Hasdrubal's Manatee

by William L. Rukeyser

(WilliamLRukeyser@aol.com)



DUGONG

When they came up for air,
I went down once more to the dugong,
Pulling up seagrass, pulling up seagrass,
Pulling up seagrass, pulling up seagrass.
They hugged the seabed at their feeding place in the flowing
tide,
They spread out in the tide feeling around on the sea bed,
Pulling up seagrass, pulling up seagrass,
The owners of the tide sucked the seagrass.
-=-=-=-=-
They sucked seagrass at their feeding place in the flowing tide,
Scattering grass around their feeding place.
They came up from the deep in the flowing tide,
Pulling up seagrass, pulling up seagrass,
Pulling it up and sucking the grass.

Traditional Aboriginal song from Groote Eylandt, Australia

(The dugong is the cousin of the manatee found in parts of the
Indian and Pacific Oceans.)

Dedication:
To Butterball and Boomer


Disclaimer: This work is fiction. Any resemblance to any person living or dead is purely coincidental.


DAY ONE

Much later, after it was all over, Hasdrubal wondered if he had seen his friend, the manatee, from the airplane.

When the plane was coming in towards the Florida airport he had seen big, dark shapes in the water, but he thought then that they were sharks or large fish.

It was his first ride alone on an airplane. Twice before he had flown with his mom and dad to visit his grandparents on the Gulf coast. Today his parents and little sister had driven him to the airport. He had taken a short flight from Milwaukee to Chicago and then a stewardess had taken him down long airport corridors to another gate. This was the trip that his parents had promised Hasdrubal for so long; he could fly on his own to Florida the winter after he turned nine.

Hasdrubal looked down from the airplane window. The plane was tilted so much it felt like he was looking straight out. The stewardess who had brought him lunch and a pack of game cards tapped him on the shoulder and said, "Time to fasten your seat belt, see the sign? Also stay in your seat after we land, I'll walk you out to find your grandparents." Hasdrubal just nodded.

The plane was almost level now and it was low enough so that Hasdrubal could pick out the individual palm trees and see the numbers on the colorful sails of the boats on the Gulf.

A moment later he felt the jounce of the wheels hitting the runway and heard the roar of the jets as they reversed their thrust and slowed down the plane.

Everybody in the airport was in short sleeve shirts and many were in shorts. Hasdrubal felt silly carrying his jacket and sweater and wearing boots. He said, "There they are!" to the stewardess. His grandmother and grandfather were grinning and waving. He hugged Hasdrubal while his grandmother thanked the stewardess. Then there were more hugs.

"C'mon, let's get you home so we can get you out of those winter clothes and call your mom and dad so they'll know you're here," said his grandfather. "OK, Gramp, it'll feel funny wearing a T-shirt in the middle of January." "Heck, I've practically forgotten what it's like to wear an overcoat, since we moved here when you were four."

"The new house we're in is bigger than the one you saw when you came down with your parents and sister. It's right next to the river too. You've got your own room, I just finished fixing it up with Buccaneers pennants and posters and a Dolphins bedspread" said his grandmother. "I've got a Hello Kitty bedspread in the closet in case your sister comes down and uses the room." "I hate Hello Kitty," said Hasdrubal with a grin. His grandmother answered, "I figured you did, that's why they're hidden away."

The first thing they did when they got home was call Milwaukee. Hasdrubal told his mother all about the flight. His father wasn't home yet. Hasdrubal thought mother sounded awfully far away and suddenly ten days away from home began sound like a long time. "Is Annie there? Can I talk to her?" Hasdrubal asked. "Hi, Annie, what did you do in Kindergarten?" "Nate pushed me in the sandbox. But I got him back by smashing his macaroni sculpture." "Good for you, sis."

Then Hasdrubal's grandmother took him to see his room. She had set out a new orange shirt with pearly snaps down the front. "Your Florida shirt," she explained. She took him around the house. "We don't have a pool like we did at the other place, but you can swim right off the dock. Gramp will show you where you can go tomorrow. Right now let's go to dinner."

They went to a fish restaurant right next to the Gulf and watched boats go by. "We'll take one of those tomorrow," Gramp said.

Hasdrubal dreamt about a snow storm and snowplows with bright, colorful sails. When he woke up and peeked between the shades he saw fluffy white clouds and felt the warm sun. Then he remembered where he was.

DAY TWO

His grandmother was squeezing orange juice in an old fashioned squeezer that she worked by hand. "I know it looks strange, Hasdrubal. We got this when we were married, but fresh oranges always seemed kind of special until we moved down here, so we never used it." Gramp was heating up the griddle and said, "Flap jacks OK with you Hasdrubal?"

"Sure"

"Ya know, they call 'em hot cakes down here."

After breakfast Grammy called a friend to make a tennis date for later and Gramp said he had to go to his broker's. Hasdrubal wandered down to the gate leading to the dock at the end of the backyard. It was locked. The water was not as clear as the Gulf had been, but it was warm and smelled kind of ripe and interesting.

Hasdrubal watched speedboats go by. He waved at the people in them and wished he could steer one himself. Would the boat ride later be in one like the boats going by? He wondered.

"Hasdrubal, Hasdrubal," came the call from the house. He wondered why most of the doors in the house looked like windows and why so many of the windows behaved like Venetian blinds.

Hasdrubal was wearing his orange shirt. His grandfather asked, "Did you see any alligators?" "Are there really alligators in the river?" Hasdrubal wanted to know.

"Last week we saw the tracks of one down the street and we found the place where he slid back into the river. They haven't really bothered anyone in our subdivision for a while... but last year one swallowed our neighbors' dog. Poor little guy wasn't too big. He probably didn't even make the 'gator a square meal.

"Just be sure you’re with Grammy or me before you try to open the gate. We built that dock for swimming, but we don’t want to take any chances."

"OK, Gramp."

Granny said, "We better get going if we're going to get to the boat in time."

The tour boat was a lot bigger and a lot slower then the speed boats Hasdrubal had seen from the dock. By the time they got their tickets, all the seats on the upper deck were taken and they had to sit in back. Grammy complained about the diesel fumes and Gramp coughed a bit, but Hasdrubal was happy because he could dangle his hand in the water until the deckhand told him to cut it out. The tour guide talked about Spanish explorers and pirates and the Civil War... but Hasdrubal couldn't really pay attention... it was hot and he felt he could see the sun even when he closed his eyes. Hasdrubal was interested when the guide said something about Prohibition and rum-runners along the river. But then he started talking about John Kennedy or some other long ago president. By this time they were very close to Gramp's dock and the boat suddenly slowed down.

"How many of you know what a manatee is?" asked the tour guide. Some kid on the upper deck yelled an answer that Hasdrubal didn't hear and a lot of grown ups laughed. "No, folks, he's right... sailors did used to say that manatees were mermaids. You wouldn't believe it if you got a good look, a more common nickname is 'Sea Cow.' They are mammals and nurse their babies which they have one at a time. We're going so slowly right here because it's state law. They are an endangered species. That means they are almost extinct. The manatees gather in this part of the river each winter because the hot springs keep the water warm. In the summer they live all up and down the coast. They swim right near the surface and boaters have to be careful not to hurt them with their propellers. Now, if you look off to the right, I think you can see two of them, their backs are just barely sticking out of the water."

Hasdrubal looked, but couldn't really see much of anything.

The boat turned around and they got home in time for a late lunch.

Later on Hasdrubal went for a swim off the dock while his grandmother went to play tennis and his grandfather watched from the dock.

Hasdrubal lay out on the grass to dry off. He watched some dragonflies and wondered what the man meant about the water being cold in the winter... it had felt real warm to him. Then he remembered about the hot springs. Maybe his grandparents could take him to see them. Didn't they ever get bored? "It's so quiet here," he thought. "I wonder what Ben Harris did in school today and whether he knocked my snowman over."

