Midnight Dolphin

by James Carmody

  ‘If you dig deep enough the hole will fill up with water’ said Megan. Between the two of them they soon dug a hole that went up to Bethany’s knees when she jumped into it. Water seeped up through the sand but before they could make a really decent hole, the sides began to collapse inwards.

  Bethany decided to decorate the sandcastles with shells and went down to the waters’ edge to look for them. Megan went down there too to help her. The sun warmed her back as she stooped to pick up the shells and everything felt reassuring and safe.

  ‘Shark!’ someone cried out. People’s heads turned and looked out towards where a boy was pointing. Megan looked up too. She knew that there were no sharks around Cornwall, except for the occasional basking shark that were perfectly harmless. People started to wade rapidly out of the sea.

  Megan caught sight of the fin the boy was pointing at. ‘That’s not a shark..’ she thought to herself.

  ‘It’s a dolphin!’ she cried. A murmur went round the beach. Everyone loved dolphins. ‘Could it be…?’

  ‘Jet’ Megan mumbled to herself. ‘Jet, it’s me!’ Megan forgot about Bethany and all the people around her. All that she could think about was the dolphin out there in the waves, just a hundred metres from the shore. Megan ran out into the shallows. Other people who had been wading out of the water rapidly when they thought there was a shark in the water were turning now that they realised it was a dolphin.

  Megan tried to race ahead of them all, splashing through the waves and then diving into the water when it got deep enough. She was sure that Jet had come to find her. She struck out with her arms in a desperate front crawl, but even though she was a good swimmer she just couldn’t swim quick enough. People were still milling around her and moving out towards the dolphin as well. It was hard to tell as she swam but it seemed as though the dolphin was moving away from the beach.

  Moments later she looked up again and the fin was gone. Megan stopped and trod water, looking around her.

  ‘Oh that’s a pity, its gone’ said someone behind her.

  ‘I love dolphins, they’re so cute’ Megan heard someone else say. ‘Did you get a photo.’ Megan felt a sob rise in her throat. She swam further out again, certain that the dolphin would reappear but minutes passed and there was no sign of it. The dolphin had disappeared.

  Megan swam back slowly to the beach. It was much worse than simply being disappointed. It felt as though her whole world was crumbling around her. Everything special that she had learned to love and rely on was no longer there. Megan waded out of the water back onto the beach feeling fifty years older than she had ten minutes before.

  ‘Was that your friend?’ asked Bethany curiously as Megan emerged from the sea.

  ‘I, no. I don’t know’ mumbled Megan unhappily. She looked away from Bethany, only to see Dad walking across the beach towards them. He tried to catch her eye but Megan didn’t want to let him. She looked at her feet instead. Dad put his hand on her shoulder.

  ‘It’s okay Megan’ he said quietly. ‘All things must pass. It’s just that you’re growing up, that’s all.’ Megan shook her head violently.

  ‘You’re so wrong!’ she exclaimed, tears smarting in her eyes. Megan ran up the beach away from him, towards the boardwalk that led across the dunes.

  ‘Daddy, let’s follow her’ said Bethany, concerned that her sister was suddenly upset.

  ‘No, we’ll just let her have some time on her own Chipmunk’ Dad replied. ‘She’ll be alright.’

  It all took place so quickly that the other children standing at the edge of the pool barely realised what had happened. Suddenly Lucy was slumped face down in the water with blood streaming from the gash on her head, a cloud of watery redness spreading out around her.

  ‘Out of the way!’ shouted Miss Baldwin as she strode with panicky urgency to the edge of the pool. The children stepped back. As they did so Lucy’s body rolled over. Her unseeing eyes seemed to look up out water up at them as she began to sink down.

  Miss Baldwin jumped into the red water next to Lucy, not caring that she was dressed in her shorts and polo shirt. She tugged the unconscious form of Lucy up to the surface of the water.

  ‘Help me get her out!’ she called to the children. Three pairs of arms stretched down and pulled Lucy out onto the hard surface at the edge of the pool.

  ‘Is she dead?’ asked a girl in a frightened voice. Miss Baldwin pulled herself dripping out of the water onto the side of the pool.

  ‘I need to get her into the recovery position’ she said quietly but urgently. She organised Lucy’s limbs so that she was lying on her side. Water drained from her mouth and then Lucy coughed.

