine Mammal Conference. She showed us the

brochure of the hotel we would be staying at. It was right on the

beach. It looked amazing. Carol was excited to announce to the

whole marine mammal community that I was able to understand the

orcas. Carol had put together a fancy presentation showing how she

had used what she had learned to improve the orcas environment,

schedule, and health. When she told us about presenting at the

conference she said that Ocean World was paying for all eight of us

to go. I did some quick math and realized that there were six of us in

my family and only one of her. That just made seven. Smiley asked

who the other ticket was for. Carol said, "For my son Abe."

Just as she spoke his name this scrawny little guy came into her

office, threw his backpack onto the floor and said, "Hi Mom, bye

Mom." Abe never looked up to notice the room was full of six other

people, he just walked straight to a door at the back of Carolʼs office.

As he opened a door I got a quick look inside. There were parts of

computers and gadgets and gizmos everywhere. And just like that the

door closed again. "He's a real people person," Carol said. We all had

a little chuckle. We only had two weeks to get ready for the

conference so I was spending a lot of time with the orcas. Carol really

loved her orcas and was using everything they had shared with me to

make Ocean World the best possible place for them. One day I

noticed Carol's son Abe sitting out in the Orca Stadium all by himself.

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I guess I starred too long because we made direct eye contact. I

didn't know what to do so I just waved, he shyly waved back. I asked,

"Are you excited to go to Mexico?" Abe just shrugged his shoulders.

So I asked, "Have you ever been to one of these conference before?"

Abe nodded his head yes. So I asked, "Are they any fun?" Abe just

shrugged his shoulders. Then I asked, "Why are you sitting out here

all alone?" Abe once again just shrugged his shoulders. At that point,

I gave up on Abe.

The trip down to Mexico was exciting, we flew in a plane with a orca

painted on it. Wow perfect was that? At the airport the conference

had prepared special transportation for us, I guess we were kind of a

big deal. For thousands of years we have wanted to communicate

with animals and for some odd reason I ended up being the first one

to do it. Once we actually got to the hotel where the conference was I

started to get nervous. There were hundreds of people checking in. I

was worried about having to go up on the stage in front of them all.

But I knew that Carol would be with me and she would do most of the

talking.

I knew that we were at the conference to present our research and

my gift, but I had another goal. It was a crazy goal, probably an

impossible goal. But when you one-day wake up with the gift to

understand sea mammals you start to believe the impossible might

be possible after all. My goal was to catch the trainer from the marine

park in Argentina. I kind of knew what he looked like from his profile

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on the marine park's website. I also knew his name was Jesus

Fernandez. I saw the check-in lines were split into alphabetical

groupings. There was A-D then E-G and so on. I hung out around the

E-G line hoping to catch Mr. Fernandez. Smiley wanted to get all of

our bags up to the room and then go find something to eat but I was

stalling and looking around the crowd. Smiley asked me, "Penny what

are you doing?" I said, "I'm looking for Jesus." We both started

laughing really hard. It was that kind of laugh that is so big it hurts,

but in a good way. Just then I spotted him. The guy from the marine

park profile. I walked right over to him and said, "Excuse me, are you

Jesus Fernandez?" He nodded yes. I said, "I am Penny Gordon and I

want to talk to you about one of your orcas. I have reason to believe

he is the brother of one of my friends." Jesus knelt down to be just as

tall as me. He kindly patted me on my head and said, "I so hope what

you say is true, I would love to learn more about my dear Antonio's

orca family. Perhaps we could talk more over dinner. I come to this

hotel all the time and I know a nice little cafe down the street." Smiley

quickly chimed in, "If you know where some good food is we are

happy to talk about whatever you want."

We dropped off our bags in our rooms and met up with Carol and Abe

and the rest of my family and went down to cafe. It was really good

food, and a really great conversation. Carol and Jesus discovered

that they had several friends in common and my talent to understand

the orcas fascinated him. Jesus insisted that I come to visit him and

Antonio, Drew's brother, after the conference. But my Dad thought

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that would be a little too much time away from home. We did confirm

that Antonio and Drew were indeed brothers and the wheels were set

in motion to have them meet somewhere, somehow.

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Chapter 4 And Release

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The next couple days were a blur. All the science journals wanted to

interview me, the trainers wanted to ask me how they can do a better

job with their animals. I felt really important, but kind of overwhelmed.

That is probably why my Dad made me have "mandatory kid time".

