Midnight Dolphin

by James Carmody

  Star-Gazer had been traumatised by her imprisonment though and for a long time afterwards she had had bad dreams and flashbacks. She felt worried about Mrs Penrose and her husband. Even though it was true they had imprisoned her, they had also saved her life.

  Spirit had his own concerns in the days following Star-Gazer’s rescue. Spirit and Dancer knew nothing of the peril that Paul put himself in immediately after they left him and Lucy that night. Paul had thought that if he swam out to sea, he would escape the bullying and misery that he was experiencing on land and that somehow, magically, he would become a dolphin like them. He could easily have died and if it had not been for the lifeboat that Mrs Penrose had called out, he probably would have.

  What was particularly bad was that Lucy’s Dad had decided that he was mad to have let her spend so much time with dolphins and quickly took her back home far away from the sea. Though he had seen her briefly a couple of times before she left, and of course she had reached out to him many times since then, he still missed her.

  He’d seen Paul again though. Somehow Lucy was able to speak to Paul over long distances with something she called a telephone. He didn’t really understand how it worked though and when he asked Lucy had found it difficult to explain to him. It must be some sort of magic.

  The next morning great surging waves were rolling in across the expanse of ocean towards the coast. The waves became a curving wall of water and foam before crashing onto the rocks of the granite cliffs.

  It was fun to ride the waves and Spirit and Dancer loved to catch the crest and be propelled along like surfers, before curling off down under the water before the wave got to close to land.

  ‘This is incredible’ shouted Dancer as they caught another wave. ‘How far do you think we can go this time?’

  ‘All the way to the beach if we’re not careful’ Spirit called back to her above the roar of the waves. Spirit looked to his right.

  ‘A surfer!’ He could see a man standing astride a surfboard wearing a black and red wetsuit. He was in a half crouch position with his legs apart in order to keep his balance. He was aiming his board along the top of the wave that was creamy with foam along the breaking ridge.

  Dancer and Spirit curved onto his path and within a few moments they were accompanying him, effortlessly flanking the man on both sides as he sped along. Eventually the man tumbled off his board and the salt water and foam boiled up into his eyes, nose and mouth. The wave carried on and the man and the two dolphins were left in the valley between the wave they had just been on, and the next one that was approaching.

  The man pulled himself up onto his board and sat on it, straddling it with his legs. He wiped the water away from his eyes.

  ‘Hey, dolphins!’ he laughed. ‘You’re a lot better at this surfing game than I am!’ The next wave washed past all three of them and Dancer and Spirit hung in the water next to him, clicking and whistling.

  ‘This human’s not bad’ clicked Dancer to Spirit. ‘You’ll have to teach Lucy to surf with us next time she’s down here!’

  ‘That’s a pretty good idea’ Spirit clicked back to Dancer. Yet even as he said so, he couldn’t help but wonder when that would be.

  There was a short rope at the front of the man’s surfboard and Dancer took it in her mouth and started pulling the man along on his board. They turned so that they were facing the same way as the oncoming wave and Dancer gained speed so that when the wave caught up with them, the man was able to jump up into a standing position on his board again, and catch the wave as he had done before.

  Even as he and Dancer swam along, revelling in the man’s company, Spirit tussled with the thought that kept going through his head. Other than Lucy, said Storm, humans were dangerous and childish. It was better to keep away from them. Yet despite those thoughts, the spontaneity and joy of surfing the waves in the company of the man on his board got the better of him. This really was just so much fun.

  Eventually they left the man and his surfboard and continued on their own. It looked like he was getting tired and they thought that he might want to go back to the shore.

  Great surges of frothy green salt water rose and fell in an ever changing landscape and the two dolphins happily played amongst the swirls and eddies of the sea. Dancer found a piece of driftwood being tossed this way and that by the waves and the two of them nosed it between them. It was a perfect afternoon.

  Chapter Three:

  Lucy was genuinely puzzled by the old book that came through the post for her and the piece of paper that fell out of it. Who could have sent it to her? She took it upstairs to look at. She sat down cross-legged on the rug in her room and started flicking through the pages, brushing her long dark hair out of her eyes. At various points in the text there were words which had been underlined and notes written in the margins in the same open hand.

