A Dolphin's Gift

by Watters, Patricia

  Will eyed her, curiously. "Are we on the same wavelength?" he asked, "about being awake in more ways than one."

  Nellie looked up at him and smiled. "I was married, Will. And yes, we're on the same wavelength. I might not have something sticking out in front, but I still feel the need."

  "And I suppose we still have boundaries," Will said.

  "As difficult as that might be, yes," Nellie replied.

  Shoving to the back of his mind, thoughts of what he and Nellie could have, Will focused again on the radar screen. After an inordinate amount of time had passed, and he was still studying the radar, Nellie asked, while studying the screen, "How long has that boat been there?"

  "Since we left Campbell River," Will replied, glancing again at the depth finder.

  Nellie eyed the radar. "Do you think it's following us?"

  "No, not necessarily," Will lied, not wanting to alarm her. But he was all but certain they were being followed. The boat had kept a constant distance behind.

  "There's another—" Nellie pointed to a second vessel on the periphery of the display.

  Will had been aware of that one too. In fact, he was fairly certain both vessels were following them. Whether they were traveling together was another question. "Probably fishing boats eager to get an early start," he said, hoping to sound convincing. Nellie didn't need the added burden of worry. Mike's threats of running away were enough.

  "So, what's the plan?" Nellie asked.

  "We'll drop anchor near Beaver Bay in a few hours, and after I sleep some, I'll set up the equipment and see if we can attract some whales." He looked askance at her, and added, "We'll also take a bath in a hot springs there."

  "That sounds nice," Nellie replied, "but I don't have a swim suit, and I won't swim nude."

  "Maybe not in front of Mike," Will said, "but you could in front of me. I wouldn't mind."

  "Sorry, but skinny dipping's definitely out of bounds."

  A smile tugged at one corner of Will's mouth. "Then I propose we put in place a look but don't touch rule. We'd stay on opposite sides of the pool, which is in an enclosed building, and see what we're missing. I'm just an ordinary male, so the sight of me shouldn't incite you to go beyond the limits of our boundary."

  Nellie gave a short, ironic laugh. "You're definitely no ordinary male," she said, her fingers making a meandering pattern on his belly.

  Will let out a little gasp. "Careful," he said. "You're about an inch away from big trouble. And I mean big." He nuzzled the side of her face. "Then on the other hand, I like what you're doing, so maybe we can extend the boundaries an inch or two lower than where you are?"

  "Sorry, this is as far as I go," Nellie said. "But maybe the boundaries could include talking about our fantasies, as long as we don't act on them."

  "What made you come up with that idea?" Will asked. The fantasy he was having was definitely X-rated, and what Nellie was doing with her finger was making him rise up to meet it.

  "Being alone in that big bed with thoughts no decent woman should have," Nellie replied.

  Will laughed lightly. "Yeah, well, I know what you mean. To keep myself awake tonight I've been thinking about all the X-rated things I want to do with you. It worked. There's no way in hell that part of me you're steering clear of is going to settle down tonight, at least not without some serious attention."

  Nellie giggled and moved her hand under his shirt to rest on the bare flesh below his ribcage. "Is this better?" she asked.

  Will kissed her on the cheek then whispered into her ear, "Not better. Just safer."

  "So, what indecent things were you thinking about?" Nellie asked, snuggling closer.

  Will grinned. "Are you sure you want to know?"

  "Yes," Nellie replied. She tipped her head up and kissed him on the chin. "I admit I'm goading you into revealing your fantasies, but I've been lying awake in bed with my own, and I want them to become a reality, if only vicariously through our words."

  Will arched a brow. "Well, since you insist… I was thinking about how much I wanted to strip off all your clothes and mine, and stretch out with you on that big berth in your stateroom, and explore every forbidden inch of your beautiful naked body until you were writhing in ecstasy and tingling in places you never knew existed. And after you're completely satisfied and smiling like the Cheshire cat, I'll lay back and let you do whatever your wayward mind can conjure up, and I hope it includes a lot of very close attention to the big ugly beast, who's straining at his binds to be free. So, now it's your turn to tell me your fantasies." He gave her a wicked grin. "And you can be as X-rated as you want."