Most of that time was spent at the hotel pool. My sisters and I would

go down the water slides, invent games, and have my Dad throw us

as far as he could in the pool. We all loved the hotel, but I don't think

Abe liked it that much. I think he missed his gadget workshop. One

day out of nowhere Abe came and sat down next to me at breakfast.

He said, "You don't know how to talk to the orcas, but you can

understand them right?" I said, "Yes, that is how it works." Then he

said, "Would you like to be able to talk to them too?" I said, "Of

course, it is very frustrating to have one sided conversations all the

time." Then Abe said, "Cool." The next ten minutes we sat in

awkward silence, until he got up and went back to his hotel room.

Abe was weird, but that cute kind of weird. It is the kind of thing that

not everyone would find cute but I guess I did. He was different and

so was I. He had his computers and I had my orcas.

Carol and I gave our presentation, and it went great. We received a

standing ovation that lasted for three full minutes. We were called,

“The greatest breakthrough in animal science in the last one hundred

years.” I felt special, I felt proud. Immediately after we finished our

presentation Carol got a call from one of the other trainers at Ocean

World. Drew had jumped out of his holding tank up onto the trainerʼs

platform. They thought he was trying to get into SuSea's tank but he

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didn't quite make it. It took four trainers to push him back into his

tank. Carol was explaining the situation to me and I told her to ask for

them to put Drew on the phone. I could hear him making urgent and

serious noises. Carol asked me, "Well what is he saying?" I explained

that Drew said he wanted to go back to the sea, he wanted to be

back with his brother. My heart broke for him. He hadn't asked to be a

performing orca. He was separated from his mom and brother at a

very young age, he just wanted to be back in his natural habitat.

SuSea and Luna were both born in captivity. Ocean World was the

only home they had ever known and they loved it. They were fed,

taken care of, and they got to perform for the applause of the crowd.

But Drew was different. Ocean World wasn't his real home. Carol

could tell by the look in my eyes that I wanted to help Drew get back

to the ocean. She nodded her head in agreement and we went to find

Jesus.

Jesus liked the idea but was concerned about Antonio and Drew

having the survival instincts they would need out in the ocean. They

had been living very sheltered lives. Carol agreed and told me that

maybe them being free would be more cruel than where they are

now. Jesus said, "It would be different if you could talk to them, then

we could teach them what they need to know." We all looked at each

other with frustration and helplessness. Just then Abe showed up and

said, "You can talk to them." I explained again to Abe that I can

understand them but I am not capable of making the noises that they

make. Abe said, "I know, I know. But what we can do is take what

 24  

they say and create a database that matches the sounds with the

words. So we record them saying the word 'fish' then whenever we

need to say 'fish' to them you just type it in and it plays back their own

voice saying 'fish'." It was genius. I gave Abe a giant hug and said,

"Thank you, thank you, thank you!" Abe turned bright red, his

embarrassment made me suddenly feel embarrassed too. Jesus

said, "Get back to California and build that database with every word

you can think of, and send it down to me. Then I can also train

Antonio and we will have them ready for the wild in no time."

So that is exactly what we did. Abe and I spent hours building the

database. He would record the sounds and I would tell them what

they meant and he would add them to the list of words. The more I

hung out with Abe the more I realized that he was a pretty cool kid.

He had a really dry sense of humor. He didn't talk much, but when he

did he always said something interesting. We must have split one

hundred and twelve pizzas on the side of the orca tanks in that first

couple of weeks. Abe became a really good friend. Someone I could

count on looking out for me. When you have a gift like the one I have

there are plenty of people that try to take advantage of you, but Abe

always had my back.

After about a month of intense training for the wild Drew and Antonio

were almost ready for their reunion. The last piece of the puzzle for

both of them was catching live food. At the marine parks they were

fed already dead fish that were literally dropped into their mouths. It

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was a totally different skill to chase your food and capture it. It was

funny to watch Drew the first couple times. He said some pretty bad

things. He even added a few swear words to the database, but

eventually he got the hang of it. Then the day came for us to move

Drew to the ocean. We had a truck designed just to move him the 38

miles to the coast. Carol and I rode in the back with him. I had a

translator box that Abe had made for me that I could just speak into

and it would translate what I said into orca language. It was tuned just

to my voice. The whole ride I kept reassuring Drew that it was going

to be all good. We successfully got Drew off the truck and into the

water. It was so exciting to see Drew swim and Jump in the great

wide open ocean. He looked so happy. The next part of the journey

Carol took a boat and traveled with Drew down to Mexico to meet up

with Antonio and Jesus.

