Heart of a Dolphin

by Catherine Hapka

  “Hey!” I cried, laughing and spitting out water from the splash. “Don’t land on me!”

  I waited for him to surface, but there was no sign of him. When I glanced around, I saw him several yards behind me, completely ignoring me as he floated there facing toward shore.

  “Squeak?” I called, striking out toward him. When I reached him, I tweaked his fin. “Tag, you’re it!” I said with a laugh.

  He jerked away, letting out a sharp whistle. Then he sped toward shore, his dorsal fin cutting the water.

  Where was he going, and why was he acting so strangely all of a sudden? As I looked past him, I finally noticed Will. He wasn’t on the beach where I’d left him—he was wading far out through the shallows, the water up over his waist.

  “Will!” I shouted. “Stop right there!”

  My little brother hesitated for a moment, squinting out toward me. “Here, Admiral Squeak!” his voice drifted toward me on the breeze.

  Then he took another step and wobbled. “No!” I yelled, my voice cracking with panic as I realized he’d just reached the drop-off. “Will, stop! I mean it!”

  It was too late. With a cry, he toppled into the deeper water. His arms flailed, and he shrieked with fear. Soon his bright reddish-blond head disappeared beneath the waves.

  I kicked off and swam as fast as I could. Luckily I hadn’t been too far out. I reached him just as he was about to go under again, flinging one arm around his chest and tipping him back the way I’d learned from Dad.

  “Annie!” he burbled, water spurting out of his mouth and nose.

  “Don’t talk,” I said breathlessly. “Just stay still.”

  It was only a few feet back to the drop-off. Soon I was able to put my feet down, and half carry and half lead Will back to the beach.

  He collapsed onto the rocky sand, still coughing and sputtering. I leaned over, resting my hands on my knees as I waited for my breath to come back and my heart to slow down.

  Finally I was able to speak. “I told you not to go in!” I yelled, my insides a churning mess of relief combined with anger and maybe a touch of guilt. “You could have drowned!”

  He tilted his head up at me, looking a little scared but mostly sullen. “I wanted to play with Admiral Squeak, too,” he said. “I’m the one who named him, remember?”

  That reminded me to glance out at the water. But Squeak was nowhere in sight. Had Will’s thrashing and screaming scared him out of the cove?

  I wanted to swim back out to look for him, but I didn’t dare. Not with Will here, anyway.

  “Come on.” I grabbed his hand, dragging him to his feet. “I’m taking you home.”

  Half an hour later, I was making my way down the cove trail again. Needless to say, Jacob hadn’t been happy about what had happened. He’d tried to insist that both Will and I stay in the house for the rest of the afternoon.

  But I wanted to see if Squeak was still in the cove. Besides, I’d been in such a hurry to get Will home that I’d forgotten my shorts and library book down on the beach. Even Jacob agreed that I should retrieve the book, so he distracted Will with a video game long enough for me to slip out.

  Halfway down, I heard the sound of whistling. It was Emma! She was down on the beach, bent over something in the rocky area near the tidal pool.

  “Hey!” I called, hurrying the rest of the way down. “Emma!”

  She looked up, and I realized she’d been peering at her smartphone, a gift from her parents on her last birthday. The shade from the cliffs hid her expression, but when she stepped into the sunlight, I could see that she was frowning slightly. I also noticed a battered metal bucket sitting on the sand nearby—the same one we always used to collect shells and stuff.

  “Annie,” she said. “I didn’t know you were coming down.”

  I laughed. “Since when do we have to make an appointment to come here?” My mood had lifted just seeing her here in our favorite spot. Until that moment, I hadn’t even realized how much I’d missed her over the past few days. “Where have you been hiding lately, anyway?”

  She shrugged, fiddling with her phone. “Oh, you know. Here and there.”

  I stepped forward and glanced into the bucket. It was half full of rocks and sand. “What are you doing?”

  She glanced down at the bucket, then tugged on a strand of her long hair, something she only did when she was nervous. But what did she have to be nervous about, just standing there talking to me?

  “Um, actually it’s lucky I ran into you,” she said in a fast, breathy sort of voice. “See, Morgan and I were planning a beach sleepover tonight, and I wanted to see if you wanted to come, too.”

  My whole body went numb, and for a second it felt like I forgot how to breathe. A beach sleepover … with Morgan?

  “It’ll be fun, right?” Emma was smiling at me now, though her eyes still looked worried. “You’ll come, won’t you?”

  I opened my mouth, ready to say yes, of course I’d come. I hadn’t missed one of our beach sleepovers in the past five years. Why would I start now?

  But I stopped myself before the words came out. This wasn’t going to be one of our beach sleepovers. Not if Morgan was there.