By this time Hasdrubal had wandered out to the front of the house to see if any kids were getting home from school. He didn't see any and watched as the mailman slowly pushed his cart up the street. There weren't any sidewalks. Hasdrubal watched him put the mail in the mailbox. It was too soon to get a postcard from Annie.

DAY THREE

The next day, after breakfast his grandfather asked him, "Hasdrubal, I'm going to play golf today. Would you like to come and watch?"

"Uh, sure Gramp. Do you think there'll be any other kids there?"

"I don't think so. You know, I haven't seen any kids around here since New Year's. Our neighbors had their children and grandchildren down from Detroit then."

"Oh."

"Well, I've got another idea. I have to get a few new golf balls before I go. What do you say we stop by the sporting goods store and see if we can pick you up something too."

"Really?"

"I don't see why not," said his grandfather, still trying to relight his pipe that he hadn't been able to get going during the whole conversation.

There was a big refrigerator case on one side of the entrance of the store with different kinds of worms for bait. You could get any kind of hat or piece of clothing you wanted in the store... but they only came in two styles, day-glo orange or camouflage.

"Gramp, are you going to get those golf balls?", asked Hasdrubal, pointing to the orange ones.

"I still like the white ones best," said his grandfather.

Gramp added, "They look a little like turtle eggs, but they are a lot harder. And the turtle eggs you find around here never say 'Dunlop’ on them." Hasdrubal smiled because he knew his grandfather was trying to make a joke.

They went into the section with more interesting stuff. Bats, baseball mitts, bikes.

"You want a basketball and hoop? We could nail it up over the garage door."

"Naw. Thanks anyway. I'm still a bit short for that. Anyway, I don't feel like trying to shoot baskets by myself."

"Uh-huh. How about a snorkel and fins?"

"Gee. That would be great."

The plastic swimming equipment was available in orange and green. Hasdrubal chose green.

"Now how about a bike?" Asked Gramp. "Only you have to promise to let your sister use it when she comes down here."

"Sure, but it will be a boy's bike, won't it?"

This time Hasdrubal picked an orange one. It had knobby tires, soft hand grips and black lettering that said, VAMPIRE.

"You'll be able to go anywhere on that."

"Thanks, Gramp."

The store owner helped them get the bike into the car trunk. They drove home, swinging by the river before they got there.

"You be careful of 'gators when you go swimming. Remember what I told you about checking with me or Grammy. I want to make sure you come out of the water in one piece."

After lunch Gramp went to play golf. One of Granny's friends came by and Hasdrubal played solitaire for a while. Then he told his grandmother he was going for a bike ride.

"Take this little map, it will help you get back. And remember, all the north-south streets are named after birds and all the east-west avenues are named after fish. That makes it easier to find your way around. Now, stay on this side of the highway and be sure to be back here in time for dinner."

"Uh-huh," said Hasdrubal.

The bike rode well and the knobs on the tires made a thubb-a-dud, thubba sound on the road. The tires were so new they still had those little whiskers of rubber sticking out from them, just like the snow tires Hasdrubal's father bought just before Thanksgiving. Hasdrubal stopped once to twist one off between his thumb and forefinger. It took over two minutes to work loose.

The road went over the river and Hasdrubal stopped near the middle to drop pebbles in.

Then he headed for home.

He didn't see any other kids at all.

"Back so soon, Hasdrubal?" asked his grandmother.

"Yeah, I thought I'd go swimming."

"All right, I’ll come out with you because we have to be careful of..."

"The alligators." Hasdrubal finished the sentence. "I know, Gramp told me to make lots of noise."

"That's right."

Hasdrubal did. In fact, he danced a little war dance before he slid off the dock. His grandmother watched. And after being so careful, he was more than a little surprised to find the water was full of large forms, each about a dozen feet long.

Hasdrubal was out of the water so fast he was startled to see he still had his flippers on. He took one quick glance up the ramp to the lawn to make sure there wasn't an alligator between him and the house. Grammy was sitting there calmly and Hasdrubal felt a little foolish. He thought it was better to double-check than to say anything right away.

Very carefully, he went to the edge of the dock to get a look at the herd of alligators. Hasdrubal wondered if herd was the right word, or if it was really "pod" like with whales.

It was harder to look down into the water than through the water under the dock. At first Hasdrubal could only see shadows and he thought his eyes had been fooling him before. Then he saw one, then another. Their tails were much fatter than alligators' he had seen in pictures. And their snouts here shorter. Then he realized they weren't 'gators at all, they were manatees.

Nobody had said anything about being careful of manatees, and the boat guide made them sound kind of nice. So Hasdrubal slipped off the dock one more time, adjusted his goggles and snorkel and paddled slowly towards the manatees. He didn't want to scare them, but they didn't even seem to notice him.

They bobbed just below the surface of the water. About half had grass clutched between their front flippers and they were constantly nibbling. Hasdrubal stopped and tried to float like a manatee, but he found he had to give a kick every few seconds to keep from sinking. Hasdrubal was glad he had taken underwater swimming at the Y.

There were two baby manatees swimming by their mothers. Both of them seemed to be as interested in nursing as the adults were in eating. Then Hasdrubal noticed that one of the animals had moved a foot or two closer and seemed to be eying him. She looked like she was interested in the boy, being a small, pale visitor to her tribe. Hasdrubal swam a little closer to see what would happen. She blew a few bubbles in the water. He saw white scars on the animals' dark gray backs and remembered what they guide had said about the power boats. The manatee who seemed so interested in him continued to follow with her tiny eyes and turned her body as Hasdrubal maneuvered among the big bodies. He didn't want to leave, but he was getting tired of swimming underwater. Just as Hasdrubal turned, he saw his manatee move her flipper, slowly and deliberately as if she was waving good-bye. There was a diagonal scar on the flipper. Hasdrubal waved back and promised silently than he would visit them tomorrow.

That evening Gramp said, "Let's have a barbecue. It's warm enough and we'll fix you some of the Southern style sauce they make down here."

Hasdrubal said, "What kind of sauce do you put on hot dogs?"

"We're not having hot dogs, Hasdrubal." Granny said. "We're having ribs."

"We only have ribs on Barbarian Day."
"What's that?" Both grandparents asked at the same time.

"Didn't my mom and dad tell you about that? She made it up a couple of years ago. It happens at the end of each summer. We dress up in the synthetic fur loin cloths that she made. Then we go out in the back yard and can eat as much chocolate pudding and ribs as we want. The only rule is that we have to eat with our hands."

"It must get messy," Gramp said with a smile.

"Sure, especially when we paint ribs on ourselves with the pudding."

"What happens then?"

"Then we play baseball. All summer long we grow giant zucchinis and we use them as bats. Boiled potatoes are the baseballs."

"Well, our barbecue won't be that fancy. But you'll still have to wash up after ours."

"Oh, we don't wash after Barbarian Day. Mom and Dad just hose us down." Hasdrubal grinned.

The barbecue smelled good, but the colored candles, in the yard, didn't. At least Hasdrubal didn't like the smell. His grandmother said, "Neither do the bugs. The smell keeps them away. That's the one bad thing about Florida. The bugs never go away."

"Yeah, and the alligators eat golf balls," said his grandfather.

While Hasdrubal was licking the barbecue sauce off his fingers , a couple of speedboats went by. They were so close to the edge of the river that Hasdrubal could hear the little dock hitting against the posts as the waves jiggled it.

DAY FOUR

The bugs buzzed and the leaves rustled through Hasdrubal's window screen when the sun hit his eyes the next morning. As he brushed his teeth he could hear more boats going by out back.

