Spirit swam a little further forward and the diver’s outstretched hand gently brushed Spirit’s smooth flank. A tingle went through Spirit’s body, unlike anything he had ever felt before. They had made a connection.
Spirit saw the diver breathing heavily inside his mask. Dolphins can go for a long time without breathing compared to humans and the cumbersome divers suit seemed so awkward in comparison. They regarded each other for a minute or so, but Dancer was whistling at his back.
‘Come away, come away’ he called. ‘They’re dangerous!’
Reluctantly, Spirit turned away from the diver and swum slowly away. He turned back to look one more time. The diver seemed to be making a gesture with his hand.
‘I think he’s saying goodbye to me’ Spirit said. The diver went back inside the rusting hulk on the seabed.
Spirit sped up to the surface in a rush of excitement and leaped high out of the sea before slicing back through the water to where Dancer was.
‘That was amazing!’ he said. ‘You haven’t lived till you’ve swum with a human!’
‘I don’t know’ said Dancer hesitantly. ‘I just don’t know. What if it tried to grab you or something?’
‘Don’t be silly’ laughed Spirit in reply. ‘They’re not water creatures. They don’t know what they’re doing. There’s no way they could outsmart us.’
They sped back home to the pod. All the way, Spirit was aware of this strange sense of elation, of recognition, as though he’d known humans all his life, but had only just remembered them.
In the sea, although they may be a long way from each other, dolphins are able to call between one another and come together as a group. Within half an hour or so, they found Summer, Moonlight, Storm, Chaser and Breeze. The dolphins rolled on the waves and relaxed, warmed by the sunshine. Dancer soon told them all they had seen at the wreck.
Spirit thought that Storm might be angry at him for what he had done, but the older dolphin’s reaction was not what he expected.
‘Remember Spirit’ said Storm sternly, ‘humans might seem cute and friendly and sometimes you can play with them, but they are not dolphins and they can be unpredictable animals. You may think that you know a human, you may think they are smiling at you, but they are just wild animals really. You always need to take care.’
Moonlight, though, had no such qualms and gushed excitedly about the humans she had encountered in her life. She said that they were always so friendly and that once they had thrown her fish to eat. She said it was fun to ride at the bow of a ship and, if you did so, all the humans would come out to look at you. She said that they were mostly pink in the face, but sometimes brown and that they had furry stuff on their head, like the tentacles of sea anemones which would blow in the wind. She said they always seemed to have a casing of stuff on their bodies when they were on boats, but that sometimes when they went into the water they were all pink or brown, except for something dark around their middle. She said that they screeched and splashed a lot in the water and that they were so clumsy that they were very funny to look at.
‘What could be more harmless than a human?’ asked Moonlight, echoing Spirit’s words to Dancer earlier.
Just then, a plastic bag floated past Spirit on the current. Spirit was old enough now to know that plastic bags were not good to eat. When he was younger though, he’d taken a bite and almost choked on it.
Storm had been listening to Moonlight’s excited talk of humans, preferring to say nothing. Now he spoke up.
‘You see that white thing, floating in the water. Humans put that there.’ Spirit looked at the plastic bag.
‘But those things are dangerous’ said Spirit, remembering his own close escape two summers before. ‘Why would they do that?’
‘Humans are careless’ replied Storm. ‘They don’t think. They’re just like children really. They put lots of other stuff into the water too, especially near the coast. If you’re near humans, you never know what you might swim into.’
Dancer lost interest and spying a turtle ploughing slowly through the current, decided to play with it. Dancer nudged it, but the turtle, a very old creature if its look was anything to go by, was unperturbed and continued with its steady progress eastwards.
‘Leave the poor creature alone’ called Breeze to Dancer, ‘and show a little more respect to your elders and betters’ he added, laughing. ‘Have a go at catching some fish instead.’
The pod moved off. They needed to eat. When on the search for food, the dolphins worked as a group and were careful to follow the lead of the more senior dolphin. Often that was Storm, but Storm knew that Chaser had a real gift for second guessing the moves of fish.
