Dolphin Tale: Through our son's eyes
Chapter 22
So this is another chapter, I know I'm slowing down a little. I just thought I could take a week or two off of writing in order to clear the head and focus on college and stuff like that. Anyways I hope you enjoy this story, it will be a little different to normal chapters.
Shawl lay on his bed one day playing his handheld computer game. Most of his friends were away on semester break and had gone back home to visit their families so he was bored with nothing to do at home for a while at least.
His phone rang on the bedside next to him. Pausing his game, he lay up straight and answered it. "Hello?" he asked. 'Hey Shawl it's your mother here. Wanna come up for a while? Winter and Hope both look like they could use a little company." "Oh okay." Shawl said. "I'm on my way."
He then walked down to the garage and got his bike and cycled up toward the aquarium. Along the way he cycled past the street where Kyle and his family lived. He looked over before deciding to have a wander into the street. He approached the house that Kyle and his family lived in and slowly got off his bike and bent it behind a wall so that no one would see it. He climbed over the fence and crawled slowly toward the window. He then peeked his head up slowly to see that no-one was in the living room. Both cars were gone so that meant no-one could have been home. Grinning sneakily he approached the doorbell and struck it before rushing at top speed and jumping over the fence and ducking behind it. He stuck his head at the side of the gate to see the result. After two minutes, the door opened and Sarah appeared. She looked around for a few seconds before saying "Hmn doorbell ditchers, Crazy little pranksters". Shawl was doing his best to keep quiet, however when he saw Sarah approaching the gate he quickly ducked back. But luckily though Sarah digged her hand into the mailbox pulling out a few letters. Following that, she quickly retreated back to the house and close the door.
Shawl breathed a sigh of relief as he resurfaced and grabbed his bike. "That was a close call. Well I may as well head over to the aquarium" he said as he grabbed his bike.
Meanwhile, in her house Sarah walked into the living room and was about to grab a magazine when she looked toward the window and saw what looked like a tassel haired teen wearing an aqua-blue t-shirt cycling past on his bike. She ran over to the window to get a better view. "Is that Shawl?" she asked to herself. 'Wow. He must have been the one who did the doorbell prank. He's still cute though." She said to herself before going back to her magazine and sitting down on the couch.
Shawl got to the aquarium and parked his bike behind the building on a bike rack. He walked inside into Hazel's office. "Hi mom' he said as he walked. "Hey Shawl, so you're here.' "Yeah you called saying you wanted me to spend more time with the dolphins?" Shawl asked. "Oh yes. Well you can make your way up there. If you have any problems speak to me." Hazel said. 'Okay thanks mom." Shawl said as he walked upstairs.
He knelt by Winter's pool and the dolphin swam toward him. "Hey buddy" he said as he patted Winter's rostrum. "How you feeling today?" Winter responded with a tweety bird noise, "Ah that's the sound my mom told me you made all the time when my parents were my age.' Shawl smiled.
An hour later, Shawl was sitting down near the pool reading a magazine and keeping an eye on Winter as she swam about. Sawyer approached him and sat down next to him. "So Shawl, your mom and I are going out for dinner tonight with Kyle and Sandra. If you want you can invite Sarah over and have her help you take care of Abigail." "Sounds cool." Shawl said as he looked up from the magazine. "I went over to their street earlier on and played a doorbell ditching prank on them. I got away though" Shawl laughed. "Ah ya little pranking rascal." Sawyer said as he patted his son's head. "Anyway we're gonna be closing up for the day in a while so you wanna get your stuff ready and cycle on home?" "Sure okay Dad" Shawl said.
When he got home however, Shawl noticed that a large rope with a large hook on it was lying on the ground. He walked over to it and saw that it was lying on the grass above the window to his room on the roof. But the window to his room was closed. "That's strange." He said. "Ah someone must have thrown it over the fence" he said as he took the rope into the garage and walked inside.
Later that night, Sawyer and Hazel were preparing to go out. Shawl was sitting in his room playing a computer game. "Well may as well get my wetsuit out for tomorrow as I'm gonna be busy with the dolphins." He said as he paused his game and walked over to his wardrobe. However just as he opened the door he was shocked to see Hazel, his friend from Miami, inside. "Uh hello Shawl." She said instantly as Shawl opened the door. Shawl got such a fright that he fell back onto his bed.
"Ha-Hazel, how did you get in here?" Shawl asked in shocked as Hazel and a younger girl of about 6 or 7 stepped out. "Wait you must have thrown that hook over my window." "Yes we did. Jenny, my little sister, and I have escaped from Miami because our father got drunk and start abusing everyone in his way. He hit me and Jenny several times with a baseball bat." Hazel explained shivering. "Did you call the cops?" Shawl asked. "No, cause our dad is really ferocious.' Jenny said.
At that point Sawyer walked in to Shawl's room. "Hey Shawl do you have any lotion I can borr- wait are you that Hazel girl from Miami?" He said as he saw Hazel. "Yes." Hazel said shivering. "What are you two doing here?" he asked both girls. "We've escaped our drunk father. He began abusing us while drunk." Hazel said. "This is my little sister Jenny." Hazel then added. Jenny was small and had brown hair and light skin like her sister.
"Right well I'm not sure if we'll have time to deal with this but-" "No worries Dad leave this to me I'll sort it out. They can stay here for the night." Shawl said. He then turned to Hazel and said 'Sarah's also gonna be here." He then noticed some bad bruises on the girls. 'Wow your father must have been really physical." He said, "Just look at these cuts." "He hit us with baseball bats." Hazel said.
An hour later Sawyer and Hazel left the house with Shawl and the girls and Sarah was on her way. Shawl was carefully tending to the wounds on the girls arms. "Thanks Shawl." Hazel said. "You're very helpful, and kinda cute." Jenny added. "Yeah I get that a lot." Shawl smiled. "It's true he does." Hazel said to Jenny.
Just then the doorbell rang. "One of you go that while I put the first aid kit away." Shawl said. Jenny went to get the door, and opened it to find Sarah standing there. She looked confused. "Did Shawl move away?" she asked. "No….." Jenny said. "Who are you?' "I'm Sarah, a friend of Shawl's." Sarah said. "Well he's here, come on in." Jenny said. "Hazel!" Sarah exclaimed as she ran over. "Sarah!" Hazel also exclaimed as they both embraced in a hug. "Why are you here?" Sarah asked. "Well myself and my little sister Jenny we both escaped our drunk father, he went on a drunken rampage." Hazel said. "They're gonna stay with us for a while." Shawl said as he entered with some coke cans. "They said they have an auntie here in Clearwater, so they can tell her everything and spend more time with her."
The kids then spent the night just chilling, talking, and watching DVD's and even caring for Abigail when she needed attention.