{"id":101,"date":"2013-11-30T10:58:09","date_gmt":"2013-11-30T17:58:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sarahwagstaff.com\/?p=101"},"modified":"2013-11-30T10:58:28","modified_gmt":"2013-11-30T17:58:28","slug":"ocean-lost-chapter-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sarahwagstaff.com\/index.php\/ocean-lost-chapter-1\/","title":{"rendered":"Ocean Lost – Chapter 1"},"content":{"rendered":"

Chapter 1 – Walter<\/strong>
\nWalter Haberton didn\u2019t like to swim. He found the pool water choking. He couldn\u2019t drown exactly, but his legs were so clumsy compared to his tail that he didn\u2019t like to swim, while human. He did however, like watching Sienna Lancaster swim. She was in the pool every day from three to six. He walked a little faster. The snow fell around him the breeze making the snow reverse directions and fly upwards then down again. He turned the corner and started across the pool parking lot.
\nA wall of solid glass rose in front of him. The indoor pool was surrounded by windows on this side. The snow was light enough that he could see through it to the interior of the pool. There she was in the lane closest to the windows. He could see her blue and green swim suit and her bright yellow swim cap. He watched the way her arms tirelessly pulled the water past her. She approached the wall and flipped, the water in smooth currents, flowed around her body.
\nHe caught himself standing. He turned and headed along the window. She kept pace on the other side. He slowed down a little, then hurried on, worried that someone might see him. His aunt had told him that it was important not to be noticed.
\n***
\nSienna rolled over and started her backstroke two laps early. There he was again. She wasn\u2019t sure who he was, but she knew it was the same boy. He wore the same dark-hooded sweatshirt every day. She watched his back as he walked away from her. Sometimes it seemed like he stopped at the window and watched the swimmers for a second or two. He always walked home alone and always in the same dark sweatshirt. She looked for him at school, but there were too many boys who wore hooded sweatshirts to tell who it was.
\nShe had to concentrate on the upcoming regional swim meet. This was her second regionals and she had a reputation to uphold. She reached the wall and stopped. Kiley was waiting for her.
\n\u201cAre you already on your backstroke laps?\u201d Kiley asked. She bobbed up and down, her hot pink swim suit, bright even through the water.
\n\u201cI saw that boy again.\u201d Sienna said.
\n\u201cThere is no boy, they\u2019re just kids walking home from school.\u201d
\n\u201cI know, but he stops and watches us.\u201d
\n\u201cIt\u2019s just in your imagination. Race you!\u201d Kiley yelled and pushed off from the wall.
\nSienna took a deep breath and followed Kiley, she passed her friend before Kiley even reached the middle of the pool. She was going to do fine for the swim meet, now if only Kiley would believe her about the boy.
\n***
\nWalter Haberton loved history, at least going to history class. Mr. Mitchell told interesting stories, but even more interesting, was that it was his only class with Sienna. He wanted to talk to her. He wanted her to look at him and smile. He wished she knew his name. He sighed and went back to drawing on his notebook. Paper was fascinating to him. It was so smooth, consistent and flat. Nothing was that flat where he came from. He loved reading and was getting better at it, but he was still a couple of grade levels behind. His teachers in seventh grade had been shocked to find out that he could not read. They were lucky that he even spoke English. He should not have been able to even do that. Laurie Charleston, his new foster-sister, had been three years younger than him, and a non-stop talker. She followed him around the first three months ashore, talking continuously so that by the time he started school, he knew enough English to get by.
\nWalter had been in several foster homes, before the Haberton\u2019s adopted him four months ago, just before his sophomore year of high school. He drew a picture of his new mother\u2019s face. He had memorized it the first time he had seen her. She had been different from his foster mothers. She wanted to be close; she wanted to listen to him. He had never been around a woman who cared about him that much before. He could tell from the first time he met her, the way her eyes filled with tears and she wanted to hug him, but waited until he offered.
