Midnight Dolphin (33 page)

Then she
remembered, years later, how pale and tired Megan had been the last
time Rachel had seen her. By then Jet was an old dolphin and Megan
was grown up and with a daughter of her own.

The darkness
was gathering along the horizon when Megan left Rachel’s lab and
drove down to the cove. The wind had completely died away and the
sails of the yacht that was moored beyond the rocks hung
lifelessly. The sea lapped lazily along the pebbly
shoreline.

Megan sat down
heavily on a rock and sighed. She felt exhausted, but she knew that
in a couple of hours she’d have to get back into the car and start
the six hour drive back home to John and Lucy. Rachel told her that
she was too tired to drive, but Megan ignored her.

Recently she’d
felt so heavy in her soul, that even her blood felt tired. She knew
that Jet felt the same. Recently when she reached out to him, she’d
found him just drifting in the water.

‘
Oh, I’m just
floating’ he’d replied when she asked. ‘Floating in the emptiness.
It just goes on forever’ he said, with a far-away look in his dark
eyes.

‘
Are you
alright?’ she asked. He turned to look at her.

‘
I’m old
Megan’ he said. ‘One day I will swim out from the pod … and I won’t
come back.’

‘
What do you
mean, you’re old?’ she asked jokingly, but fear flecked her eyes.
The fact was that she knew he was right. Rachel had only recently
pointed out that Jet was now one of the oldest dolphins she’d
studied. He couldn’t go on just because she wanted him
to.

Jet was in the
waters just outside the bay, and Megan had to see him before she
drove home. There was a small rowing boat pulled up on the edge of
the curve of pebbles. She pushed the boat out onto the gently
lapping surface of the sea and jumped in. Megan put the oars in the
rowlocks and began to row out slowly to where the cliff curved
round away from the cove. She used to find it easy to row. This
time she barely had the energy to pull the boat through the
water.

‘
Everything
changes, everything moves on’ Jet had told her once. She wondered
about those words now. She didn’t want things to change. She didn’t
want things to move on.

‘
There you
are’ said Megan. Jet slowly approached through the water, his
dorsal fin ploughing the surface. Megan stowed the oars again. Once
upon a time, she’d have just dived into the water to join him.
Megan didn’t feel up to that today and besides, she had to keep her
clothes dry for the drive home.

She trailed
her hand in the water from the edge of the boat, and then slipped
the bonds of her mind and stretched out to Jet instead. As soon as
she saw his eyes, she knew that he was near the end.

‘
Oh Jet!’ she
said, her voice choked with tears. ‘I don’t want to lose
you.’

‘
Imagine’ he
said very slowly, ‘that we were young dolphins again, breaking the
wave and chasing the bows of yachts.’ Megan smiled.

‘
Yes, that’s
a beautiful dream’ she replied.

‘
Dream with
me then’ replied Jet. ‘Let’s dream together’. He closed his eyes,
and as he did so, Megan had an irresistible urge to close hers
too.

‘
Dream…’ she
murmured.

It was Rachel
who found them, an hour or so later; Megan’s lifeless body drifting
in the rowing boat, and Jets smooth form lolling in the waves. They
looked so perfect; it was as though they had fallen asleep and
simply forgotten to wake up.

Lucy’s trance
was more powerful than anything that had ever happened to her
before; even more than her link to Spirit. It was as though she was
drawn in by an irresistible force. Her inability to reach out to
him felt like an aching loss. Now though she felt drawn along by
two other human girls. It felt as though she was very close to
them, but somehow she could not make out exactly who they were.
Only by following this unseen hand that guided her up the dark cold
lane from the farm would she find out. At one point Rachel
Greenwood appeared in front of her, but it didn’t mean anything to
her and her feet and legs carried her along until she was standing
right at the top of the cliff. Even then she didn’t feel at all
afraid, but scrabbled down the icy slope that led right to the edge
of the sheer granite cliff. One slip and she would tumble over. Yet
she wasn’t scared at all. It was only as she sat poised next to the
wind-blasted bush that she became fully conscious again. There to
her right was the crevice in the rock giving off an eerie green
glow. This was it thought Lucy. This was the answer.

Lucy eased
herself inside the tight crevice. The dull green glow from the rock
was just enough to let her see by. If she had been just a year
older, she would be too big to squeeze herself through the narrow
gap. Normally Lucy didn’t like narrow enclosed spaces but tonight
she didn’t care. The further down the crevice she wormed herself,
the less aware she was of the biting wind outside. The rock was
mostly smooth but occasionally it was jagged. At one place a very
old piece of ripped cloth had been caught on a sharp point. Lucy
wondered who had been here before her.

Eventually the
crevice widened. She no longer had to wriggle on her belly and was
able to shuffle along on her knees instead, careful not to bang her
head on the rock above her like she had last time. The low tunnel
bent upwards and the glow beyond it looked brighter somehow. She
glanced at her watch and pressed the button that illuminated the
dial. It was two minutes to midnight. Lucy pulled herself over the
last shelf of rock and there she was. The roof of the cave arched
up above her like the backbone of a great whale. It glittered with
green crystals that encrusted the walls. There was a thin ledge
that ran for about ten metres along the edge of the
water.

Slowly, Lucy
stood up and gazed about her in wonder. Then a shiver of
recognition ran through her body. She wasn’t alone. Two other girls
were standing on the rock looking about them as well. They were
there in front of her and yet,… they were only half there. She
could only just make out the features of the two ghostly
apparitions of girls that stood there. One was dressed in jeans and
a t-shirt and looked much like Lucy. The other wore old fashioned
clothing and bloomers that she had seen pictures of in books.
Somehow, they all seemed to catch each other’s eye at the same
time. They smiled silently at one another.