Gramp was slicing oranges in the kitchen. He wasn't really slicing them it was more like attacking them. Gramp called it, "Samurai orange juice." Hasdrubal asked if he could work the juicer and found that he had to lean his weight on the steel handle to get all the juice out of the orange half.

"You can tell it's done when the rind peeks out and splits apart," said his grandfather. "Until then there's always a little bit left. I remember there used to be a hot dog and papaya juice stand near the movie theater when your dad was a kid. They had a fancy orange juicer with a long handle that twirled easily, but this one takes real muscle.

"It's supposed to rain this afternoon, so if you want to get any swimming done, you should this morning. I'm going golfing, but Grammy will be here. Then this afternoon we'll do something special."

Grammy insisted that Hasdrubal not go in the water for half an hour after breakfast, "You might get cramps," she said. So, they did the dishes together and she told Hasdrubal about how his father had learned to swim.

"He and his dog used to play by the creek at our old house, the one we sold the year before you were born. I swear, it used to look like Rex was tossing sticks into the water for your dad to retrieve."

"Can I go swimming now?"

"Sure, Hasdrubal. Remember..."

"...Be careful." Hasdrubal finished her sentence. "I know."

As his grandmother watched he slapped his flippers together to make sure the alligators heard him coming. On the dock he did a little jig and then eased himself into the water, adjusting his flippers and face mask as he went in.

This time it took longer for Hasdrubal to spot the manatees in the half gloom. They were a few dozen yards from the dock in with some sort of water weeds. Hasdrubal was a good swimmer and headed for the animals, he was hoping he'd be able to spot his manatee.

Most of the manatees didn't seem to notice him, they just kept on munching their mid-morning snack as he swam and dove. A few edged away from him nervously. After a while he began to be able to tell them apart by their unique pattern of scars. Once he saw a mother and baby and was sure she was the one who had waved. But the diagonal scar wasn't there.

Hasdrubal turned and headed for his grandparents' dock, disappointed that his manatee hadn't stayed around to see him again. He was tired and rested for a minute on the bank of the river and then slipped back into the water and swan along the water's edge. When he was halfway to the dock he almost bumped into her. He was so glad to see her that he thought to himself, "I'll call her Annie." He swam around to her head, looked directly into her dark eyes and waved. She ignored him.

"Hey," he bubbled and bopped her on the nose. She didn't respond, but only looked back at him as if dazed. "Either you've gone stupid overnight or something's wrong," he thought. He swam all the way around her before he noticed a new line on her back. Only this wasn't a neat scar, it ran more than a foot across her and looked like the Velcro opening on a sleeping bag which has been put together carelessly. Hasdrubal put his hand to the wound and his fingers came away red.

"Well, I once skinned my knee and it looked kinda like that," he thought. "I didn't feel like playing too rough for a while, but it got better. Maybe she'll just stay around here for a while and we can get to know each other."

Hasdrubal swam back to the dock.
His grandmother was on the back lawn bird watching. "Hi," she said as he shook the water off, cocker spaniel style. "Anything interesting in the water today?"

"No." Hasdrubal lied.

Now he had a secret.

Grammy said, "Have you ever heard of Mah-jong? It's a game they used to play when I was your age, I'll show you how." She brought out an old looking wooden box with tiles like short, fat dominoes. The colored pictures of bamboo and dragons and stuff looked interesting to Hasdrubal, but the rules sounded like some card game he had once tried and couldn't get the hang of.

"It really takes four to play, would you like to build something with the pieces instead?" asked Grammy? "Yeah," said Hasdrubal, "then I'll go for a ride."

In the big parking lot, between the supermarket and the bowling alley, he finally spotted a kid. He was far away and pedaling a large, funny shaped bike kind of slowly. Hasdrubal had no problem catching up with him and, when he was close enough he yelled, "Hey, kid, wait a minute!."

Hasdrubal was shocked when the kid turned around, his face was framed by white hair and as he got closer, Hasdrubal could see there were wrinkles on his face. Then the nine year old saw that the funny looking bike wasn't a bicycle at all: it had three wheels! "My gosh, a trike for grownups," Hasdrubal thought.

By this time he had wheeled right up to the tricycle and was still staring. Silent laughter crinkled the other rider's face. "The last time anyone called me kid, there was no such thing as TV. The wheels fool ya'?"

Hasdrubal still felt as if his brain was twitching with confusion, but he answered, "Sure did. From the other end of the parking lot you looked like a kid. I've been looking for someone to ride around with. I'm from Wisconsin and I don't know any kids around here."

The old man said, "Well, I'm afraid you're not likely to meet any around here. Most of the people on this side of the freeway have enough white hair that they call themselves 'snowbirds.' And another thing, this is a pretty safe community, but it’s not a good idea for youngsters like you to go wheeling up to strangers anywhere. What's you're name?"

Hasdrubal told him and said what his grandparents names were too.

"Well, I know him from the golf course," said the old man. "You tell him you ran into Ambrose Kent. I'm usually here about this time every day to check out the produce. If it's all right with him you can ride with me, if you like. This three-wheeler doesn't go real fast, but it's good exercise for me and I may be the only riding companion you'll find."

"OK, I'll ask him. See ya'."

"So long Hasdrubal, maybe next time you'll bring your elephant."

Hasdrubal was getting sick of elephant jokes. He had dealt with them for as long as he could remember. (His father had named him after Hasdrubal Barca, the general from Carthage, in North Africa, who used war elephants against the Roman Empire.)

When Hasdrubal got back to his grandparents' house, his grandmother met him at the door and said, "I'm glad you're back early. Pop is getting the R.V. ready. We're staying at the alligator ranch tonight! They make 'gator stew there? That's a real special treat down here."

"Sounds great," said Hasdrubal, but he didn't sound too sure. "Can I go swimming before we go?"

"Sure," she said, "I'm glad you like the river."

As his grandmother watched, Hasdrubal practically ran down to the dock and jumped in with a splash. It didn't take him long to find Annie, the manatee. She was the only one left and she was bobbing listlessly just below the surface of the water.

The wound was looking nasty and was more ragged than before. Hasdrubal was curious about it and wished he could see it out of water. "I wonder if it takes longer to heal underwater?," Hasdrubal thought. "I hope fish don't nibble you," he said to the manatee. "And speaking of which, you don't seem to be nibbling on anything." Annie didn't respond, so Hasdrubal swam a couple of laps around her and climbed out onto the dock.

"I hope she's still around when we get back from the gators," he thought.

Hasdrubal remembered his grandparent's motor home from two summers before, when they had visited his family and parked in the driveway. It didn't look quite so big this time. The inside still had that new car smell and he wondered what Grammy and Gramp did to keep the smell. He though back to how he had slept in the R.V. right next to his home.

"Can I sleep in the bunk over the steering wheel tonight?," he asked his grandparents.

"Sure," smiled Gramp, "if you promise not to fall out this time. We thought you had broken your neck when we were up north."

On the trip to the gator ranch they passed over a dozen or more rivers and streams. Hasdrubal looked from each bridge and couldn't seen any manatees or alligators. They also passed by two giant concrete teepees, a Tropical Bird Paradise billboard and three fresh orange juice and taco stands.

The ranch was down at the end of a dirt road and the R.V. groaned as is rolled over the last bumps in the road. This wasn't like the neatly groomed lawns of his grandparents' neighborhood and Hasdrubal didn't know quite what to make of it.

There were 55 gallon drums all around. Some were on their sides and had gasoline hoses coming out of them. Some were standing up and had outboard motors resting in them. There were boats everywhere and a large flat bottomed metal barge was resting on the beach. The most interesting thing about it was a big fan mounted on the stern.

There were smoky campfires everywhere and when a man with a cowboy hat came out of the Quonset hut marked "office" Gramp gave him ten dollars to camp and said, "should we park in the same place?" And, "when's feeding time?" The man answered, "six, they're hungry today."