Using sonar detection by rapid clicking, Chaser had spotted a group of squid swimming about a quarter of a mile away and quickly whistled the pod into order. If there was one thing that Spirit hated eating, it was squid. The tough, rubbery taste made him gag, but Chaser and the others absolutely loved them and were delighted at the prospect of such a tasty treat. Spirit hung back. He’d rather go hungry than eat squid. Chaser led the charge and plunged in amongst the shoal.
‘Come on Spirit, you don’t know what you’re missing!’ Chaser called out between gulps.
‘Oh you go on, I’m not hungry. Really!’ replied Spirit. Chaser glanced back.
‘Oh come on Spirit, squid are really very tasty’ joked Chaser. Spirit gave him a withering look. The other dolphins continued to eat.
The sun was going down and soon it would be night. The day had passed so quickly he thought, thinking back to the encounter with the diver. Eating squid seemed hardly worth bothering about when there had been so many other impressions to take in that day.
Later, once the sun had gone down and the sea had turned to inky blackness, the dolphins swam closer together. Storm swam slowly next to Moonlight. With a worried look he spoke quietly to his companions.
‘I have a bad feeling about young Spirit. You know that sometimes I have the gift of knowing things that have not yet happened. I cannot say I know, but I have a feeling ….yes I have a feeling.’
One by one, the dolphins slipped into their waking sleep.
Chapter Three:
Through the swirling mass of images that dominated Lucy’s troubled sleep that night, she had a recurring vision of a small, lone dolphin, a long way off in the deep blue void, calling out for help. She swam towards the dolphin, furiously striking out with arms and legs, but for all her effort the dolphin seemed ever further away. The dolphin was distressed, but as she tried to get closer it was gradually swallowed up into the depths of the ocean blues. She knew she must come to the little dolphin’s aid, but she simply did not know how to do so.
Lucy woke from her fretful sleep with a start. She lay there, staring up at the ceiling, her heart skipping with anxiety. The words of Bethany and Dad flooded back into her mind from the night before.
Lucy wasn’t only curious to find out exactly what they had been speaking about; she felt a kind of fear; as though she were looking over the edge of a cliff, knowing that if she did so she would have an irresistible urge to fall. She thought of her dolphin dream again. Normally they were so comforting and just so nice, but this morning her dreams merely added to her vague sense of unease. In school, her English Teacher Mrs Penhaligon said that sometimes emotions were like the tumble cycle of a washing machine; churning feelings around, tossing them this way and that, while all you could do was look in helplessly from the outside. That was how Lucy felt this morning.
Lucy dragged herself out of bed and washed and dressed quickly. She went downstairs to face the day. Bethany had slept on the sofa-bed that night, but was already dressed, the sofa-bed folded up again and the sheets and duvet stacked haphazardly on a nearby chair.
‘Hey Kiddo’ she said, ‘how did you sleep? You look half dead to the world this morning.’
‘I could have slept better’ Lucy admitted, yawning. ‘How about you?’
‘Well I have to tell you the
springs in that sofa-bed have seen better days’ joked Bethany. ‘Your Dad should take a look at it when he can. In the middle of the night it started folding up with me in it!’ Lucy smiled, but she could not put her whole heart into it as she had the evening before. Bethany seemed to sense how she felt and pulled her niece to her for a brief hug.
‘When do you leave for school Kiddo?’ she asked. ‘I thought maybe I could walk you in.’
‘But I thought you said you had to be off early’ Dad broke in, appearing from the kitchen. ‘You said you needed to get on the road as soon as you could to miss the heavy traffic.’
Bethany half smiled and half shrugged in Lucy’s direction.
‘Are you leaving so soon Bethany?’ she asked. ‘You’ve only just got here.’
‘I know, I know’ said Bethany, ‘but I’ve got roads to travel, people to see. You’re right John’ she continued, addressing Dad, ‘I suppose I had better get going soon.’