  Nellie laughed. "They're pretty naughty."

  "I'm listening."

  "Well, my fantasy started out pretty much like yours, but when it came to my turn, you'd be stretched out on your back, naked as the day you were born, and I'd be sitting up so I could see what I was doing. I'd start with a hands-on study of your chest and concentrate on all the little sensitive areas. Then I'd give some serious attention to your belly button before checking out that little line of hair that makes its way down your tummy, which would obviously bring my attention to the big ugly beast, which I suspect is really not ugly at all, but very appealing in a perverted way. I'd spend quite a bit of time with him actually, teasing him, stroking him, taming him, and giving some attention to his two round jowls. And if I was satisfied that everything was in working order, I'd straddle you and prove to myself that it was."

  Will groaned. "To hell with boundaries." He pulled her into his arms and covered her mouth with his, and while his tongue dueled with hers, one hand came up to palm her breast while the other pressed against her spine, wanting to be closer. Needing to be closer, to be one with her. Moans of sensual pleasure reverberated from Nellie's throat, and as the kiss deepened, Nellie moved her hand down his belly and slipped it beneath his sweats...

  Through the chaos of his mind, Will heard the depth finder bleeping.…

  They immediately broke apart, and Will focused on the display again, where he saw that the Isadora had drifted precariously close to the shallows at the edge of the channel. He gave the wheel several quick turns, pulling the Isadora back on course, and said, "So Eve tempted Adam with her luscious fruit, and Adam grounded the ship. That was pretty close—" he arched a brow "—in more ways than one."

  "I'm sorry," Nellie said. "I never should have distracted you up here. And I can see that boundaries won't work with us." When Will didn’t respond, Nellie saw that his eyes were fixed on the radar, and the look on his face was intense. "It’s those two vessels, isn't it?" she said. "You really do think they're following us."

  "Maybe," Will replied. "I’ll keep an eye on them. And you’d better go back to bed."

  "What about you? When are you going to sleep?" Nellie asked.

  "I'm okay for a while," Will replied. 'When we anchor in Beaver Bay, I'll sleep for a couple of hours. Maybe you’ll let me stretch out on that nice long berth of yours and we can finish the job you started. You have a nice touch. We were about a millisecond away from some serious action when the depth finder bleeped."

  "We we're also being way too careless again," Nellie said. "If the depth finder hadn't gone off, we could have ended up on the floor, making a lot of animal noises, and Mike could have found us there and that would be kind of hard to explain away." Bracing her hand on Will's arm, she kissed him on the jaw, and said, "Good night, Will. I hope you're not too uncomfortable."

  "I am," Will replied, "but it will keep me awake. Good night, babe." After Nellie descended the ladder, Will focused on the radar screen again. One of the boats was closing in fast.

  ***

  Nellie awakened to the sound of engines reversing and opened her eyes to the pale blue-gray light of dawn. Glancing at her watch, she saw that it was not yet six. She dragged herself out of bed, dressed in flannel sweats and a hooded sweat shirt, and went to look for Will, intercepting him as he was climbing down from the bridge to the salon. "You must be
half dead," she said.

  "I'm on remote right now," Will replied, heading through the salon for the deck. "But I'm sure I'll crash in a few minutes."

  Through the salon window Nellie watched Will operate the levers of the hydraulic winch that lowered the anchor, then he returned to the bridge and cut the engines. When he crawled down the ladder again, Nellie saw, from the droop of his mouth and the redness in his eyes, how tired he was. "Do you want breakfast before you sleep?" she asked.

  Will gave her a weary little smile. "No. I'll catch some sleep first, but I don't want to sleep more than a couple of hours," he added. "And if any of those boats come near us—" he pointed toward the array of fishing boats dotting the water "—get me up immediately."

  Nellie looked at him with apprehension. "You think we've been followed, don't you?"

  Will studied the boats in the distance, which seemed to be anchored, and said, "Yeah. There's a good chance. Two boats trailed us all night, but early this morning, other boats appeared on the screen. I don't want to take any chances though." Stifling another yawn, he kissed her lightly on the lips and wandered into her stateroom and closed the door.