Hasdrubal had only seen alligators in one's and two's before. By the dozen they were even uglier than he remembered them. On top of that they were knitted together on a concrete beach around which several dozen people were standing. A few had cameras, but most looked as if they were old hands at this.

"Chicken tonight!" called out the owner. He didn't mean Kentucky Fried either. The birds were dead, but they still had their heads, feet and feathers. The man tossed them to the biggest gators who snapped their jaws and looked even more menacing than before.

"Maybe I'm not really that interested in dinosaurs after all," thought Hasdrubal. The lizards reminded him of meat eating dinosaurs in books, but when they tore into the chickens it was really gross.

The rest of the feeding was some sort of Gator Chow poured out of bags.

After the show everyone went to long picnic tables with metal plates. Two teenagers who looked like the owner rolled a tub between the benches and served gator stew with a ladle.

After he saw his grandparents dig in, Hasdrubal tried it too. Just like he had heard people say about rattlesnake, armadillo and turtle, this exotic meat tasted like chicken. "Is that why they feed them chickens?," he asked his grandparents after explaining what he meant. They laughed.

After seeing the ranch's slide show and video in the dark, Hasdrubal went to sleep in a little loft above the steering wheel in the R.V.

Day Five

He didn't fall out this time.

In the morning Hasdrubal's grandparents took him to see 'gator eggs, gator leather and shoes and purses made from it.

Then they drove to the beach. The stayed there all day, swimming and dozing under an umbrella. Hasdrubal counted sailboats and wondered how cold his parents and sister were up north.

Just before dinner time they got home. Hasdrubal wanted to go swimming, but his grandparents said he'd had enough water for one day. So he just looked into the river from the dock. It was getting dark and he couldn't see the manatee. "Maybe she's swum away, or maybe I'll see her tomorrow," he thought.

That night his parents called. He told them all about the beach and the gators and even thought of telling his sister about the hurt manatee which he had named after her. But he thought she might tell or that his grandparents might overhear, so he kept his secret to himself.

DAY SIX

The next morning Hasdrubal had one thing on his mind: his manatee, Annie.

He kept his secret all through breakfast and tried not to look too impatient. His grandparents had things planned for later in the day: a golf game and something about a garden club. Hasdrubal said he wanted a go swimming and then might bike around a bit. He told Gramp about meeting Ambrose Kent on his giant sized tricycle.

"You'd be surprised, those things are pretty popular around here," Gramp said, "but Ambrose likes to ride his more than most people. I sometimes play golf with him. He comes from up north too, he used to own a chain of supermarkets. If you run into him say 'hi.' He can tell you anything you want to know about the fruits and vegetables which are grown around here. I'll see you and Grammy later."

While they were cleaning up the breakfast dishes, Grammy told Hasdrubal about some of the giant bugs which live in Florida. "They are really gross when you first see them. They're not like at home at all. But after a while you learn to live with them and keep the screen doors shut! I don't know if I'll ever really get used to 'gators, armadillos and giant cockroaches, but they are part of Florida."

"And manatees," said Hasdrubal.

"Yeah, some of the dumbest animals I've ever seen," said his grandmother.

When he had waited the required half-hour after eating, Hasdrubal announced that he was going swimming.

“Okay,” said his grandmother. “Wait a minute and I’ll come out and watch you.”

He dove in and, this time it didn't take him long to find Annie. She was swimming in the same place he had left her. "She's really just bobbing in the water," Hasdrubal thought. "I bet she hasn't even moved since we left for the 'gator ranch."

He wasn't sure, but the manatee even looked thinner. Her flippers hung limply from her body and her eyes looked dull. Hasdrubal looked around for something the animal would like to eat, but in the murky water he couldn't figure out what it was the manatee had been eating the other day.

"I wonder why her friends didn't stick around to take care of her?" thought the boy. "I better watch out for her until they come back."

He figured that once her wound healed she would begin to get better and swim again, so he checked on its progress. It was hard to tell in the water, but there didn't seem to be as much blood, but it did not look good to him. "I don't think she's healing at all," he thought. "I wonder what I can do for her?"

"Food.

"They love to eat," he thought, "mostly green stuff."

A little while later, Grammy was working in the garden and Hasdrubal quietly opened the refrigerator. "She won't miss a lettuce and this cabbage. While I'm here why don't I take a few carrots too?"

He hid the vegetable by the dock so his grandparents would see them when he went swimming next.

A couple hours later he went swimming again.

It was awkward swimming with a basketball sized cabbage, plus the smaller things, but Hasdrubal did it.

He found the manatee and tickled her whiskers with the lettuce. She didn't even blink, let alone grab the ball the way Hasdrubal hoped she would. "This is going to be more work than I thought."

So he ripped a leaf of lettuce and one of cabbage off and thrust it right into the manatee's face. She finally noticed and gobbled the leaves down. She would not hold anything, but hungrily ate as quickly as the boy could work.

At first he was worried that she would bite his fingers, but she was careful and it didn't take long to demolish the two leafy vegetables. She didn't like the carrots and Hasdrubal let them float away.

"I'll be back later, as soon as I can figure out what else to feed you," Hasdrubal told her.

He patted her on the back, being careful not to hit her wound.

Hasdrubal was tired when he climbed out of the water and he lay on the scratchy grass for a while thinking about how to get more food for his sick friend. He could tell his grandparents. They would probably buy more cabbages for Annie, but he wanted to protect his secret. "Anyway, they might laugh at me," he worried. "She weighs hundreds of pounds and I can't get enough left overs from dinner for her."

"I'm going for a bike ride, Grammy." "OK, see you later, do you have your watch on? I want you back at one, sharp. Gramp and I will be out, but I'll leave you some sandwiches and I'll call at one o'clock to make sure you don't need anything else."

Hasdrubal headed off towards the parking lot where he had seen Ambrose the first time. At first he had trouble finding it. Everything looked so brand-new that it wasn't like finding his way around home. But after a while he could tell the difference between various clumps of palm trees and he found the big parking lot.

He wheeled around the lot for a while and then spotted Ambrose on his funny three-wheeler. "Hi, my grandparents said it was OK for me to ride around with you if you don't mind."
"Heck I'd enjoy it. I don't get much company when I'm on my produce rounds," said the old man.

"What are your 'produce rounds'?" asked Hasdrubal, putting verbal quotation marks around the phrase.

Ambrose answered, "I used to own a few supermarkets in Ohio and buying produce was one job I never hired anybody else to do. I always liked going to wholesale fruit and vegetable markets. When I retired to Florida I just fished and played tennis and bridge for a few months, but I got bored and looked for somewhere to ride my tricycle to."

"Your grandparents are doing fine now that they're retired, but I know a lot of people who have moved here and aren't very well off. Some of them never had very much money and their Social Security checks don't go as far as they thought they would. Some others lost a lot of their savings with bad investments or by trusting a crooked businessman. They are too proud for charity, but need a little extra.

"I belong to a group called the Senior Gleaners. Do you know what 'gleaners' were?" Ambrose asked.

"No, should I?" asked Hasdrubal in reply.

"I guess not, it's a pretty obscure term. Way back when, in Europe," began Ambrose, "farmers would let people pick over their fields after the harvest. The wheat or potatoes or turnips which had fallen off carts, or been missed or tossed away could be taken by these 'gleaners' who didn't have fields of their own. There's a famous painting, maybe you'll see it some day.

"Nowadays the Senior Gleaners don't pick over farmers’ fields. What we do is get help from store owners who give us cans which are dented or have ripped labels and other things. Most people can't really go through produce and separate what's just past its prime and the stuff that's almost rotten. I can though, and five stores around here let me 'glean' for the organization. I pick the good stuff which other Senior Gleaners truck down to a 'food closet.' That's like a grocery store, but the food is free."

