Several weeks prior:
"Damon, don't forget you have that lecture at 'Sonoma State' in Rohnert Park the day after tomorrow," my brother, Matt reminds me. Dropping into a chair, he makes himself at home, putting his feet up on my desk.
Sighing animatedly, I shake my head. "Uh, I hate giving lectures," I lament, sitting back and putting my own feet up.
"I know you do, Damon. But it's your lectures that bring in the big bucks," he reminds me, raising an eyebrow.
"Yeah, I know."
"Have you talked to mom and dad?"
"Why?"
"Damon, you'll always be their baby boy...," he chuckles. I pull my desk drawer open, grab ahold of my Nerf football and lob it at his head. Unable to hold back my laugh when I make a direct hit, he glares at me playfully before hitting me back with it.
"But seriously, why are you asking if I've talked to them?"
"They're thinking about coming out here for your birthday this year. We haven't been back to North Carolina for a couple of years now."
"I hope they do. I would love to take them out on the boat to see the sharks up close and personal."
"Mom would freak!"
"Yeah, she probably would. She hates them since..."
"I know Damon. I remember that day like it was yesterday. I was so scared you were going to die. You lost over half of your blood volume. It was really fate that Dr. Randall happened to be on the beach that day...," he reminisces, his eyes never leaving mine. Reaching down, I instinctively feel the hard plastic of my prosthesis.
"I'm going to go, I promised my wife that I'd take her on a date tonight. I'll see you tomorrow, little brother."
"Bye Matt." He turns around and nods before stepping out of my office.
"Class, I'd like to introduce Dr. Damon Salvatore. He's a renowned Shark Expert, having received his PhD in Marine Biology with a specialization in Ichthyology. Dr. Salvatore has been a recipient of many awards for excellence in Marine research and Ichthyology. He received his PhD from the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in San Diego. Please welcome him," Dr. Stuart tells the students, announcing my presence. I walk up the podium to applause and shake his hand. He smiles then steps back to take a seat at his desk.
"How are you all today?" I begin. They give me another light round of applause. I take the time to give my audience a cursory glance before looking down at my notes for a moment. When I look around the room a second time, I see the most beautiful girl that I have ever seen. Our eyes meet for a long moment and it's like only the two of us exist for those couple of seconds. Shaking it off, I begin.
"Very few animals generate a mixture of fascination and terror as the Great White Shark. Which is unfortunate because the anti-shark sentiment has led to the unnecessary slaughter of many of these beautiful creatures. White Sharks have been listed for international protection under the 'Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Flora and Fauna. They were listed as vulnerable by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature. A thorough understanding of the Great White's history is important for the preservation of these sharks. It allows us to readily identify regions and life stages in which they or any sharks are at their most vulnerable," I explain to them. Looking over my audience again, I notice a scruffy haired guy staring at me intently while a couple others seem bored as their eyes are closed. A couple more are texting with their cell phones.
I stop for a minute to take a sip from my water bottle. "The elephant seal population attracts Great White sharks to the islands. In 1970, a Farallon biologist witnessed their first shark attack. It was on a Steller's sea lion. Over the course of the next fifteen years, more than a hundred attacks on seals and sea lions were observed at close range. By the year 2000, biologists were logging almost eighty attacks in a single season. Previous to this, no one had ever documented such behavior among great whites."
After once again staring into the eyes of that doe-eyed beauty, I continue, "The males return annually while the females only every other year, often with fresh, deep bites around their heads. The seasonal population at the Farallones is anyone's guess. The estimates range anywhere from thirty to one hundred. The Farallones are unique given the size of the Great White that are attracted. They average from just over thirteen feet to almost sixteen feet with a weight range of fifteen hundred to twenty four hundred and fifty pounds. Females are generally larger than their male counterparts. Farallon Great Whites average around thirteen feet for the males and the females are generally seventeen to nineteen feet. The largest accurately measured female was caught in August of 1988 at Prince Edward Island off the North Atlantic coast and measured twenty point three feet."
