Alice Harvey
Whale Lover
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Shamu's Trainer
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alice&&shamu ♥
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Joined: Jan 2007
Gender: Female 
Posts: 9
Location: With Shamu
Karma: 0 |  | The SeaWorld Story
« Thread Started on Apr 14, 2007, 7:10pm » | ![[Quote]](http://s1.images.proboards.com/buttons/quote.gif) |
Alice’s SeaWorld Story
15 years ago
You sat quietly in the back of the moving car, staring out of the window. You’d been enjoying the most amazing holiday that you’d ever been on. So far, you’d spent a week of sun soaked, Disneyworld fun, going around the parks and on the rides, meeting characters and seeing shows. Yesterday had been quiet and you’d relaxed and cooled off in the pool by your resort. Disneyworld was bliss. But this morning your parents had uttered those fatal words.
“Alice honey, we’re going to leave the park today! We’re going to SeaWorld!”
You had shouted, refused, stamped your feet, everything in your power to make them let you stay at the resort or go to one of the Disney parks. But you were a seven year old girl arguing with your parents. So really, it wasn’t going to get you very far. They’d very wisely woken you up and told you very early in the morning so that even after one of your episodes you’d still get to SeaWorld in good time. d**n them.
You’d been in the car for what felt like twenty hours, but it was really only twenty minutes. You sighed; there was nothing you could do about it.
When you finally arrived after an extremely tedious car journey and the ordeal of parking you were exhausted. Strange really, considering that the whole time you’d been sitting down in the car. It must have been your episode that had tired you out. You turned to your parents and demanded to see a show first, to let you relax because you were tired. They gave each other the look but you didn’t care. Because they gave into you.
“Ok Honey, let’s go see Shamu!” they say enthusiastically to you. Shamu? What the heck was that?! But you didn’t ask them, you’d work that out for yourself. You were stubborn that way.
You forced them to sit the soak zone. Ha! That would teach them, it would serve them right for forcing their poor daughter to leave behind comfort and luxury and endure a painfully long car journey, just to see some fish. They exchanged that look again but you ignored them. You’d found out that Shamu was a killer whale! And he was really famous. You didn’t want to admit it but you were feeling excited. Very, very excited. An unfamiliar feeling rose in your stomach as music began to sound around the stadium.
And then, it began. The whales were enormous, absolutely huge and yet they held themselves so gracefully and beautifully, they flew through the air in supreme elegance, which came as a bit of a surprise to you. How could something so big and dangerous be graceful and elegant? You had no idea. But you understood just how powerful these amazing creatures were, due to the fact that a flick of a tail and fifteen rows of people are drenched and people way behind were getting quite wet. People at the back must have had at least one drop of water on them. Amazing.
You jealously watched the whales and trainers throughout the mesmerizing performance, noticing just how strong the bond between them was. You wished you could have a bond like that with such an amazing creature…
Later on, you plop enthusiastically down onto one of the sturdy metal benches in the dolphin show arena. You see your parents glance at each, broad grins on their face. What were they smiling for? d**n parents. You’d had to sit in the third row even though you’d wanted to sit in the first row. But firstly; stupid parents wouldn’t let you and secondly; you wouldn’t have been able to see and would have hurt your neck craning to see it. You hated being small.
The show began and you suddenly felt glad that you were sitting further back. You could see perfectly. The dolphins leapt around, just as graceful and beautiful as the whales. And they leapt so incredibly high, you didn’t know how they managed it. But they did.
The rest of your day whizzed by but you loved every second. You saw otters and sealions and walked through a glass tank with sharks swimming above you, like at the Sealife Centre back home. And then there was they Stingrays. They swam round and round at Stingray Lagoon while people who worked there urged everyone to lean over and stroke them. You eagerly scrambled onto the wall and reached out with your arms as far as you could. It put you in a precautious position. You could so easily fall in. But luckily, you didn’t. But you did manage to stroke one. It was a big surprise to you; it felt smooth and silky with a hint of sliminess. It was an odd mixture, but a surprisingly nice one. You realized suddenly that you were one of the lucky ones as you glanced around. Many people were on the wall leaning in really far – one boy had fallen in. Poor him.
The next thing you saw was the penguins, they were so funny! They either stood there or swam and when they swam…the looked like they were flying underwater. It looked hilarious.
You were bitterly disappointed when the day came to an end. You were exhausted but very content as your dad lifted you up and carried you to the car. You slept all the way back. And whales and dolphins and a whole array of animals swam in your dreams that night.
8 years ago
You sat down on your bed, reading through the SeaWorld map again. It was the third time that day. A record for you really, usually you’d read it thirty times by now but today, you’d been too busy on the website to read the map. SeaWorld had become a real obsession of yours.
You’d changed a lot of the past seven years and you were now fourteen. You were no longer silly and stroppy, you’d become much more mature and a nicer person. You and your parents now got on really well. Your mobile phone trilled beside you on your nightstand and you were quick to answer it when you saw your best friend’s name flash on the screen.
