Paul glanced at his watch again briefly before he pedalled off. He should be able to get there in plenty of time, but he didn’t want to be late. He still didn’t know if he could trust Lucy, even though he had to admit that she’d been really nice to him, and he couldn’t leave anything to chance.
Even though it was summer, the early morning air was sharp and chilly. His body soon warmed up as he pedalled along, but his hands still felt cold on the handle bars.
The last bit of the journey was a tough climb on his bike up the hill towards Old Mans Cove. There were a few cars on the main road, but nothing compared with usual. He was glad to be able to get off his bike and give his legs a rest. He heaved his bike over the stile and climbed over after it. Lucy was waiting for him on the other side, sitting cross legged on the grass.
‘Hi’ she said.
‘Morning’ he replied coolly. They stood awkwardly for a moment.
‘I didn’t think you’d come’ Lucy said.
‘Well I guess I did’ he answered defensively. He hadn’t been sure whether she’d come, or else he thought she might have some nasty trick up her sleeve for him, like the kids in town. He’d trusted kids before and then they turned on him. Lucy might be just like them.
‘You know what we agreed though’ Lucy continued. ‘I’ll let you meet my dolphin, but then you’ve got to take me to the dolphin that you told me about. The one in the brackish lake I mean.’
‘Course I will’ replied Paul, trying to sound more certain that he actually felt.
‘All right then’ said Lucy cautiously. ‘I guess we’d better get going. I don’t suppose you’ve got a wet suit?’ Paul shook his head. ‘Well I’m a fair bit taller than you, but you’d better wear mine. I’ve already got my swimming costume on under my sweatshirt.’ He could see she’d stuffed her wetsuit into her backpack along with a towel. He realised that he’d completely forgotten a towel for himself.
‘You swim okay don’t you?’ Lucy asked him as they walked up the path. ‘The currents are really dangerous here and you’ve got to be dead careful.’ In fact Paul hated swimming and at lessons at school he was always stuck in the learner’s pool when most of the other kids were splashing around noisily in the deep end.
‘Course I do’ he lied. ‘I can swim like a fish.’ He hoped he wouldn’t be put to the test. They walked up the footpath to the edge of the cliff and the steep path that led down to the cove and the small beach. The sea sparkled in the early morning light. He’d seldom seen it look so beautiful or inviting. He felt excitement and fear in equal measure. There below them, a short distance from the edge of the beach, he could see the dorsal fin of a dolphin swimming languorously in the lapping water.
Chapter Nine:
Lucy glanced at Paul’s face as they looked down from the top of the cliff into the cove where Spirit was waiting for them. A look of wonder and surprise stole across Paul’s features as he stared down. Lucy was pleased at his reaction, but she still had a nagging doubt in the back of her mind. This wasn’t supposed to be the first dolphin he’d seen. When they’d sat together on the wet bough of the tree in the recreation ground, he told her he’d seen a dolphin in that salt water lake. Would he really be so surprised and delighted to see a dolphin now if he’d seen one before? Perhaps it was different today though, seeing a dolphin that he was actually going to meet free in the sea. She just could not be absolutely sure that he was telling her the truth. They started making their way down the steep path.
An hour before Lucy had still been asleep in her bed in Bethany’s studio. She’d dreamt the same, comfortable and familiar dream that she so often had of the dolphins all swimming together, relaxed, peaceful and happy. Then as she had dreamt on, the water had turned murky and dark and she’d almost expected to see the silhouette of the dolphin that Paul had told her about and which now haunted her. Instead she couldn’t make out anything in the watery gloom. She wondered why. Was that dolphin in trouble?
Lucy woke up as the early morning light streamed in, with an uneasy feeling in the pit of her stomach. As soon as she awoke, a vivid image came in to Lucy’s mind. It was a memory of Mum before she’d died when Lucy herself had still been very little. The two of them had been walking in the woods near their house. Lucy ran on ahead of Mum, her short fat legs kicking the leaves as she went. She felt so happy and secure, but then she suddenly realised with a shock that she didn’t know where Mum was. She found herself standing in a shallow depression between tall birch trees and she had the impression of being in a natural bowl. All directions looked the same and Lucy couldn’t remember which way she’d come from. She called out again. She could hear Mum reply, but still had no idea where she was. Mum’s voice sounded muffled and distant. It felt as though Mum was a million miles away and that she was completely alone. Suddenly she became scared and started to cry.
A second or two later Mum had appeared and Lucy was soon engulfed in the warm comfort of her embrace. Yet Lucy felt shaken by just how easy it was to lose all that was familiar to her. Lucy couldn’t remember quite how old she had been when it happened, but she must have been very young at the time.
She kept Mum very close to her for a while after that and years later Mum had told her not long before she died that as a toddler she’d gone through a very clingy phase, following her about everywhere. Lucy was much older when she’d lost Mum forever and more able to rationalise and understand what had happened. It didn’t make losing her any bit easier though. In fact it was indescribably worse. Somehow that memory of losing Mum in the woods and dream of the shadowy dolphin seemed to belong together, but she couldn’t quite say why.