I so wanted to go on that boat trip but I needed to spend more time

with my family. My schedule was getting a little crazy. Caretakers of

marine mammals everywhere were sending me recordings to

translate for them. My Dad said I needed to spend a little bit more

sister time with the family before school started back up. Carol was

kind enough to make a recording of Drew and Antonio's reunion.

Carol said once they got to within three miles of each other she could

start to hear them chatter to each other. Then when they were within

one mile Drew swam faster than she had ever seen. When they

finally met together they rolled over each other like little puppies

fighting over and old shoe. Carol said in an email she sent with the

 26  

video, "It was a beautiful moment. A magical moment. And it is a

moment that couldn't have happened without Penny Gordon."

  27  

Chapter 5 Just This One Time

 28  

It had been a very strange and busy summer. After we helped Drew

find his brother and a new life in the open seas, things kind of settled

down. I still did a lot of translating from recordings that trainers from

all over the world sent me, but I also had time to go to the pool and

hang out with friends. My parents decided that there would be no

more traveling until winter break. They were a little worn out from

chasing me all over too. I still went down to Ocean World a couple

times a week to visit Luna and SuSea, and… Abe. I was actually kind

of getting mad at Abe. He was soooo cute, and sooo nice, and

helpful, and smart, and funny and … Well you get the point. I liked

Abe. I mean "like" liked him. I hadn't ever felt this way before and it

was kind of weirding me out. I was so careful to keep it cool around

Abe, I didn't want him to find out about my crush, at least not until I

was sure he had a crush on me.

One evening I was coming back from the pool and I saw my Dad

getting some luggage out of the closet. I asked him, "I thought you

said we weren't taking any more trips." Dad looked a little flustered

and explained, "Well the scientists working on this study were very,

very persuasive. They wanted your help so much they offered to let

us all go on the trip with you.” I didn't know if I was excited or

exhausted. I asked, "Where are we going?" Dad bent down to talk to

me at eye level, "Just this one time. Just this one time we are going to

bend the no traveling rule because we are going to Hawaii.” My Dad

and I giggled with joy. Then we broke into a spontaneous hula dance.

  29  

We flew out to Hawaii the next day and the scientists met us at the

airport. They showed us the shipʼs workers loading the ship and

explained the issue they were studying with the humpback whales.

They had been tracking their migration patterns and noticed that each

year the whales were going further and further away from the islands.

They had tested everything they could think to test and still hadn't

found a reason for the change in their migration. So they set up this

special expedition for me to go have a listen to the whales. The

scientists encouraged me to go get a good nights sleep because the

research ship would be leaving early in the morning.

It is a good thing I went to bed early because it took me forever to fall

asleep. I had never communicated with animals in the wild before.

Eventually I did fall asleep, but the next thing I knew my Dad was

yelling at me to get up and get ready because we were already late.

The hotel shuttle took us down to the docks. I couldn't believe I was

stepping onto that boat. It was a research ship heading out to track

and observe humpback whales on their migration from the mainland

to Hawaii. And it was all for me. A freckle faced little twelve-year-old

girl. I was given a staff of some of the most recognized and acclaimed

marine biologists. All I brought was my backpack full of personal

belonging, everything else we needed was already on the boat. I had

just stepped both of my feet onto the boat when the captain of the

ship yelled down to me, "Penny are we ready to go?" I nodded yes

and we pulled away from the island.

 30  

The group of scientists had done everything they could to make me

feel at home on the boat. My family had a whole floor to ourselves.

They had filled the rooms with with toy whales, and whale sheets,

and whale pillows. There was no forgetting what we were there for.

After a couple hours we arrived at the spot where there was a report

of humpback whales made by a freighter ship. One of the scientist

dropped a listening device over the side of the boat. They gave me a

set of headphones so I could listen to what the whales were saying. I

heard a little something but it was very quiet and very far away. I

asked the captain if we could get closer to the where the sound was

coming from. The Captain said, "It is your boat sweetheart, we are all

hear to give you whatever you need." I responded, "Really if I asked

for a bowl of butter noodles they would just appear." The Captain had

a good laugh with me. Others thought he was a little on the grumpy

side, and he did have a grumpy side, but if you could get him to turn

and show his sweet side he was a pleasure to be around. As we

approached the source of the sound I started to pick up some words

from the whales.