  Lucy decided to call her friend Amy to see what she thought. Amy knew all about Lucy’s special connection with dolphins, and last year she’d helped Lucy run away to Cornwall in the half term. Amy was only too willing to come round and take a look at the mysterious book and fifteen minutes later they were both in Lucy’s bedroom, sprawled across the floor studying the book and the note together.

  ‘So you reckon you know who wrote it then?’ Amy asked.

  ‘Well, I’m pretty sure it was Mum’ Lucy answered. There’s no name inside but the handwriting is quite similar to Mum’s.’

  ‘I suppose she would have been younger when she wrote this’ said Amy thinking out loud. ‘Her handwriting would have changed as she got older.’

  ‘That’s right’ said Lucy. ‘You see the book was published in 1976. That’s practically the year she was born, but if it was given to her or she bought it second hand a few years later, that would make sense.’

  ‘And who do you think sent it to you’ asked Amy.

  ‘I have absolutely no idea at all’ replied Lucy.

  ‘Do you think it could be your Aunt Bethany?’ continued Amy.

  ‘I wouldn’t have thought so’ replied Lucy. ‘Why would she?’ She could easily call me and tell me about it if she wanted to. She could have given it to me over the summer when I was down there. She’d have known how much it meant to me.’

  ‘I see what you mean’ said Amy thoughtfully. ‘Hang on, what about the postmark on the wrapper?’ Lucy ran downstairs to fish the envelope it came in out of the bin where she’d stuffed it without thinking. She brought it upstairs again. She smoothed it out and they both looked at it together.

  ‘Exeter’ Amy deciphered. ‘That’s in Devon isn’t it?’

  ‘That’s right’ replied Lucy. ‘I know that Devon’s just next door to Cornwall, but I don’t see why Bethany would want to drive all the way there just to post a package.

  ‘If only we knew how to dust for fingerprints or something’ said Amy. ‘Look, it says in the margin “Find out more about Jet”. What’s Jet then?’

  ‘Well, from what it says, Jet’s obviously a dolphin don’t you think?’ asked Lucy. ‘I know that Mum had, well, the same gift with dolphins as me. She never spoke to me about it though when she was alive. I suppose that Jet must have been the dolphin that she had a special connection with.’

  ‘You may well be right’ said Amy, nodding her head thoughtfully. ‘It’s a bit spooky getting a note like this isn’t it?’

  ‘It is pretty weird’ agreed Lucy. ‘I just don’t know what to make of it. I’m just getting used to Mum not being around anymore, and now… this.’

  ‘Maybe someone’s trying to tell you something’ said Amy, wondering out loud. ‘Maybe there’s a clue in here somewhere.’

  ‘But the note says that there’s nothing in the book about dolphins or how they’re connected with children’ replied Lucy. ‘How would there be a clue if that were the case?’

  ‘I don’t know’ responded Amy uncertainly. She thought for a moment. ‘Maybe there’s a clue in the notes that your Mum wrote inside the book.’

  ‘That’
s true’ said Lucy. ‘I’d better take another look at them.’

  ‘Are you going to tell your Dad about the book then?’ asked Amy.

  ‘No I don’t think so’ replied Lucy. ‘You know what he’s like. Ever since we got back from Cornwall in the summer I hardly know how to talk to him. Anyway, the book was sent to me, not to him. Maybe there’s a reason for it.

  ‘Well, be careful’ said Amy. ‘There’re some strange people out there. That’s what my Dad says.’ She looked at her watch. ‘I’d better be getting back home. It’s dinner time soon.’

  Just as Lucy was letting Amy out, Dad got back in from work.

  ‘Hello Amy’ he said, as she walked down the path.

  ‘Hello Mr Parr’ said Amy as she passed him. Dad came into the house. He was wearing his work suit under his greatcoat and was carrying two plastic bags of shopping which he’d just picked up from the local supermarket.

