Dolphin Child (16 page)

Spirit regarded the two figures on the rock in front of him.
Despite the fact that he had only encountered a few humans, he had
an instant feel for the nature and character of each human that he
had met. He could see that Paul was still just a young
inexperienced calf and his nervous jerky movements told Spirit that
he was very unsure of himself. Spirit had been the youngest in the
pod himself, but at least all the other pod members cared for him,
even if they did also poke fun at him occasionally. Spirit had the
feeling that Paul was not so lucky. He got the impression that Paul
had been picked upon once too often and that even with his attempts
to show otherwise, all he was really doing was waiting for the next
kick. ‘I’m glad I’m a dolphin and not a human’ he thought to
himself as he looked at them both. The life of humans seemed so
complicated and unfriendly.

Lucy slipped into the water and Paul followed suit. By dolphin
standards Lucy could barely swim. In comparison to Paul though,
Lucy was a natural in the water. Lucy could see that Paul seemed
extremely nervous as he lowered himself into the sea and as he did
so he tensed up as if he expected to receive an electric shock. She
wondered whether he’d be able to swim in the sea at all. The
current was unusually weak though and there were barely any waves.
As the water enveloped him Lucy could see that Paul kept looking at
Spirit with a kind of happiness and light in his eyes. Lucy was
immensely relieved. She’d been worried about how another child
would react to being so close to Spirit. Now she could see that
that was one thing at least that she didn’t have to concern herself
with.

Paul trod water and Spirit moved slowly towards the boy in
front of him. Very gently, Spirit brought his head closer to Pauls
face, all the while regarding Paul with calm eyes. Paul put out a
hand and placed it lightly on the side of Spirit’s head. A smile
broke out across Paul’s face again and he closed his eyes for a
moment as though touching the dolphin was like the sun warming his
face. Lucy could see that Paul was relaxing.

Spirit turned slightly and offered Paul a fin to take hold of.
He swam slowly in a loose circle with Paul clinging to his left
fin. Lucy trod water and watched them together. Paul might have
been the human, but Spirit was definitely in charge. Lucy was
struck by the level of care and sympathy with which he treated the
young boy. It was as if he realised that Paul needed to be looked
after very carefully and gently. Lucy had her own reservations
about Paul, but now she began to see him in a new light. All the
cares and worries of life above water seemed to drop away from him
as he revelled in the excitement of swimming with a real live
dolphin.

They swam back to where Lucy was treading water and Spirit
cast her a long, understanding look. It was difficult to not speak
to Spirit when they met together in this way, but words did not
always convey everything that there was to be said.

Lucy swam up to Spirit and took his other flipper, so that the
dolphin could gently propel them both further out before returning
to the edge of the rocks. Then they let go of his flippers and he
regarded Paul again calmly, before nuzzling him briefly with his
beak. Then he approached Lucy and did the same with her before
turning slowly to swim out to sea again.

Lucy and Paul climbed out again onto the shelf of rock. Lucy
glanced at Paul and realised that now was perhaps not the right
time to speak. He was smiling and his eyes were full of light, but
silent tears were streaming down from them at the same time as he
sat there. Lucy put her arm around his shoulders briefly and gave a
little squeeze.

Dolphins had been in her mind and in her dreams for as long as
she could remember. When she first swam with dolphins for real, it
had been to try and save Spirit when he had been trapped and so
even though the experience was incredible, it was in a very
different circumstance to Paul meeting Spirit now. She could see
that he was overwhelmed by everything that had just happened and
that he needed to be left to his own thoughts for a few
moments.

As she knew he would, Spirit made two great leaps in salute
from the water before turning and swimming back out to sea. Lucy
and Paul waved back. They sat silently for a few minutes, but Lucy
was not in her wetsuit and she began to shiver sitting there in
just her swimming costume.

‘
Come on, I’m freezing’ she said to Paul. They got up and
walked back over the rocks to where they had left their clothes and
towels on the beach.

‘
How was that then?’ she asked Paul, as she quickly towelled
herself down.

