Dolphin Child

by James Carmody

  ‘Oh I know where that is!’ exclaimed Dancer. ‘I was swimming along there just the other day.’

  ‘It wasn’t such a big ship’ continued Summer, but it gave off such a strange sound. Storm said it was the sound of the engines, but I felt at the time that it was something else. I couldn’t be sure though.’

  ‘And a storm blew up?’ Spirit continued.

  ‘Well, I’m not sure you could call it a storm, or even a squall really’ replied Summer, glancing back at her calf idling peacefully by her side. There were some choppy waves, but nothing that we’re not used to. It was mostly the strange noise from the ship that confused us, not the seas.

  ‘Do you think that humans could have seized her, like they did with the pilot whales?’ asked Spirit, anxiety snagging his voice.

  ‘I don’t know. Maybe, I suppose. I couldn’t say.’ Summer answered. ‘We certainly didn’t see the ship taking her. The noise didn’t last that long and afterwards Star-Gazer had simply vanished. We called and we called and we looked and we looked, but we couldn’t find her.’

  ‘Did you see anything suspicious, or anything unusual that you could not explain?’ continued Spirit, with the same edge of anxiety and concern in his voice.

  ‘No, but the sound from the ship had made us feel very unwell. You know when a really terrible headache makes it hard for you to see properly? Well it was a bit like that. My vision was all fuzzy round the sides. Maybe we just weren’t well enough to search for anything suspicious. In fact I thought that Star-Gazer had already swum off to rejoin the rest of the pod. I told Storm that we’d find her with the others when we got back. Instead when we did, they said that they had no idea where she was. It was a mystery that we never did find the answer to.’

  ‘The ship. Do you remember what colour it was?’ asked Dancer.

  ‘Oh yes’ replied Summer. ‘It was red with a white stripe up the side. But Spirit…’ she continued. ‘Whatever happened to her, your mother’s lost to us now. We can’t bring her back. You’ve got to let go and accept that what’s happened has happened. If you let yourself live in the past and ask ‘what if…’. Well, you will never find the answer. It will eat you up.’

  Spirit felt a turmoil of emotions inside him, but didn’t know how to express them so he didn’t say anything at all. He thanked Summer and he and Dancer swam off a short distance again.

  ‘So what’s going through your head then?’ asked Dancer after they had left Summer.

  ‘It’s just…. It’s just that I’ve begun to feel so close to Lucy and so I’ve started to trust other humans as well. But then I still don’t know much about them and Storm says not to trust them at all. Then we come across the pilot whales and they say that humans actually capture them, or else herd them onto the rocks to kill them. And then I think…. Well I think that if no one knows what’s happened to Star-Gazer, maybe humans did something to her too!’ Spirit sighed.

  ‘I know but….like Summer said, you’ve just got to let go of it. We’ll never know what happened to Star-Gazer.’

  ‘But don’t you see’ replied Spirit with true anguish in his voice, ‘I can’t. Not when I’m linked in this way to a human like Lucy. I have to find out, I just have to!’

  ‘Well I’ll tell you one thing that we can do then’ said Dancer. We can go and look at that stretch along the edge of the sea and see what we can find.’

  Spirit and Dancer decided to head off towards the coast straight away. The other dolphins in the pod were still dozing lethargically after feeding on the squid and there was plenty of the day left. There was no reason why they should not leave now and still get back to the others before sundown. ‘I don’t know how those young dolphins find the energy’ muttered Moonlight to Chaser as they watched the tails of Spirit and Dancer swim off into the blue.

  Spirit was glad that Dancer suggested going to see the place where Star-Gazer had disappeared. At least by doing something he felt that worrying knot of anxiety inside him lessen a little. He had no idea what they could do or find now after all this time. After all, it was at least twelve moons since Star-Gazer had disappeared and even if there might have been something to find at the time, there was unlikely to be anything now.

  As they approached, Dancer looked up at the rock which Summer had described as looking like a dolphin leaping.

  ‘Doesn’t look much like a dolphin leaping to me’ she grumbled. Spirit gave her a playful nudge.

  ‘You’ve got to look at it from the right angle’ he said.

  ‘Which angle is that?’