  Forty-five minutes later, Nellie called Mike to a breakfast of eggs, dry cereal and toast.

  Mike glanced at the vacant spot where Will usually sat, then settled questioning eyes on Nellie, and said, "Where's Mr. Edenshaw?"

  Nellie gave him a nervous smile. "He's sleeping."

  "No he's not," Mike said. "I just left my cabin."

  "He's in... my stateroom," Nellie said, hesitantly, then added quickly, "He was up all night running the boat—he had to go through the narrows between Campbell River and here—and he can't fit in the berth in your cabin very well so I told him he could use my berth since I'm not using it right now and he's very tired from being up all night and he didn't want to disturb you in your berth and besides you usually turn on your Walkman when you get up and I was afraid you’d wake him up if he managed to get to sleep and—"

  "Geez, Mom," Mike broke in. "I don't need a sermon. Besides, I never said anything."

  Nellie realized she had been going on, but she didn't want Mike to jump to any conclusions. "I just want you to be quiet," she commented. "Will was up all night driving the boat."

  Mike nibbled on a strip of bacon and took a bite of toast, then glanced through the porthole and asked, "Where are we?"

  Nellie set a bowl with a soft-boiled egg in front of Mike, and replied, "Beaver Bay."

  Mike looked at her, curious. "How come we left Campbell River? I thought we were gonna stay there all night."

  "Will decided to keep going so you could see the whales sooner," Nellie replied.

  After a long stretch of silence, Mike's brows pulled together, and he asked, "Did you go through my dresser drawers?"

  Nellie looked at him, puzzled. "No, why would I do that?"

  Mike shrugged. "You did the time Ernie and I had the magazine."

  "Well, I didn’t this time," Nellie said. "But what makes you think someone did?"

  "Everything was all messed up, and my scout knife’s gone."

  Nellie set a glass of orange juice in front of Mike. "Maybe Will was looking for something and the knife slipped out of the drawer and got misplaced."

  "No," Mike said, "he hadn’t even been in the cabin yet. It was right after we got back from town when I saw that things were all messed up."

  Nellie looked at Mike in alarm. "Are you sure you put your knife in the drawer? Maybe you only thought you did."

  "I know I did," Mike insisted. "It was right on top of everything."

  "Maybe it slipped down to the bottom," Nellie said.

  Mike shook his head. "I emptied everything out. It's not there."

  "Well... finish your breakfast," Nellie said, alarmed that someone had clearly been looking for something. Yet, nothing of value seemed to be missing. Will had thousands of dollars worth of sonar and other equipment aboard, but it wasn't touched.

  "What about my knife?" Mike asked.

  "I don't know," Nellie replied. "I have no explanation."

  Mike mopped up the yolk of his soft-boiled egg with his toast, chewed thoughtfully, and said, "You and Mr. Edenshaw were talking last night about the door to the boat being open. Maybe someone came aboard and took my knife."

  Nellie gave Mike a tight smile. "Don’t worry, honey. We'll get another knife when we get back. Now, finish your breakfast."

  "But if you or Mr. Edenshaw didn’t go through my dresser, then someone else did. Everything was real messed up." Mike fixed his eyes on her and waited for a reply.

  Nellie shrugged, and said, "Your drawers are always messed up."

  "But I know everything was straight before we left because I… uh… took everything out and put it in my backpack in case I decided to… well, you know. But I put it all back real neat like, so you wouldn’t know. But it’s a mess now."

  "Maybe some neighborhood kids, who were up to no good, came aboard looking for iPods and pocket knives and CD players and things like that," Nellie said. "Don’t worry. I’m sure it’s nothing. And we will get you another knife the first chance we get."

  After Mike left the galley, Nellie deliberated over what he’d said, not about the missing knife and messed up dresser, but that he’d put everything in his backpack in case he decided to… Clearly, he still had it in his head to run away. And up in the wheelhouse, less than four hours ago, she and Will were doing precisely what it was that would give Mike the impetus to carry out his threat. And she, not Will, had been the one to start things. But now, with Mike's threat still an issue, setting boundaries just got easy. No relationship. No boundaries. It was as simple as that.