\nHe picked up a fresh pencil. Using the tip he drew a miniature Sienna. He started with her heart shaped face, then he penciled in her high arching eyebrows, her full lips, and her dimple in her right cheek. The drawing was so small, it could fit between two of the blue lines on his paper. No one would know it was Sienna. He felt his diamond necklace through his shirt. He wore it on a leather cord around his neck. He never showed it to anyone. Even in the locker room, he left on an undershirt at all times. His pencil drew an angry dark X. He took a deep breath.
\n\u201cWalter?\u201d It was her voice. He looked up to see Sienna standing in front of his desk.
\nHe tried not to gasp. He nodded.
\nSienna smiled and his heart melted. She handed him a paper. \u201cI like your drawings.\u201d It was last week\u2019s history report and he\u2019d drawn his mother on it, his real mother\u2019s face. Sienna turned and continued handing out papers before he could say anything.
\nHe wanted to slump down in his desk and hide; instead he traced the line on his mother\u2019s face with a dirty fingernail. He hated the dirt, but he hated tap water even more.
\n***
\nSienna sat staring at her history book. She could still see a picture of the woman\u2019s haunting face, in her mind. The drawing had been so real, like a black and white photograph caught in a sketch. She knew nothing about Walter. How could he draw like that?
\n\u201cFor our next section on the rise of communism in world societies, you\u2019ll be doing oral presentations. I\u2019ve put you in groups of three\u2026\u201d Mr. Mitchell read off the groups and Sienna waited for her name. \u201cSienna Lancaster, Brad Haycork, and Walter Haberton you are group five.\u201d
\nSienna smiled, she liked Brad Haycork, he was one of the sophomore class officers. Looking over at Brad\u2019s table she only saw his empty chair. She looked over to see Walter looking at her. She waved him over to her table. He blinked then stood slowly. He was taller than he appeared slouched in his chair. His chocolate brown hair came to his chin. The hair swung in front of his eyes. He tucked it behind his ears. He came over and stood next to her desk. He looked at her, saying nothing.
\nSo she began first, \u201cWhen would you like to get together to work on our project?\u201d
\nHe shrugged. Did he ever speak? He was wearing a dark hooded sweatshirt.
\n\u201cI can for an hour after dinner, but I can\u2019t meet at my house, our kitchen is being remodeled and Mom doesn\u2019t want me to bring friends over.\u201d She paused waiting for him to jump in.
\n\u201cWe can meet at my house.\u201d His voice was deep and quiet. He had the slight slur that she associated with her two Southern California uncles.
\n\u201cAre you from Southern California?\u201d She felt strange not knowing anything about him.
\nWalter nodded.
\n\u201cWere you born there?\u201d Did his eyes widen in fear? He reached a hand up to touch his chest. Then he lowered his hand again.
\n\u201cI\u2019ll give you my address.\u201d Walter said.
\nSienna handed him her notebook, and he wrote his address inside the front cover. His house was only a block or two away from the pool. He closed the notebook. His fingers lingered for a second on the cover.
\n\u201cReturn to your seats, we\u2019re going to continue on with fascism.\u201d Mr. Mitchell announced. Walter turned and walked back to his seat. Sienna watched as he sat down. He gave her a half grin and then looked forward.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Chapter 1 – Walter Walter Haberton didn\u2019t like to swim. He found the pool water choking. He couldn\u2019t drown exactly, but his legs were so clumsy compared to his tail that he didn\u2019t like to swim, while human. He did however, like watching Sienna Lancaster swim. She was in the pool every day from three […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":94,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[15,16,8],"tags":[19,27,17,18,20],"class_list":["post-101","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-books","category-ocean-lost","category-writing","tag-merman","tag-ocean-lost","tag-preview","tag-sample","tag-utah"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/sarahwagstaff.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/11\/ocean_lost_cover_with_text.png","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p45dqf-1D","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sarahwagstaff.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/101","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sarahwagstaff.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sarahwagstaff.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sarahwagstaff.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sarahwagstaff.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=101"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sarahwagstaff.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/101\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":102,"href":"https:\/\/sarahwagstaff.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/101\/revisions\/102"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sarahwagstaff.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/94"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sarahwagstaff.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=101"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sarahwagstaff.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=101"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sarahwagstaff.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=101"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}