‘Lucy always walks in with Amy anyway’ added Dad, ‘don’t you Luce.’
Lucy sighed inwardly. It felt like she’d had barely any time at all with Bethany. She was half scared and half eager to find out what they’d been talking about the night before, but now she wouldn’t be able to at all. She felt awkward and deflated.
Lucy poured out her cereals and took a grim crunch. Bethany was already racing around the room, pulling together a few scattered garments and thrusting them hurriedly into her hold-all. Bethany tried throwing Lucy a winning smile, but Lucy wasn’t impressed and glanced away.
‘Please don’t go. Stay here another night’ she pleaded. She almost thought that Bethany would waiver, but Dad quickly answered.
‘You know Bethany has to go Luce’ he said firmly. ‘You’ll see her again soon enough.’
‘Will I?’ asked Lucy, despondently. It seemed like Dad just wanted Bethany out of the door and somehow she got the impression that she wouldn’t be seeing her aunt again anytime too soon. She glanced across at the photo of Lucy, Mum and Dad on the window sill. Already she couldn’t quite remember what Mum’s voice sounded like. She felt a pang of loneliness and looked back at Bethany imploringly.
Bethany was already standing, bag in hand, coat in the other, ready to go.
‘Come here’ she said. Lucy stood, feeling sad and small. Bethany gave her a great hug, bag and coat and all.
‘Au revoir, auf wiedersehen and arrivederci’ she mumbled into Lucy’s ear as they hugged. ‘I’ll see you before you know it Kiddo.’ Bethany always said she felt that it was easier to say goodbye in another language.
She pulled away and nodded to Lucy’s Dad.
‘Bye then John, see you soon.’ She turned and headed towards the door. It seemed to Lucy that Bethany might be hiding a tear as she did so, but maybe she was just imagining it. Lucy ran to the door and waved as Bethany pulled away from the curb in her rusting Land-rover.
‘Bye bye Bethany’ she called, ‘Auf Wiedersehen!’ The old car turned the corner. Lucy closed the door and returned to her breakfast, sullenly determined not to look Dad in the eye. She crunched her cereals moodily.
Dad was off to work a few minutes later and so was Lucy, walking wearily to school with the weight of the world on her shoulders.
‘Cheer up Lucy’ called Amy, crossing the road to join her. ‘You look miserable this morning.’ Lucy told Amy all about the night before.
‘Well that’s pretty weird’ said Amy sympathetically. ‘What do you think that was all about then?’
‘I wish I knew, but really I have no idea’ said Lucy ‘It was like Dad couldn’t wait to get Bethany out of the house this morning.’ They turned the corner to walk through the school gate and into the crush of children in the playground. The bell sounded and they streamed into class for another school day.
Lucy had swimming practice again that lunchtime and ploughed up and down the pool, slicing decisively through the water, turning quickly with a practiced elegance at each end, oblivious to the other children splashing around in the other lanes. She swam longer than she meant to and rushed to Mrs Penhaligon’s class breathlessly, coming in through the door two minutes after the bell, just as the other children were opening their books.
‘I hope you’re not going to make a habit of this’ said Mrs Penhaligon to her, not unkindly. Lucy slipped into her seat, her exercise book in front of her. Mrs Penhaligon was in her late fifties, grey-haired with a kindly smile but a sharp tongue to anyone who made trouble in her class. Anyone over the age of forty seemed impossibly old to Lucy and Mrs Penhaligon was one of the oldest teachers in the school. Mrs Penhaligon said more than once that she was counting the days until she retired, though on other days she said that she would miss the children when she did.
Lucy liked Mrs Penhaligon’s class and always felt inspired whenever they did creative writing.
‘Now I want you all to write about a dream you have had’ Mrs Penhaligon was telling the class, ‘and write as much as you can in thirty minutes’ she continued. Worried looks crossed the faces of several children and hands shot up with questions.
‘Of course you may not remember your dreams’ she went on ‘and if that’s the case I want you to make one up, using some of the words I have written up on the board.’ She pointed at a list of words to get the children’s imaginations started.