  Two hours later, she went into her stateroom to awaken Will and found him stretched on the bed, shirt off, one arm flopped over his eyes, and the sheet tangled around his waist. He looked so peaceful she decided to give him a few more minutes to sleep, which she’d use to check her own belongings. After what Mike told her, she wanted to see if anything of hers was missing.

  Quietly she tiptoed to the locker and pulled open the door and was shocked to find her clothes shoved to the side, some hanging askew.

  "You don't have to be quiet," Will said. "I'm awake." He dragged himself to a sitting position and leaned back against the headboard.

  Nellie told him about Mike's missing knife and messy drawer, then opened the door to the locker, and said, "As you can see, whoever came aboard went through my closet as well. But there doesn't seem to be anything missing."

  Will’s brows gathered. "Well, if it's the guy from the marina, he's very selective, not your run-of-the-mill burglar. There's lots of expensive equipment he could have taken and didn't," Will verbalized Nellie's thoughts of earlier. "We'll just have to wait and see what happens."

  "What if he comes on board again?" Nellie said, anxious at the thought of facing a man with a gun, maybe others as well, yet not knowing what they wanted with them. With her, she corrected, with a sinking feeling. She'd been the one followed from Oregon, so it wasn't Will they were after.

  "He'll have me to deal with," Will said. "I don't plan to leave the boat." He took Nellie’s arm and pulled her to him, but before he could kiss her, she braced her hand on his chest and said, "Last night was a mistake. It absolutely can't happen again." She had just turned to leave when they heard Mike yell, "They're out there... the whales!"

  They rushed onto the deck to join Mike. Off the starboard bow, the dorsal fins of several orca cut through the water as the animals circled in unison. Will motioned for Nellie and Mike to stay quiet. "Give me a few minutes to set things up," he said, "and we'll see if we can get them to come over." He dragged his boxes of sonar equipment across the deck. Plugging the headphones into the console, he lowered the hydrophone and amplifier into the water, and a few minutes later, the hydrophone began picking up clicks and high-pitched squeal-like calls. Then the sound of heavy breathing seemed to dominate all.

  "What's that puffing noise?
" Mike asked.

  "The whales blowing as they surface for air," Will replied. He reached for the synthesizer. "We'll play something jazzy to catch their attention." He began playing a lively little tune. For a while, the only sounds the amplifiers picked up were those of the whales blowing. But as Will continued playing, a series of high pitched notes could be heard. Will placed his hand on Mike’s shoulder, and said, "They're harmonizing with the notes I'm playing, using clicks and whistles to vocalize the rhythm and melody."

  Mike smiled. "Cool," he replied, then ducked away from Will’s hand.

  The pod seemed excited. Then, one large orca left the group and swam directly toward the boat, his cries in perfect interplay with the tones of the synthesizer, his breath pushing louder and louder through the hydrophone, until the volume needle of the decibel meter swept into the red. Suddenly, the orca leapt out of the water in front of the boat, then turned and swam away. Mike let out a squeal. Will hushed him with the wave of his hand. "Don't make too much noise," he said. "They hear us. Jumping out of the water like that's called breaching. That big guy's probably come to say hello. I've worked with this pod before."

  Will began playing the jazzy tune again and soon the orca started vocalizing, surfacing, and swimming near the boat. Another one broke loose, blowing and slapping the water with his tail as he came within inches of the speaker while circling. Without warning he breached, spraying them with water, then disappeared below the surface.

  "As you can see, they're also playful," Will said, shaking off the water.

  Mike broke into childish laughter as he too shook off the water. And Nellie realized it was the first true laugh she'd heard from Mike since they'd left Medford. And from the twinkle in Will's eyes, he too was enjoying Mike's unexpected response.

  Will said to Mike, "They're also good musicians."

  Mike looked at him, puzzled. "How can they be? They don't have hands."

  "They don't need them to compose," Will said. "Sometimes when I play a tune, they add their own variation, and they do it so well I almost forget they're not people. Come play a few notes and see what happens."