"Oh," said Hasdrubal, beginning to get an idea.

"I'm on my produce rounds right now, would you like to tag along?"

"Sure," said Hasdrubal as they pedaled off.

All the people at the supermarket loading dock seemed to recognize Ambrose and the terms they used were like a foreign language to the boy. Soon, though, Ambrose got to work and Hasdrubal followed as he inspected bins, bags and boxes of overripe fruit, wilted lettuce and other stuff just a little too old for people to buy. A lot of it was too far gone for even mystery stew, but most was still OK if you didn't insist your food be beautiful. Ambrose worked his way down the line of produce quickly and methodically. He marked the good boxes a chalk AK and also tossed good items into those boxes.

Hasdrubal asked, "what happens to all the stuff you don't pick?"

"Oh, it goes to the dump or some pig farm," answered Ambrose Kent.

"If some kid, or somebody, had an animal like a goat or something at home do you think they'd give him a few cabbages and things?"

"I don't see why not, they're real nice here. Do you know anybody with a goat?"

Hasdrubal was evasive, but shook his head.

"Well, with what we've found here today about a hundred people will have fresh food on their tables tomorrow instead of macaroni and cheese from a box," boasted Ambrose.

"I kinda like macaroni and cheese from a box," countered Hasdrubal.

"Yeah, but not every night," said Ambrose.

"I guess," said Hasdrubal. "Do you think they'd mind if I come back? I mean, if I find an animal that needs lettuce?"

"Why not? Hey, Hank," called Ambrose, "can my young friend help himself to some leftovers for an animal?"

"Sure," said the produce manager.

Hasdrubal remembered that he had promised to be home by one and said good-bye. He rode slowly back to his grandparents mulling over his next big problem: how would he carry a load of vegetables on a bike?

When he got back to the house, Hasdrubal found a bright orange backpack his grandparents had bought for a long ago hike in the Rockies.

"Is it OK if I take it and do some scrounging?" he asked when his grandmother called.

"Sure," said his grandmother, "as long as you don't get too grubby. Where are you going?"

"Back to the shopping center I was at this morning with Mr. Kent."

"OK, but don't be too long. Gramp and I thought we could go for a drive later."

At the produce dock Hank recognized Hasdrubal as Ambrose Kent's young friend and said, "Back already?"

Hasdrubal answered, "Yeah, just for a couple of cabbages and lettuce, if that's OK."

"Sure, go through the bins that Mr. Kent did before. Anything that is still in there is junk as far as we're concerned, but most of it will be fine for an animal."

"Thanks," said Hasdrubal and went to collect his produce. Try as he might, he could only fit in two cabbages, a little butter lettuce between them and a romaine lying on top, held down by the top flap of the backpack. "This would be plenty for me, but Annie looks like she weighs a ton... literally," the boy thought.

He felt very sneaky creeping down the side of the house and tossing the produce over the low gate into the back yard, but he knew he could never dream up a convincing reason why he had suddenly developed an appetite for five-day-old vegetables.

"I'm home," called Hasdrubal from the front door and poked his head into the kitchen where his grandmother was having a cup of coffee with a friend. He continued quickly, before she even answered, "It's getting really hot out there, OK if I go swimming?"

"Sure," she said, "just wait a couple of minutes and we’ll come out back."

That gave him just enough time to retrieve the hidden produce and go to the little dock where he dropped it into the water.

He waited until his grandmother and her friend came out and he waved as he went down the dock’s ladder into the water.

By making a ring with his arms and pushing the lettuce and cabbages ahead to him... he was able to maneuver all the produce in one trip.

He didn't have to look far. Annie, the manatee, hadn't traveled ten yards since he had seen her that morning. Her tiny eyes were hardly open and she barely acknowledged Hasdrubal's arrival.

The produce was a different matter. She wolfed down the two cabbages as quickly as the boy pushed them near her face. He had thought the butter lettuce would be dessert, that she would wait for him to rip off each individual leaf, but she grabbed the small ball and savaged it with her lips.

"She's hungrier than I thought," said Hasdrubal to himself. He patted her head and promised silently, "Don't worry, I'll figure a way to get more food for you." Sticking his face above the water's surface, he saw his grandfather making his way through the backyard down to the dock. "I better get going," he told Annie, "see you later." And he swam back to the dock.

"Brrr, I'm cold." Hasdrubal told his grandfather, hoping to deflect the question, "What were you looking at underwater?"

Gramp just laughed, "You been here only a few days and you're already thinking like a Floridian. I heard on the radio that it's fifteen degrees and snowing back in Milwaukee. In just four days you're going to have to wear that winter jacket again," he grandfather grinned.

The fact shocked Hasdrubal. He was so busy making plans to nurse Annie back to health, and get food for her, that he had forgotten all about going home or how short his visit really was.

Now his grandfather was saying something about hot springs, "so I thought we could drive over there and then have dinner out on the way back."

"Way back from where?" asked Hasdrubal.

"Your eyes look like you were a million miles away," laughed Gramp. "I said we're going out to the hot springs that tour boat guide was talking about. The river may be fine for a young whippersnapper like you, but my old bones need some warm water to swim in. Besides, there are some interesting nature talks by the park rangers out there."

The state park wasn't big, but most of it was a lake, not the small bubbling springs that Hasdrubal had been imagining. He was still in his trunks and had sat on his towel so the back seat of the car wouldn't get wet. His grandparents changed in dressing rooms and they all went to the small beach. The water was about as warm as in a bath tub and made him drowsy, but Granny and Gramp were splashing like kids.

After a while they got tired and Granny said, "Lets go to the end of the beach, past that fence where you can't swim. That's where the rangers are, we'll see what they're talking about today."

There was a small crowd gathered around a woman in a tan ranger's uniform and a man in a wet suit with "State Parks" stenciled on its back. They were holding up some color photos and gesturing. Hasdrubal could hear at first, but wriggled his way into the crowd and finally got close enough to both see and hear.

"This is Cowbell, who has been coming to the springs for the past five winters, except for one when she did not show up. We think she may have spent that year injured further down the coast. There were sightings of a female looking a lot like her, but we're not sure.

"Matt will be going in the water in a few minutes. He and two naturalist researchers are the only ones allowed in the water with the manatee herd in the refuge. There is still a lot we don't know about these large, lumbering, animals and we want to preserve the water environment in a nearly natural state for them. This is one of the few places where they can feel totally safe these days.

"People are the main threat to manatees and the reason they are in danger of becoming extinct. Some experts believe that more manatees are getting injured or killed by speedboats than are born each year. We are also building in areas where manatees are used to living undisturbed. At the rate we are going, by the middle of next century manatees will only exist on videotape and in old books and magazines."

The ranger in the wet suit went into the water and Hasdrubal thought, "That's what I look like when I swim over to Annie? But he knows what he's doing. What if I can't save her?"

The crowd drifted away or went over to the fence to watch the swimming ranger or try to see the manatees in the warm water. The other ranger was arranging her photos and looked surprised when Hasdrubal walked over to ask questions.

"Does anybody around here keep manatees as pets?" he asked.

She smiled, but answered him seriously, "No they are protected by the law and, besides that, they weigh up to thirty-five hundred pounds and they eat an awful lot of groceries. They're a lot happier when they are swimming free in the river. Because they’re endangered it’s illegal for anyone to feed or even swim near them. Unless you have a license, of course."

"But," Hasdrubal asked, "what about when they get hurt, like you were talking about. How do their cuts heal?"

"The cuts aren't so bad, if they don't get infected," she answered. "Almost all the adults have scars on their backs, that's one way we can recognize them. They've been cut in different places. But when they are hit by boats they often have broken bones or more serious internal injuries. When that happens they can't tell us where it hurts."

