Grayson

Grayson By Lynne Cox

Pages 79-99

Once Lynne got the jetty with no luck, she returned to the pier to make a new plan with Steve. At this point, she was starting to form a strong bond with the baby whale. She felt that if she communicated to him somehow, he would listen, so she tried talking to him underwater. In fact, she even named him. Grayson. Like Gray's son. Gray, as in his color. Grayson started to swim away, but this time in the direction out to sea, toward the oil rigs which Lynne had only swam to once. This was during a competition, too, where there are many life guards and safety boats, but she knew the baby whale needed her. They swam through jellyfish, which Grayson avoided gracefully, and through many other fish. Lynne was nervous about being out so far, but she was determined to find Grayson's mother. This is one of those sections that are just filled with tons of detail. Pages 91 to 98 simply talk about how Grayson had suddenly disappeared again and Lynne couldn't find him. She continued to dive down again and again to search for him but it was futile. She thought he might be dying because baby whales need food from their mothers (they're too young to find food for themselves). But then she remembered her friend Greg. He had asked Lynne to drive with him at 3 A.M. to a deserted runway to attempt to be the first person to achieve human-powered flight. No one understood why he was trying this, but he never gave up. And he did do it, this inspired Lynne when she thought about it. She knew it might be impossible to find Grayson's mother, but she was willing to give it a shot. So just as she was starting to give up, she tried one more time, diving farther than she had gone the last time, and much faster. She even called his name, "Grayson!!" and with that, he popped out of the water and swam beside her. Lynne knew that she couldn't be this far from shore anymore, she was started to get too cold and she was very tired. "Grayson, let's swim back to shore now" she said, and he seemed to understand her concerns because right then he turned around and started swimming toward the beach. They swam that way for a while until, all of the sudden, Grayson turned in the opposite direction and started swimming faster, as if he might have heard his mothers voice.

The recurring theme of sacrifice keeps popping into my head. She's so willing to give up what she wants to do, and what she is comfortable with to save this majestic animal. But then again, if I was in this position, I feel like I would be compelled to do the same.