A 52-Hertz Whale
Bill Sommer ¡ Natalie Haney Tilghman
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"It appears to be the only individual emitting a call at this frequency and hence, has been described as the world's loneliest whale."âWikipedia
So here's how it all starts: James, a high school freshman, is worried that the young humpback whale he tracks online has separated from its pod. So naturally he emails Darren, the twentysomething would-be filmmaker who volunteered in James's special education program back in middle school. Of course, Darren is useless on the subject of whales, but he's got nothing but time, given that the only girl he could ever love dumped him. And fetching lattes for his boss has him close to walking out on his movie dream and boomeranging right back to his childhood bedroom.
So why not reply to a random email from Whale Boy?
Predictably, this thread of emails leads to a lot of bizarre stuff, including a yeti suit, drug smuggling, widows, a major documentary filmmaking opportunity, first love, a graveyard, damaged echolocation, estranged siblings, restraining orders, choke holds, emergency dentistry...and then maybe ends with something like understanding.
See, it turns out that the thing that binds people together most is their fear that nothing binds them together at all.
So here's how it all starts: James, a high school freshman, is worried that the young humpback whale he tracks online has separated from its pod. So naturally he emails Darren, the twentysomething would-be filmmaker who volunteered in James's special education program back in middle school. Of course, Darren is useless on the subject of whales, but he's got nothing but time, given that the only girl he could ever love dumped him. And fetching lattes for his boss has him close to walking out on his movie dream and boomeranging right back to his childhood bedroom.
So why not reply to a random email from Whale Boy?
Predictably, this thread of emails leads to a lot of bizarre stuff, including a yeti suit, drug smuggling, widows, a major documentary filmmaking opportunity, first love, a graveyard, damaged echolocation, estranged siblings, restraining orders, choke holds, emergency dentistry...and then maybe ends with something like understanding.
See, it turns out that the thing that binds people together most is their fear that nothing binds them together at all.
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Bill Sommer holds an MFA in Creative Writing from the Rainier Writers Workshop and a bachelor's in jazz performance from the University of Miami. Born and raised in St. Louis, he now lives in Atlanta.
Natalie Tilghman holds an MFA in Creative Writing from the Rainier Writers Workshop. She lives in Glenview, Illinois, with her husband, two sons, and their Chihuahua.
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