  ‘With your eyes open!’ joked Spirit.

  The rock loomed up above them as they swam past and when they went into its shadow, Spirit felt his mood darken. This was the stretch of coast which Star-Gazer had disappeared from. The shore formed a gentle curve, as though it were a very wide bay for about three miles before coming to another rocky outcrop in the distance. Beyond that was the mouth of a narrow estuary where a river fed into the sea. The shoreline itself was a mixture of pebble beach and low cliff. Out there somewhere, the ship had passed and during that stormy squall, while the noise from the ship had disorientated all three dolphins, something had happened.

  ‘Come on, lets start looking’ said Spirit.

  ‘But what for?’ replied Dancer.

  ‘I don’t know. Let’s just look.’ That was the problem. Spirit didn’t know what to look for. This stretch of coast was long and even if there was some evidence of Star-Gazer’s disappearance, the chance of him and Dancer stumbling upon it was remote.

  They swam along, scanning the seabed as they went. The rock didn’t drop away sharply here as it did along some parts of the coast, but formed a gentle incline. They searched for evidence of humans having been there. They would frequently see small see-through containers on the seabed that Lucy called bottles, or metal ones that were discoloured or crumpled. They seemed to be everywhere. Occasionally they would see a larger black round thing with a hole in the middle. Spirit could not imagine what they were for. Chaser said he’d bitten one once to see what it tasted like. He said it was tough and chewy, like old squid, but that the taste had been acrid and bitter in his mouth.

  Every so often there would be larger lumps of metal in the water that were brown with rust and encrusted with small shell fish. They reminded Spirit of the ship-wreck that he and Dancer had explored off the islands, only these lumps of metal were much smaller and spread out. They came across one which was like one of those small metallic drinking containers, only it was much much bigger. Some black liquid was leaching out of it slowly, polluting the sea around it.

  ‘Let’s keep away from that’ said Dancer as they swam along. The trouble was that they did not understand what most of these things left by humans actually were. In some parts they completely changed the nature of the seabed and instead of the life that Spirit would expect to see there, it was desolate and dead.

  ‘Shall we go closer to the shore?’ Spirit asked Dancer.

  ‘As long as we don’t get too close we’ll be ok’ she replied.

  A pipe ran out into the sea and from it came a black-ish brown effluent that drifted in murky clouds in the water until the current dispersed it. Spirit, who was used to the mostly cleaner waters of the open sea, found the taste of it in the water disgusting and over-powering. Some shell fish thrived on it and there was a colony of hundreds of mussels just by the outlet pipe, but to Spirit and Dancer it was dirty and unnatural.

  ‘It’s like they just throw into the sea anything that they no longer want on land’ said Dancer, the unpleasant taste still lingering in their mouths. ‘It really is horrid along here. It’s like a wasteland. Maybe we should swim out to sea again.’ Spirit agreed and they swam out further from the shoreline.

  Spirit half expected to see the ship that Summer had described, making its way across the wide bay, but of course there was nothing. Spirit felt increasingly despondent about swimming here. What was the point? Instead he started to try and imagine what had happen
ed to Star-Gazer. Maybe the ship had a claw that had picked her up. Maybe she’d become ensnared in nets that had been left drifting in the water. Perhaps somehow she’d been pulled into the ship’s propellers and been killed. It was so hard to say.

  At the far end of the beach around the outcrop of rocks was the entry to the narrow estuary, where fresh waters mingled with salt. Dolphins would never risk going up an estuary like that. It was far too shallow and dangerous, so they turned back.

  By this time Spirit had completely given up on the idea of finding something and began to turn to head for home. More than anything right now, he wanted to be able to speak to Lucy and he tried to send her that message in the way that he had once before. It was not so urgent this time, but who knew, maybe she would sense that he wanted to speak to her and would come to him.

  After a few minutes, Spirit began to get that feeling that he sometimes had that Lucy was just about to appear in front of him. He was not wrong. As they watched, her shape slowly coalesced in front of them.

  ‘Hello Spirit. Hi Dancer’ she said as she floated there in the water in front of them. ‘I had a strong feeling that you needed me somehow. You know, like last time. Is there something wrong? Is someone in trouble?’ Lucy looked around her, half expecting to see some dolphin or person there that needed saving.

