Chapter 4

Grandmum was huffing behind us, whether from genuine effort to keep up or indignation about the excursion, it was hard to tell.

We boarded the bus to a whale-watching boat. Max was excited, as were his father and I. Grandmum took a seat to herself, pretending she needed an entire two places to accommodate her size. Unfortunately her hearing wasn’t good enough to appreciate our young driver’s jokes along the way.

“Why do mermaids wear sea-shells? Anybody? No? Because D shells are too big and B shells are too small.” (Perhaps it was a good thing Grandmum couldn’t hear that one.)

He also told us Juneau boasted the only recorded incident worldwide where a jumbo jet had collided with a fish. Apparently a bald eagle was carrying a salmon in its beak when the jet took off and roared toward him. The eagle took fright and dropped its catch, which hit the plane with a loud bang and terrified the passengers.