She turned to go, but Hasdrubal had one more important question. "Are there doctors who can treat them? What do people do if they see one who has been hurt?"

"Yes, they can be treated. The state Marine Patrol works with vets at three aquariums and people can call an "800" number. It's 1-800-DIAL-FMP. But, you know, a lot of times we get there too late. You seem really interested in manatees, have you seen any around?"

"Oh no," he wanted to change the subject, "I'm from Wisconsin, there aren't any in Lake Michigan."

"No, I guess not," she said. "Well, have fun at the park."

"OK," said Hasdrubal.

As they drove home, Hasdrubal thought to himself, "time is running out."

On the way back they stopped at a restaurant and his grandparents had seafood and he had a large cheeseburger and a delicious sundae with chocolate and butterscotch sauces. He didn't even feel guilty that he didn't think once of the manatee until they got home.

When they did, there was a postcard from his sister, Annie, waiting for him and a letter from his parents. That made him homesick and he decided it wasn't so bad that he was going home in just four days. Then he thought about the other Annie, the manatee, and a ringing feeling started near his heart as he realized that he only had three full days to save the manatee.

DAY SEVEN

The next morning Hasdrubal was determined to step up the pace of treatment. He was sure that the right vegetables would bring Annie the manatee back to good health. Would he have a story to tell his friends! How he saved a huge animal all by himself, with no help from any grownups.

As soon as he could after breakfast, he excused himself and rushed over to the shopping center with the backpack on. He wanted to get there before Mr. Kent. Also, it was getting to be a hot, muggy day and the backpack made his back sweat.

Hasdrubal tried to remember all the boring things his teachers has told the class about vegetables. Carrots were good for your eyes and Annie's eyes has looked dull and listless. Spinach had iron and he remembered there was something about iron and blood. Also blood helps wounds heal. All the rest of what his teachers had said was a confused blur, so Hasdrubal just picked the things which looked the least spoiled and little items which would help fill up the pack.

Then he thanked Hank, the produce manager and headed home. He repeated the trick of tossing the food over the backyard fence and went in to make just enough small talk with his grandparents. A few minutes later he felt that it was safe to go swimming without attracting their attention and he went into the backyard, quickly scooped up the vegetable and dumped them into the river by the dock. Then he asked them if he could go in the water.

It didn't take more than a couple of minutes to find the manatee. She was in virtually the same spot where he has last seen her and she was still alone.

"Boy, your friends are worthless," thought Hasdrubal. ""You're lucky I'm here to feed you. Otherwise you'd starve before you got better from your cut."

However, this time Annie didn't seem to recognize the boy and when he picked the freshest looking spinach and held it in front of here, she ignored it.

He tried thrusting one type of vegetable after another in front of her and she did not respond at all. Only the smallest movement of her flipper and her surfacing once for breath told Hasdrubal that Annie was truly alive.

He thought to himself, "She's probably just tired. She didn't sleep well. I'll come back later and then she'll eat." He stashed all the vegetable which had not floated away under the dock.

Gramp asked him if he would like to learn how to drive the golf cart. "Sure," said Hasdrubal.

They spent most of the morning driving around the edges of the golf course. Hasdrubal was embarrassed when he put the front tire into a big patch of sand and his grandfather has to get out and smooth out the tracks. "We're not really supposed to let kids drive these things," he said. "But practically everyone who has grand kids lets them every now and then. We just don't admit it."

His grandfather also had to grab the steering wheel as they were going over a bridge. When Hasdrubal's mind wandered the cart did too. The water reminded him of the manatee.

They drove to his grandparents' house by way of the beach and Hasdrubal watched the wind surfers and swimmers enjoying themselves. "They don't have responsibilities like I do," he thought. "They don't have a care in the world and I've got a life to save. But I don't even know where to begin."

At home that afternoon Hasdrubal winced as speedboats whizzed by. He shuddered as he thought about the ragged wound in Annie's back and he wondered why rest and good food were not making her get better.

He visited her briefly, in her regular spot. Again she wouldn't eat and hardly seemed to care whether he stayed or went.

"You know, Grammy, that was really interesting about manatees, when we went to the state park. Do you think I could find out more about them? I might do a science report for class when I get home," Hasdrubal asked.

His grandmother looked surprised, but said, "Sure, let's go down to the library and see what they can give you."

The librarian said, "A girl, about your age was asking about those animals just a couple of weeks ago. I know just what we've got for you." She brought over two children's books and a couple of magazine clippings in a plastic folder. She asked, "Do you have a library card?" "No, I'm just visiting my grandparents. I live up north." "Well, your grandmother can borrow these for you on her card."

It was close to dinner time when they got home and Hasdrubal went into the back yard to study the books while his grandparents worked in the kitchen. One of the books had a diagram of a manatee's body and the boy tried to figure out exactly where Annie's cut was. "It looks like it's pretty close to her lungs," he thought. The book also said that a sea cow's tough bones protected the animals from some internal injuries and that some of Annie's South American cousins could live for months without eating. "If the manatees around here are the same, at least she won't starve to death," he thought. "But I still have no idea how to help her. I wish this were simpler, like a baby falling off a bridge. I'd pull it out of the water, it would be over in a minute and I'd be a hero.

"If she doesn't look better tomorrow, I have to do something else, but what?"

Then Gramp called Hasdrubal in for dinner. It was corned beef, cabbage and carrots. "Your mom said it's your sister's favorite meal," Granny said. "Annie doesn't like carrots," Hasdrubal answered absentmindedly, not really thinking about his sister at all.

That night Hasdrubal did not sleep well. He dreamt about doctors and dying and being a hero. When he woke up he was torn between telling a grown-up and keeping his secret. "Maybe they'll get mad that I didn't tell them right away," he though. "What if I tell them and she still dies, that would really be the worst."

Day Eight

By the light of day and with some breakfast in his stomach, things didn't look so bad after all. "She'll probably get better all by herself and, anyway, she's just an animal," he said to himself.

After helping his grandparents wash up after breakfast, Hasdrubal went to visit Annie. She hardly moved and didn't even look at him. She was not getting better.

Hasdrubal needed a break and he asked if he could take a bike ride. "Sure, but don't stay out too long. Remember you're only here a couple more days and we thought you'd like to see the aquarium. It'll take a couple hours to drive to Water World," answered his grandfather.

Hasdrubal headed over to the mall and was glad when he spotted Ambrose Kent. He trailed him as he did his produce rounds and listened to the old man talk about how he felt good at the end of the day knowing that he had helped some people.

"Did you ever help some animal?" Hasdrubal wanted to know. "What do you mean?" Ambrose answered the question with a question.

"Well, like for instance, when you were a kid," Hasdrubal began awkwardly, "did you ever find, like a sick dog or cat and try to nurse it yourself? Not give it to your parents or a vet?"

"When I was a kid, we lived on a farm. One of the earliest things I remember was my older brother and me finding a baby bird which had fallen out of the hay loft in the barn. We could not figure out how exactly it was hurt, but it was and we couldn't find its parents or its nest. All we could do was keep it warm and give it something to drink."

"What happened?" the boy wanted to know.

"It died," said the old man with a far away look in his eyes.

"Well what about bigger animals when you were a bigger kid?"

"Sometimes there would be a stray dog which had survived a run-in with a car or a rabbit who had been shot, but not killed. I'd sometimes cheat on my chores and try to heal animals like that. I didn't have money for a vet and my parents wouldn't have paid for an animal they didn't even know."

Hasdrubal asked, "What happened. Did they get better?"

Ambrose chuckled. "Sometimes they did, sometimes they didn't. They weren't our pets or working dogs. I know it sounds harsh, but with the cycle of life on a farm, an animal dying wasn't that big a deal, besides they weren't endangered species.

"Say, what's this all about?"