‘Cool!’ said Lucy under her breath to Amy next to her, ‘this is the kind of lesson I like.’ Amy didn’t look so sure and was chewing the top of her pencil with a scrunched up face as she studied the words on the board.
‘And remember’ said Mrs Penhaligon, ‘I want you to use similes, metaphors and lots of adjectives and adverbs to tell me what things looked and felt like. If it’s a frightening dream, tell me how you feel when you wake up. If it’s a nice dream, tell me how that feels. I’ll be coming round the class to see how you’re getting on.’
Lucy had an open, flowing style of handwriting and now only made the occasional spelling mistake. She had recently experimented with little circles instead of dots over her i’s but now she’d decided not to do them anymore. She set to her task enthusiastically. Lucy knew exactly which sort of dream she wanted to write about.
‘I have had the same dream, almost every night, since when I was a very little girl. I am suddenly in a blue, underwater world. The sea is dappled with light from the surface above. The blue goes on forever and becomes darker and darker in the distance. The water is clear but there are bubbles and things floating about so it is not easy to see very far.
I can hear the slosh of waves above me. Then in the distance I can hear clicking and whistling. I turn in the water and I can see my friends the dolphins coming towards me. They are always friendly and swim right up to me with their smiling faces and nuzzle into me. They swim around me, above me and under me. I feel their smooth, skin as they brush past me. It is like wet silk. In my dreams I am sort of swimming and sort of just there. I can follow the dolphins wherever they go. Sometimes the dolphins all race along the surface of the water. It’s like flying. There is one dolphin that can jump really high into the air. Sometimes in my dream there is a boat and the dolphins speed along next to its bow. Mostly they are happy to play, or hunt for fish.
I love all the dolphins, but there is one in my dream which is particularly my friend. I think he’s a boy, though it’s hard to tell. He is smaller than the others. He swims right up close to me and sort of looks into my eyes in a special way. It’s like he is staring deep into my soul. Sometimes I think he is like my twin, but that’s silly because he’s a dolphin and I’m a human. In my dreams I can understand the dolphin’s clicks and whistles, though I can’t speak to them. But when the small dolphin looks into my eyes, I think he can understand everything that I am thinking.’
Lucy looked up from her writing. One or two of the children in the class were finished and Matthew and Simon on the next table were whispering and giggling to each other. Mrs Penhaligon gave them a stern look and they went quiet. A shadow passed over Lucy’s
face, as she remembered her dream that morning and turned back to her writing.
‘Mostly I wake up from my dolphin dreams all happy’, she went on. ‘This morning though, the small dolphin was all on his own and he looked worried. I wanted to help him but I didn’t know how to. I tried to swim towards him, but whatever I did, he just seemed to get further away. Then I woke up and I felt all worried. I hope I don’t have that dream again tonight.’
Mrs Penhaligon had been working her way around the class and arrived at Lucy and Amy’s desk. She looked at Amy’s exercise book, gave an appreciative chuckle at the funny dream she’d made up and suggested a few words to make the story more descriptive. Then she leaned over Lucy’s shoulder to read what she had written. She read silently for a minute, then glanced at Lucy’s face with a searching look.
‘That’s a good description of your dream’ she said. I like the way you’ve brought the scene alive and written about how you feel.’ She hesitated and seemed about to say something more, but all she added was ‘Good work Lucy’ before moving on to the next table.
Lucy was pleased. She was so used to her dolphin dreams that she didn’t even bother to tell anyone anymore. Besides, she didn’t want to get called ‘Flipper’ in the playground. The boys already made fun of her sometimes for swimming like a fish. Lucy didn’t care though. They were just jealous because they couldn’t. Somehow it was good to share her dream with Mrs Penhaligon. She used to tell Mum sometimes, but she couldn’t do that any more. Amy glanced over, but Lucy had curled her left arm around so no one could see what she had written.
The Girl Who Dreamt of Dolphins Page 3