I smile when I hear the oohs and awes. "Some individual sharks have been tagged and found to roam the Pacific as far as Hawaii, returning regularly to the Farallones every year in the autumn. Orcas have been seen attacking the sharks." Looking around the room again, I turn away quickly when I see a red-haired girl outrageously flirting with me.
Discreetly shaking my head, I take a moment to look over my notes. "As in every other job, there is cut-throat competitiveness, inflated egos, rampant jealousy, petty grudges, betrayal of trust, taking credit for other's work which are just a few of the perils in dealing with people. Believe me, I'm not that jaded," I tell them.
"There are also incredible generosities, mutually beneficial alliances, incredibly generous people and personally, I've made some really deep and life long friendships in this profession. But unfortunately it seems unpleasant experiences are far more common than pleasant ones. These are just some of the problems inherent to working with others' ambitions and insecurities. Unfortunately these problems tend to exacerbate in matters such as those concerning White Sharks or shark attacks," I add, pausing to take another drink from my water bottle.
"I can't close without telling you that there are plenty of ethical, meticulous, hard working, wonderful people working in shark research who do what they do because they love it. But, far too often, the work of these dedicated scientists seems to be overwhelmed in the public eye by relatively few self-styled shark researchers who are unethical, methodologically sloppy, thoroughly untrustworthy disreputable charlatans and so called experts who care nothing for the ideals and practices of Science but do what they do because they want attention and adulation," I continue, shaking my head.
"These people are often skilled politicians and can be tough to identify until after they've shown their true motives. These people are often easy to spot: they vigorously seek out media exposure, toss around a lot of scientific-sounding terminology, criticize everyone else's work, and do not publish scientific literature. It is important to avoid these types because, in shark research as in many other fields for that matter, the quality of one's work is often at least as important as with whom he or she associates," I mention as I finish my speech.
"Dr. Salvatore, do you have time to take a few questions?" Dr. Stuart asks.
"Sure." Looking out over my audience, I see a guy stand up.
"Dr. Salvatore, what sparked you interest in sharks?" he asks.
"When I was a young boy, I had an up close and personal encounter with one. I've been consumed with them ever since." I tell him honestly, leaving out the part about losing a leg to it.
"You," I ask, pointing to another student.
"What kinds of things do you do?" the flirty girl asks.
"Shark research isn't nearly as glamorous as people imagine it to be. For the most part, shark research is like any other job. It's involves hard work and drudgery. For each moment of you get to examine rare specimens, conduct experiments in the lab, or observe sharks in the wild, you have to invest hundreds or thousands of hours in teaching, crunching numbers, writing reports, obtaining permits, and begging for funding and/or equipment," I reply with a shake of my head.
"Dissections are not a lot of fun; each is a slow, painstaking, smelly affair that can take days of concentrated effort; you'll need to do dozens or hundreds of dissections to obtain both a good understanding of biological variation and publishable results. Lab work is meticulous and highly repetitive, often frustrated by equipment that won't work or samples that have become contaminated somehow or are otherwise useless." Glancing over my audience again, I smile slightly when I see that doe eyed girl staring at me intently, taking in every word I speak.
"Field work can be uncomfortable and loaded with frustration. Often the weather won't cooperate, your equipment doesn't work, or the sharks simply are nowhere to be found. Learning something new and significant about shark behavior or ecology can take years or decades. No matter how you go about it, shark research is very difficult to break into and there are no short cuts. It takes years of dedication, persistence, hard work, and luck, and even then there are no guarantees."
Feeling a tickle in my throat, I reach up to cover my mouth to clear my throat. After taking the last swallow from my water bottle, I continue.
"Despite technological advances that open new ways to explore and study the natural world, studying sharks is tougher than ever before. Many shark populations have been reduced to a fraction of their historical abundance, making it increasingly difficult to find enough individuals on which to base a good, statistically sound study. The availability of government funding is decreasing and the number of qualified scientists clamoring for their share of those funds is increasing rapidly. Consequently, competition for research funding is much more intense than ever before. Most funding for shark research is poured into collecting basic data needed to manage commercially exploited species, with precious little remaining to support other shark studies," I finish.
