Midnight Dolphin

by James Carmody

  ‘I am a man of learning’ he continued in a more conciliatory tone. ‘I must investigate them and the significance they have to you and this region. I am writing another book Mary’ he continued, wondering how to break her silence. ‘If you assist me you will be furthering the cause of natural philosophy and I can mention you in those pages.’

  Mary glanced up at him. Her own learning had been at best patchy and had ended abruptly when she was only ten because her father needed her to earn money for the family. Yet she had an insatiable curiosity to learn about the natural world about her and the sea in particular. She had read the Reverend’s first book in its entirety, as her mother had persuaded the lady of the house where she worked as a scullery maid to lend it to her. She and the Reverend shared many interests she realised, but they would never be allies. She could not betray her dolphin Sprite.

  ‘I must get to my lace-making Sir’ she mumbled. ‘If I am late the superintendent may dock half a day’s pay for my impudence. Please let me go Sir’ she implored him. The Reverend Smith sighed in exasperation.

  ‘Very well, if you must’ he replied irritably. ‘But I must warn you, young Mary, I am very persistent!’ He turned and marched off.

  As Mary and the women attended to their lace-making, her mind roamed across the wide sea in the company of Sea-Sprite and the other dolphins of his pod.

  ‘But I cannot tell him about the caves Sprite, I cannot!’ she exclaimed as they curled around each other while Sprite swam and she glided. They broke the surface of the water together and Mary could feel the sharpness of the air on her wet skin.

  ‘You are right Mary’ replied Sprite as they sliced back through the waves again. ‘The caves are our special place. We found them together and we cannot let others come and break the magical unity that we found there.

  At the same moment, in the room that Mary was working, one of the women asked her to pass a skein of thread. One half of her mind applied herself to work and conversation with her fellow workers, whilst the other half of her mind remained free to roam the sea with Sprite. At first Mary wondered if she merely imagined that she had retained her gift in this manner, but she soon realised that she knew things about the sea that no one else did. She was able to direct father to the best shoals of fish. She knew when the Eleanor Grey had foundered on the rocks off Black Rock Point long before anyone else raised the alarm. How could she tell someone like the Reverend Smith about what had happened that night at the Trinity Caves? It was impossible.

  ‘Don’t worry Sprite’ she answered resolutely, ‘I will not let that man find out about our caves. I will not!’

  When Megan woke up the next morning, she realised with a deadening empty feeling that in three days’ time her family would be packing their belongings back into their cramped car, and setting off for the long drive back home after their holiday. Unless something happened fast, she would never regain her special bond with Jet and all the discoveries of the past few days would be meaningless. She sat up in bed. Light was streaming through the thin curtains of the cottage but Bethany was still lying peacefully, breathing rhythmically in her sleep.

  For what seemed like the hundredth time, Megan tried to stretch out with her mind and find Jet. But it felt as though a membrane had grown over the portal in her mind that she used to use to reach him and she could no longer find it. She felt frustrated and unhappy. She thought fretfully about that article by Owen Davidson that Dave’s friend Jane had promised to bring round to Rachel. She wondered what it might say.

  Megan wanted to be free again today to go into Merwater and hang out with Rachel, but Mum and Dad were insistent.

  ‘No Megan’ said her mother firmly over her cornflakes. ‘This is a family holiday and poor Bethany here has been feeling lonely without you around. You’re spending the day with us.’

  ‘But Mum….!’ Megan began.

  ‘Oh please Megan’ Bethany implored her. ‘There’s this fantastic cove that we went to. I found tonnes of beautiful shells on the beach, and I saw...’ at this moment Bethany trailed off, reluctant to say exactly what she’d seen in front of Mum and Dad. ‘You’ll like it there, you’ll see’ was all she added. Megan looked to Dad for support, but she could tell that he would not be swayed. She bit disconsolately on her toast.

  Megan sat unhappily reading a book while Bethany got her rock-pool net and jam-jars together and Dad made some sandwiches to take with them. She couldn’t concentrate and ended up staring out of the window instead. Just then a car horn tooted outside and Megan leapt out of her chair, throwing her book down, keen to meet her friend.