Just then then
there was a splash in the water below them. Lucy gasped.

‘
Spirit!’
Quickly Lucy ran to the edge of the water, all her attention
focused on the sight of the dolphin circling quietly in front of
her, his head above the surface, eyes sparkling with delight at
seeing her. Lucy lost sight of the other two girls but had the
sensation that they too were running to their own dolphins in their
own time, whenever that might be.

Without
hesitation Lucy dived into the cold water, breaking its surface
with barely a ripple. Then she was swimming round and round
delightedly with her friend.

‘
I thought I’d
never see you again’ she murmured into his flank. Spirit clicked
and whistled, but they were unable to speak as they did when she
reached out to him with her mind. Lucy looked up at the glittering
roof of the cave and it felt like she was staring up at a sweep of
bright stars above her.

Slowly, Spirit
and Lucy drifted towards an opening in the rock. Spirit clearly
knew where it led to, but Lucy had no idea. They floated through
into a second cave; smaller this time but with larger and brighter
crystals that to her dark-adjusted eyes seem so bright that she
could hardly take them in. It felt as though all lines were blurred
and that everything was in a state of flux. A strange feeling
passed through Lucy’s head and body, but what it was, or what it
meant, Lucy could not tell. The only thing she knew was that she
was happy to be there with Spirit.

Presently Lucy
became aware of another opening that led to a smaller cave just
beyond the second. There was barely enough room for Lucy to pass
through by herself, let alone with Spirit. Lucy trod water for a
few moments and looked deep into Spirit’s eyes. A world of
understanding passed between them without a word being
said.

‘
Come on then’
whispered Lucy eventually as she smiled into her friends eyes.
Silently they moved together towards the narrow opening, and as
they did so, it seemed as though they merged into one.

It was Bethany
who found Lucy sitting at the top of the path to Old Man’s Cove,
clutching her knees to her chest, wet in the cold wintery air. It
was one o’clock at night on Christmas day.

The first
thing that Lucy was aware of was a flashlight playing on her from
ten or so metres away.

‘
She’s here!
She’s here!’ yelled Bethany and then rushed up to her, flinging a
blanket around her shoulders and hugging Lucy to her. Before a
minute had passed Mary and Darren ran up to where they were, both
with a flashlight in their hand, panting from the exertion. A few
moments later Rachel Greenwood hobbled up to them, looking into
Lucy’s face anxiously.

Then Lucy
could see a torch advancing towards them along the top of the
cliff, and finally Dad appeared. He gathered her up into an embrace
so tight that Lucy thought he’d squeeze all the breath out of her.
She could feel his hot tears dropping onto her cheek as he held
her.

Eventually he
eased his embrace and pulled back to look her fully in the face for
the first time, clasping her shoulders with his hands as he did so.
The look of joy and loving in his face passed and was replaced by a
look of fear and worry.

‘
You’ve gone
and done it haven’t you?’ he said. ‘You’ve found the Trinity Caves
and you’ve found that darned dolphin there. You’ve linked yourself
to him forever.’

Lucy nodded
silently. Dad seemed completely overwhelmed and his red eyes filled
with tears again.

‘
You silly
girl!’ he wept. ‘Don’t you see? Now that your life is forever
linked to his, you will die when he dies!’ It looked as though he
could barely talk for the pain that he was feeling. ‘Mum didn’t die
in a car crash Lucy’ he continued, pressing her head to his chest
again. ‘She died when her dolphin Jet died! Mum and that Mary
Pewsey woman. Neither of them were forty before they were stolen
away from us. And now you’ve joined them!’ Lucy felt his body heave
with sobs as he held her close again.

A long time
seemed to pass before she heard Bethany say in the
background;

‘
Come on John.
We can’t stay here all night. We’d better get Lucy home.’ Dad
loosened his grip and wiped his eyes with his sleeve. He made to
turn and walk up the path, taking Lucy’s hand in his
own.

‘
Dad?’ said
Lucy. He stopped and turned back to face her. ‘Dad I don’t care. If
I didn’t have Spirit I’d be half-dead already. I’d rather live a
short full life than a long empty one. I am happy I’ve done what
I’ve done.’

Dad nodded,
wiping his eyes again. He turned to the path and the small group
made their way up to the road where the cars were parked in the
frosty darkness of the Christmas morning. Behind her in the ocean,
Lucy knew that Spirit was swimming back to Star-Gazer, Storm and
the rest of the pod. She was as close to him now as she had ever
been and she would be so for the rest of her days. Lucy breathed
deeply and stepped forward towards the coming dawn.

****************************************

Full
Circle
:

In nature,
there are few straight lines, but many circles. Life too, curves
round on itself.

Lying on an
airbed in the shallows, the girl dozed, her back warmed by the
summer sun. She could hear her sister playing catch with her mum
and dad nearby. She dangled her hand into the water, and wondered
if anyone could paddle across the ocean on an airbed.

‘
Hey lazy’
called her dad, ‘stop lying around and come and join in with us.’
The girl sighed, she didn’t want to. Instead she pulled on her
swimming goggles, took a deep breath and rolled off the airbed and
into the water. The sea boiled up around her, but when the water
cleared, she found herself looking into the deep intelligent eyes
of a dolphin.

‘
Hello there’
she thought. Then a moment later, unexpectedly, a word appeared in
her mind.

‘
Hullo
’, came the reply.

****************************************

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