"I'm telling you we should be more towards the big rock," one of them

said. "No way! This is the exact route we took last year and we saved

at least two days. If we don't get there before your mother I will never

hear the end of it." As I told the scientist what the whales were saying

their jaws collectively fell to the floor. They had spent thousands of

dollars researching why their migration path changed. They tested

the water for pollution. They did a study on if it might have been the

  31  

streetlights along the coast, or freighter ships, or subtle changes in

the magnetic field of earth. They had flown my entire family out and

rented this ridiculous beautiful and well-equipped research boat. But it

was just a whale wanting to get to their nesting home before his

mother-in-law. Slowly the scientists began to laugh at the

randomness of it all. I think in a way it was comforting to know that we

aren't the only species that has issues with traveling. Just then the

captain walked up to me with a bowl of butter noodles, and we all

laughed a little harder.

We went ahead and followed behind the whales for a couple days. I

worked hard at translating what they said to each other. There were

nine humpback whales in their pod. We learned that they don't like

rainy days, they love rainbows and most nights they like to slow down

and look up at the stars and imagine how different life is on other

planets. We were trying our best not to disturb them and we kept

what we thought was a safe distance, but then they started to talk

about us. One of them said, "They are so obviously following us. And

they keep sticking the black box (the listening device) down under the

boat." I giggled it was kind of silly for us to think that they wouldn't

notice us. Sometimes I would take a break and go talk to the Captain.

I told him all about the different devices Abe had made for me. The

Captain said, "I think this Abe kid sounds like an alright guy." I

agreed. "Maybe you should go try talking to them there humpback

whales then. Ask them if they like it when I play music out on the

deck?" I had never used the speaking device that Abe had made me

 32  

on a wild animal. I didn't know if it would work or not. I decided to give

it a try and the scientist excitedly help me set up a speaker

underwater so I could give it a go.

"Hello, nice humpback whales. My name is Penny and I am on this

boat that has been following you," I said. Then we all waited for a

response, and waited and waited. Smiley said, "Well ask them a

question or something." So I said, "Do you like it when the captain

plays music loudly on the deck?" Then again, we waited. But this time

we all heard a noise coming over the speakers. "They said they

LOVE it, they want you to turn on some right now," I shouted up to

the captain and he obliged. When he turned the music on the whales

came closer and closer to our boat until they were only feet away. I

had a long conversation with the matriarch of the family. I explained

how I found out I could speak to marine animals and she thought my

story was really amazing. I told her how the scientists on the ship

were really worried about them and their change in migration routes.

She laughed and said that people worry too much. I had to agree

because just then my Dad came out with a jacket for me and told me I

could only talk to the nice whales for ten more minutes. You can't get

much whale talk in during just ten minutes, it goooooeeeessss

pretttttttyyyy slllllloooooowwwwww.

We had finished our research and said our goodbyes to the nice

humpback family. The Captain reminded my parents that our flight

back home wasn't for two more days, and we still had the boat rented

  33  

out. So we spent the next two days traveling around to all the

beautiful islands of Hawaii. We surfed, snorkeled, and sunbathed. It

was the perfect trip to break our no-traveling rule for, but just this one

time.

 34  

Chapter 6 We'll Be Right Back

  35  

News of the research we did in Hawaii made international news. The

entire world found it amusing that whales bicker about directions just

like people do. I guess I was also part of the coolness of the story, but

I felt weird for taking credit for it. It wasnʼt like I had to work hard to

get my ability to talk to sea mammals, it just sort of happened. And

there was no way for me to communicate back to them until Abe

came along with his invention. So really I was the one who should

have been receiving the least attention.

There were all kinds of shows calling to have me on as a guest. The

Today Show, Good Morning America, Ellen, even Saturday Night

Live. I loved SNL and I wanted to do that one so bad. I begged and

begged my parents. I asked them, “When will I ever have a chance to

be on SNL again.” They agreed it was a very unique opportunity, so

they decided that I could go do SNL and then weʼll come right back

home. It was just going to be a weekend trip.

