Whale's Wake Epilogue Contest

Each year some of my classes read the novel Beware the Whale's Wake by Joseph Niehaus.  Joe is a 1973 graduate of Moeller whose primary career is in law enforcement.  His second career identity is an author.  He has published five books to date.  A murder mystery, this novel leaves some ambiguity at its conclusion:  a perfect opportunity for a sequel or epilogue.   Each student writes his own version of an epilogue.   Manuscripts of the "finalists" in the class are sent to Joe Niehaus prior to his visit to Moeller.  He selects his favorite epilogue and announces the winner during his annual visit to the school.    

Winners:

1998:  Kyle Davis;    
2000:  Graham Mercurio;    
2001: Allan Emerson.  2002 CP2 Class winner is Brian Dean.
2002  CP1 Class winner is Tyler Howard.
2004  winner is  Tony LoPiccolo
2005   winner is Matt Wilson
2006  winner is Jarred Hurst

Matt's epilogue is printed below:

         Matt Wilson

    “So you think time has ended for me?” whispered Ferguson .  “You think that you tried your hardest to save me?  Your so called attempts to help and save me sure solved the crime without any hurt,” Ferguson sneered.  “What is it that makes you think that you understand what it is that I am going through?  What is it that made you wanted to trust me and kill me at the same time?  I can tell you what it was,” announced Ferguson as he stood on the deck of the rocking Odyssey.  Rain and dark clouds surrounded the ocean as waves rocked the boat so hard it was impossible for anyone to work or move.  Yet Ferguson ’s voice rang like a church choir.  Epstein rolled over and over again on the deck of the Odyssey.  Suddenly Ferguson turned to the tip of the boat and looked out into the waves coming.  Ferguson stood as though he was untouched by the storm.  The rain seemed to bounce off of his body.  Epstein also ran to look over the side.  A wave the size of a tsunami was about to hit the ship.  Epstein ran to the middle of the boat.  Ferguson turned against the wave and looked at Epstein .  Then around Ferguson appeared Joe Sherman , his old partner.  The girl that killed him, Epstein ’s old girlfriend, and Ferguson ’s daughter stood watching Epstein .    Ferguson said in a sad menacing voice, “Failure.”  The wave hit the boat and then Epstein woke up with the alarm clock buzzing like a horn in his ear.

          Breathing heavy,he got out of his bed and stared at the ceiling.  Rain was nailing the house as he and Kimiko looked out the windows to the storm coming toward the shore.  “The light of day will soon end.  The foundation of the very house we are in will tremble before the wrath of this one,” Epstein said with a whimper in his voice. 

          “Honey,” Kimiko said with a grief in her voice.

          A loud thunder rolled through the valley of mountains into the bay and the balcony that they stood at.  Kimiko’s robe fluttered and snapped as the rain started to downpour even more. 

          “What are we going to do?  There is no way the entire town is going to be able to evacuate if the storm that the weather people have predicted comes true,” Kimiko said with a faintness in her voice.

          Thunder continued to roll in the valley.  The mansion that they now lived in began to creak as the waves became bigger against the walls surrounding it.  One wave splashed so high that they felt the spray from the ocean.  The winds became so strong that the curtains from inside the balcony sprung out and swooshed so that it seemed as though everything in the house was being sucked out.

          “We need to get out of the house and out of Bear Creek right now,” shouted Epstein .

          Boom! The loudness of the storm was growing and all of a sudden tornado clouds began to spin in the bay.  Epstein and Kimiko ran down the great stairs of their mansion and there at the bottom of the stairs water 15 feet high surrounded them.  There was no way out.  They would soon experience to wrath of the storm.

          “What now,” Kimiko said.  “Can we swim across it or jump onto something and swim to higher ground.”

          “Where are the keys to the boat,” asked Epstein . 

          “In the kitchen.”

          “We need to get the boat out of the harbor quickly,” shouted Epstein .

          “Hoom,” the motor of the cigar boat started up with a loud boom. 

          “The faster we get off this rock the faster we are safe.  Time has come for us to get our valuables and save what we can.  We need to look around and see if any other people have survived the flood.  I will go around.”

          Just then a great silence came and light came through the clouds.  The rain seemed to stop for a second.  Then the water subsided to an amount not seen before.  A great amount of whales jumped out of the water in the harbor in an almost frantic state. 

          “What is going on?” asked Kimiko. 

          Out of the fog came a tidal-wave that engulfed the whales in the direction that they were going.  Epstein ’s nightmare was coming true.  He would now turn the boat into the wave as fast as it would go.  The tip of the boat was so high in the air that it seemed that the boat was flying. 

          “Hold on!”

          The mass of the hurricane, tornados, and tsunami were devastating the city.  Townspeople fled as fast as they could for the mountain hills lining the bay.  Lightning struck every were and then the boat was near the tsunami. 

          “We are going to ride out over the wave and hope that it is clear water on the other side,” shouted Epstein not knowing weather or not Kimiko heard him.

          The wave as it was hitting the coral on the bay grew in size so that it completely blocked out the sun.  Through the wave Kimiko and Epstein could see the whales being chopped up by the rubble from what the wave was digging up.

          “Hold on as tight as you can and if we don’t make it, I love you,” said Epstein with a tear in his eye.

          “I love you too honey,” said Kimiko with a whisper.

          Just then the wave took its dive right as the boat was going above it.  The boat flipped around upside down.  To them it seemed as though it was slow motion.  They fell and fell holding each others arms saying, “This wave can never hurt us.”

          As they fell Epstein remembered what Ferguson had told him the night before, “failure would be the end of all of his dreams.”  Epstein knew that he was wrong.  He had not failed because he would see his wife from then and forever after.