The King of Pop and I share a common interest.

And that interest is whales. Yes, WHALES. And singing about whales. You see, although I have never been a huge die-hard Michael Jackson fan, he has created many memories for me. Every time I hear “Billie Jean” I will always think of Stake Dances or when I hear “Thriller” I think about watching “13 going on 30” in London and afterward all of us girls trying to choreograph our clumsy selves into a makeshift rendition of the music video. But by far the most influential memory I have of the King of Pop is from my 7th year of age. I was in second grade. My teacher was Ms. Apple. We were learning about marine life. I was particularly intrigued with whales. Killer whales to be exact…. My mother had just purchased what was to become one of my most beloved movies during my childhood (in addition to Homeward Bound) –
“FREE WILLY”

I loved Free Willy. So much that I had a dream back in 1993 that I can still remember to this day. THE DREAM: my elementary school was turned into an aquarium just for my pet whale and everyone came to see it. For some reason the dream was set at night time, but I was ecstatic that I had this pet whale. When I woke up from that dream, I was determined to make it a reality. And who was the one person that gave me hope? MICHAEL JACKSON. Jackson produced the theme song of that movie “Will You Be There.” At the beginning of the VHS the music video played. And every time that Free Willy was put in the VCR I would stand there and sing and get so hopeful that someday I too would be the care taker of a whale. At the end of the music video there was a prompter that read something to the effect of “If you would like to adopt a whale call 1-800-***-****.” I was determined to adopt a whale. So I saved money until I realized that when they said “adopt” that didn’t mean you got to keep the whale but rather your money just went to funding whale preservation. And every since then my life has never been the same. (Nor my mothers. She vows that whenever she hears that song she wants to vomit because during my phase of playing that song day in and day out she was pregnant with my brother and the tune reminds her of morning sickness. Great. I can’t wait for that to ruin my life) So to the King of Pop – thank you for funding the hope for one of my most elaborate childhood dreams!

Also, I have never been able to figure out what Free Willy means. Is FREE being used as an adjective like, Hey Willy is now Free! Or is it a verb like, Take action and Free Willy? Can anyone answer this life-long query of mine?