I couldnʼt wait to tell Abe. We would always talk about our favorite

sketches from SNL the night before on Sundays. Abe had an

awesome sense of humor. Sometimes his favorite sketches werenʼt

my favorites until I would watch him reenact the scene. He could have

totally grown up to be a comedian. Abe and I were getting closer and

closer. We had seen each other everyday since I got back from

Hawaii. After getting done working with the orcas sometimes Abe and

I would go walk around Ocean World. Abe knew where all the cool

stuff was since he was practically raised there. My favorite thing to do

 36  

was ride the ferris wheel in the middle of the park. When you were at

the very top you could see all the different animal stadiums and

shows, you could see the rollercoasters, you could even see the

orcas swimming in their holding tank. One day we decided we were

going to ride both of the rollercoasters ten times each. After the fourth

round I started to rethink our goal. But Abe kept encouraging me.

After seven rounds I had enough and sat down on a bench. Then it

happened. Abe grabbed my hand and pulled me up off the bench, but

after I was standing he didnʼt immediately let go of my hand. It felt

electric and amazing and special. I kept pretending like I didnʼt want

to go so he would keep holding my hand to pull me along. Eventually

he let go and I realized he wasnʼt feeling the same magical feeling

that I was. And I was too embarrassed to tell him how special it was

to me.

But I wasnʼt too embarrassed to tell him about my trip to New York to

be on SNL. I ran to the orca stadium and found him in his back room

working on a new electronic contraption. I immediately told him, “I

have some really exciting news.” He said, “Me too.” “You go first,” we

both said at the same time. We laughed and he told me his news. He

had entered all of the words I had translated for the orcas into a orca

voice recognition system. We went out to the orca tanks so he could

demonstrate it. He typed “Hello, SuSea, How are you today?” onto

the keypad. The speaker he dropped into the tank played the

message for SuSea.” Then SuSea made some clicking sounds with a

loud whistle. Abeʼs translator showed on the screen what SuSea had

  37  

said, “Iʼm sleepy but I am hungry too. I am trying to decide if I want a

nap or a snack.” Abeʼs translator worked perfectly. I told Abe how

awesome and smart he was. He explained that he was making one

for whales, and dolphins, and manatee. He said he was excited about

it because I wouldnʼt have to travel as much to do translations and we

could hang out more.

That kind of put a bucket of water on my news but I had to tell him

anyway, “I am flying to New York to be on SNL this weekend.” He

smiled and said, “Wow that is great.” I was expecting a bigger

response from Abe. It was a big deal but all I got was, “Wow that is

great.” Abe was acting kind of weird. He was so happy when he was

showing me his new translator but now he seemed sad. I couldnʼt

figure it out. Then I saw something hanging out of his back pocket. I

recognized it from the flyers that were all around the park. Ocean

World was having a fundraising dance this weekend. Was Abe going

to ask me to be his date? Was I over thinking why he would have that

flyer in his pocket? I wanted to know, I had to know. That is when my

mouth took over and said, “Abe, you have invented machines that

can translate orcaʼs speech, but can you invent a machine that can

translate how my heart feels about you? If you could it would say, I

think youʼre awesome. It would say, my favorite place to be is

wherever you are. It would say, youʼre an amazing friend and the

funniest person I know. It would say, you get me and that is hard for

some other people to do. It would say, I want to be your girlfriend but I

donʼt know how to ask.”

 38  

I was going to have to have a talk with my mouth about that outburst

later, but for now I was trying to figure out how Abe was going to

respond. I was getting worried because he wasnʼt saying anything, he

just started typing on the translator. When he hit enter on the

translator I heard the question that he asked SuSea. He asked,

“SuSea, tell Penny what I was telling you last night.” Then SuSea

replied, “Penny last night Abe and I talked for a long time about how

special he thinks you are. He likes your jokes and your smile and the

way that you are really brave. He wanted to ask you to the fundraising

dance but he didnʼt think he would have the courage to do it.”

I had never been so happy and so bummed at the exact same time. I

was so happy because Abe liked me too. But I was bummed because

I wasnʼt going to be able to go to the dance with him and be on SNL.

It was Abeʼs turn to read my reaction. He was happy to see me

smiling but then he saw me frown. Before I had a chance to say

anything he said, “I would have loved to go to the dance with you. I

would have been the proudest person in the whole place. But… You

have to go be on SNL. But I do have one condition.” I wasnʼt shocked

that Abe was so understanding, he always was. “What is your

condition?” I said. “You have to agree to be my girlfriend,” Abe said

with a confidence I had never heard from him before. I shrieked out,

“Yes!” and gave Abe a giant hug. It felt amazing and right. The weight

of my crush had been lifted and the joy of having the best boyfriend in

the world made me feel like I was floating on air. I told him I had to go

pack for New York with my family, but weʼll be right back.