‘
That was, well…that was just…amazing’ he said eventually, a
smile spread out across his face. He sniffed and quickly wiped away
his tears with the back of his hand. Lucy nodded.

‘
I know’ she replied.

Paul felt as though he was still in a dream as they quickly
changed back into their dry clothes, carefully looking away from
each other as they did so. Once they were dry and fully clothed,
they sat down again at the edge of the beach, staring out to sea
whilst they recouped their energy. Now that they were dry, the sun
soon warmed them. Lucy handed Paul a chocolate bar she’d taken from
Bethany’s kitchen. She had one too and they sat in silence while
they ate.

‘
I wish I was a dolphin’ said Paul eventually.

‘
Yeah, I know what you mean’ replied Lucy.

‘
Don’t you think they’ve got a better life than ours?’ he
continued. ‘They don’t get told what to do, they don’t get picked
on and life is so easy and straightforward for them. They just
play, eat fish and sleep don’t they?’ Lucy thought about what she
knew about Spirit, Dancer and the pod. It was hard for her to put
it all into words.

‘
It’s not really as simple as that’ she said. ‘Spirit nearly
got killed. Dolphins get dragged up in fishing nets and poisoned by
waste in the sea. Killer whales have a go at them too.’

‘
I just know that I should be a Dolphin-Child like you’ he
replied, ignoring what Lucy had said a moment before. Lucy gave an
embarrassed smile. It still felt strange to be called a
Dolphin-Child. ‘I mean’, he continued, ‘you can swim with dolphins
in real life and you can speak to them whenever you want to’ he
continued. ‘It felt so amazing to touch Spirit. Why can’t I do what
you can do?’

‘
I don’t know.’ Lucy hesitated. ‘It’s weird. I’ve had dreams
about dolphins for as long as I can remember. Then I realised I
could stretch out with my mind and communicate with Spirit. It just
sort of happened one day. I don’t know how. It’s just a gift I
suppose.’

‘
Do you think I can learn how to do it?’ Paul asked. Lucy
shrugged.

‘
I’m not sure if its one of those things that you can just
learn’ she answered cautiously. ‘Maybe its just something that you
are born with.’

‘
I bet there’s some trick or other to it’ Paul replied,
unconvinced.

‘
No, no gimmicks. No tricks’ said Lucy. ‘I really wish I knew
how it happened as well, but I just don’t. Paul paused a few
moments in thought and Lucy could see he was reliving the
experience in his minds eye.

‘
When I touched Spirit, it was like there was electricity
passing between us’ he said. ‘Then I felt so calm and peaceful. It
was like I wasn’t scared at all then.’

‘
Were you scared before?’ asked Lucy.

‘
Well, a bit’ admitted Paul. ‘Just wait till I tell…’ he
started, before trailing off. He thought of Baz and Mike and the
other local kids and how he could impress them with stories of
swimming with dolphins. ‘No…’ he said after a moment. Suddenly the
idea of showing off to the other kids didn’t seem such a great idea
after all.

‘
Maybe best not to go round telling everyone about this’ said
Lucy. ‘Anyway, your Mum’s already a bit weird about me. Who knows
what she’d say if she found out.’

‘
You’re right’ Paul replied decisively.

‘
Anyway, you’ve got to keep your side of the deal’ Lucy went
on. ‘I’ve let you meet Spirit. Now you’ve got to take me to meet
the dolphin in the lake.’ Paul shifted uncomfortably on the rock
where he was sitting.

‘
Oh, yeah, sure’ he said. ‘We can bike out there tomorrow
afternoon if you like’ he said uneasily.

‘
I really look forward to it’ replied Lucy. The truth was that
her dreams about the shadowy dolphin in the murky water exerted
such a fascination upon her, that she just had to find out whether
it was Paul’s dolphin that she had been dreaming about. She still
had the suspicion that Paul wasn’t entirely telling the truth, but
for the time being she simply had to take what he said on
trust.

