Here's the first chapter to 'Show Me How To Feel.' Enjoy :)
Nantucket, Massachusetts
Dec. 6th, 2021...
Eve let out a drawn-out yawn as she pulled the boat into port. She felt both tired and frozen from a day's work in the water. Still, it was worth it. Her crew and herself got a lot of great footage on the foraging habits of Harp Seals. Some of which, were quite curious and approached some of the diving team. One juvenile even bopped their nose on the lens of her camera when they came in close.
"What do you think Eve? Another job well done?" Lina inquired as she walked up to the Helm.
The petite brunette turned to her friend and colleague with a small smile.
"Hell, yeah it was. I think we all got some amazing footage. Can never get tired of the silly antics of seals. They really are the very definition of 'Sea Dogs' or in this case; more like 'Sea Puppies'." Eve replied, with a slight chuckle.
Lina let out a slight laugh too. The bob of seals they came across certainly was a very playful and curious bunch. A couple of them tried to swim in between Drew's legs. Which in turn; made him fumble a bit with the camera. Luckily, he didn't drop it. Otherwise, he would've had to swim a little over thirteen meters down to get it.
Speak of the Devil, he just walked into the small cabin where the two women were conversing. Both ladies turned to him with an amused smirk.
"How are you doing, Drew? Better yet, how's your camera? Seeing as it almost took a nosedive to the bottom." Eve teased.
"Ha Ha, it's just fine. If anything, one of the seals probably would've grabbed it before it hit the bottom and take off with it. Just like that one Sea Lion grabbed the strap to Matt's camera and nearly took off with both it and him." Drew said, as he towel dried his shoulder length hair.
They all got a good laugh out of that. It happened a couple months ago while they were out on the water. They were all down in only about ten-fifteen feet of water surrounded by Sea Lions when one very brazen juvenile male tried to make off with their friend's new camera. It nearly turned into a tug o war match between human and pinniped. Of course, Matt would've lost that match had the strong animal not decided to let it go in pursuit of one of the other Sea Lions.
Once the boat came to a stop, Matt came in and saw them all snickering among each other. He arched a dark brow in question.
"I'd ask what you three ass hats are laughing about. But something tells me it has something to do with something I did." Matt stated as a matter of fact.
"Just talking about the Sea Lion that tried to take your job as a cameraman. Of course, in our defense we wager it would've gotten better candid shots than you. Seeing as they can dive much deeper than we can." Drew joked.
Matt snorted, "Or probably just show it off to a Harem of females. Before finally tossing it aside once he got laid by two or five of them." He paused and turned to Drew with a smirk. "Something you should know all about, Buddy."
Both women chuckled at the insinuation. It's no secret that the rock-solid young man with a cute lopsided grin can be quite the womanizer when he wanted to be. And they all knew it. Which was confirmed when Drew rolled his eyes and flipped Matt the birdie.
"Ok kids, that's enough. Let's all grab our shit, bundle up, and tie down the boat. Then we can all head home." Eve said, with some laughter in her voice.
"Aye, aye, Captain." Matt said, with a mock salute.
The four of them definitely were quite the life of the party when together. It's part of what made their jobs fun. Well, that and seeing all kinds of amazing aquatic life. That was the beauty of being a Marine Life Photography. Especially, when they made documentaries on them. They recently just completed one on Pilot Whales not that long ago. They also send a lot of footage back to the institute to be analyzed or used for educational purposes.
They slipped on some sweatshirts and sweatpants, before slipping into their thick winter coats. Then they proceeded outside the small cabin Eve and Matt stepped off of the boat onto the pier. While Lina and Drew tossed them the ropes so they can loop them around the pilings to secure it. Then the two that were still on the boat started handing over the bags of gear to the ones on the pier.
Eve shouldered her bag, before cupping her hands and breathing into them in an attempt to warm them up. The early winter air was quite frigid and windy. She heard someone 'tutting' her from her right and turned to see Drew.
"I told you, you would've needed gloves today." Drew said, with a playful disapproving look.
"Why bother? My car is right here in the parking lot. It will only take me a couple minutes to get there. And then I will blast the heat in the car once I get in and turn it on." She replied.
"I still think someone just doesn't like admitting when they're wrong." He said, with a smirk.
"You referring to me or you, Drew?" Eve teased.
He shakes his head with a sigh while crossing his arms.
"I won't even answer that and let you figure it out for yourself." Drew said.
Eve leans in and playfully punches his arm, which drew a chuckle from the much taller man.
"It's too bad you aren't about a foot taller, Eve. Then you could've just socked me in the face instead." He teased.
The 4ft 11'in tall woman put her hands on her hips and gave him a pointed look.
"Careful, Buster. I won't have any problem shoving your ass off this pier and into the water." She playfully threatens.
"Run, Drew. Don't tempt fate with this one. You won't like the outcome." Matt added, as a joke.
