Songs of the whales:
A Bear story about talking to animals

by Fran Kramer

Old Fuzz Bear squirmed on the laundry line. After the bear’s swim with the dolphins, Ma Mère removed Old Fuzz’s stuffing, washed him, and hung him by his sturdy ears out to dry. Ma Mère preferred to hang Old Fuzz from the laundry line rather than putting him in the clothes dryer. Going through a wash and rinse cycle of the washer was enough to make Old Fuzz dizzy—he didn’t need more bouncing around in the dryer. Dried by the sun’s gentle warmth was enjoyable, and the hanging by the ears really didn’t hurt him. Also, the clean ocean air made him smell good. However, Old Fuzz Bear was getting impatient. He called out, “Ma Mère! I’m dry. Do you think you can take me off the clothes line?”

Ma Mère, the older lady with blond curls who took care of Old Fuzz, stretched in her white lawn chair, and answered, “I hear you, Fuzz. I’m just so comfortable lying here looking out at the sand, the waves, and flying sea gulls. Isn’t Martha’s Vineyard beautiful?”

“I would enjoy it better once I got stuffed and settled,” Old Fuzz yelled. “Without my stuffing, I feel like a flag flapping in the breeze. The wind goes right through me and nothing keeps my two feet safely on the ground.”

“Ok, ok,” Ma Mère groaned as she pulled herself up from the chair. She unfastened the clothespins holding Old Fuzz to the line, and brought him into the hotel room. On a table sat two pillow case-sized bags of foam stuffing. Unceremoniously, Ma Mère shoved the new foam into Old Fuzz though a slit in his side.

“Make sure you get the right amount on both sides of my face,” Old Fuzz muttered as Ma Mère filled up his face. “I don’t want my cheeks to look lopsided.”

Ma Mère padded Old Fuzz in all the right places. She held him up before a mirror and said, “You look just fine. See?” Then she sewed up the hole. “You’re now good to go!”

Old Fuzz stretched, trying to get the kinks out of his arms and legs. He always suffered a little post operative stiffness after this stuffing procedure. However, he found that numerous hugs kneaded out the stiffness. As he reached out to hug Ma Mère, he asked, “Where are we off to now?”

“We are going to Stellwagen Bank, off Cape Cod,” Ma Mère replied as she grabbed the old bear and gave him a hug.

“Why there?” Old Fuzz wanted to know, giving Ma Mère a hug back.

“To see whales,” Ma Mère said. “That’s where whales come to feed. So we should see plenty of whales. And Danny’s Grand PaPa wants to try out his new whale song recorder.”

“He wants to record whale songs?” Old Fuzz asked, thoroughly intrigued. “How?”

“He uses something like an ipod that has hydrophones. Those are microphones which hang from the boat and collect the sounds. The ipod device then converts the data, and amplifies the noise into sounds we can hear.”

“Huh?” Old Fuzz said, being a little confused by it all. But it would be neat if he could hear a whale cry!

The next day found Ma Mère and Old Fuzz Bear once again boarding the big dark blue sailboat, Sailor’s Dream, along with five-year-old Danny and his grandparents, Grand MaMa and Grand PaPa Perry. It wasn’t long before Sailor’s Dream crossed the channel and skimmed across the waves off Cape Cod, heading north toward Stellwagen Bank.

Danny sat on the big lap of his Grand PaPa, who sat in the captain’s seat. Danny said, “I hope we see some whales. Grand PaPa, do you really think we can find some whales?”

“We’ll try,” Grand PaPa answered as he pulled on a rope to tighten a sail. “But you never know. Maybe the whales won’t show their faces. Even if we don’t see them we still might be able to catch their calls.”

“Oh,” Danny replied, as he leaned back against his Grand PaPa. Finding whales wasn’t a sure thing.

Old Fuzz Bear whispered to Danny, “Don’t worry, Danny. Something tells we’ll find whales.”

In the afternoon Old Fuzz sunned himself on the forward deck where he could watch the bow wake, the surging waves on each side of the boat as it cut through the water. The wave watching sent Old Fuzz happily nodding off to dreamland until he was jolted awake and torn from his comfortable spot by Danny, who handed him over to Grand PaPa. Danny said, “Grand PapPa, if you’re going up to the boson’s chair, can you take Old Fuzz? Ma Mère wants to get a picture of him on the mast!”

