blue wallflower

by Mica


Task 3: draw a blue whale

Next, I want you to draw a picture of a blue whale.

When you’ve finished, take a picture of it and send it to me.

It doesn’t have to be fancy. This isn’t an art assignment. You can draw it with pencil, pen, watercolor pencil, even Copic markers. It doesn’t have to be to scale. It doesn’t even have to be blue. I’m not even sure if a blue whale is blue or not. I haven’t actually seen one before. I went on a whale watching trip when I was nine, with my parents. It was one of those cheap one-hour whale watching trips that they advertise on billboards at the docks.

I asked Mommy if the blue whale would ever come pass by our boat. She probably didn’t want me to feel discouraged, so she said, “Of course, honey. The blue whale will come. And when it comes, it will say hi to you by spraying a huge jet of water from the hole on top of its head.”

I really wanted the blue whale to come. The blue whale is so much bigger than a human. In fact, did you know that one blue whale weights as much as 1000 adult humans? So I figured, if one blue whale comes to me, that’s like 1000 people coming to me and talking to me. That’s like having 1000 friends. And that’s more friends than even the most popular kid in school. And then for the first time I’d be the most popular person in whole school. (I was nine.)

So I leaned over the edge of the railing on the boat deck, waving and shouting “Hi Blue Whale! Hi Blue Whale!” to the water. And the water did not respond. I accidentally leaned so far forward that I tipped over, and I fell overboard.

And suddenly I felt a sharp wave of coldness pass through me as I hit the water.

There was blue all around me. Clear, still blue. From the top, the water looked like it had a lot of waves, but inside the water, it’s still. And blue. A soft gradient of blue, merging into black. It was actually very beautiful.

My whole body was cold and numb. I could feel myself sinking deeper. The air escaping from me. I could feel myself dying. Yet I was calm. The endless blue water talked to me. And it forced me to shut up to listen to it.

It was intoxicatingly beautiful.

I was saved from the water. I remember feeling something heavy pushing me up and out of the water. I was pushed up, up, up, back into the light. My reflexes taught me how breathe once my head reached the surface.

When I was safely on the boat deck, Mommy and the paramedics came rushing to me with a towel and hot drinks. The paramedics asked me a bunch of questions, and hooked me up to some beeping machines to make sure I was just fine. Noisy. I remember it being very noisy.

And Mommy said, “Don’t worry honey, you’re just fine. You’re out of the water now. The blue whale saved you. The blue whale saved you.”

“Why did the blue whale save me?” I remember I asked.

“Because the blue whale didn’t want you to go,” Mommy replied. “You’re so young, honey. It’s not time for you to go yet.”

“Does the blue whale save everyone?”

“Well of course, honey. The blue whale is an all-knowing spirit. She knows your every move. We are all children of the blue whale. She sees our past, present, and future. And the blue whale knows whenever one of her children are in danger. And so she comes to save you.”

So, from then on, I loved the blue whale. Even though I never saw the blue whale save me—I only felt her—but I loved her. The water was very pretty, I loved the water too, but I loved the blue whale more.

I was nine then, and that was the last time I ever went on a boat again. What if I had gone on that whale watching trip when I was older? Say, ten? Or thirteen? Would I have loved the water more? At what point would I have loved the water more than the blue whale?

Regardless, I still love the blue whale enough to enjoy cute pictures of her. So that’s why I want you to send me a picture of a blue whale.

P.S. Please do not draw more than one blue whale. There is a law of diminishing returns. Once, I lay on my tummy amongst a million identical blades of grass at a country club golf course, and I was so lonely that I bawled my eyes out.