Looking for Seal Pups

“Well, that was dramatic!” said Jake, as he opened his sleepy eyes and saw his friend sitting at his bedside. Jake did not realize that he was in a bed in a small rural hospital in a small town in Scotland. He felt a pang over his right eye and fell back into sleep again.

“He’s awake!” cried Matt. “Doctor he said something!”

The doctor appeared at the door. “Yes, it’s common in these cases for patients to wake for a few moments and then drop back into sleep.”

Matt watched his friend. Jake had been given pain killers. The doctor said there was a slight concussion and that Jake needed sleep and watching for a day or two. There didn’t seem to be any urgency to get Jake out quickly as there might have been back in the states. The staff was relaxed and the doctor had a sense of humor.

“Aye, he’ll be up and aboot’ and asking for a big plate o’ haggis before ye know it,” said the Doctor. Then he returned to his library/office to continue his game of chess with an orderly. 

Matt didn’t like to leave but he’d been sitting there for several hours and he was hungry. He felt much better now that Jake had come to and said a few words. Jake was surely going to be all right judging from the words he said.

A few months ago, they were nearing the end of their senior year at college. They’d shared an apartment with a few other buddies for the last three years and they had been room-mates in the dorm as freshmen.

Jake was head of the debating club and co-captain on the swim team. Matt was also a swimmer but his interests were more artsy than intellectual and he opted for the drama club. He’d done Shakespeare and a few other modern plays, and he was quite good at it. He felt it let him express his deeper self. Jake was happy go lucky and Ed was prone to bouts of moodiness, and accused by Jake of thinking too deeply.

“You gotta’ lighten up and have more fun! Jake would say to Matt.

“Oh my God, it is sickening how happy you are all the time. Don’t you know there are suffering masses out there and society has many unsolved problems?” That was Matt’s come back.

And that’s as much as they argued. A few banters.

They had agreed to travel during the summer after graduation. They wound up in Scotland, mid-summer. Sitting in the dining room of the small Inn where they were staying, Jake was chatting with a local girl waiting on their table in the dining room. Matt had run into her earlier outside his room (the inn was small and she doubled as housekeeper) and they had smiled shyly at each other and introduced themselves. He knew her name was Molly. Matt was jealous of Jake’s carefree confidence with the female sex. 

When the young woman left the table, Matt said, “You are so lucky with women. In fact, you are lucky with everything! I don’t think I’ve ever known you to have a hard time with anything. You have absolutely no drama in your life. You have perfect parents, a perfect academic record, and never, ever had a heartache in your life.” Mat immediately wondered where that torrent of emotion had come from. So did Jake. 

“Is that what you think?” Jake looked at Matt calmly.

“Yes, I do, and I’ve had two major break ups in the last 2 years and you just coast along. You don’t get emotionally involved and yet you always have a date.”

“But I don’t try to be so serious, Matt. I don’t get so emotionally dragged down by rejection. Plenty of girls don’t take to me.”

Matt relaxed a bit. “Let’s see what’s on the menu.”

It was an old inn with stone walls, and rooms made cheery by bright sofas and chairs and colorful quilts and pillows. It was charming.

The young men announced at the front desk that they were going hiking on the cliffs overlooking the sea the next day. 

“Don’t you boys be going near the edge!” the Innkeeper’s wife had warned. It can be dangerous. The wind can be strong and fickle and mysterious and can do strange things.” The boys smiled at her and thought her a wonderful addition to the setting of the inn, like a character in a play.

The cliff views were breathtaking and made them feel free and invigorated.  They had heard that this was the time of year to see the seals with their newborns and that the seal pups would swim as soon as they were born. They walked carefully toward the edge of the cliff to peer over. But they saw no beach down below the 50 foot drop to the ocean. Pups or no pups, the view was beautifully mesmerizing.

“Halloooo!” a voice came from behind. “Is that you Matt?”

Matt turned quicky to see Molly. She was wearing a green broad brimmed hat tied under the chin. That was all he saw because he was so stunned that she was calling his name that he lost his balance on his turn and took a false step. His foot slipped down and he slipped backwards and down he went off the cliff.

It happened so fast. Jake could not comprehend. But he knew he couldn’t let his friend go alone. He looked wide eyed at Molly, then resignedly turned an jumped off the cliff. He didn’t even think.

The water was cold and choppy but not terribly wild that day. Somehow, they found each other. Jake was doing better than Matt, or so it seemed as he rather forcefully pulled Matt toward the edge of the rock to hang onto something, anything they could find. They got close to the rocks and Jake’s head turned back to look at Matt. As he did, he banged his head hard on a small overhang. He slipped town into the water. Matt caught him and dragged him up and held on to what he could, holding Jake as well.

Local men arrived within 10 minutes or so with ropes and loud speakers. Molly had obviously run for help.  The rescue operation was rugged but effective and it was not the first time the locals had had to drag tourists up the cliffs. 

As the young men were dumped onto a safe place, back on the earth, Molly ran over to Matt. “Are you okay?” she cried.

“I am, but I think Jake is hurt,” Ed gulped.

“Don’t worry, they will take care of him. This has happened before and it’s always been ok. It’s a drop but not that terribly high.”

“But he is not conscious!”

In the coming hours, Matt had a lot of time to think.

Neither of them was a stranger to water or physical challenge in the water, but at this moment, Matt felt Jake was a stranger to him because he was overcome by his friend’s actions, taking such a risk for his sake. How could he have been so careless and stupid as to fall backwards? Would he have done the same if it had been Jake who fell? Maybe Jake saved his serious behavior for life’s emergencies. Maybe he had a whole reserve of serious behavior saved up. Matt didn’t know if he had such a reserve or if he would even have considered jumping off.

After a few days, Jake was free to leave the hospital and the young men promised the doctor that they would stay away from anything strenuous, and especially heights and that they would circle back in a week to get Jake re-checked.

As they sat in the dining room, Molly walked through, waiting on customers. She smiled at Matt.

“Hey man, she likes you!” Jake grinned at Matt.

“Yeah, I don’t know why, but I’m not going to take myself too seriously this time. I’ll just go for it.”

“Good decision,” said Jake

Molly came to the table and said how happy she was to see them both looking right as rain. And she brought free desserts and left her phone number on a napkin for Matt.