  Besides, a sneaky little thought popped into my mind, if I hadn’t turned up here right now, would Emma have invited me at all? Would she rather it was just her and Morgan?

  The thought was too horrible to bear. “Sorry,” I blurted out, willing the tears welling up in my eyes to stay back. “I can’t. I’m busy.”

  Not waiting for a response, I kicked off my flip-flops and raced into the water, flinging myself in to swim as soon as it was deep enough. My arms pulled through the water with powerful strokes, and soon I was halfway to the mouth of the cove.

  Only then did I stop for breath. Treading water, I glanced back and saw that Emma had returned to collecting rocks and shells in her bucket. Wasn’t she even going to try to follow me?

  Guess not, I thought, realizing she’d been wearing shorts and a halter top—no swimsuit in sight.

  I forgot about that as I felt something brush against my leg underwater. With a gasp, I pushed back, visions of sharks and jellyfish dancing through my head. But a second later, Squeak’s face popped into view, and he let out a cheerful whistle.

  I whistled back, my face relaxing into a tiny smile.

  “You didn’t leave,” I said. “And, hey, thanks for warning me about Will earlier.”

  I lifted a hand, waiting to see how the dolphin would react. He stayed where he was, letting out a soft chirp, so I reached over and stroked him.

  He pushed against my hand, floating a little closer. Glancing over my shoulder, I saw that Emma had come to the edge of the water and was looking our way.

  That made me feel daring somehow, and I ran my hand over Squeak’s head and along his back toward his dorsal fin. He moved away before I touched it, letting out another chirp.

  “Sorry,” I said. “Don’t you want me to touch your fin?”

  At the sound of my voice, he swam closer again. This time when I reached for his fin, he didn’t swim away. I touched it, then gripped it a little more tightly. I’d seen those shows where people held on to trained dolphins and got pulled around like Emma had talked about the first time we’d seen Squeak. But I wasn’t sure how a wild dolphin might react if I tried it.

  Squeak didn’t seem to know how to react, either. He just floated there for a moment, rolling his eyes back toward me.

  “Go ahead, buddy,” I urged. “Let’s swim!”

  I kicked my legs, pushing him sideways. That got him started, and he dove under the water so quickly I hardly had time to take a breath. I held on for a few seconds, then lost my grip, clawing my way back to the surface and emerging laughing and sputtering.

  The dolphin popped up nearby seeming to grin at me. “That was quite a ride, Squeak,” I exclaimed, feeling breathless—partly just from being underwater, but mostly because those few seconds had felt like flying. Amazing! “Can we try it ag
ain? Maybe a little slower this time, huh?”

  For half an hour or so after that, we played at dolphin rides. The next few times went much like the first, but eventually we both got the hang of it. By the end, Squeak was dragging me halfway across the cove before I lost my grip. I sort of wished the other kids from the swim team could see me now. They’d known I was fast before, but with Squeak I was unbeatable!

  I was having so much fun that I forgot to keep sneaking peeks toward the beach, so I wasn’t quite sure when Emma left. But by the time I retreated to the shallows to catch my breath, she was nowhere to be seen. I tried not to let myself feel sad about that.

  “Who needs her?” I muttered, watching as Squeak swam around just beyond the drop-off. “At least I still have one friend, even if he talks in squeaks and whistles and lives in the water.”

  I woke up early on Monday after a night of restless dreams where I was a mermaid and lived underwater with Squeak and coached a swim team made up of crabs and jellyfish. Or something like that, anyway—as usual the details soon drifted away, but the mood of the dream stuck with me for a while.

  After a quick breakfast consisting of a glass of milk and a handful of grapes, I stepped into my flip-flops and headed for the door. I hadn’t been to the cove the day before, since I’d spent the entire day helping at the restaurant and trying not to think about Emma’s sleepover.

  It didn’t really work, though. Everything I was trying so hard not to think about kept crowding into my mind, especially since there were hardly any customers to distract me.

  There was only one thing I thought might make me feel better—seeing Squeak. There was no chance I’d run into Emma down at the cove this early. Or anyone else, either.

  As I pushed open the door, I heard the clatter of footsteps on the steps behind me. It was Dad.

  “Snappy!” he said. “Glad I caught you. Got any big plans today?”

  I let the door swing shut again, wondering what Monday errand he wanted my help with. “Not really,” I said. “I was just going down to the cove.”

  “I’ve got a better idea.” He headed over and started fiddling with the coffee maker. “How about we take the boat out this morning? Maybe we can find that friendly dolphin of yours if he’s still around.”

