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me.
    "I'm sorry, I forgot you were
here," he apologised, hiding his hands behind his back. He hurried
into the bathroom and shut the door. He emerged soon after,
crossing the living area in quick, wide strides. He disappeared
into his bedroom, closing the door behind him.
    I heard him muttering to
himself for a minute or two, before he emerged, fully clothed.
    "Is this okay for whale
watching?" he asked.
    I tried hard not to laugh. "I
don't think the whales care what you wear. You might want to bring
a jacket, though, because it gets cold on the water." I pointed at
my jacket and hat on the couch beside me.
    "Right." Aidan looked
determined and marched back into his bedroom.

20
     
    I agreed to let him drive to
the port. I'd been laughing too hard at him in his ski clothes to
see or drive. I'd never seen so much red tartan in my life. He'd
switched the ski pants for jeans, but the tartan hat and coat
remained.
    "I like tartan," he told me
with a wounded look. I wasn't sure if he was serious or joking, but
my levity slowly faded.
    We paid our fares and headed
down the jetty to the whale watching boat. Looking from the furled
sail to the small cabin, I judged the catamaran to be a
reasonable-sized vessel, about the same size as a male humpback
whale. I wondered if we would encounter anything larger.
    There were only a handful of
people on the boat, presumably owing to the cold, damp and windy
weather. The whales and I didn't mind; Aidan was snug in his bright
coat. The boat headed out of the port, toward the decommissioned
whaling station. The vessel crew gave a commentary as we cut
through the little waves, but I didn't listen to it. I suspected I
knew more about whales than any of them.
    I stood in the bow of the boat,
face to the wind, looking for the first sign of a blow. It had been
many months since I'd seen a whale…and I saw it. A blow of hot
condensed air, a back curving above the surface, the dorsal fin… "A
humpback! There!" I shouted, pointing.
    Aidan and the rest of the
passengers crowded around me, scanning the water. I watched the
patch of calm water between the waves disappear, before pointing
again. "There." The whale surfaced on cue. This time, his tail rose
up behind him as he dove deep.
    "Wow." Aidan's voice behind me
was breathy and awed. I turned and smiled, before surveying the
water again for another whale.
    The whales surfaced and blew
around the boat, to the murmured awe of the other passengers. I
looked closely, but all I saw were males and juveniles, none of
them as large as the boat.
    The skipper mentioned something
about moving to another spot, where the spotters at the lookout had
seen some more whales.
    The other passengers moved back
inside as the boat started to move out of the shelter of the
headland, but I stayed in the bow, dropping to my knees by the
rail. Under my breath, I started to sing, so quiet it was barely
audible to my own acute hearing.
    The skipper slowed and pulled
out a little plastic flute, playing a short tune before pocketing
the flute again. I looked out across the water to the horizon,
repeating my song.
    I heard her approach, but still
she surprised me. She spied above the surface, her face close
beside the boat, her eye focussed on me. A tiny back broke the
surface next to her, followed by a tail barely bigger than a
dolphin's. Her baby was so young it was still pale grey. I sang
once more and she dipped below the water again.
    I held tight to the rail at the
bow as she breached beside the vessel, soaking me with spray as she
twisted in the air and splashed down again. The boat rocked
violently, but stayed afloat. A gust of wind chilled me to the
bone. I couldn't stop smiling, even as my hands turned pale blue.
The other passengers moved out to the bow again and we all watched
as the whale cow breached a little further away. Murmured sighs
echoed around me as the tiny back and tail flicked to the surface
beside her.
    I nodded my thanks to her and
shivered in the wind,