After a while they got their things together. Lucy tried to
cram the wetsuit back into her rucksack, but she just couldn’t
manage it, so she slung it over her shoulder instead as they
started to make their way up the path. A man in shorts and with
binoculars round his neck started to make his way down the path as
they went up it. He cheerily said ‘Good morning’ to them and they
politely replied ‘Hello’.

‘
Good thing he wasn’t here half an hour earlier’ Lucy muttered
to Paul after they passed him. At the top, slightly out of breath,
they turned and looked back down at the stretch of sea below
them.

‘
Do you think… Do you think that Spirit is like, well, like a
person, I mean a person like us?’ Paul asked Lucy. ‘Do you think
he’s smart like we are?’ She hadn’t thought about it before, but
now Paul asked, the answer came to her instantaneously.

‘
Yes, I’m sure he is’ she answered. ‘He’s just as much a person
as you or I are.’

‘
That’s what I thought’ said Paul. ‘I just had this….sort of
idea that he must be. He looked so smart and understanding when I
looked into his eyes.’ Paul seemed so positive about Spirit and the
other dolphins, but she knew his Mum thought differently and hoped
that Mrs Treddinick would not find out.

‘
What about your Mum, what does she think?’ she asked. Paul
shook his head, a frown passing across his face.

‘
I don’t know’ he replied. ‘She says some strange things
sometimes. I don’t think she understands what it’s like to meet a
dolphin. If she did….’ Paul looked at his watch. It was later than
he thought. ‘I suppose I’d better get back’ he said, changing the
subject. ‘I’ll get my bike.’

They walked across the field and hoisted their bikes over the
stile onto the side of the road.

‘
Where shall we meet tomorrow then?’ asked Lucy. Paul thought
for a moment.

‘
You know the church at the end of Bussey Lane?’ he asked. Lucy
wasn’t sure, but she could find out from Bethany or Mary anyhow.
‘Meet me there at twelve. Then we’ll cycle down together.’ They
parted, with Paul pedalling along the main road back into town and
Lucy heading off down the lane back to the farm.

Lucy felt happy as she free-wheeled along. Things seemed to be
working out. By tomorrow she’d find out whether Paul was telling
the truth about the dolphin in the lake and then maybe the strange
dreams that she’d been having recently would make more sense to
her. Maybe after tomorrow she’d have something to tell Spirit. She
didn’t like not telling him everything. If she was right.… No. It
was best to find out first.

The verges of the lane seemed to buzz with insect life as she
approached the farm. Swifts wheeled overhead, catching flies and
midges on the wing. She saw a pile of earth shift slightly, as the
mole below it pushed up the soil as he extended his tunnel. She
could hardly imagine the dark subterranean world that the mole
inhabited, deprived of sunshine and light. Lucy clattered over the
cattle grid into the farm yard still full of all sorts of thoughts
and then braked suddenly, overcome with surprise. There was their
familiar car parked next to the studio and there was Dad standing
next to the open boot, pulling out a suitcase.

‘
Dad!’ she exclaimed in surprise. He looked up.

‘
Hey Lucy!’ She jumped off her bike, let it drop and ran over
to Dad and hugged him.

‘
What are you doing here?’ she asked. ‘You said you wouldn’t be
coming down for another few days.’

‘
My project finished early so I thought I’d drive down straight
away. I managed to get the cottage a couple of days earlier. We can
have a good old bucket and spade holiday together now Luce. You and
me.’

Chapter Ten:

Spirit swam back to join Dancer and the rest of the
pod.

‘
Hey, it’s a good thing you’re back’ Dancer told him. ‘Chaser’s
just been out and he’s told us about a shoal of squid in the deeper
ocean west of here. We’re all going after them
together.’

‘
I hate squid’ said Spirit. ‘But I am starving.’

‘
And did you have a nice time with Lucy?’ asked Dancer, almost
shyly.

‘
She came with a short male human’ replied Spirit, eager to
tell his friend what had just happened. ‘He’s smaller than Lucy,
which I suppose means he’s younger. You know the fur stuff on
human’s heads called hair? Lucy has long straight hair, but his was
all curly and in a big blob on his head. He seemed very uncertain
of himself and almost vulnerable.’ Spirit hesitated.