  39  

SNL was everything I hoped it would be. They created a skit for me

where I was a whale who had discovered that she could understand

people. The entire cast was in silly whale costumes, it was perfect. I

even got to keep my costume and they made one for all of my sisters

too. It was easy for all of us to know what to be for Halloween that

year.

 40  

Chapter 7 The First Date?

  41  

When I got back from New York I was dying to go see Abe but he

was busy volunteering at a film festival. Abe loved technology but his

second love was making movies. He always had his laptop, camera,

and recording device with him everywhere he went. He told me how

he volunteered at the film festival every year. He would put up

posters, help sell tickets, even clean the theatres between showings.

The only communication we had since we had become Girl

Friend/Boy Friend was a text he sent me after he saw me on SNL

that said, “U R AWSUM! <3” I giggled to myself and blushed. We

were still on the set of SNL when I got the text and Quincy and Elle

read the message over my shoulder and started singing, “Abe and

Penny sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G..” I didnʼt care at all I was too

happy that he had sent me a less than 3.

I sent him a text asking him where he was and he texted back that he

was going to busy all day but he could come by my house in the

evening and we could walk to the film festival together. I sent him

another text saying “Cool : )” I thought to myself, did I just asked out

on a date? No, we had made plans like this all the time before, but

now that he was my boyfriend it was a little different. That afternoon I

was busy working on some walrus recordings some one had sent me

to translate and the time flew by. I didnʼt even notice it was evening

until I heard Abe ring the doorbell.

 42  

I swung open the door and realized this was definitely a date. Abe

had on some nice pants a colored shirt and a purple tie. I was not

dressed to be walking next to a kid with a tie on. I was flustered and

said “Iʼll be right back.” And I ran upstairs to change. I had bought a

new dress to wear for the presentation at the Marine Mammals

Convention and it just happened to have some purple in it to match

his tie. I checked myself in the mirror and casually walked back down

stairs. Abe smiled at me as I came down the stairs. His smile made

me feel good about being me. Even before we were dating he had a

way of making me proud to be Penny. I said, “Letʼs Go.” and we

walked the couple blocks down to the festival. We held hands the

whole time and I felt so special.

As we got closer to the main theatre I noticed there was a lot more

press at the event this year. All the local TV stations were there but

there were also some national stations like CNN and Fox News. I

thought it was strange but didnʼt really think anything of it until I

looked up at the marque on the main theatre. It said, “Penny G. The

Tween Marine Biologist, A Documentary”. Then I noticed there was a

literal Red Carpet leading up to the doors. I asked Abe, “Who made

this?” He said, “I did.” I asked him “What is in it?” Abe said, “Youʼll

see.” He explained how he got permission from my parents to make a

documentary about my recent adventures, they had even given him

footage that they had from the times the Abe wasnʼt around.

  43  

Abe escorted me down the red carpet. There were people taking

pictures, shouting questions, even wanting my autograph. It was nuts.

I saw my whole family waiting for me at the door. Even Quincy had on

a pretty dress, although I could tell by her face that she wasnʼt loving

it, or maybe her face was about me getting all the attention, either

way I was happy Quincy didnʼt get changed by all the weird stuff

happening to me. We all walked in and had a seat in the theatre. I

had never been so nervous to see a movie in my entire life.

It started with video from that very first time I told Carol the Orca

Trainer that Luna didnʼt want to do the ball trick. Then it gave a little

bit of my family background and talked about how my dad gave me

the whale noise cd to go to sleep to. Then it showed our trip to

Mexico, the releasing of Drew and his brother, me and Abe working

on the sound database. It included the those photos that they take in

the middle of the ride from our roller coaster challenge. It had some

footage of Abe building and explaining his translator machines. It

even had my SNL skit at the end (that must have been a last minute

addition). But the best part of the whole movie was Abeʼs narration of

my experience. He talked about how I was so brave, and smart, and

kind, and willing to help the scientific community even though I was

just a twelve-year-old little girl. It was perfect.

After the movie ended the audience gave it a standing ovation. Abe

certainly had talent as a moviemaker as well as a gadget maker as

well as a comedian. We spent the rest of the night giving interviews to

 44  

the press but I insisted that we do all of the interviews together. It was

more fun to go through that process with someone I liked and

someone who clearly had my back. It was an amazing night but Iʼm

still not for sure it was a date. Was his tie for the movie premier or

me?