  ‘At least she’s breathing’ Miss Baldwin muttered. Blood was still streaming from Lucy’s head though. Miss Baldwin tried to stem the flow with her hand. She looked up. ‘Run to the entrance and get them to call an ambulance. Now!’

  Minutes crept by before the ambulance crew reached them and swimming was abandoned as the cloud of watery blood spread out from the edge of the pool. Other members of the pool staff appeared with bandages to quench the flow and towels to keep Lucy warm. The children were ushered away. Lucy lay inertly at the edge of the pool, looking very still and very small.

  Eventually Miss Baldwin heard the siren of the ambulance as it drew up outside. The crew came in and Miss Baldwin was relieved to be able to step back and let the professionals take over. The ambulance crew put a temporary dressing on the wound and soon transferred Lucy onto a stretcher.

  At the entrance of the pool a small crowd of children had gathered.

  ‘Is she alright?’ called out Amy as she strained to peer over the heads in front of her. ‘She’s my friend. Can I come with her in the ambulance?’ The still-dripping Miss Baldwin walked next to Lucy’s stretcher.

  ‘No Amy’ she replied. ‘Mr Baines is going to go with Lucy to the hospital.’ Amy glanced round. There was Mr Baines wheezing his way through the throng. ‘I’m going to the school office to get her dad on the phone and tell him what’s happened’ Ms Baldwin added.

  A few moments later the doors of the ambulance clunked shut and it moved off slowly through the car park to the road, its lights still flashing. The small crowd of children dispersed as they realised that the lunch break had finished ten minutes ago and that they were late for their lessons. Amy was left there standing alone. ‘Please make her be alright’ she muttered to herself.

  It took Dad over an hour to drive to the hospital. Miss Baldwin had gone straight to the school office where the contact details of parents were kept. She’d dripped her way along the corridors past surprised pupils and teachers. She’d been shocked by what had happened to Lucy. It was her responsibility to keep the children at the swimming pool safe and she felt as though she’d let Lucy down somehow. The truth was though that it was one of those freak accidents that could have happened to anyone.

  ‘Hello, Mr Parr?’ she’d said hesitantly when Dad had answered his mobile phone. She was just relieved that it hadn’t gone straight through to voicemail.

  ‘This is Miss Baldwin. There’s been an accident at school I’m afraid. Lucy had a nasty knock to her head at the swimming pool and has been taken to hospital.’

  ‘Oh no!’ exclaimed Dad. She could hear the shock in his voice. ‘Is she alright?’

  ‘Well she lost consciousness. I don’t know how she is now. Mr Baines went with her to the hospital in the ambulance about five minutes ago. I came straight to the office to call you.’

  ‘Of course’ replied Dad. Miss Baines knew that he wasn’t keen on Lucy swimming and wondered if he would get angry with her. Instead, all he said was that he’d come straight away. They rang off, and as she did so she felt her legs go weak and wobbly. She sat down heavily and wetly on one of the office chairs.

  ‘Are you okay?’ asked one of the administrators in a concerned tone. ‘You look as white as a sheet.’

  Dad’s heart was still pounding uncomfortably as he drove into the hospital car pa
rk. The traffic had been bad and it had taken him longer than he thought to get there. He’d longed to put his foot down and speed along the motorway but the cars had been bumper to bumper. Miss Baldwin hadn’t called again and he didn’t know if that was a good or a bad thing. One minute he imagined that Lucy would be sitting up in bed smiling with a bandage round her head. The next minute he imagined finding her as a pale lifeless form on a mortuary slab. Even finding a parking spot proved difficult but eventually he was able to squeeze into a tight space and clambered out of the car.

  Dad ran across the car park and up the ramp to the entrance of Accident and Emergency. Precious minutes were wasted as he spoke to the administrators to find out exactly where Lucy was. Eventually a nurse ushered Dad through to a room of four beds where Lucy was curtained off from the rest by the window.

  Mr Baines was sitting next to Lucy holding her hand while a nurse was checking the monitors.

  ‘Mr Parr, thank goodness you’re here!’ exclaimed Mr Baines as Dad came through the curtain. Lucy looked rather small in the big hospital bed. They’d cut away her swimsuit and put her in a hospital gown. She had various sensors fitted to her body and the monitor beeped regularly as it charted her pulse, blood pressure and other indicators that Dad didn’t understand. Her face was deathly white but it looked as though she was merely asleep.