  ‘Yes, that’s right. I did want you to come to us’ replied Spirit. ‘I needed to ask you something.’

  ‘What is it Spirit?’ Lucy replied. ‘Of course. Ask me anything you like.’ Spirit hesitated, trying to summon up this thoughts.

  ‘I need to ask you a question’ he answered. ‘Do humans really steal dolphins out of the sea?’ he asked Lucy. She looked awkwardly away, as though thinking about how best to answer.

  ‘Yes, they do’ she replied eventually, an unhappy look upon her face.

  Chapter Eleven:

  Lucy was so used to seeing Dad in his work clothes everyday, that it seemed strange to see him wearing a pair of baggy shorts and trainers. His knees looked white and pasty, as though they hadn’t been exposed to sunlight for a very long time. He appeared rather uncomfortable in his holiday clothes, as though he’d got mixed up over the day of a fancy dress party. It was so surprising to see Dad there in the farmyard, suitcase next to him, that Lucy was quite taken aback. He just looked out of place there somehow.

  ‘Lucy’ exclaimed Bethany coming round the corner. ‘Your dad and I have just been having a chat. Now that you’re both here, why don’t we go inside and have a cup of tea?’

  Lucy wondered what they could have been having a chat about, but the obvious answer was her and Spirit. Bethany and Dad didn’t exactly see eye to eye, but Dad had been persuaded to let Lucy come down here and stay, when before he’d been dead set against it. In fact she still wasn’t entirely sure why. She felt as though two different worlds that she would rather have kept apart had just clashed and the thought made her feel rather awkward and gauche. Lucy had always known that Dad would be coming down to Cornwall to join her, but his arrival here a few days early brought it home to her even more forcibly.

  They went inside. Lucy could see Dad eyeing Bethany’s studio critically. He didn’t seem exactly pleased at what he saw. Looking at the studio as if through Dad’s eyes, she could see that it was quite messy. Canvasses were stacked up along the wall and the wooden floor was stained where paint had dripped down. There was a smell of turpentine in the air and the metal-framed windows looked tatty and old. The kitchen area was improvised and she could see that dust and fluff had accumulated under the cooker. The living and sleeping area on the raised platform seemed restricted and pokey. Dad took it all in with one sweeping glance and Lucy could imagine his disapproval at such a place for his daughter to be staying in.

  Dad said nothing, but smiled as he stirred his tea, as though he was determined to be jolly.

  ‘So what have you been up to this morning Lucy?’ he asked conversationally.

  ‘Well me and this boy Paul’ Lucy started. ‘Well we’ve been to see, you know. Well my dolphin Spirit actually’. Lucy’s enthusiasm drained out of her voice as she wondered what Dad would make of her visit to her dolphin friend. Instead he didn’t comment about Spirit.

  ‘A boy?!’ he asked with a raised eyebrow.

  ‘Don’t be silly, not a boy like that. He’s this kid I met in town. He’s younger than me and a bit scrawny looking. He… well, we hang out together that’s all.’ Dad nodded sagely.

  ‘So you’ve been swimming already this morning? Is that safe?’ he continued. Bethany shifted uncomfortably in her chair. She was supposed to be the responsible adult, but had allowed Lucy to go and swim in the sea alone and unsupervised.

  ‘Yes I slipped out before Bethany woke up’ Lucy replied quickly, before Bethany got into trouble. ‘She doesn’t allow me to go down to the sea on my own otherwise’ she lied. Dad adopted a sceptical expression but didn’t say anything. He’d only just arrived and Lucy guessed that he was trying not to be judgemental.

  ‘More tea John?’ Bethany enquired brightly, trying to change the subject and filling his mug up from the teapot on the table. Dad explained that he’d rented a cottage.

  ‘Oh Dad!’ Lucy exclaimed anxiously. ‘I don’t have to leave the farm do I? Not already!’ Lucy hated the idea of moving out of the studio and the farm in order to go and stay in some soulless holiday cottage. She knew that Dad couldn’t stay in Bethany’s studio, but didn’t see why she had to leave just because Dad had turned up.

