Shamu Show

My mother and I had lived in a decent house in California. We still went there frequently. It did not belong to us. We had lived with my mothers’ best friend Charlene and Charlene’s’ two boys Greg and Dave. Dave was much older than Greg and me, so we did not see him much. He was an adult, where as Greg and I were still in school. Greg was my brothers’ age. My brother lived with my father back in Texas. My mother and Charlene met when we were living in military housing. Their marriages didn’t last, but the friendship did. Now, Mom and I lived in an apartment just a mile or so away from Charlene.

Mom was a gorgeous woman. She was curvy with long blond hair. Mom was also very sick, she suffered from many different problems so she rarely had energy to do anything outside of getting herself to work. She put on a good face though. You couldn't help but smile when she did.

Charlene and Greg both had dark brown, almost black hair. Greg was a lean, well built man that I would have thought of as cute if he weren’t so much like a brother. Charlene was thin and had sever features. She could be very strict and she could be very giving. She was a good friend to my mother. My brother occasionally will say it is because they were in a relationship, but he was most adamant about that when he first came out of the closet himself; He wanted the whole world to be gay. Lesbian or not, the two of them and their children (Greg and me) would occasionally spend a day together.

One of those days we went to Sea World. I remember that Greg’s friend Chris came with us. He was built like a stick with messy sandy hair and we had had an argument, but I still liked him. We spent the day going to shows. Some of it I spent with my mother. We liked to go to the dolphin pool and pet the dolphins; two of them came up to me nearly every time whether or not I had food. I got a kick out of that. I was sure that it was the same two too. I saw a show or two with Charlene and my mother. Then I went off with the boys to get soaked at the Shamu show. Charlene had warned us that we had to get soaked early in the day because we were not allowed in her car wet. I sat next to Chris. I remember that. We got soaked and it felt great. When I was dry enough, Mom and I went up the PSA tower and looked out over San Diego. We hadn’t planned to stay late but there was a new show that was only at night and we wanted to see it. The Shamu Show at night. With a new big tank and baby Shamu. There were to be two or three night shows, but we wanted to see the first so that we could all get home at a decent hour.

We sat away from the splash zone, because we would be leaving the park after this night performance. Mom had her great big cup with her (she was always thirsty) and Charlene shared popcorn with us. The show started with music blasting and lights dancing and then a trainer came out and gave an introduction. The show was like most day time shows, expect for the addition of the laser lights and strobe lights. It was still a fine show. That is, until the point when Shamu was rising up out of the water. Nearly the whole body was out of the water as the strobe lights shone like crazy….

Then it was daylight. Shamu was in the air. She landed and then there was blood spreading out from the whale. The audience and the trainers were in shock as we saw blood spread in the tank. Shamu died. And think I blinked…

It was still night time. Shamu hadn’t landed in the water yet. She just started to go back into the water. As she did, the strobe lights came to a halt. People nearest the tank were soaked and happy. Shamu was fine. The trainers said their farewells. I was shaken. What the hell had just happened? I wanted to yell. To scream. What would I say? I had a scary day-dream during the show? No, I wanted to say that something was wrong. I did not know who I could say this too. How did I know something was wrong? What was wrong? Nothing really happened? With a lot of anxiety and a bunch of other mixed emotions, I left the park along with the others. It was not an ordinary dream.

Just a couple of days later my mother and I were watching the news on television while she got dinner ready. She was in the kitchen when a news anchor announced that after the break we would hear about the tragedy at Sea World. Mom stopped what she was doing and looked at the television. We had just been there. I held my breath. The commercial break was over.

Shamu died of unknown reasons during a show. She jumped out of the water, came down and then blood spread through the tank. Holy Shit! That is just what I saw.

I sat there silent for a time. I’m not sure how long it was, but it seemed like forever. I looked at my mother and she looked at me. She was looking at me kind of weird. Did she know something? Then, we shared. I told her what I saw. Then she told me that she saw something too. Only in her version, Shamu landed on the glass wall enclosing the tank and split herself open. I shuddered. Then she told me that when she saw her version, it was during the night time show; while Shamu was mid jump and the strobe lights were full blast. The same moment that I saw my version. We were speechless after that. What else could have been said? All we were left with were questions.