  ‘She’s still unconscious’ said the nurse anticipating Dad’s question.

  ‘But will she be okay?’ Dad asked anxiously.

  ‘Mr Parr, she’s had a very nasty knock to the head but as far as we can tell her condition’s quite stable. There’s no immediate risk of her deteriorating. We need to do some more tests though. I’ll get the doctor to come and speak to you.’ The nurse bustled away.

  ‘You sit down here next to Lucy’ said Mr Baines getting up. Dad gratefully sat down and took Lucy’s hand.

  ‘Come on Lucy’ Dad murmured squeezing her hand. ‘Just wake up and give me a smile!’ He turned to Mr Baines. ‘How did it happen?’ Mr Baines knew barely any more than Dad did, but he said what he could. The doctor appeared around the curtain. She seemed incredibly young to Dad.

  ‘How’s she doing doctor?’ he asked. The doctor took her time to look at Lucy’s chart. She felt Lucy’s pulse, even though her heart rate was on the monitor. The doctor took a small pen-torch out of the pocket of her white coat and gently pulled up one of Lucy’s eyelids and shone the torch into her eye briefly, before letting it close again. The doctor turned to look at Dad.

  ‘Well it’s a serious case of concussion’ replied the doctor eventually. ‘In the majority of cases we’d have expected the patient to have regained consciousness by now. Sometimes these things happen quickly, but occasionally it takes hours before the patient comes round. We’ve got to check for potential problems like swelling to the brain or internal bleeding and so we’re going to take her for a scan in a few minutes when a machine becomes available. Hopefully nothing will show up, but you never know.’

  ‘Can I come too when she goes for the scan?’ asked Dad. Now that he was here he didn’t want to lose sight of Lucy. The doctor smiled understandingly.

  ‘Of course you can Mr Parr. Try not to worry, we’re doing everything we can and she’s in the right place’ she said reassuringly. She glanced at her watch. ‘I’ll be back in a few minutes.’ She disappeared behind the curtain again. Dad cupped Lucy’s small hand in his and looked into her pale face anxiously.

  ‘Maybe I should leave you now’ said Mr Baines quietly. ‘May I phone you on your mobile to find out how she is?’ Dad nodded.

  A few minutes after Mr Baines had gone, the nurse came with the porter.

  ‘Alright, let’s get this young lady down to the scanner room.’ The nurse removed the sensors from Lucy’s skin.

  ‘Is it safe to take those off?’ asked Dad hesitantly.

  ‘Well they can’t very well go in the scanner with her can they?’ replied the nurse. ‘We’ll soon have her back on the ward.’ They wheeled Lucy’s bed down the long featureless corridor. At the end was a set of swing doors that led through to the scanning suite. There was the massive white tube-like machine that Dad recognised from medical dramas and documentaries. A couple of nurses carefully moved Lucy from the bed onto the scanner bed, which Dad knew would slide into the machine, engulfing Lucy in its magnetic coils. ‘MRI’ thought Dad, ‘magnetic resonance machine. That’s what they’re called.’

  ‘I’m afraid I’m going to have to ask you to step out of the room Mr Parr’ said the nurse in a formal tone. ‘Unauthorised personnel are not permitted to remain in the area while the MRI is functioning’ she went on. ‘It isn’t safe. Please, come this way.’

  Dad allowed himself to be led out of the room. He glanced back at Lucy lying so still in the mouth of the great white machine. They’d only been at home having breakfast that morning, barely six hours ago. Now here she was unconscious in a hospital examination room. It didn’t seem real. The door closed behind him.

  Fifteen minutes later the door swung open again as the porter and the nurse wheeled Lucy out on her bed back in the direction of Accident & Emergency.

  ‘Well, what’s the verdict?’ asked Dad anxiously. The nurse’s face revealed nothing.

  ‘The doctor will get the results through on the computer in about half an hour’s time’ she replied. ‘We’ll get your daughter back to the ward and you can speak to the doctor there okay?’ Dad had no choice but to comply. Minutes crept by as Dad waited for the doctor to reappear. Dad sat there by the bed holding Lucy’s hand, wishing he knew what was going on.

