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I’ll be helping you learn how to communicate with our ocean friends.”
    Coach added, “Some of you may be good swimmers like Rory or Carmella, or experts in camouflage like Rusty. But have no doubt, each of you has an ocean talent, and I’m just the person to help you figure it out.”
    Ms. Sanchez made a noise like she was clearing her throat.
    â€œYes, well, I mean we are just the people to help you to discover your unusual skills in the sea.”
    Hugh raised his hand. “Uh, Mr. Coach, sir. Are you sure? Are there other kinds of talent that don’t involve actually going in the ocean?”
    Rosina laughed and stared at Hugh’s slightly bulging belly. “I’d say your talent is eating.”
    â€œAnd what’s yours? Rolling around in the mud?” Tristan fired back. He might be clumsy, but he’d always been plenty agile with words when needed.
    Rosina’s face turned scarlet, and her eyes became little slits. She seemed about to either make a lunge for Tristan or literally explode into tiny teenager pieces.
    â€œOkay, that’s enough,” Coach interjected. “Let’s all take it easy. You are going to have to learn to get along and work together.”
    â€œDoubtful,” Rosina muttered.
    â€œYou that asked the question. What’s your name?” Coach asked.
    â€œHugh, sir. Hugh Haverford.”
    â€œHaverford, each of you was invited to come to Sea Camp because you have special abilities when it comes to the ocean. Some of you may be able to swim faster and longer than most people. Others might be better at stealth or defense. And a few of you may be better at communicating with marine life, or even echolocating with your own personal sonar—though that one is pretty rare.”
    â€œUh, sir. Only dolphins, whales, and bats can echolocate,” Hugh said.
    â€œYes, I am sure that is what you have been taught,” Coach replied. “But what you are going to learn here is that some people can do things in the ocean you never thought possible.”
    Ms. Sanchez stepped forward and made a sort of poof, blowing sound.
    â€œDoes that sound familiar to anyone?” she asked.
    Sam tentatively raised her hand. “It sounds like a dolphin clearing its blowhole.”
    â€œYes, that’s right. And you are?”
    â€œSamantha Marten, but everyone calls me Sam.”
    â€œAh yes, Miss Marten,” Ms. Sanchez said, clearly recognizing her name. “Well, as you and the others here may already know, life on Earth is believed to have started in the ocean. Over hundreds of millions of years, animals evolved and adapted to life in the sea—like dolphins. They developed special abilities and behaviors so that they could breathe, eat, navigate, defend themselves, and communicate. Humans of course have always lived on land. But since life began in the sea, our very earliest ancestors came from the ocean. In some people there are still traces of the genes that allowed those organisms to adapt to and live in the sea. At the right age and with the right help, these genes can sort of, well, be turned on, at least for a few years.”
    â€œAre you saying I’m actually a fish or whale and just don’t know it?” Rosina said. The other Seasquirts snickered.
    â€œNot exactly my dear. But deep inside your genetic code you might have a trace of what enabled whales to adapt to life in the ocean.”
    â€œC’mon,” Hugh said. “We evolved from primates, everyone knows that. And some people can’t even swim.”
    Ms Sanchez smiled and patiently continued, “You’re right, some people are not well suited for the ocean. But that is not the case for all of you here. I bet in the last few months or so, many of you have had some sort of unusual experience in the sea or with marine life.”
    Coach Fred stepped in. “Ms. Sanchez likes to hear your little heartwarming stories. Me, I