"Oh, I was just imagining," Hasdrubal lied, "what it would be like to find a hurt dog, like Lassie, and cure it all by myself."

"Well, I can tell you it's a lot of work and the dog doesn't even say 'Thank you' when you're done. But with you're name it's only natural you should be interested in animals. The first Hasdrubal was a great general, but he's better known for riding across the Alps on elephants." Ambrose Kent had to go on with his round and Hasdrubal remembered that he had to go back to his grandparents' house.

The drive took them east across the narrow part of Florida. It wasn't hard scrabble and rugged like the area around the alligator farm, but was lush farm land. It reminded Hasdrubal of Mr. Kent's dog and rabbits and the baby bird. The farms reminded his grandparents of their childhood and they told him stories of sliding down hay chutes, scaring their friends by trapping them in silos and big picnics with fresh pies and ice cream made from their very own cow's milk.

Water World had more tropical fish than Hasdrubal had ever imagined. The sea turtles and their babies were comical trying to get around on the sand, but graceful in the water. Grammy took lots of pictures and they got wet when they were splashed by the killer whales. (The trainer said, "Some people refer to them as orcas, but we still call them killer whales.")

In a long building the tourists could watch doctors and nurses treating sick seals from an oil spill. A guide told them that the animals did not come from Florida, but that so many which had been affected by the oil from a tanker in the Pacific that marine centers all over the country were accepting patients from the disaster. "Everybody has a responsibility when it's an endangered species that's involved," she told the visitors.

Hasdrubal and his grandparents watched some other seals, who lived year-round at the park, doing tricks and getting fish rewards. They strolled past an underwater window of a large tank and watched the octopus moving slowly along the sandy bottom.

It was dark when they got home and Hasdrubal felt guilty about not visiting Annie. He thought about sneaking into the water or making up an excuse, but he told himself that it would be difficult to find the animal at night and he wouldn't be able to tell how she felt if he couldn't find her.

"I'll see her in the morning," he told himself.

DAY NINE

At breakfast Gramp said, "Grammy and I have to run a few errands, but as soon as we get back we'll figure out a way too make your last full day here really special."

"Can I going swimming before you go out?" asked Hasdrubal.

"I guess so, but make it short this time. You'll have plenty of time for that later," said his grandmother.

As he went out to the little dock Hasdrubal thought, "I hope she's getting better, I'm just about out of time."

He adjusted him goggles and flippers and eased himself into the warm water. He paddled slowly towards where he had last seen Annie. He half wanted to find her right away and, on the other hand, he wanted to delay it because he was afraid of what he would find.

It did not take long to find her and she looked worse than ever. Her eyes were shut and both her head and tail sagged towards the river bottom.

Hasdrubal had to wait for what seemed forever before, ever so slowly, Annie lifted her head to the surface for air.

The boy watched her and shuddered. "She's dying," he told himself. Then he couldn't see her anymore because of tears in his goggles.

Hasdrubal surfaced, wiped his eyes and said, "This is stupid. I can't let them see I've been crying and I'm not ready to tell anyone about Annie." He splashed water on his face, put on a cheerful look and swam back to the dock. As he climbed up the ladder his grandfather was just coming out into the back yard.

"There you are. We're just about to leave. Will you be OK for an hour or so? Stay in the house or yard and don't go swimming while we're gone. OK?" said Gramp. Hasdrubal just nodded. He felt the warmth of the sun and his grandparents car drive off.

The boy sat on the edge of the dock, he stared at the water and watched clouds' reflections drift by. Then he thought of the first time he had met the manatee and how excited he had been to have a one-ton friend. "Why did she have to get hit like that while I was here? Couldn't she have chosen a friend who could actually do something for her? A grown-up or somebody? Maybe I should have told people right away, but now it's late."

He was still arguing with himself when he remembered the feel of Annie's wound and the look of the blood on his hand we he touched it.

"I've got to tell somebody. Maybe it isn't too late," he told himself.

Pulling together as much courage as he could, Hasdrubal marched into the house's kitchen. He picked up the phone and began to dial. Then he put it down and thought, "I'll get into trouble. If I just stay quiet no one will ever know. And, anyway, I've already done my best." He really knew that he was simply scared. Hasdrubal felt like he was blushing, but did not want to look in the mirror. He picked up the phone and put it down two more times.

Then he realized he did not know whom to call. Hasdrubal tried to remember what the park ranger had told him, but he couldn't. He took down the phone book and started flipping through the pages in the front which listed emergency information and government service. Finally, he found it, "Florida Marine Patrol, 1-800-DIAL-FMP." "Why couldn't I remember that?" he said out loud.

He picked up the phone and dialed. He did it slowly, partly so that he wouldn't make a mistake and partly because he was scared of what would happen next.

Three rings and he could hear the phone being picked up at the other end. "Marine Patrol, can I he'p you?" came the voice at the other end. She sounded about the age of Hasdrubal's teacher.

Hasdrubal coughed, he wondered what to say, or if he should just hang up. "Who do I tell about a sick manatee?" he finally blurted out. "I can he'p you," she said.

"There's one in the river right near here," Hasdrubal told her.

"How do you know?" she asked.

"I've been swimming right next to her and I touched her wound, she was cut by one of those boats," the boy said.

She didn't sound like she believed him. "Can I speak to your mom or dad, please?" she said, sounding much more official than before.

"I'm at my grandparents' house and they're not here right now."

"Then tell them to call us when they get back," she said as if the conversation was over.

"She's not going to help me and it's going to take so long to explain about Annie to Gramp and Grammy," he thought and he felt his cheeks getting hot and tears in his eyes. Hasdrubal gave it one more try. "Please miss, I'm pretty sure she's dying. I thought you were there to help endangered species. She is hardly moving and her eyes are shut. She is really, really sick. I don't think you should wait for my grandparents to get home." He tried to say this as calmly and seriously as he could.

At the other end there was a pause and Hasdrubal wondered if the woman was talking to someone else. When she came back on the phone she sounded businesslike, but like she might believe him.

"Where exactly is the cut on the animal? How long is it? Are there other animals in the area?" Hasdrubal answered all her questions a best he could, but was embarrassed that he could not tell her in inches and feet, but had to describe the cut as being longer than a big bottle of soda.

The worst part came when she asked how long Hasdrubal had known about Annie. He wanted to lie and almost did, but decided there was no going back now and told the truth.

"OK," she said, "I think we have an officer in your area," after he told her the address. "I'm not sure how soon he can get there."

Hasdrubal waited by the front door for the officer or his grandparents. He knew he would have a lot of explaining to do. He was startled by the sound of a voice over a loudspeaker coming from the back yard, but he did catch the word "manatee". He rushed to the back door and saw a boat with police lights on bar over the windshield and the words "Marine Patrol" on the side.

The boy rushed out the back door and down to the dock. "Are you a doctor?" Hasdrubal asked.

The man smiled and said, "No. I'll just take a look at the animal and then we'll see if we can get a vet. Where did you see this manatee?"

Hasdrubal pointed to the spot and said, "She hasn't moved more than a few yards from there in the past few days." The man was taking off his boots and getting flippers ready. He climbed down a ladder on the back of the boat and disappeared in the direction of Annie.

He was back in a few minutes and looked grim. He didn't even bother to dry off when he got on the radio. Hasdrubal heard him say, "I don't know if it's even worth sending anyone over. She looks real bad and she may not be alive by the time the truck gets here."

Then he looked at the boy and said, "That's one sick animal. How long have you known about it?" Hasdrubal told him and the man just shook his head and said, "If we'd known about the accident right away, maybe we could have done something for her." Hasdrubal wondered if he could have felt any lower.