“Hey Reuben, how was your holiday?” you asked him eagerly. He’d got back from Florida today. And he’d been to SeaWorld. He asked you to meet him in your special place. The hill. You met up there everyday before school and at random times when you wanted to talk.
Now was one of those random times.
Realising that your pale blue and gold dress probably wasn’t the best attire for a trip to the hill, you hurriedly changed into jeans and a t-shirt. You quickly pulled on a jumper and trainers and then ran down the stairs, shouting to your parents that you were going out to meet Reuben. They were fine with it, even though it was getting dark now. Downstairs, you fetched your bike from the garage and swung your leg over. You wanted to see Reuben so badly; you hadn’t seen him for three weeks. Three weeks was a long time without your best friend. You peddled quickly yet steadily down the road, eager to see Reuben.
When you reached the Greenway Field you looked up to Appleblossom Hill at the back of it. The Greenway Field was basically a huge field where you could play sports and it had a cycle path across it, leading over Appleblossom hill. You cycled even faster, seeing a figure slouching at the top. When you reached the top – and Reuben – you threw your rusty bike down on the floor and plonked down beside him, hugging him as you did.
“Reuben!! I missed you so much! How was it?” you said all at once.
He grinned back at you.
“Well, it was amazing! I can totally understand your obsession with that place! The bond between the people and animals was amazing just as you said it was, and of course they were all so beautiful and graceful and elegant.” He sighed. “Oh, Alice you were right!!”
You smile at him, glad that he understands and agrees about just how wonderful it is. You didn’t even try to deny the obsession part, because you know that it’s the truth.
“Anyway, here you go!!” he says excitedly, thrusting a present into your hand. It’s wrapped beautifully in pale blue paper with a big gold ribbon. Your favourite colours. You’re afraid even to open it; you don’t want to spoil the beauty so you very, very carefully and extremely slowly peel it open. Inside is a cuddly dolphin toy.
“Reuben!! It’s so sweet! Thank you! I’ll call him Reuben,” you said the last part teasingly.
“Don’t do that!! Call it something cool, silly! But, yeah, he’s a friend for Shamu,” he said quietly, referring to your cuddly whale Shamu that you got in SeaWorld when you were seven. You hug Reuben tight.
“I’ll call him Diablo!”
6 years ago
You and Reuben threw yourselves back into the soft, cushioned sunbeds. You were both in Gran Canaria at the age of sixteen. And you were there for the same reason. To learn how to scuba dive. The amazing thing was that Reuben had loved SeaWorld when he’d gone two years ago that you both had the same aspirations now; to work at SeaWorld. You’d heard somewhere that the employers at SeaWorld looked for people who knew how to scuba dive and who had degrees in zoology and psychology. They looked for people like that, but if they couldn’t find them they’d settle for second best. But you didn’t want to be the next best thing. You want to be the best thing.
A couple hours later and you and Reuben arrive at the swimming, clad in wetsuits for your first scuba lesson. Your parents were busy playing cards with his parents in your huge shared apartment. The lesson begins with a quick quiz with questions from the book that had been assigned to be read when you booked in for scuba. It had been a long and complicated book, but now you understood it all. Both you and Reuben had read and understood it and were now alternately answering questions since no-one else in your group seemed to care and were too busy attempting to get tans through their wetsuits. But you and Reuben were quite the eager beavers.
But that was a good thing since the two of you were allowed to start looking at equipment and how it worked while everyone else were re-quizzed by another instructor. You and Reuben followed the tanned Spanish man toward a small shed-like building. It was like the TARDIS, the inside seemed much bigger than the outside. Inside, were rows and rows of tanks and weight belts and all of the scuba equipment you’d ever need. Wow. You and Reuben are asked a few questions about all of the equipment and you both answered simultaneously each time. The instructor looked impressed but slightly scared at the same time.
You and Reuben were the first two to dive. You kitted out, given a few basic instructions and then led back to the swimming pool. Your first lesson was amazing. You two and the instructor had swum around the pool signalling to each other. Not much really and it wasn’t the sea but it was wonderful. Everything you’d hoped it would be. And by the look on Reuben’s face, he had loved it too.
You progressed well over the next few days. You had one more pool session with the rest of your group who were having their first dive that day. But the next day, you and Reuben had been taken out to sea in a boat with three instructors. One wasn’t diving, but was driving the boat and the other two were going to be your buddies. You had been nervous but excited when you first went down into the sea and you stayed close to your instructor. It was amazing down there, totally beautiful. You’d swum through reefs of coral and investigated shoals of vibrantly coloured fish. It was so wonderful.
You were disappointed when it came to the end of your holiday. It’d been a spectacular experience and so, so worth the hard work you’d put into it. On your last day, you’d gone down to the pool to say goodbye to your instructors. Reuben had come along with you as well. You said your goodbyes and the instructors handed you and Reuben brown envelopes.
“For all your hard work,” they said to you. You didn’t realise what they meant at the time, but you did later on the plane heading home.
“Hey Alice,” Reuben had said nudging you. “Let’s open those envelopes.”
You nodded in agreement and opened your envelope in excitement. Your licenses. Not just any licenses; the most important ones in your opinion. Open water diving certificates and licenses.