  45  

Chapter 8 Baby Sister Say What?

 46  

After the documentary was picked up for a national release I knew

that my life would never be “normal” again. I was blessed to have a

gift that I also loved to use. Even though Abeʼs latest translator

machine enabled other to have conversations with their animals it

only worked for words that were in the database. I was constantly

getting emails of new sounds that I hadnʼt translated yet to add to the

database.

Over the next couple months I found that my talent did have

limitations. For some reason I could only understand almost all of the

marine mammals. For some reason I had no idea what sea otters and

platypus were saying. I tried but I got nothing. My talent also didnʼt

transfer to other mammals, or fish, or birds. My sister Elle was hoping

and praying that somehow my talent would work for penguins

because like marine mammals they evolved back into the water. But

no luck for Elle and her passion for penguins. Ironically my skill didnʼt

transfer over to other human languages either. I had to study my butt

off just to get a B- in Spanish for the first semester.

Things with Abe were going great. The local university actually hired

us both to continue building translator devices and adding more

words to the database. It was something that Abe and I liked to do

anyway, so getting paid for it was just bonus. I did feel a lot of

pressure on me from the science community to do non-stop

translations. They didnʼt know if there would ever be another person

like me to do this work. But Abe always was there to remind me that I

  47  

am just a freckle faced little girl who needs time to do little girl things.

The Jr. High had a dance in the fall and Abe asked me to go to it like

a whole month in advance so I wouldnʼt schedule anything else and

miss it. The dance was fun but a little awkward, Abe made me feel

like I was the most special girl in the whole gym. Some of the kids at

my school didnʼt like all the attention I got. Maybe they were jealous

or maybe they just hadnʼt found their talent yet. But Abe was always

the first one to stick up for me if there was any trouble. Abe always

called me brave, but he was the one that always was there to protect

me and make me feel safe.

With my secret talent being revealed and my work primarily with

captive orcas, some of the scientific community thought it was bad for

me to waste my time with captive animals. They said my focus should

be on wild animals. There were all kinds of stories written and news

analyst debated it on TV. So I decided that I should be part of the

conversation too. Ellen had kept reaching out for me to come be on

the show. I thought it would be the perfect place to share my ideas

about “captive” animals. Ellen was so excited, because in Finding

Nemo her character believed that she could speak whale. When I

was on the show she asked me question in a funny slow voice. I told

her that I know English at regular speed if that worked for her. She

asked me what I thought about captive animals and I told her and all

the people watching on TV that there are all kinds of personalities in

animals just like there is in us. Some animals have personalities that

they want to be alone most of the time. Some animals like to be in big

 48  

packs. Some are shy, some are very curious and silly. I said that the

orcas that I work with the most, SuSea and Luna love being where

they are. They are fed, they are safe, they are given medicine and

most importantly they are given an audience. I explained that being in

a Animal Show was like being on TV. Some of them thought that was

really cool. I explained that now that I could communicate with the

orcas we made several changes to their holding tanks and daily

schedule to make it more fun for them. I also admitted that there are

some animals that do not like the spotlight. I said nobody or animal

should ever be forced to do something that they donʼt want to do.

That is why the work I am doing is important. Pretty soon we will have

the technology to put out a casting call in the wild ocean for any orcas

that want to come and be performers at marine parks. We will also be

able to ask all of the captive animals if they would rather be free in

the wild. If they choose to be wild then we should give the training

and skills to be successful. The audience applauded and I felt like I

had done my job as the animals advocates. I had let the world know

that animals are people too.

The next day my family came with me to visit Luna and SuSea. Abe

teased me about my Ellen appearance, he said I got all preachy on

them. I told him, “I did not”. Quincy said, “You know what else got all

preachy?” We all in unison said, “Your Face.” Even Luna and SuSea

knew that joke was coming.

  49  

Then I heard SuSea say, “I thought you did a great job Penny.”

Then Amelie said, “Me too.”

I said, “Thanks Amelie.” Then I paused and thought about it for a

second. There wasnʼt any translator turned on at that time. Then I

said, “Baby sister say what???”

Amelie said, “SuSea said you did a good job and I agreed with her.”

I was shocked and surprised and other words that mean shocked and

surprised, I asked Amelie “Baby sister are you telling me that you can

understand what SuSea said like I can.”

Amelie shrugged her shoulders and said, “I guess so, can we go get

some funnel cake?”

The End…

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