"Anyone else?" I ask. Since no one raises there hands, I step away from the podium. Looking up, I see the kids starting to file out of the classroom. As I begin to gather my notes, I look up again when I hear my name. My breath hitches just slightly when I see that same lovely young lady staring back at me.
"Dr. Salvatore, my name is Elena," she informs me, offering her hand.
Taking her hand in mine, I feel a jolt of something, unlike anything I've ever felt before. Shaking off my momentary haze, I take her hand. "It's nice to meet you Elena. How can I help you?"
"I was wondering if you'd have time for a cup of coffee?"
Glancing at my watch, I have about a half hour before Matt shows up to pick me up. He and Caroline decided to ride along with me today. They dropped me off and went their merry way with the promise of coming back for me later. Gesturing for her to go first, I reply, "Lead the way."
She leads me to a little coffee shop just across the street from the campus. Once we have our coffee in hand, she leads me to a booth. She slides in on one side while I sit down on the other side. After taking a drink, I ask, "So how can I help you?"
"I'll be honest with you. I'm a bit wary of sharks, they're scary. I guess I wanted to know why you find them so fascinating?"
"They are scary," I acknowledge, tilting my head just slightly.
"Yes, they really are. Did you ever read 'Jaws'?" she asks.
"I did read 'Jaws'. It's a good read and I still enjoy the movie." I admit, smiling. "What is your interest in marine biology then?"
"Honestly, I love the whales. I hope to learn more about Blue whales but they're so elusive. They're not photographed all that often. I think Giant Squid are fascinating too."
"Really?"
Chucking slightly, she nods.
"You just don't look much like a squid girl," I laugh.
"Ha ha," she says, rolling her eyes before breaking out in a smile.
"You say you're wary of sharks, hate them even, is there a story there?" I ask, taking another swallow of my drink.
She stares down at her hands, clenched around her mug for a moment before raising her eyes to stare into mine. When she sucks her bottom lip between her teeth it sends a shiver of lust up my spine.
"Not really. I just don't get why everyone is so gung ho about sharks in general. I mean there's shark week every year among other things. Why don't they have a whale week? I mean there are a lot more less monstrous creatures roaming the oceans."
"I bet I could change your mind about them," I challenge.
"I doubt that," she replies, raising an eyebrow skeptically.
"Why don't you apply for a summer internship with my group? I'm stationed at the Farallon's right now but I'm also going to be taking our vessel down to Guadalupe Island too. They just filmed a giant Great White down there. She's huge, over twenty feet and she's a beauty," I say, shaking my head in awe.
"Wow," she laughs, shaking her head.
"What?" I answer laughing with her although I don't know why.
"Don't hold this against me but you looked like you orgasmed just talking about her."
My eyes widen before I shake my own head. "Damn near," I admit, shuddering slightly.
"Tell me about this internship."
"You'll have to apply. If accepted, you'll spend the summer with my crew and I as we study the sharks. We go into the water with them, tag them if we can get close enough then we analyze the data. It's fascinating work. They travel thousands of miles," I explain.
Glancing at her watch, she looks at me a little frazzled. "I didn't realize how late it was. I have another class I have to get to. Thank you, Dr. Salvatore. It was really nice to meet you," she says, smiling offering me her hand.
Standing up, I flirting with her using my eye thing, I take her hand and press a kiss to it. "The pleasure was all mine, miss..."
"Please call me Elena," she says, staring at her hand.
"Don't forget to apply, Elena. Here is one of my cards. You'll find all the information you need on my website."
"Thank you. Goodbye." she replies running out of the door.
Sitting back down in the chair, I take a moment to finish my coffee. Although I doubt that she'll take me up on my offer, I still can't help the smile that forms on my lips at the thought of spending more time with her.
"So how did your lecture go yesterday?" Caroline asks, downing her shot of tequila.
"Uh," I don't want to talk about work. Tonight is supposed to be a time out," I whine.
"Ah, poor baby," she pouts. Sticking her tongue out at me, she reaches over and musses my hair up.