  ‘It’s Rachel!’ she cried enthusiastically. She ran out of the holiday cottage, flung open the garden gate and bounded over to where Rachel had parked her Citroen Deux Cheveaux.

  ‘Are you free today?’ Rachel smiled. She was wearing a floaty summer dress and looked tanned and relaxed. Megan pulled a face.

  ‘I don’t know, maybe if you could talk to Mum and Dad’ she said, ‘then they might let me come with you.

  Just then Dad walked over wearing shorts and flip-flops to put some things in the car. Rachel got out of her Citroen to greet him.

  ‘Hello Mr Ames’ she called. Dad smiled sympathetically but firmly.

  ‘Hello Rachel’ he replied. ‘I’m sorry, Megan can’t spend the day with you today. You see our Bethany’s been feeling a bit left out and so we’re having a family day out. You understand don’t you?’ Rachel nodded.

  ‘We’re leaving in about fifteen minutes so you can chat till then if you like’ Dad added. He stuffed a couple of beach towels into the back of the family car, and flip-flopped back to the cottage. Once he was out of earshot, Megan turned back to Rachel.

  ‘So, did Jane lend you a copy of Owen Davidson’s article then?’ she asked excitedly.

  ‘As a matter of fact she dropped off a copy first thing this morning’ Rachel replied.

  ‘Let’s have a look then!’ said Megan.

  ‘I didn’t bring a copy with me though’ replied Rachel. ‘I didn’t think I’d need to. But I can tell you what it says if you like.’ Megan nodded.

  ‘Well you know that Owen Davidson was a geologist working for the tin mines?’ she asked, leaning on the bonnet of the Citroen. Megan nodded. ‘Well it turns out that he was working there in the Eighteen Nineties, two or three decades after the Reverend Smith was on the scene. Some of the tunnels go right out under the sea. I wouldn’t fancy being down there personally. Those tunnels branch out from the main shaft and follow the seams of tin. This time though old Owen Davidson, decided to build an exploratory tunnel to follow a seam of mineral he hadn’t seen there before.’

  ‘So he dug along the seam and found the Trinity Caves did he?’ asked Megan.

  ‘Well, in a nutshell, yes. In his article there’s a lot of technical stuff about the types of rock and props they use to support the tunnel and the risk of gas building up and the like.’

  ‘So, what did he say the caves were like then?’

  ‘Apparently he was really intrigued by this green mineral in the rock’ Rachel continued. ‘He took four men and had them swinging their picks in relays of two to make faster progress. When they finally broke through the wall of the cave an eerie green light enveloped them. As Owen Davidson stepped through into the cave itself, he could see that the mineral formed into crystalline structures the like of which he had never witnessed before. He took samples of the crystal for analysis by breaking a piece off with his pick. He said it was evident that the caves were linked to the sea somehow, but he was unable to determine exactly how.’ Rachel paused for a moment. ‘He said that the caves had an unworldly beauty the like of which he had never experienced before.’

  ‘But if he discovered these caves, how come no one knows how to find them now?’ asked Megan curiously.

  ‘Well, that’s the strange thing about the article’ replied Rachel thoughtfully. ‘He just says he discussed the discovery with the miners who had helped him and they all decided t
o seal the cave off again to protect it from the outside world. It was like they knew they’d uncovered something special and didn’t want the rest of the world trampling through and spoiling it.’

  ‘The miners who helped him were local men from Merwater, were they?’ Megan asked. Rachel nodded. ‘Maybe they knew the caves had a special significance locally and just decided to protect them.’

  ‘Who knows’ replied Rachel shrugging. ‘Old Owen Davidson is certainly very pragmatic in his article anyway. You wonder why he wrote it at all if he wanted to keep the caves secret.’

  ‘What about the mineral he took a sample of. Did they ever find out what it was?’

  ‘Not really’ replied Rachel. ‘Owen Davidson claimed it was unknown to science. It’s not in his article. Jane told me that he left for a position as mine geologist soon after in Pittsburgh, but his ship was lost at sea and with him the mineral samples that he took.’ Just then Mum appeared in the cottage doorway.

