1898 at the Lighthouse - A Whale of a Secret

The majestic whale who had seen many decades was floating with the swells near the lighthouse. She knew her time was nearing, when her essence would go on to another life. She began to instinctively look for a soft, sandy beach for her 40-foot-long body to rest.

 For many years the wise whale taught the younger whales and helped lead when they swam in the migrations up and down the Oregon coast. They liked to spend summers in the Arctic and go south to the warm, tropical waters off Mexico for winters. There they bore their calves and mating season occurred. 

Now some of the old female whale’s own babies had calves born last winter off the Mexican coast of their own. These yearling whales were already swimming off from their mothers, exploring and forming play groups.

The old whale listened to the whale songs and sounds, unique to her group. When the group reached Mexico the male whales would begin to seriously serenade and seek to impress the females with their complex singing, acrobatic leaps out of the ocean, and enthusiastic tail flapping. 

 Rising and falling with the rolling swells, the whale drifted away from the group, slowly letting the currents of an incoming high tide carry her toward the shore.

A wide sandy beach seemed to beckon. As the high tide surged up it lifted the whale above the shallows and gently placed her on the soft sand. 

The whale took a deep breath, feeling tired, knowing her work was done and she could rest. She felt contented knowing she had lived life to the fullest – a life well lived.

Then her breathing slowed and gently her essence left her body, shedding it like an outfit of old clothes. 

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A few weeks later a school of migrating humpback whales were spouting, breaching and tail flapping off the coast of the lighthouse shore.

"The whales are heading from the Arctic oceans to the warm waters off the Mexican coast for the winter," said Joseph, the head lighthouse keeper.

"Look at that!" Elsie, Joseph's daughter, stood next to her puppy, Teddybear, gazing out at the sea.

"Where?" Edward, her brother, squinted and looked back and forth.

"Right out there." Elsie pointed.

"Oh, I see it now, a whale spout going up into the air," Edward said.

This brought everyone in the lighthouse keepers’ houses outside to their porches to watch.

Elsie's mother canceled school for the day to watch the whale migration and the children had unexpected free time.

The children of the three lighthouse keepers had unexpected free time. With light hearts, they began to envision how they would take advantage of it.

Thoughts of exploring the wilderness trails, whale watching, and playing on the beach below the bluffs called to them.

Her father brought his telescope out onto the porch of the white Victorian house on the high bluff. 

Beyond the tall white lighthouse tower with its huge glass lantern and red roof, the ocean was unusually calm for a day in December on the Oregon coast.

The winds were quiet. The lighthouse keepers’ families enjoyed a rare, warm, sunny day between the winter's gale-force winds and heavy rain storms on the Oregon coast.

“See the whales. There's one spouting. Take a look,” he said. Elsie and her brothers each took a turn and then let the other children look too.

The school of huge ocean mammals was not far from shore.

 Elsie called to her puppy, Teddybear. She looped a long rope around his collar and held the other end.  Then she and the other children ran down the sloping wagon trail from the lighthouse keepers’ houses to the beach. 

A day of playing on the beach and whale watching was a treat, especially in the middle of winter.

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At the beach Elsie and her brothers imitated the whales by leaping and twisting, and making sounds like whales spouting air.

Her shaggy, dark haired puppy ran and jumped with them, enjoying this game. 

“Teddybear,” Elsie called, giving a tug on the long rope attached to his collar, “Come.” Together they galloped and cavorted along the beach. 

High above the cliff’s their parents watched from the wide verandas of the two lighthouse keepers’ houses.  Another quarter mile up the bluffs, two hundred feet above the ocean, the lighthouse tower gleamed white against the blue sky.

Pretend was one of their favorite games at the remote lighthouse station. With the children of the other two lighthouse keepers they made a group of eight, ranging in age from 9 years old through teen years. 

In Elsie’s twelve years she had lived in Austin, Texas, San Francisco, California and briefly at another Oregon coast lighthouse station before the Mystic Beach Lighthouse.

Her long braids flew out behind her while she ran across the beach below the lighthouse. A brown apron covered most of her dress and protected the material of small colorful flowers.

“Tag, you’re it!” said a boy with tousled brown hair blowing in the wind and falling over one eye. He wore a pair of rugged pants and a grey shirt, well adapted to the outdoor life in the wilderness.

“Catch me if you can, Erik,” Elsie called, smiling. She took off almost flying across the sand. 

With a gleam in his eye, Erik put out a burst of speed and reached for one of her braids, giving it a little tug.

Elsie wiggled away and kept running, laughing. They ran toward a rocky outcropping and rounded a corner. In front of her was a wider beach with mounds of sand dunes.

Erik followed her, and the other children ran after them.

In the distance was a long, tall dune, that looked grey instead of beige.

“Hey, look at that!” said Erik. “I think it’s a whale.”

The group trotted along the beach to get closer.

“Look at the size,” said Elsie. They stood gazing at the enormous whale, its flippers and tail, and its snout.