"But I like taking risks, Mattie." Drew teased.
"And that's why your still single." He quips back.
"So are you, Matt." Lina adds, as she shoulders her bag.
"Yeah, and who's fault is that?" Eve inquires.
"What can I say? I like living it up as an eligible bachelor. Anyways, I'll see you guys' tomorrow." Matt replied, while waving at them.
Then he made his way down the pier to dry land.
"Try not to get too plastered at the bar later! We will need you to catch some footage on your Go-Pro tomorrow! And the last thing we need is you getting sick again while wearing it in the water! Don't need to see footage of your puke clouding up the water again in front of you!" Eve shouted at his retreating form.
Matt turned around with a groan and was walking backwards.
"C'mon guys! that was 'One' time!" He shouted back.
"Almost two!" Lina shouted back.
Matt waved his hands in a dismissing motion, before turning around, and leaving.
The remainder of the group shared a laugh. Before they too started heading down the creaky wooden pier towards land. The three of them conversed with one another about tomorrow's plans while out on the water. They heard of sightings of hooded seals not too far from their location. So, they discussed the possibilities of heading out that way.
They also talked about how they couldn't wait to take a plane down to Florida within the next month or two to document and try and get footage of North Atlantic Right Whales. Winter was calving season for the large whales, and they had hopes of shooting footage of possible births. Or at least get an idea of where the pregnant females may congregate down there.
Once they hit the parking lot, the three of them branched off in different directions to their parked cars. Eve waved 'Goodbye' to them before making a right down the second lane in the lot to her car. She sped walked down to it as fast as she could to get out of the cold. Then unlocked it and dropped down into the driver's seat. She closed the car door and lightly tossed her camera bag into the passenger seat.
Eve turned on the heater full blast once she turned the ignition. Then sat there for a little to wait for the car to warm up. She rubbed her hands together again and placed them in front of the vents to warm them up quicker. She couldn't wait to get home and peel off the stiff wetsuit she had on underneath her clothes. No doubt the damp suit was getting her sweats wet. She especially couldn't wait to get under the hot spray of the shower.
Not a couple minutes went by, before her phone chimed with an incoming text message. Eve pulled out her iphone to see who it was. She opened it and saw a message from Line.
"Hey, just wanted to remind you to watch out for patches of black ice on the road. The weather report earlier stated that there was quite a bit of it. Especially, on the main roads due to the rain we had yesterday and the rainwater freezing up overnight on the roads. So please, be careful."
Eve slightly smiled. Typical of Lina to mother the during times like this. But then she remembered that Lina had been in an accident one year during the harsh winter season due to a similar reason. And this is why she probably felt the need to warn the others. Eve is already betting she sent out a similar text to Drew and Matt about it too.
She replied back to the text.
"Thanks for the heads up. I'll be careful."
Afterwards, she shoved her phone back into her coat pocket, and started to pull out of the parking spot. Eve headed out of the Marina and onto one of the main roads. It was a good fifteen-minute drive to her place which wasn't so bad.
It was a pretty quiet drive so far and there surprisingly not too many people on the road. Just her on the road in the dark. She hated the early hours during the winter. It was only around 4:52pm, but it felt like it was much later than that. Hell, she wasn't a huge fan of winter in general. Eve hadn't said anything to her friends/colleagues yet. But in a couple years or so, she'd like to move further south, and possibly get a place in Florida.
Unfortunately, there was both good and bad to that big decision. Good, being that she'd be out of the frigid weather completely. Except for the times she would have to travel to cooler places for her work. Even then, the stays wouldn't last all that long. Bad, being it could mean the break-up of their team. Something she was hesitant to do seeing as she worked closely with them for the past eight years now.
'Well, I still have plenty of time before then to try and figure something out. Who knows, they may want to come with. Seeing as none of them are a huge fan of the harsh winter weather of Massachusetts any more than I am.' She thought.
About halfway through the drive, it started to snow lightly. Eve squinted a little to see if she truly was seeing what she thought she was. She didn't recall hearing anything about snow around this time. But then she hasn't been listening to the weather all that much lately. Mainly because, usually one of the others was on top of it and informed the rest of the team.
About five-minutes later, the snow started gradually coming down heavier. Until, Eve eventually had to turn on her windshield wipers on high.
'What the hell? It's like a fucking blizzard out here.' She thought.
The windshield was getting pelted by the large flurry. It came to the point that visibility was getting poorer by the minute, despite the wipers going as fast as they could. Eve started going around the bend and hadn't realized her car started drifting into the other lane due to icy conditions. Her blue eyes widened really quick when she was blinded by headlights coming right at her as she made it around the bend.
The large SUV in front of her started beeping frantically and in a panic, she started swerving. The ice on the road made her car fishtail and she couldn't move out of the way fast enough. There was an incredibly loud bang from the impact and the last thing she saw was the bright headlights on the other car she just collided with.
Until Next Time ;)