Page 9 of Truly, Madly Viking

The girls were really very close to each other, but their tempers had been riled today by the unseasonably hot temperatures for early October, and frustration over their matchmaking failures. And truthfully, they had been to this particular marine park at least a dozen times this year alone.

"Did you see those shorts he's wearing?" Apparently Suzy was still fixated on Harry as a daddy prospect. "They're plaid." She said plaid as if it were something revolting like homework. Beth enjoyed school; Suzy put up with it.

"Hey, who named you the fashion police? I'm no fashion plate, either," Maggie interjected, pointing to her knee-length denim skirt and cropped, short-sleeved Liz Claiborne sweater of faded blue.

But the girls weren't paying attention to her. Instead Suzy was continuing with her tirade against Harry's shorts. "Even worse, they're madras plaid. Talk about being lost in the sixties. Well, I'm not having a father who wears plaid, and that's final. Not to mention white socks and sandals. Gross!"

"You think everything is yucky if it doesn't come from The Gap."

"You think everything is yucky if it doesn't smell like a stinkin' fish."

"Whales are not fish. They're mammals."

"Fish, mammal, whatever... they stink."

"Oooooh!" Beth growled.

"Oooooh!" Suzy growled.

"Why don't you take a chill pill?"

"Why don't you try and make me?"

Whatever spirit of comradeship the two had been sharing fell apart then. Another moment and they would be rolling on the ground like a pair of puppies. Time for a mother intervention.

"That's enough! Both of you!" Maggie chided. Dropping down to a bench, she gathered them to either side of her. "Behave yourselves. Harry is a very nice man. I invited him to come with us today because he's worried about the clinic and whether it will close down under the new owners. He needs a distraction, not two smartmouthed girls making fun of his appearance."

"Mom, we won't have to move if the clinic closes, will we?" Beth asked anxiously. Leave it to one of her daughters to hone in on the least pertinent point in her tirade. Obviously she was worried about a possible separation between herself and Gonzo, the star orca at the marine park, not the possible loss of her mother's job. Maybe this obsession with killer whales had gone too far. But that was a question she'd have to address later.

"I wouldn't mind moving to Houston. They have an awesome roller coaster at Rodeoland. It's not as good as the Vomit, though."

The Vomit? Maggie mouthed, then recalled that was the nickname for the Comet, the roller coaster at the amusement park affiliated with Marine Kingdom. Suzy adored roller coasters; Beth could take them or leave them; Maggie avoided them as much as possible. But that was incidental now. She pulled her attention to the present. "We are not moving, regardless of what happens with the clinic," she assured them. "But back to what I was telling you. I've taught you girls better than to make mean remarks about people's appearances. Remember how you felt when Joey Pisano called you Metal Mouth the first day you came to school with braces? And the Tin Grin Twins?"

Both girls nodded, and their faces flushed with shame that they'd been guilty of the same transgression.

"Listen, my sweeties, never judge a man—or woman by what you see. You'll be wrong every time, I guarantee."

"But Mom..." they said simultaneously.

"And one last thing. I heard you girls last night. Forget about miracles. The only miracles in this life are the ones we create ourselves."

Suzy and Beth hung their heads—with remorse or disappointment, she couldn't tell. And, despite all her logical words, Maggie felt a twinge of regret that she'd come down so hard on them.

"Hey, toots," she teased Beth, tugging on her braids. "Don't we have a date with some orcas?"

The smile Beth plastered on her lips was clearly forced.

"And how about you, my little salsa princess? Maybe we could fit in one roller coaster ride before we go home today."

Suzy, too, forced a smile.

Maggie could see that the subject wasn't closed... not by a long shot. Obviously having a father was far more important to them than whales or scary rides.

Sometimes Maggie wished dreams really could come true.

They were sitting on the bleachers at the inner curve of the oceanarium that comprised the marine park.

The oceanarium was a huge, fiveacre inlet leading out to Galveston Bay. The orcas were prevented from escaping captivity by a net wall at the mouth of the inlet that stretched from the bottom of the water to ten feet above the surface. Because this particular sea pen was located outside the killer whale's normal habitat, there were special cooling tubes running along the bottom, and salt was added to the water.