“We can go diving together now Alice, we can be buddies,” Reuben said happily, grinning in your direction.
“Yes, it’ll be great! And of course, we’re one step closer to our goal…”
4 years ago
You rapped on the solid oak door of Reuben’s house with your knuckles. It opened almost instantly, causing you to step backwards in surprise. There was Reuben’s grinning face.
“Alice, this is it!! Another step closer to our dreams!” His voice was full of excitement.
The two of you walked down the drive to his mini and climbed. You were so excited!! You were finally going to university to study zoology and psychology. A broad grin decorated your face as you drove along the maze of roads, a removal lorry following on behind you. You were to Oxford University and you were unbelievably excited. You couldn’t believe that you’d got into Oxford, one of the best universities in the country. It was far away from your home in Birmingham. Really far. But that wasn’t going to stop you. America was further.
Hours later, you finally pulled up in the Oxford dorms car-park. Your home for the next four years. It was tall and grand and quite posh. Your heart fluttered at the sight of it. It was the perfect place to study. It took a long time for you and Reuben to get moved in, your rooms were in the same dorm building. In fact, they were right next to each other.
When everything was finally moved in, you and Reuben collapsed in a tired heap on the sofa in your room, your welcome package still in your hand. Despite being exhausted, you and Reuben opened the brown envelopes you’d been given when you signed in and read through book lists and class schedules. Classes started on Monday, giving you two days to buy what you needed at the campus stores. You finally fell asleep after a long day, letting the package fall from your hand. You didn’t even get to your bed, you slept on the sofa. And so did Reuben.
The next day, you and Reuben were up bright and early eating breakfast at Starbucks. Then you had a long day of buying laptops, books and stationary. It was long and tiring but you knew that the next four years were going to be worth it.
6 months ago
Your graduation day!! You were up early, wanting to dress perfectly. You had got up at six and spent an hour doing your hair perfectly. Then you’d gone through your wardrobe, selecting a beautiful pale blue dress with a gold ribbon around the middle. When you were finally dressed, you put on your graduation robe over your dress and place your Mortar board on your head.
The ceremony was great, the audience being a sea of smiling faces, everyone in your year had done really well. You and Reuben graduated with honours, making your parents extremely proud of you. The best part for you was the graduation party…
It was ten o’clock and the light evening sky had just faded into a navy blue sky. You stood outside on the balcony of the events hall, gazing out at the gushing water of the Thames. Somebody tapped you on the shoulder and you span round in surprise. It was Reuben.
“Oh, hi Reuben!” you said to him happily.
He offered a hug and you took his offer up gladly. When you let go and drew back he held up a white envelope.
“Ta da!!” he sang joyfully, pushing the envelope into your hands. You ripped it opened in excitement. Plane tickets to Florida! And tickets to SeaWorld!!
“But Reuben…how did you afford this?” you asked in astonishment.
“Our parents got them for us!”
You hugged him again happily.
You were on your way!!!
2 days ago
You picked up a piece of paper and investigated it.
Urgent!
Staff and trainers needed desperately!
To apply, talk to one of the trainers after any of the shows.
“Reuben!!” you cried, spinning around, brandishing the paper. He took it and read through, his eyes lighting up. You threw yourself at him in a big bear hug.
“TO THE SHAMU STADIUM!!” he yelled, grabbing my hand and yanking me practically of my feet. Once I recovered from the sudden shock I began to sprint. Fast. We got there early, good. There might be a trainer lurking around you think to yourself as Reuben pulls you into the stadium. Ahead of us stands a woman in a wet suit.
“Excuse me?!” you say, approaching her from behind. She turns to you smiling.
“About the jobs, right?” she asks, a smile on your face. You nod silently, hoping that she wouldn’t say that the positions had been filled. “So, do you have any qualifications?”
“Yes, we have open water diving licenses and degrees in zoology and psychology. Both of us,” Reuben babbles quickly. She smiles at his eagerness.
“OK, after the show, come back and talk to me. I’ll give you a swim test. I’m Lacey Turner by the way.” She smiled at our nervous faces. “I’m sure you’ll be fine. By the sound of things, you’ve wanted this for a long time. You and Reuben nod.
“I’ve wanted this for fifteen years,” you whisper. She grins at you.
“Good to know you’re dedicated.”
~*~*~*~*~*~
You take a deep breath, your clothes sit in a neat pile beside you. You’re wearing your wetsuit and you’re about to take your swim test. Reuben has already done his and is wrapped in a warm towel, waiting for you. Lacey tells you just to dive in and swim around doing front crawl, backstroke and breaststroke. All of that. And to dive deep down and stay under as long as you can.
You obediently dive in, you body in perfect position and begin to swim. You swim around for what seems like ages, Lacey’s eyes burning into you. You know that Reuben has his fingers crossed for you and you’re so glad that he’s here with you. Eventually, Lacey calls to you to get out. You clamber out, Reuben handing you a towel.
“Thanks,” you say gratefully to him.
“Well guys,” Lacey says to you. “Congratulations! Welcome to the team!!”
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