The Whale Watch – Part 1: Three Days Without a Whale

"Day three," said Sverre. "No whale."

"No whale," agreed Hana.

"I'm very sorry."

"It's fine."

"It isn't. I am the guide."

They stood at the rail of the small blue boat, steaming across a vast, dark Arctic fjord under a low pearl sky, in a stinging wind that smelled of salt and diesel. Mountains rose on every side, snow-streaked, black and white as a cut-paper picture. Gulls wheeled in the grey. A dozen tourists in orange survival suits huddled on the benches, clutching flasks.

She was thirty-two, a marine biologist from Osaka, in an oversized orange suit with a fur-lined hood, a notebook in a waterproof bag and a pair of binoculars she had not put down in three days. He was thirty-seven, lean and weathered, with white-blond hair, a sunburnt nose and a fleece with the logo of the whale tour. His English was careful and warm.

"There are whales," he said. "In the winter, there are many. They follow the herring."

"I know."

"It is only that they have not come this week."

"They're whales. They don't have a schedule."

He smiled, relieved. "You understand."

"I study them."

"Then you should be guiding."

"Then you should be studying."

They laughed. The boat rocked softly. He poured her a cup of hot chocolate from a thermos, and she sipped, hands round the warm mug, watching the dark water. Snow had begun to fall in thin white flakes, vanishing as they touched the sea.

"I have been on this boat eight winters," said Sverre. "Some days, nothing. And I still look."

"Why?"

"Because it is the only thing I know that surprises me."

She nodded slowly. For another hour they stood together at the rail, silent, scanning the dark waves with their binoculars, until the light began to fail and the skipper turned the boat for harbour.

"Can I ask you something?" said Hana, as the lights of the town came into view.

"Yes."

"May I come again tomorrow?"

"You will have no whale."

"Green?" she said, a light, a wave.

"Green," said Sverre, with a slow smile. "Very green. We will look together."

Continue the story: Part 2 – Tail Fluke.