  ‘Where’s the cottage then John?’ asked Bethany. Dad smiled. Ignoring Lucy, he replied to Bethany.

  ‘As a matter of fact, the cottage is not far from here and I’m renting it from a Mr and Mrs Pengelly.’

  ‘Pengelly?’ asked Bethany. ‘Why that’s….’

  ‘You don’t mean Mary and Darren do you?’ Lucy butted in. Dad’s smile broadened into a grin.

  ‘I might’ he replied with a laugh.

  ‘That means we’re staying in the holiday cottages on the farm!’ exclaimed Lucy.

  ‘That’s right’ replied Dad, ‘I believe that they’re just a short walk up the lane, so even though I’ll be dragging you away from Bethany and the studio, we won’t be very far away.’

  ‘Oh that’s great Dad!’ Lucy exclaimed happily. Bethany smiled too.

  ‘Mr and Mrs Pengelly have been very, ah, accommodating’. He chuckled at his own joke.

  ‘So what do you think that you two will do down here?’ Bethany asked Dad.

  ‘Well there’s plenty to do here of course’ replied Dad. ‘I’m sure that we won’t get bored. But mostly I shall be happy to just hang out with my daughter. I feel that I have been neglecting her a little recently.’

  Lucy thought of all the times that she’d wished that Dad wouldn’t be so distant and that he’d spend more time with her like he did when Mum was alive. Now that he was down here though, Lucy had mixed feelings. She had things she wanted to do and wondered how amenable Dad would be to her going off for half a day at a time on her own. Now wasn’t the time to raise it though. Bethany cut them both a slice of cake.

  ‘I’d like to tell you I baked it myself, but in fact I bought it from the supermarket’ she admitted bashfully.

  Lucy looked at Bethany with her mass of blond curly hair, wearing an old striped tee-shirt and khaki shorts. Then she looked at Dad, so pallid and out of place. These two people, who were so important to her, seemed completely different from each other. Sometimes she’d wondered what drew Mum to be with Dad in the first place.

  In between mouthfuls of cake Dad described his drive down at length, complaining about the state of the roads and the queues of cars and caravans on the motorway. Eventually he turned his attention back to Lucy.

  ‘Come on then Lucy. Let’s go and find your Mrs Pengelly and get the keys to the cottage.’ They went across the farmyard to find Mary filling out forms in the farm office. Mary and Darren had a row of three cottages just a short distance up the back lane from the farm. They u
sed to be worker’s cottages once upon a time, but now they let them out to the tourists during the summer. Lucy had never been in them and was keen to find out what they were like.

  In fact the cottage Dad had rented was small, but clean and cosy, with a pocket handkerchief-sized garden at the back with views across the valley beyond.

  ‘This is great Dad!’ she exclaimed as she explored the cottage, her concern at moving out of the studio evaporating.

  ‘I’m glad’ said Dad smiling. ‘I want us to have a nice time together Luce.’ He looked at her shyly, as though he was afraid that Lucy would drift away from him altogether. In a way Lucy knew that she was. She was becoming more and more independent and the world of Spirit and the other dolphins seemed far more compelling than anything Dad could offer. Still, he was her father and she loved him. She smiled.

  ‘After you’ve unpacked, let me take you for a walk round the farm.’

  ‘It’s a deal!’ he replied.

  As they walked across the fields, they chatted about what Lucy had been up to and what the people were like in Merwater. Dad asked about Thelma and Nate, whom he’d met several months before when Lucy had come to the rescue of Spirit and laughed at her description of the enormous tea that Thelma had provided last time they’d visited. Lucy was careful to keep talk about dolphins to a minimum, but told Dad about Paul and the way that the other kids had picked on him.

  ‘I’ve arranged to go cycling into the countryside with Paul tomorrow in fact’ Lucy added, wary of how Dad would react. ‘There’s this place he’s promised to show me.’

  ‘Oh no you’re not’ Dad replied in a forceful tone while still wanting to keep things light-hearted. ‘I’ve not driven two hundred miles just for you to disappear on some cycle trip. We’re supposed to be hanging out together Luce. I’ve seen precious little of you as it is.’