  Eventually the young doctor came through the curtain. She looked tired.

  ‘I’m pleased to tell you Mr Parr that there’s no sign of any significant swelling on the brain or bleeding. The MRI scan showed no sign of brain damage either.’ Dad let out a sigh of relief.

  ‘I can’t tell you how good it is to hear that’ he replied, smiling. The doctor paused a moment before continuing.

  ‘In fact electrical activity on the brain was high; more consistent with consciousness than the patterns you might expect if your daughter were, say, merely dreaming in her sleep. I have to say it’s unusual…’

  ‘But it’s good news isn’t it?’ asked Dad. The doctor paused a moment longer and then smiled.

  ‘It should be’ she replied. ‘It should be. It seems that Lucy’s free from any immediate risk. We’ll admit her to the general ward and keep a close eye on her. Now it’s just a matter of waiting for your daughter to come round. Let’s hope it’s soon, huh?’ The young doctor flashed Dad another smile and then disappeared round the curtain again.

  Chapter Seven:

  Megan ran back to the holiday cottage, desperate not to let other holiday-makers see her tear-stained face. She turned over the stone by the back door and picked up the spare key to the cottage where Mum had hidden it. She let herself in and went up to the girl’s bedroom. Megan changed quickly into her flared jeans and a tee shirt. She threw her purse into her bag and slung it over her shoulder. A few minutes later she was walking up the lane to the main road and the bus stop. She didn’t care what Mum and Dad said. She was going in to Merwater on her own and they weren’t going to stop her. Just for once the Green-Line bus came more quickly than she expected and soon she was sitting at the back with the another passenger looking over the hedges at the fields beyond.

  Megan wondered what she would do when the bus pulled into Merwater. She wanted to go straight over to Rachel’s. On the other hand she’d like to show the older girl that she’d found out something for herself. Megan decided to go to the town library first. There was bound to be something in the local history section about Jeremiah Smith or about dolphin children. The trouble was she wasn’t even exactly sure where the library was. She’d have to ask when she got off the bus.

  The bus wound its way along the country lanes. Megan felt rebellious at going off on her own without Mum and Dad’s permission, but she had left a note saying where she was going an
d she was used to taking the bus to and from school on her own when they were back home.

  Half an hour later Megan found herself standing outside the town library. The Victorian building had a dilapidated air about it. The roof was stained with bird droppings, the gutters sagged and a seagull stood on a ledge above the entrance sign looking down at her with a disapproving eye. She was slightly afraid it would swoop down on her, but the bird left her alone. Walking inside, she noticed a dry, slightly musty smell. It was almost like the nineteen seventies hadn’t arrived there at all.

  Megan went up to dark wooden card index cabinet with its rows of small neat drawers containing endless index cards cataloguing the contents of the library. She didn’t understand the Dewey Decimal system though and soon despaired of finding the right book at all. She felt shy about asking the librarian for help and opted to wander up and down the bookshelves in the hope of chancing upon the right section. Her footsteps seemed particularly loud as she walked up and down. The only other people there seemed almost as dry and musty as the library itself.

  Eventually Megan found the local history section and stooped to scan the shelves. She’d half imagined finding a neat row of all Jeremiah Smith’s other journals, but of course there was nothing of the kind. There didn’t even seem to be anything about him at all. There was certainly nothing about dolphin-children. After half an hour of peering at book spines and leafing through indexes, Megan gave up. She looked up and wondered about asking a librarian. Perhaps they had a special section under lock and key like they did at the bookshop.

  Megan approached the counter by the entrance. Just as she got close Megan noticed a trolley piled up with old and tattered books. It had a sign on top written in biro which said ‘Old stock for sale. Tuppence each.’ The librarian was busy talking to someone and while she waited Megan, glanced idly at the pile of books. They were obviously throwing out the old and worn out books that no one wanted to read anymore. There, amongst books with split spines and torn pages she found a dust cover that had become detached from the actual book on which was written ‘A description of the Lives of the Inhabitants of the County of Cornwall’ by Jeremiah Smith. Megan desperately hunted for the book that corresponded to the dust jacket she had just found. All she could find was half the book. The last hundred pages or so and index seemed nowhere to be found.