"Hey?" I protest, sticking my lower lip out.
"Here you guys are! We've been looking for you," Ric says, pulling out a chair, Brady taking the chair to his left.
"Why didn't you just text?" Shrugging his shoulders, he just says, "I don't know."
The waitress steps over and refills all of our drinks. "I'm taking the boat out tomorrow. Who's with me?" I ask, taking a slog of my beer.
"I'm in," Brady replies, signaling our waitress to bring us a pitcher of beer. "The sea lions and elephant seals are starting to show up. It's like ringing the dinner bell," he observes, taking a swallow of his drink.
"Me too," Ric replies. "You in, Matt?"
"Yep," he says exaggeratedly. "Can't let little bro go out on the water all by himself."
"Did I tell you that Stefan called?" Matt mentions out of the blue.
"He didn't say much, just talked about school. He said he's going to come out here with mom and dad next month if he can get off from work."
"It'll be good to see him," I say, staring into my beer.
"Well, well, well, who do we have here?" Looking up when I hear that voice, I roll my eyes when I see that it's Nick Michaelson.
"Don't you have someone else you can bother?" I huff, rolling my eyes.
"Not really, Damon," he replies, raising his eye brows. His arm is draped around Jule's shoulder.
"How are you Jules?" I ask, flashing my eye thing just to irritate Nick. When she doesn't say anything, I up the ante a little.
"Come on Jules, you know you liked it. You told me that I was your best," I smirk, winking at her suggestively. Next thing I know I'm in a heap on the floor, reeling from a punch to the mouth. Feeling the sting in my lip, I reach up with my fingers to touch my now fat lip. At the same time, I taste my blood when the coppery scent touches my tongue. Pulling my fingers away, I see red covering the tips. I look up to see Ric holding him back. Matt offers me his hand to help me up. I can't help the laugh that escapes knowing I got such a rise out of him.
"Don't you ever talk to my girlfriend like that again!" He demands, pointing his finger at me.
"She's the one who came onto me. I guess you just weren't doing it for her," I reply, taunting him further.
"Why you son of a bitch," he sneers, trying to get out of Ric's grasp. Brady steps in to help restrain him.
"Let's just go Nick," Jules says, pressing a kiss to his cheek.
"He isn't worth it," she adds, while staring at me with disdain.
"Bye now," I tell them, throwing back the rest of my beer. "That was fun," I joke, rubbing my sore jaw.
"Damon, Damon," Caroline mutters, shaking her head. "When are you ever going to grow up?"
"Hey, he started it."
"No he didn't, you did."
"Details..." I scoff. Reaching down, I rub my knee. My stump is aching now from landing on the floor. Well guys, I'm going to go home."
"Is your leg okay?" Matt asks, concerned.
"Yeah, it's fine. It just hurts from landing on it. I'll just take some Advil when I get home. Goodnight everyone."
"Night," they all tell me. I turn around when I get to the entrance and look back at my brother. He tilts his head in concern. I wave my hand and walk out of the bar and into the balmy night, my mind drifting back to that bewitching girl, Elena.
A little levity to lighten things up. Damon is a character!... 'Jaws' is the only movie I've ever screamed at. How many of you know that the book 'Jaws' was spawned by the real life 1916 shark attacks on the Jersey shore? Five people were killed by a 'rogue shark'. Fascinating book about it: 'The Twelve Days of Terror" A Definitive Investigation of the 1916 New Jersey Shark Attacks by Dr. Richard Fernicola.
Thank you Eva. I can't begin to thank you for all of your help. Thank you all for your reviews, favorites and follows and for taking an interest in this story. I know I mentioned it already but I do love sharks. One of the things on my bucket list is to see a 'Great White' in its natural habitat. I don't know that I'd have the nerve to get into a shark cage but I'd love to see it swimming in the ocean.
A lot of the information in this chapter came from an internet search. I learn a lot as I write these stories too.
I did just update 'Shatter Me' and 'What If I Was Nothing' updated yesterday. Please give them a look too. Again, have a safe and lovely weekend. Until next time. *REVIEWS ARE LOVE****