The Last Song

"How do you know when it's almost time?"

He pointed to the head of the aquarium and one of the biologists on staff. "When Elliot and Todd start getting excited."

"Sounds pretty scientific."

"Oh, it is. Trust me."

"Mind if I join you?"

After Will had gone off to retrieve some extra flashlights from the truck, her dad had walked over.

"You don't have to ask, Dad. Of course you can."

"I didn't want to bother you. You looked sort of preoccupied."

"I'm just waiting, like everyone else," she said. She moved over, making room as he took a seat beside her. The crowd had grown even larger in the last half hour, and she was glad her dad had been allowed inside the caution tape. Lately, he looked so tired.

"Believe it or not, growing up, I never saw a nest hatch."

"Why not?"

"It just wasn't the big deal it is now. I mean, I'd sometimes stumble across a nest and think it was neat, but I never thought much about it. The closest I ever came to seeing an actual hatching was coming across a nest the day after it happened. I saw all the broken shells around the nest, but it was just part of life around here. In any case, I'll bet this isn't what you expected, huh? All these people around?"

"What do you mean?"

"Between you and Will, you watched that nest every night, keeping it safe. And now that the exciting part is about to happen, you have to share it with everyone."

"That's okay. I don't mind."

"Even a little?"

She smiled. It was amazing how well her dad had come to know her. "How's your song coming?"

"It's a work in progress. I've probably written a hundred variations of it so far, but it's still not right. I know it's kind of a pointless exercise--if I haven't figured it out yet, I probably never will--but it gives me something to do."

"I saw the window this morning. It's almost done."

Her dad nodded. "It's getting close."

"Have they figured out when they're going to install it?"

"No," he said. "Still waiting for the money for the rest of the church. They don't want to put it in until the place is being used. Pastor Harris is worried some vandals might throw rocks at it. The fire has made him a lot more cautious about everything."

"I'd probably be cautious, too."

Steve straightened his legs out on the sand, then drew them back in, wincing.

"Are you okay?" she asked.

"Just been standing too much these last few days. Jonah wants to finish the window before he leaves."

"He's had a good time this summer."

"Yeah?"

"He told me the other night that he doesn't want to go back to New York. That he wants to stay with you."

"He's a sweet kid," he said. He hesitated before turning toward her. "I guess the next question is whether you had a good time this summer."

"Yeah, I did."

"Because of Will?"

"Because of everything," she said. "I'm glad we spent time together."

"Me, too."

"So when's your next trip to New York?"

"Oh, I don't know. We'll play that by ear."

She smiled. "Too busy these days?"

"Not hardly," he said. "But you want to know something?"

"What's that?"

"I think you're a terrific young lady. I never want you to forget how proud I am of you."

"What brought that up?"

"I wasn't sure I'd told you that lately."

She rested her head on his shoulder. "You're okay, too, Dad."

"Hey," he said, motioning to the nest. "I think it's starting."

She turned toward the nest, then scrambled to her feet. As Will had predicted, Elliot and Todd were moving around with great excitement while a hush came over the crowd.

It unfolded the way Will had originally described it, except that words didn't really do it justice. Because she was able to get so close, she could see it all: the first egg beginning to crack open, followed by another and then another, all the eggs seemingly wiggling on their own until the first turtle actually emerged and began to scramble over the wiggling eggs and out of the nest.

Still, it was what followed that was most amazing: first a little movement, then some movement, and then so much movement that it was impossible for the eye to capture it all as five and then ten and then twenty and then too many turtles to count joined in a massive frenzy of activity.

Like a crazy beehive on steroids...

And then there was the sight of the tiny, prehistoric-looking turtles trying to escape the hole; clawing their way up and slipping back down, crawling over the tops of one another... until one finally got out, followed by a second, and then a third, all moving along the sandy trench toward the light Todd was holding as he stood in the surf.

One by one, Ronnie watched them crawling past, thinking them so incredibly small that survival seemed almost inconceivable. The ocean would simply swallow them up, making them disappear, which was exactly what happened as they reached the water and were tossed and rolled in the surf, bobbing briefly to the surface before vanishing from sight.

She'd stood beside Will, squeezing his hand tightly, immensely happy that she'd spent all those nights by the nest and that she'd played some small part in this miracle of new life. It was incredible to think that after weeks of absolutely nothing happening, everything she'd been waiting for would be over in a matter of minutes.

As she stood beside the boy she loved, she knew she'd never shared anything more magical with anyone.

An hour later, after excitedly reliving the hatching in detail, Ronnie and Will said good night to the others from the aquarium as they headed toward their cars. Aside from the trench, all evidence of what had happened was gone. Even the shells were nowhere in sight; Todd had gathered them up because he wanted to study the thickness of the shells and test for the possible presence of chemicals.

As she walked beside him, Will slipped his arm around her. "I hope that was all you thought it would be."

"It was even better," she said. "But I keep thinking about the baby turtles."

"They'll be okay."

"Not all of them."

"No," he admitted. "Not all of them. When they're young, the odds are stacked against them."

They walked a few steps in silence. "That makes me sad."

"It's the circle of life, right?"

"I don't need philosophy from The Lion King right now," she sniffed. "I need you to lie to me."

"Oh," he said easily. "In that case... They're all going to make it. All fifty-six of them. They'll grow larger and mate and make little baby turtles and eventually pass away from old age after living far longer than most turtles, of course."

"Do you really think so?"

"Of course," he said confidently. "They're our babies. They're special."

She was still laughing when she saw her dad step out onto the back porch with Jonah.

>   "Okay, after all the ridiculous buildup," Jonah started, "and watching the whole thing from start to finish, I just have one thing to say."

"What's that?" Will prompted.

Jonah grinned broadly. "That. Was. So. Cool."

Ronnie laughed, remembering. At Will's puzzled expression, she just shrugged. "Private joke," she said, and in that instant, her dad coughed.

It was a loud, wet cough, sounding... sick... but just as had happened in the church, it didn't stop with one cough. He coughed again and again, one racking sound followed by another.

She watched as her dad grabbed the rail to keep his balance; she could see Jonah's brow furrowing with worry and fear, and even Will was frozen in place.

She watched her father try to stand straighter, arching his back, struggling to control the hacking. He brought both hands to his mouth and coughed one more time, and when at last he drew a ragged breath, it sounded almost as if he were breathing through water.

He gasped again, then lowered his hands. For what seemed like the longest few seconds of her life, Ronnie was frozen in place, suddenly more scared than she'd ever been. Her father's face was covered in blood.

30

Steve

He received his death sentence in February, while sitting in a doctor's office, only an hour after giving his last piano lesson.

He'd started teaching again when he'd first moved back to Wrightsville Beach, after failing as a concert pianist. Pastor Harris, without consulting him, had brought a promising student to the house a few days after Steve had moved in and asked that Steve do him "a favor." It was just like Pastor Harris to realize that by returning home, Steve was broadcasting the fact that he was lost and alone and that the only way to help him was to bring a sense of purpose back into his life.

The student was Chan Lee. Both her parents taught music at UNC Wilmington, and at seventeen she was a wonderful technician, but she somehow lacked the ability to make the music her own. She was both serious and engaging, and Steve took to her immediately; she listened with interest and worked hard at incorporating his suggestions. He looked forward to her visits, and for Christmas, he gave her a book on the construction of classical pianos, something he thought she would enjoy. But despite the joy he felt in teaching again, he found himself increasingly tired. The lessons drained him when they should have given him energy. For the first time in his life, he began to take regular naps.