  ‘Hi Luce. Brr, it’s getting chilly out there. We’re supposed to be in for a cold snap, or so they tell us. Good thing I got the central heating boiler checked out recently. It’d be just our luck if that thing packed up on us just before Christmas.’ Dad went to the kitchen and started unpacking the groceries. ‘So what were you and Amy up to then?’

  ‘Oh you know, homework and stuff’ Lucy replied noncommittally, peering over to examine the things that he’d bought. If it was down to Dad, they’d eat ready-made meals five nights out of seven and the only vegetables they’d get would be frozen peas.

  Lucy went upstairs saying that she had to finish her homework, but in fact she wanted to spend more time looking through the book that had come in the post. In the comfort of her own room she slowly turned the pages of the book, looking at where Mum as a young girl had underlined things, or written things in the margin. It felt comforting to know that Mum was into the same kind of things that she was at the same age. Lucy looked carefully at all of the notes that Mum had jotted down in the margins, looking to see if there was some clue to why it had been sent to her as Amy had suggested. She certainly couldn’t find anything and there was nothing in particular about dolphins.

  She was intrigued to read about some caves along the Cornish coast. Of course Lucy was well aware that Cornwall was famous for its smugglers’ coves and smugglers’ caves, but in the book it said that the Trinity Caves had a reputation for beautiful stalactites and crystalline rock formation. The exact location of the caves had been lost and not even the most intrepid cavers had been able to locate the site where they were supposed to be. ‘This is it!’ Mum had drawn something in the margin, but it didn’t mean anything to her at all.

  Lucy was engrossed in the book when Dad called her down to dinner and Lucy reluctantly hid it under her duvet before going downstairs.

  Sometimes Lucy felt as though she would be betraying Spirit, Dancer and the others by being too friendly to Dad, but other times it felt comfortable and easy to talk to him about what had happened that day.

  ‘How was work then?’ she asked as she munched on the ready-made salad Dad had bought. Dad pulled a bit of a face.

  ‘Actually things are not so good at work at the moment Luce’ he replied. ‘The company’s losing money and quite a few of us have been put at risk of redundancy’ he continued.

  ‘What does that mean Dad?’ Lucy asked.

  ‘Well it means I might lose my job’ he replied. ‘Money’s going to be pretty tight if I do. On the other hand if it happens I’ll be able to spend more time with you until I find a better one.’ Dad pulled a wan smile for Lucy’s benefit. ‘Truth be known I’m sick of that job and I won’t be sorry to see the back of it if they do let me go.’

  ‘I’m sorry Dad’ said Lucy sympathetically. ‘When will you know?’

  ‘Oh it could be before Christmas, or it might be in January. It’s hard to know. Don’t worry too much Luce’ he added. ‘I was put at risk of redundancy a couple of years ago and I’m still here aren’t I?’

  Lucy looked at her father as he took a mouthful of rice. He might be at risk of redundancy, but ever since she’d found out that she was supposed to grow out of her special link with Spirit, she felt as though she’d been under a death sentence. At school they’d been doing the French revolution in history, and it was as though she looked up and saw the guillotine blade descending in slow motion, getting closer and closer to the back of her neck.

  Still, she didn’t like to tell him that and she’d be genuinely sorry if he lost his job.

  ‘So I suppose we wont be spending much this Christmas Dad?’ she asked. ‘No Christmas tree?’

  ‘That’s right’ he agreed. ‘We’ll have to watch the pennies. No six foot Christmas trees or big fat turkeys. We’ll have to get the plastic tree out of the loft.’

  After dinner they cleared away the plates and washed up together, with Dad cleaning the plates and Lucy drying them. They watched TV for half an hour and then Lucy said she’d go up and get ready for bed. She said she wanted to read before lights out. As she left the room she could see Dad re-reading a letter from work with a concerned expression on his face.

  Sometimes Lucy was almost overwhelmed with the need to stretch out to Spirit with her mind and talk to him, telling him everything that had happened in her day, even though she knew that he couldn’t always understand the things that were going on in her life from a human perspective. When she felt like that it was much easier to focus her mind and then tumble through into the world of water.

