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At least, I seesomething.
It’s small, but noticeable, splashing in a tide pool formed by half-sunken rocks.
I throw up an arm, stopping Shepherd in his tracks, thunking my hand against his wall of a chest.
He knows better than to ask, but I think his excitement almost matches mine as a long, quick moving otter crawls out of the rocks, bats its eyes, and then dives back under again.
A second later, it pops its head up and flops on its back, gliding on the water like a drunken frat boy in a pool. It’s officially the sweetest, laziest, most unexpected surprise of my life.
Holy crap!
Holy shit.
When I grab his arm and pull, wordlessly sharing my thrill, he doesn’t protest.
Shepherd just nods and smiles when I look up from the amazing scene to see his face.
Meanwhile, I’m fumbling around in my bag like a madwoman, trying to find my binoculars.
“Relax. The drone’s footage goes straight to the cloud, even out here, thanks to Starlink. It can zoom in fifty times without losing image quality,” he whispers hotly in my ear.
Wow.
Even with the reassurance, I’m scared I’ll miss this if I even dare to breathe.
My heart pounds so hard I think I’m seeing double.
My hands are shaking.
This is too much.Too incredible.
Beside me, Shepherd lifts his own pair of binoculars. I didn’t notice him throw them around his neck, but he must’ve thought to earlier.
He passes them over, and together, we take turns otter watching.
No, otters.
Plural.
Several more of these living plushies emerge, grouping themselves together to sun on the rocks when they’re not splashing around like hyperactive ferrets.
I do my best to count them so I can send the state database an accurate report, though it’s pretty hard when my hands are this unsteady.
Five... six... seven.
Seven otters.
Wait, no, eight. Eight.
Eight sea otters!
I forget how to breathe.
I think this might be the best day of my life since Eliza and Dad taught me how to swim.
I’m watching endangered freaking sea otters in their natural habitat.
Otters playing in the surf, a peaceful little family. A viable breeding population.