  ‘Are you ready to get going love?’ she called over to Megan. ‘We’re heading off in five minutes.’ Megan turned to Rachel.

  ‘I’m sorry. I’ve got to go I guess. The thing is though, that we’re no closer to finding these caves at all are we?’ Rachel shook her head. Megan felt defeated. How could they discover anything worthwhile in the few days before she had to leave Cornwall and go back home. It seemed impossible.

  ‘Don’t worry, we’ll think of something’ Rachel replied, trying to be up-beat, but. neither she nor Megan really believed it though.

  ‘Come on, let’s get going’ called Mum. Megan turned to Rachel and sighed.

  ‘See you tomorrow, I hope’ she said. Rachel got in her Citroen and Megan reluctantly climbed into the back of the family car.

  ‘You’ll really like where we’re going Megan’ said Bethany excitedly as she squeezed in next to her elder sister. Megan shrugged.

  ‘No really, you will. You’ll see’ said Bethany thinking about what she’d seen at Old Man’s Cove the last time she was there. Bethany hadn’t wanted to tell her sister. She wanted it to be a surprise if the dolphin came again. Somehow, Bethany was just sure that it would.

  It was only a short drive, and although the small engine of Dad’s car struggled with some of the hills, they were soon there. They parked up at the side of the road next to a stile and a gate into a field. Mum and Dad pulled out a surprising amount of things from the back of the car, but Megan ran on ahead across the field.

  ‘Come on Megan!’ she called back in an excited voice. Mum and Dad lumbered behind with picnic things, towels, a net bag with balls and a beach break. ‘Look!’ exclaimed Bethany as Megan caught up with her. Below them, down a steep path, was a tidy little cove with a crescent of sand and then pebbles behind. The sea lapped gently on the shore and the summer sun was rising rapidly in the sky. It looked like the perfect place to spend the day thought Megan. Ordinarily she would be happy to spend the day with her younger sister, playing on the sand and looking for sea urchins in the rock pools. Instead she could not dispel the knot of anxiety she felt inside her. Despite all the progress that she had made with Rachel, they seemed no closer to finding the Trinity Caves. She had already lost her link with Jet and for every hour that past, the chances of regaining it became more slight. Very soon the family would be leaving Cornwall and taking the long depressing drive home where life would be duller, greyer and emptier. She wanted to share Bethany’s enthusiasm for rock-pooling, but it felt very hard. Megan sighed inwardly as they started slipping and sliding their way down the path.

  At the bottom of the cove Mum and Dad settled down on beach towels to sunbathe and read. Mum insisted on slathering sun cream on them both although Megan had already turned a nice brown colour. Dad produced a bucket and spade from a bag and she and Bethany went off to look in rock pools.

  They crouched down and peered into the tiny world of perfectly clear water below them. At first neither of them could see anything underneath the fronds of green weed, but then a tiny fish darted across. Bethany swooped with her net but it came up empty.

  ‘Is that a hermit crab?’ whispered Megan. Shyly, legs emerged from an empty cockle shell and the tiny crab started its hesitant way over the rock. As they watched, their breath bated, other creatures started moving too. Bethany spotted a small star fish clinging to a rock and the limpets seemed to adjust their shells. Finally the miniscule fish of the rock pool came out again and sunned themselves in the middle.

  As they crouched, Megan realised that Bethany kept glancing up to scan the sea, as though she was expecting something.

  ‘Come on’ said Megan eventually, ‘let’s stand up. My legs are killing me with all this crouching.’ They made their way stiffly across a ledge of rock which jutted out into the sea. They sat down and dangled their legs into the gently lapping water to cool down.

  ‘Ooh what’s that?’ exclaimed Bethany suddenly. They both scanned the sea again, but there was nothing there.

  ‘I don’t see anything’ smiled Megan. ‘What are you looking for?’

  ‘Oh, nothing’ replied Bethany unconvincingly but her eyes still looked out at the grey-green sea.

  Presently, Mum called them over for their picnic lunch. The four of them drank orange squash and ate egg and watercress sandwiches, which had already turned up slightly at the edges. Sitting on the beach towels, Megan couldn’t help but notice Bethany’s surreptitious glances over her shoulder at the sea. What was it that Bethany was trying to spot?

