Wally the Narhwal

Wally was a normal narwhal except for one thing, he could talk. Not the regular narwhal sounds, noises or songs, but actual words. The first time Wally tried to talk to a human she got scared and passed out. So Wally mostly kept quiet as to not scare anyone. Most of the humans that come to the arctic don’t stay long anyway. The humans come to explore or sight see sometimes they come for research. They don’t stay long though, not until Lily and her parents showed up.

Wally was swimming around like he normally did when he saw a ship approaching. He swam up to it, but not to close, to see who was inside. Wally saw a little human on board and he got excited because he hasn’t seen one of those before. Wally watched the boat dock and the little human get off with a bigger human. The bigger one had some gear that looked liked research equipment. Another scientist Wally thought as he swam around. This set of humans set up at the research center though, Wally hadn’t seen that before. Then he heard them talking.

“Mom,” the little human said, “why are we here again?” she asked.

“I told you sweetie, we are here to study the Narwhals.” The bigger one replied.

“What is that?”

“They are like unicorns, they are called unicorns of the sea.”

“OH OH OH! I LOVE unicorns!” The little one squealed.

“Haha, I know Lily but Narwhals don’t look like normal unicorns. They are like whales with a giant horn on there head, but the horn is actually a long tooth. We are here to study their habits, diet and the sounds they make.”

“Okay mama, I bet they are still pretty cool to look at. Even though they aren’t normal unicorns, a sea unicorn is still neat.” Lily said skipping inside.

Wally smiled and thought if it’s a narwhal they want to study, a narwhal they will get.

The next day the research crew was out setting up sound machines and cameras. Wally swam close, but not to close, he didn’t want to make them leave to early. Later in the day he made a couple splashes so the humans knew they were in the right spot but still didn’t come all the way up yet. He wasn’t going to either until Lily came out. She was playing with a toy and it got away from her. Lily ran after it but she was getting closer to the water. Wally splashed so maybe the big human would see but didn’t. Wally swam up to edge of the ice where it met the sea and popped up just in time for Lily to stop in her tracks. Lily’s eyes grew big and she looked like she was about to scream. Wally didn’t want that so instead he spoke without thinking.

“Shh, its okay. I’m Wally the Narwhal. I didn’t want you to fall in the water chasing your toy.” Wally said then hurried and closed his mouth. Lily looked like she might scream again but instead she smiled.

“Wow! You are a unicorn! I have to show mom!” Lily said gleefully and ran to get her mother.

A few moments later Lily was dragging the bigger human with her.

“Mom, he is over here! Mom, come look! His name is Wally!”

“Oh wow!” Lily’s mother said as she got closer. Wally was stunned by Lily’s reaction that he didn’t dive back down into the water yet.

“You are beautiful,” Lily’s mom said slowly getting closer.

“Mom, you should say he is handsome. I told you his name is Wally.”

“Hunny there is no way you know if it’s a boy or girl just by its head.”

“No mom he told me. He said his name was Wally, Wally the Narwhal.”

“What? No way, it can’t be.”

“It can’t be what?” Lily asked.

“A couple years ago I was up here and I swore I ran into a talking Narwhal. I fainted and they all told me I must have imagined it. Are you absolutely certain he spoke?”

Wally looked back and forth from mother to daughter, he didn’t know if he should just swim away. Then he heard Lily’s mother say they met before. Wally thought he scared her off for good but he didn’t. Maybe these humans were different.

“Yes he spoke.” Lily said as Wally turned back to the conversation.

“Wally, Wally the Narwhal. I like that. Is it true you can talk?” She asked turning to Wally. “It’s okay if you can. That is why I am really here. I want to protect you and your kind but I need to know how. I need your help.”

“What do you help with?” Wally asked shyfully. The big humans eyes lit up and she smiled.

“Hi! Oh my gosh, hi. Um, right, haha. I don’t believe this, this is is incredible! Oh, oh. Um, hi. My name is Rae and this is my daughter Lily. So nice to meet you.”

“Hi. Most humans are scared of me. Let alone when I talk.”

“I just find it awesome is all. If we could have first hand knowledge, a way to communicate with the Narwhals so we can help them it would make everyone’s life easier. Here you are talking!”

So they talked. Wally told Rae and Lily all kinds of stories and facts about Narwhals. In turn they told Wally about human life.