“Ma Mère! What are you doing?” Old Fuzz screamed, suddenly aware he was about to be hauled up near the top of the 58 foot mast. Before Old Fuzz could get a word in edgewise, he was strapped to Grand PaPa’s back, noticing the boat appearing smaller and smaller below him.

Grand PaPa, an expert sailor, clambered to the top like a monkey, and sat in the chair. He lifted Old Fuzz up in the air to be photographed. Old Fuzz thought he would die of vertigo if he looked down, so he just looked around. The view was amazing! He could see forever, from one end of Cape Cod to the other. And, just to his left, a sea gull flew along beside him! It was only two feet away.

“Hey, partner,” Old Fuzz greeted the sea gull, trying to be social. “Are you from around here?”

“Hello, bear,” the sea gull answered back as he flew along next to Old Fuzz. “I’m from Novia Scotia. Nice day, eh?”

“You must have flown over Stellwagen Bank,” Old Fuzz said. “See any whales there?”

“Sure did. There are plenty just off Provincetown.”

“Thanks, partner,” Old Fuzz replied.

Grand PaPa, who couldn’t hear this strange conversation between a bear and a bird, yelled down to Ma Mère below, “Are you through taking pictures?”

Ma Mère yelled back, “We’re done. We got some great pictures! You can come on down, and bring the bear!”

As Ma Mère passed her digital camera around for Grand PaPa and Grand MaMa to view her pictures, Old Fuzz whispered to Danny, “Tell your Grand PaPa to set sail for Provincetown. We will find whales there.”

“How do you know?” Danny asked.

“Let’s say a little bird told me so,” Old Fuzz answered with sage certitude.

“Were you talking to that sea bull flying by?” Danny asked, amazed.

“Sure,” Old Fuzz replied. “The gull’s a seasoned traveler. Just came from Provincetown. He clued me in as to the whereabouts of whales.”

“Can you talk to animals?” Danny asked, wide eyed at this discovery as he put Old Fuzz down in a padded seat on the deck.

“I am an animal, aren’t I?” Old Fuzz asked. “You just need a little imagination because each animal type talks in a slightly different language. Like humans.”

“Can I talk to animals?” Danny wanted to know.

“You just need to use your imagination a bit more—humans are a little dense in some ways, and take more time to learn, unless they learn young,” Old Fuzz advised. “Wait till we get to Stellwagen Bank. I’ll teach you how to talk to a whale.”

“Cool!” Danny cried. He then turned to his Grand PaPa and said, “Something tells me we can find whales in Provincetown.”

“Well, it’s right on the way,” Grand PaPa replied. “So why not?”

By the time Provincetown appeared on the horizon, Danny and all aboard Sailor’s Dream could see the blow of many whales shooting up like fountains from the water. Grand MaMa took the helm as Grand PaPa rushed about to set up his whale songs recorder and cast his hydrophones into the water. Then he took over the wheel again, and steered the sail boat near the pod of whales. Their huge gray bodies could be seen swimming just below the water.

Old Fuzz, from his seat under the dodger, advised Danny to start talking to a whale.

“How do I do that?” Danny asked.

“Well, pretend it’s just a human, or me,” Old Fuzz explained. “You can start by saying hello to that mother with a calf, just at starboard.”

“Hi, mother whale!” Danny yelled in his loudest voice. “I’m Danny.”

Danny was amazed to see the mother whale and her baby leap out of the water.

Papa was amazed to see his recorder going wild with incoming data. He yelled, “They’re calling! They’re calling! Keep it up, Danny! When I play the recording, we should get some beautiful songs.”

Danny then yelled out the names of everyone on board including Old Fuzz, to introduce them to the whales.

Old Fuzz carried on his own private conversation with the mother whale and her calf. Then he whispered to Danny, “The mother says you can call her Alice and her baby Alex.”

Danny then yelled out, “Alice and Alex, it’s nice to meet you!”

At that moment, Alice and Alex both sprayed a huge jet of water from their blowholes. It shot high in the air. Then they leaped into a magnificent arch and dived deep into the water.

Everyone enjoyed watching the whales until about an hour later, when the big mammas seemed to suddenly disappear. Grand PaPa said they probably went someplace else to feed. He handed the helm over the Grand MaMa again, and set about playing his whale song recordings. He cranked up the volume so everyone would hear. Sure enough, long low songs could be heard! Danny could have sworn one of the songs sounded just liked DAAAANNNNYYYY!