  After their picnic, Mum and Dad showed every sign of settling down for a snooze while Bethany and Megan decided to play with the table-tennis rackets and ping pong ball that they had brought. Despite her worries, Megan enjoyed the game, even though they spent more time trying to retrieve the ball from the pebbles than actually hit it.

  After a while, Megan paused to swig some more orange squash while Bethany went to pick up the ball yet again from the shore line. Mum and Dad were both dozing peacefully. Dad had turned a lobster red colour but at least the sun had moved round now so that he was in the shade.

  ‘Megan!’ whispered Bethany loudly. ‘Megan! It’s your friend.’ Megan turned, wondering what on earth her sister was talking about, when she saw him in the waves, just off the shelf of rock to one side of the beach.

  ‘Jet!’ she exclaimed, and ran to the water’s edge. She could tell immediately from his dorsal fin who he was. She stopped and looked at Bethany for a moment, who seemed to have known all along that Jet would be coming. She glanced back at Mum and Dad again, sleeping quietly in the shade.

  ‘Go!’ whispered Bethany excitedly. ‘Go!’ Megan smiled in thanks, before she dived into the water and swam out to Jet.

  ‘It’s so good to see you Jet’ she said, tears in her eyes as she got to him. Although they never could speak when they met like this, a look of understanding passed between them.

  Megan hugged Jet briefly and before she knew it, he was pulling her out through the water while she clung on to his pectoral fin. It felt exhilarating and wonderful to be with him in the open sea like this. Jet swam out away from the coast before turning back towards the line of granite cliff in front of them.

  ‘Tell me I haven’t lost you’ she whispered to Jet. Then, as he swept her along, a powerful feeling came over Megan; something that she had never felt before and which she knew she would never truly understand. She felt that she was being guided by someone or something that seemed to stretch across time itself to reach her. It seemed that Jet felt the same thing too. He turned and swam towards the edge of the cliff. Megan realised that he was going to dive, and took a lung full of air just before he did so. Sea water boiled up into her eyes and ears and then it cleared again.

  There in front of them was a hole in the rock that looked as though it had been worn smooth by ten thousand years of tides. It was narrow, but seemed perfectly designed for a dolphin to pass through. Megan realised that Jet could not pass into it with her on his back, and released her grip to set him free. Jet turned to loo
k at her for a moment, but then with a convulsive flick of his tail he disappeared into the smooth hole and out of view. Megan stayed under water for as long as she could, but after a minute or so her lungs began to hurt and she had to break the surface to breath.

  Suddenly Jet was with her again and swimming around her in such an excited way that she wondered what it was that he had found. Then she realised. The caves! If Jet had found his way in, then her way in must surely be somewhere in the cliffs above her. Megan looked up. There, almost at the top of the cliff were some gorse bushes obscuring a lip of overhanging rock. Surely she must be able to find a way in somehow!

  Chapter Sixteen:

  Lucy shivered and pulled her coat around her as she and Paul walked back up the track from the blocked-off entrances to the tunnels. The snow was falling heavily now. Great fat flakes came fluttering down around them as they walked. The buddleia bushes were already sagging under the weight of snow and a thin layer had settled on the rough ground so that their shoes crunched as they stepped upon it.

  ‘I love snow’ exclaimed Lucy looking around her. In the space of a few minutes the whole landscape seemed to have been transformed. The world around them sounded muffled and almost silent. Snow was even settling in their hair.

  Water was still running across the bed of the walled stream, but Lucy could see that ice was spreading from the edges of the stones.

  ‘Watch out’ said Paul a few steps ahead of her. ‘It’s like an ice rink here.’ They slithered along until they came back to the old orchard where the leafless, silhouetted trees had already turned white. It seemed to Lucy for a moment as though they were the last people on earth.

  ‘Whaoh!’ exclaimed Paul in surprise. Standing at the top of the bank stood a slim, pleasant-looking woman in her late forties wearing a heavy woollen coat. She appeared to have been staring down on the town below them at the base of the hill, lost in thought.