“I wonder how long it has been here?” said Elsie’s brother, Edward.

“A while I would guess, judging from the smell,” said Samuel, Elsie’s other brother.

Erik puffed out his chest a little. He wanted to impress Elsie and a way to do that had just occurred to him.

“Watch this.”

He walked over to the whale’s flipper and climbed onto it, then crawled up on top of the whale.

“Yippee. Look at me!” He waved his arms and lifted them over his head, smiling and laughing.

The group of children stared in awe at the figure of the young man on top of the huge whale.

Then they gasped, “Erik! Erik!”

They saw Erik start to sink into the whale. The rotting whale’s skin and structure gave way.

The group saw Erik completely disappear from view.

“Heeeelp! AAAAaaaggggh!” Erik felt his feet sinking into the soft, drying whale blubber, like going down into quicksand.

He tried to grab onto the whale skin but his fingers slid.

Elsie’s heart pounded, her eyes were wide, and her breath stopped.

She approached the whale slowly, trying not to smell the decay.

Teddybear sensed her distress, and protective instincts were aroused.

Close to her side, crouched toward the ground, cautious, moving in a panther-like style. His sensitive nose did not like the smell either.

“Someone! Get me out!” came from inside the whale.

Trembling, Elsie reached the flipper and climbed onto it. Teddybear snuggled up to her. The other children followed and stood next to the flipper.

“Yip, yiiiip, yiiiiip!” Teddybear barked excitedly, tail swishing, intense eyes peering at the place where Erik stood when he disappeared.

“Edward, Samuel, come here,” said Elsie.

She untied Teddybear’s rope and hung it loosely around his neck.

“Erik, call Teddybear. He has a rope. We’ll pull you out.” She hollered.

“Teddybear… here Teddybear,” called Erik.

Slowly the growing pup lowered himself into a deep crouch and crawled across the whale’s skin toward the opening on top where Erik had been standing.

“Good dog, Teddybear. Here boy. Come Teddybear,” called Erik.

Slinking down into a deeper crawl, the pup went a few more steps. The group could see him looking down at something.

A hand reached up and grabbed the rope. Elsie, Edward and Samuel held the other end.

“Hold on tight, Erik,” called Edward. “We’ll pull you out.”

Inside the whale, Erik leaned against the drying flesh of the whale and part of the bony structure.

Elsie, Edward and Samuel gathered the other children and together they all leaned back, groaning and pulling.

Erik’s head popped out of the whale’s back, then his shoulders.

The group struggled to walk in the sand, pulling harder. 

“One, two, three..pull now!” yelled Samuel.

Erik popped back up onto the whale’s back, his face white, shaking, gasping for breath.

He slid on his hands and knees toward the flipper and tumbled onto the sand.

“Here, let me help you,” Samuel said. He grabbed the smaller boy around the shoulders and half-carried him. Edward came to the other side and together they helped Erik along the beach. 

When they were far enough away so the smell was less pungent, they all collapsed on the sand, resting.

While the others caught their breath, Elsie walked back toward the whale. On the way, she picked some wildflowers growing in a bunch on a small dune. Then she found some clam shells, broken parts of sand dollars and other shells.

A heart shaped rock caught her eye and she added this to the treasures. When she reached the whale she set the flowers, shells and heart shaped rock gently on the flipper.

The other children saw her standing quietly for a few minutes next to the whale. They knew she was paying tribute and honoring this enormous friend from the ocean.

Everyone looked at Erik to see if he was ok. There were some remnants of dried whale on his clothes but otherwise he was the same as always.

Erik cast his eyes, down, embarrassed. Elsie felt a twinge of sympathy for him.

He raised his eyes and their eyes met by accident for a moment. It was only a second or two, but something electric flashed between them.

Erik knew he tried his stunt to impress Elsie and get her attention.

In that flash of eye contact, Elsie sensed this too, and she felt flattered.

A large wave crashed nearby, seagulls called, and the moment passed.

But it was not gone forever.

Instinctively, Erik and Elsie knew the story of the whale would connect them somehow.

After resting, the group rose to their feet and hiked around the end of the rocky outcropping to reach the beach below the lighthouse and the keeper’s houses.

They could see the figures of their parents sitting on the verandas of the white Victorian houses gleaming on the bluff above.

“Err, Elsie, Edward, Samuel, everyone. Please don’t tell my parents,” said Erik.

Elsie’s eyes narrowed with laughter and the group broke into giggles.

Even the pup, Teddybear, opened his mouth into a wide smile, white teeth shining against his dark fur, tail wagging. He joined in with the mood, laughing too as dogs can do.

Erik began laughing too.

“OK,” said Edward, with a grin. 

For the rest of the day, the parents were mystified when their children kept glancing at each other and laughing.

Later, whenever someone said, “whale,” the group slid their eyes to each other and broke into giggles.

They had a whale of a secret.