Lucy got up and quickly put her swim suit on and then her jeans and sweatshirt over the top. She didn’t have to creep around now like she used to. Lucy knew that Bethany was willing to give her the freedom to go and see Spirit unaccompanied. Sometimes she wondered why Bethany was so relaxed at letting her venture out like this. Just then Bethany put up her bleary and tousled head, her curly blond hair half obscuring her face.
‘I just don’t understand how you manage to get up so horribly early every day’ she sighed, before slumping back into the bedclothes. ‘I guess you’re off to swim with Spirit? I must be mad letting you go like this.’
‘You are!’ joked Lucy. ‘Don’t worry. Spirit will take good care of me.’ Lucy decided not to mention that Paul was going to be there with them too. Bethany would have woken up pretty quickly if she had.
‘You betcha he will’ Bethany mumbled sleepily, ‘or he’ll have me to answer to. Like I always say Kiddo, don’t do anything silly.’
‘I’ll be okay’ Lucy reassured her, pulling on her trainers and then padding down the steps from the living platform to the kitchen area. She quickly spooned some cereals down her and then called out goodbye before clicking the studio door closed behind her. Mary was walking across the farmyard in her wellington boots towards the tractor shed.
‘Hello there Lucy’ she called. ‘You off out early again?’
‘That’s right’ Lucy called back.
‘You know you should be a farmer when you grow up’ Mary joked. You’re a natural for getting up at an unearthly hour of the morning.’ Lucy smiled.
‘See you later.’ Lucy gave Mary a little wave and then climbed astride the bicycle before pedalling off over the cattle grid out of the farmyard and up the lane.
She loved this time of morning. It was before anyone was around that she would see rabbits nibbling at the edge of the road, or even a deer grazing shyly in the field next to the copse. The bird song seemed more vivid and bright when the sun had just risen and on a morning like this she always experienced a surge of optimism. It felt like all the problems of the world could be solved before the sun had burned away the dew on the grass. Lucy glanced at her watch. She wanted to get to the cove in good time before Paul got there.
As they walked down the steep path to the cove, Paul was torn between the sensation of excitement that he would soon be swimming
in the sea with a real wild dolphin and the feeling that something was bound to go wrong, that it would all be snatched away from him before anything good could happen. Lucy seemed so confident and assured. It was as though she had been living here all her life, not him. He felt gauche and awkward walking down the sheer path behind her. Sometimes Paul felt like everyone one else had been invited to a party except him and that all he could do was to look in from the outside. Even now he felt as though he wasn’t really on the invitation list at all.
‘What’s his name then?’ he asked, trying to crowd out his thoughts.
‘His name’s Spirit’ Lucy replied.
‘And you can speak to him can you?’ Paul continued.
‘Not when I’m with him like this. It’s, well…it’s difficult to explain.’ Paul nodded. He was used to people not bothering to explain things to him. It didn’t surprise him that Lucy didn’t want to explain either.
They got to the bottom of the path and crunched onto the pebbles of the beach. They could see Spirit more clearly now, swimming just off the shore, as close to land as he dared to come. He looked in their direction and Lucy gave him a little wave. Paul stood transfixed.
‘Well, let’s get changed then’ said Lucy, struggling to pull the wetsuit out of her backpack. It was awkward to roll up and carry like that. Eventually she got the wetsuit out. Paul was a good head shorter than Lucy and it was evidently going to be too big for him. Once he got into it though, the suit fitted well enough and he immediately felt warmer with it on.
‘You don’t need arm bands or anything like that do you Paul?’ she asked with a worried expression on her face.
‘Don’t be daft!’ he replied. He just hoped with all his heart that he’d be able to swim all right when it came to it.
He could see Lucy shivering as she stood there in her swimming costume. It might be summer, but the sun was barely up and there was a cool breeze coming in from the sea.
‘Come on then’ she said. ‘We can’t stand round here all day.’ Paul paused.
‘Do you think…do you think he’ll like me being here?’ he asked, suddenly uncertain again. Lucy turned and looked back at him. She smiled reassuringly.
‘You’ll be okay’ she said. ‘He knows you’re coming. You just stick close to me and do everything I say. Remember, you can absolutely trust Spirit with your life and he’ll keep you safe even if you’re pulled out by the current or something. Just hang onto him if you need to. Don’t try anything clever and you’ll be all right.’
Paul had expected Lucy to just plunge into the sea from the shallow crescent of beach and swim out. Instead she picked her way over the rocks at the edge of the beach. Paul followed just behind her. It was low tide and the rock shelf was more fully exposed as a result. Barnacles and limpets encrusted the rock and it was uncomfortable to walk over in their bare feet. Lucy came to a boulder at the edge of the water and sat down with her lower legs and feet submerged in the salty water. Paul did likewise. It felt icy cold.
The water was deeper here and Spirit was able to swim right up close to the rocky outcrop. Spirit put his head out of the water a looked up at them with a calm, intelligent gaze. Paul felt as though the rest of the world melted away and focused all his senses on the dolphin in front of him, trying to drink in every aspect of the experience; the fascinating and intelligent creature in front of him, the gentle lapping of the waves, the salty tang of the exposed seaweed in his nostrils. He smiled.
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.’
Dolphin Child Page 11