After that the man didn't seem too interested in the boy and Hasdrubal went inside to wait for his grandparents. When their car pulled up the boy rushed to meet them and said, "There's this guy from the Marine Patrol in the back yard." Then the whole story came tumbling out of Hasdrubal's mouth: the meeting, the wound, Ambrose's spinach and everything else in one confused rush.

Gramp looked confused, but Grammy said, "Let's talk to the man in back."

He was sitting in his boat talking on the radio and saying, "Yeah, the driveway looks wide enough, but the wires may be in the way of the sling."

When he finished on the radio, Gramp asked, "Young man, what exactly is going on?"

The officer said, "Your grandson has had a one-ton secret in your backyard for the last week or so. I wish he had told us as soon as he found the manatee was hurt, but he's done the right thing now. That's probably more important, we'll see. He called the Marine Patrol hot line while you were out and they sent me here. I've checked, the manatee is over there," he said pointing. "She is every bit as badly hurt as the boy said she was. I've just been on the radio to a truck from Sea World. There are a vet and two assistants on their way. The truck is like an ambulance for manatees. It has a sling on a hoist so that we can get her out of the water.

"They may be too late, she looks like she's in real bad shape. But if she dies, you'll still want the body removed. You wouldn't want it floating in the river right by your dock." Hasdrubal shuddered when he heard this. The officer continued, "They put the crew on alert when your grandson first called, so we don't have much time. First of all we need your permission to drive the truck down the driveway and across the yard, it may rip up the lawn a bit. Also we may have to get the electricity company out here to move the wires. That would cut off power to your house for a while."

"Is this going to cost us? And who pays the vet bills?" Gramp wanted to know.

"Don't worry, the state doesn't expect you to pay, but you'll have to sign these forms, we have to move fast."

Gramp and Grammy signed the papers and before Hasdrubal knew it, the backyard was a center of action. The power company truck was first to arrive with a two person crew in hard hats. Then a photographer from the local newspaper showed up and some boats started slowing down and stopping along the river. The officer had to go to his boat and use his loudspeaker to tell them to keep going, "But go dead slow, we have an injured animal in the water," he said.

All Hasdrubal could do now was watch. He felt really useless.

Gramp said, "This isn't exactly what I had in mind for today, but it is interesting. What's been going on in your mind?"

Hasdrubal thought a minute and answered simply, "I guess I wanted to be a hero, but I really messed up, didn't I?" Gramp didn't say anything.

Everything was now ready and they just had to wait for the ambulance. Once Hasdrubal thought he heard a siren in the distance. He asked his grandparents to come to the front yard. Gramp wanted to keep an eye on the strangers, but Grammy went with the boy. He told her a bit more about how he had met the animal before she was hurt and how he named her for his sister. She said, "Don't worry." Hasdrubal answered, "I don't know, the man said she might die before the doctor gets here."

They waited and watched the end of the street. There was nothing else to do. Finally a flatbed truck turned the corner. It was white and had an orca painted on each door. There was a hydraulic crane mounted on the back. As it approached the Marine Patrol officer came down the driveway. He described some wide turns with his hands as he talked to the driver and then the truck turned around and began to back into the driveway. The officer directed the driver and the truck squeezed down the driveway.

"It's a good thing we had it built for the RV," said Grammy. "Let's cut through the house and see what happens next."

The truck backed right up to the river and when it stopped the end of the crane was above the water.

Three people hopped out and the officer signaled Hasdrubal and his grandparents to come over.

He introduced them to the woman who was standing in the middle, "This is Dr. McCosker. She'll do what she can for the animal."

The crew went to a locker on the truck and Dr. McCosker and one of the men put on SCUBA equipment while the other man uncoiled a cable with a control box at one end and started moving the crane and a big, black canvas sling that was attached to it. The officer put a float in the middle of the river. It had a red flag with a white stripe. Hasdrubal knew it meant: divers underwater.

Now the two divers were going down the ladder on the grandparents' dock, just like Hasdrubal had so many times. Hasdrubal crossed the fingers on both hands and squeezed back a tear again.

The wait seemed as long as it had in front of the house, but it was really just a few minutes. The man got out first and he didn't say anything. The vet had a grim look when she took off her face mask. She told them, "The manatee is alive, but just barely. Just putting it in the sling may kill it, but we don't have much of a choice.

"Let's go," she called to the man by the truck. This time the swimmers didn't wear their SCUBA gear and swam on the surface. They directed the sling, which was hanging limp from just one set of chains.

Surprisingly quickly the big sling was lowered into the water and the two swimmers dove and brought the loose side back up to the surface to be attached to the second set of chains.

"OK, take it up SLOWLY," she shouted.

The motor on the truck whined and Dr. McCosker hurried up the ladder and over to the truck while the other swimmer steadied the sling. It dripped water and river grass as it swung over the dock and over the flatbed truck.

This was the first time Hasdrubal had ever seen all of Annie at the same time. She looked really tired and totally helpless. Her wound looked ugly.

By the time she was lowered onto the truck the vet was over her with a hypodermic needle the size of a caulking gun. She plunged the needle into Annie just behind the wound. Annie didn't even move.

"I'll start her with a big dose of antibiotics. That's about all I can do here. Now," she said turning to her assistants and the officer, "let's get her strapped down and make tracks for Orlando."

It only took a couple of minutes and Hasdrubal barely had a chance to kiss Annie good-bye before the big engine groaned and the truck eased down the driveway. It did rip up the lawn.

Hasdrubal ran down the driveway and saw the truck picking up speed by the time it got to the corner. That was the last time he ever saw Annie.

The backyard was emptying of strangers when Hasdrubal got back, but the Marine Patrol officer was still there. He had picked his flag out of the river and Hasdrubal went over to say, "Thanks."

The officer asked his name and the boy told him. "That’s just like the name of an African general who invaded Italy with war elephants. Did you know that if you go way back in their family trees, manatees and elephants are cousins? They are. How about that?"

Then he got back in the Marine Patrol Boat and all of a sudden it was just the three of them standing where there had been so much excitement a few minutes before.

Gramp said, "It's already past lunch time, but let's call Ambrose Kent and see if he's hungry. I'm starved and I'm sure he'd like to hear about the excitement."

It was easier telling about his adventure the more he repeated it. He even laughed when Ambrose said, "So, that's what the cabbage was for."

That evening his grandparents took him for a walk along the beach and they discussed a lot of things, his parents and sister, his flight tomorrow, what they would do the next time he came to Florida, but they didn't talk about Annie and whether she was alive or dead.

That evening Hasdrubal called home and told everybody about how he had tried to save the manatee. He also told them that he was afraid he had failed in a big way.

After breakfast Hasdrubal and his grandparents were packing his bag and they went out into the back yard to take one last picture. The phone rang and Gramp told Hasdrubal, "It's for you."

Hasdrubal picked up the phone and he heard the voice say, "This is Dr. McCosker. I think you may have phoned just in time. We're not out of the woods yet, but I think the manatee is going to live.

"You named her 'Annie' didn't you?" she asked. "Yes, why?" he replied.

"We've checked the records and nobody has a file on her yet. So, if you'd like, you can make 'Annie' her official name."

“OK”, said Hasdrubal

She said. "I'll let you know how she does."

Hasdrubal flew home thinking about his manatee.

Over the next few weeks Hasdrubal would think about his adventure, but it was becoming blurred and the details were less distinct as time went by.

Then one day a brown envelope arrived from Sea World in Orlando. It was from Dr. McCosker and there were snapshots of the manatee and a short note, "Annie is fully recovered, but will have a huge scar for the rest of her life. We figure she is five years old, which means she should have a long life, if she avoids speed boats. Here are a few pictures of her being lowered into the river, last Wednesday, just a few miles from your grandparents’ home. Thanks for phoning us. I'm glad you weren't too late."

For More About Manatees

Save the Manatee Club