  Lucy had that feeling tonight and felt a surge of optimism that it would be easy to get through to Spirit again, and that everything would be okay again. Lucy focused and relaxed her mind, and tried to feel her way through the door between her conscious and her unconscious that would allow her to access Spirit’s world of water. Try as she might though, it would not work. Lucy went to the bathroom to get a glass of water and then returned to try again. Surely this was just a temporary glitch. This time, she thought, it would work. Lucy tried for ten long minutes, but the longer it went on for, the more impossible it seemed. It was as though not only could she not find the door between her conscious and unconscious, but the door was not there at all. Maybe her mind was growing over it, and then it would be gone. Maybe it was already too late.

  Lucy broke down and wept hot, bitter tears. She buried her face in her pillow to stifle the noise of her crying. She didn’t want Dad to hear. She didn’t want him to have the satisfaction. If Bethany was there at least she would be able to bury herself in her aunt’s warm embrace, but Bethany was far away and she just felt alone. As her tears finally abated, Lucy felt the book under the duvet and pulled it out again to look at. There it was, ‘Flora and Fauna of the Cornish Coast’, the book that Mum must have had at about the same age as she was now. If only Mum was alive and she could ask what it had been like for her.

  Megan held her younger sister’s hand as they walked along the tops of the cliffs. They’d all been to see one of the old tin mines that had been turned into a museum and visitors centre. Megan had looked down the central shaft. She shuddered to think of the men and even children like her who’d toiled down there years and years ago, trapped in the darkness underground. She’d been glad to get outside into the sunlight and she and Bethany had opted to explore the cliff tops whilst Mum and Dad went to the café for a cup of tea.

  Bethany wanted to find daisies to make a daisy chain, but the grass along the tops of the cliffs was grazed close by sheep and rabbits and there were no daisies to be found. Besides, the summer was unusually hot and the grass had been burnt brown by the sun.

  ‘Megan?’ asked Bethany as the strolled along. ‘What’s it like to swim with dolphins?’ The question slipped out of the six-year-old’s mouth without her really thinking. Megan stopped walking and looked down into the face of her younger sister.

  ‘I didn’t know you knew about that’ she replied quietly. ‘I don’t like to talk about it and I’d like to keep it that way.’

  ‘I won’t tell’ piped Bethany excitedly.
She loved secrets.

  ‘You’ve got to promise not to tell Mum or Dad or anyone. Cross your heart…’

  ‘And hope to die!’ said Bethany. ‘But don’t Mummy and Daddy know already?’

  ‘Well, they’ve got an idea I suppose after what happened last year…’ answered Megan uncertainly.

  ‘So what’s it like to swim with dolphins then?’ Bethany asked again insistently. Megan sighed and looked at her sister.

  ‘Well it’s kind of cool. It’s hard to describe. They give off a sort of energy… Hang on, how do you know anyway?’

  ‘I followed you yesterday morning’ replied Bethany, suddenly realising she might get into trouble now. ‘They looked lovely. Can I meet them?’

  ‘No you certainly can’t’ answered Megan quickly. ‘You’re way too little and anyway you can’t swim properly.’

  ‘I can too!’ answered Bethany defiantly.

  ‘Don’t be silly’ replied Megan. ‘You’re still in armbands. Besides Mum and Dad would find out.’

  ‘How do they come to you Megan?’ asked Bethany curiously. ‘Do you whistle for them like a dog.’ Megan smiled.

  ‘They’re not like dogs. They’re much smarter than dogs are and no I don’t whistle for them. It’s difficult to explain. I’ve got a special way of communicating with them.’

  ‘What does communicate mean?’ asked Bethany.

  ‘It means talk. I’ve got a special way of talking to them.’

  ‘You talk to them then?’ asked Bethany, looking up at her sister and shielding her eyes from the sun with her hand.

  ‘Sort of, only not with words or sounds. I talk to them in another way.’ Megan looked over her shoulder as though Mum and Dad might be hovering there listening to what she said. ‘Come on, let’s go look at the view.’ There was an observation point nearby with railings and a telescope on a pole that you paid two pence to look through. ‘Race you!’