I’m so proud of Charlie.
We all are.
He’s a magnificent creature. All whale.
He’s blacker and sleeker than the rest of us.
He swims faster and deeper than we can.
He stays under longer if he wants to.
He loves playing with the young ones.
He teaches them a lot.
If anyone threatens them – watch out – they will have Charlie to deal with.
Nobody picks a fight with Charlie
I love him a lot.
I love him more than I’ve ever loved anything or anyone
They got Charlie yesterday.
Of course, we all knew the ship was there – you could have heard it a hundred day’s swims away. The thing was banging away as if it had flippers made of rocks and was banging them together to summon every one of us on the planet. They all do.
We often go and have a look at ships – they’re interesting and they are harmless (or so we thought).
Of course we never get too near as they are so noisy. When you can hear a shrimp 10 whales away, do you want to go and stick your head next to something that sounds like a competition of 50 heavy metal bands all playing at once?
So we went up to look as we often do.
It was a funny old ship with a white rag on the end which had a round red blob in the middle.
There was a sort of chute in the stern.
I wonder what they throw down that?
Whenever we appear, ships always keep on going to wherever they were going before we came along – they just ignore us we think.
But this one didn’t.
It turned towards us.
That was very strange.
I could not understand it.
Charlie was the first one to notice it and told the rest of us.
“Doesn’t that smell like blood in the water?” Charlie squawked.
Charlie went up for air and a better look.
Suddenly there was headache-making BANG on the ship and something shot towards Charlie and then, and then…….it seemed to hit him.
A second later there was another muffled BANG and the most god-awful loud scream from Charlie that went on for what seemed like hours and hours and hours.
I’ve NEVER heard ANYONE SCREAM LIKE THAT
It was like a knife in the water.
He just did not stop screaming.
On and ON and On and ON
I’ve never heard anything like it.
Horrible horrible horrible.
I’ll remember that scream every second of my life until I die.
“It hurts. Oh God! How it hurts, it hurts, it hurts, it hurts, OH my GOD how it hurts,” a weak tortured voice came to us.
The faint voice had Charlie’s special finny twang to it.
“I can’t……….. breathe.”
“It blew up inside me.”
“I feel like I’ve been cut in two.”
“I can’t feel my tail.”
“There’s blood pouring out of my mouth.”
The voice was weaker now.
“They’re coming toward me.”
“I think they want to kill me.”
“Why would they do that?”
“I think I am Dyyyyingggg.” It ended in a shriek of still more unbearable pain.
Everything went quiet.
“Jill? Jill?” the voice sounded weak and ever so desperate. Reaching. Full of love. Full of pain. Full of hurt.
“Jill……..I….love….. you…….. Jerrrrrrrllll………ser…veeey……mush” you almost couldn’t hear – or understand - the whistle it was so weak, so slurred.
“I LOVE YOU CHARLIE!!!!!!!!”
“I LOVE YOU CHARLIE!!!!!!!!”
“I LOVE YOU CHARLIE!!!!!!!!”
“I LOVE YOU WITH ALL MY HEART!”
“I LOVE YOU CHARLIE I ALWAYS WILL!”
“I LOVE YOU MY HEART MY SOUL.”
“I’LL NEVER NEVER NEVER FORGET YOU”
“NEVERRRR-RRRRR-RRRRR-RRRRR-RRRRRRRRRRRRR”
“CHARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE”
I SCREAMED back at him and hit my tail on the water over and over and over again with every ounce of strength I had in me hoping he would hear or at least feel my love.
But there was no answer.
There was a deadly silence amongst us.
No one moved a fin.
We all listened to the deadly Thump Thump Thump Thump Thump THUMP THUMP THUMP of the Kill Ship moving in on Charlie’s hardly moving form floating in a growing cloud of his own blood.
He seemed to wave a fin weakly in our direction.
Or perhaps it was just the water moving it.
I am frozen inside.
Tears stream and stream and stream and stream from my eyes.
I could not hurt as much as Charlie.
But I hurt so VERY much.
So very DEEPLY I hurt, I do.
We watched from under the water as they dragged Charlie’s magnificent body tail first up that hell chute, blood pouring from his mouth, like you’d drag up a piece of garbage.
Shortly afterwards, more rivers of blood flowed down into the sea turning it red.
We could all smell it in the water. Charlie’s blood.
Now we know what that red thing is in the white rag at the end of that ship.
It’s a blood blot.
I find I am screaming I am hurting sooo much, I to try to let the hurt out but it won’t go:
“It’s a Blood Blot hellship with Blood Blot people on it from BLOOD BLOT DEATH HELL LAND” I SCREAM.
The others brush against me to calm me. But I can’t be calmed. I don’t WANT to be calmed. I REFUSE to be calmed.
What sort of people would want to live in that Blood Blot Death Hell Land?
WHY would they do that to him?
Charlie was the gentlest whale you could ever hope to meet.
He’d never hurt even a shrimp.
He’d go out of his way to avoid them.
Charlie was my son.
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HEADLESS CHICKEN WEEK
By
G. Sullivan