  “Oh.” With a pang of guilt, I realized I’d never told him or Mom about seeing Squeak on Saturday afternoon. Obviously Will hadn’t said anything, either, which was a little surprising since he couldn’t keep his mouth shut about anything.

  Then again, maybe not so surprising. He probably hadn’t wanted to get in trouble for going in the water without his life jacket. I still shivered when I remembered how close Will had come to drowning, and wondered if I should tell Dad about the incident now.

  But what good would that do? They already knew Will couldn’t be trusted in the water, so all it would do was get me and Jacob in trouble for not watching him more closely. And why ruin Dad’s mood for no reason—especially if he actually wanted to do something fun on his day off for once instead of more work, work, work?

  “Sure, that sounds great,” I told him. “I’ll get my boat shoes.”

  An hour later, we were chugging out of our slip in the marina. It was an overcast day, but instead of making it cooler, the low-hanging clouds just seemed to press the humidity closer to earth and make everything feel warm and sticky. My life jacket stuck to my skin, and tendrils of damp hair tickled the back of my neck. I was glad when we reached open water and picked up a little speed—especially since Dad let me drive most of the way to the cove. On the way, we talked about dolphins and the restaurant and other stuff. It was nice.

  When we were almost there, Dad took over the controls again. He slowed to a crawl, put-putting toward the opening of the cove.

  Suddenly I heard the roar of motors behind us, coming up fast. When I looked back, three large Jet Skis were zipping along over the waves.

  They slowed as they came closer. Teenage boys were driving all three of the machines, with girls hanging on behind two of them. I recognized Morgan as one of the girls, her blond hair gleaming in the sun as she clung tightly to Connor Sullivan’s waist.

  When I glanced at the second girl, I wasn’t sure who it was at first. I blinked salt spray out of my eyes, wondering if it could be the new girl, Zoe. Her hair was about the right color and length.

  The Jet Skis slowed to an idle, pulling alongside our boat. “Emma!” Dad said with a smile. “Is that you? I thought you didn’t like Jet Skis.”

  I gasped as I realized he was right. The second girl wasn’t Zoe—it was Emma! But what had happened to her hair? The last time I’d seen her, it had been nearly as long as mine. And now …

  Morgan noticed me staring. “What do you think, Annie?” she said with a smug little smile. “I cut Em’s hair for her at our sleepover the other night. Doesn’t it look way more stylish now?”

  She shot a pointed look at my own long braids, but I hardly noticed. I was thinking about that day back in second grade when Emma and I had vowed to grow our hair all the way to our ankles. Okay, so mine had never quite made it below my waist, and Emma usually got frustrated with her split ends and ended up trimming it somewhere around the middle of her back. Still, we’d both been proud of our long hair all these years. I couldn’t believe she’d just let Morgan chop it all off without even telling me first!

  Emma loosened her grip on Connor’s friend, touching the ends of her hair, which barely reached her chin.

  “It looks cool, right?” she said.

  “Very nice.” Dad didn’t seem to notice my consternation. “Enjoy your ride, kids. Want to get going again, Annie?” He gestured at the controls.

  “Sure.” I didn’t look at Dad as the whole group sped off. Instead I twisted the starter—a little too vigorously, maybe. The engine sputtered but didn’t turn over.

  “Easy, Snappy,” Dad said, putting his hand over mine to stop me from trying again. “Her engine’s a little older and more temperamental than our other boat. You don’t want to flood it.”

  I let go and flopped back as he gently coaxed the engine back to life. I missed our old boat. I missed my best friend and her long hair and not having Morgan hanging around all the time. Basically I missed the way everything used to be before this stupid summer.

  It was hard to concentrate on having fun after that, especially since Dad and I never did see Squeak or any other dolphins, though we saw a bunch of fish, and a big ray, and some moon jellies, and even a tiny dogfish shark. Normally that would have been a good day on the water, but somehow today it didn’t feel so great. After we returned the boat to the marina, Dad headed over to the restaurant to check on something or other. I should have known he couldn’t stay away all day.

  I was wandering along toward the road home, kicking at a stone on the sidewalk, when I heard someone call my name up ahead. It was Zoe.

  She hurried toward me with Bongo frolicking along beside her. “Hi,” I said when they reached me, bending down to pat the friendly little dog.

  “What’s up, Annie?” Zoe sounded as cheerful as always.

  “Just on my way home, actually.” I hoped she took the hint. After the morning I’d had, I wasn’t really in the mood to socialize.

  “Cool, I’ll go with you. It’s way too hot to walk any farther, right, Bongo?” She bent and ruffled the dog’s ears, then glanced up at me over the tops of her glasses, which had slid halfway down her nose. “Hey, didn’t you say you saw a dolphin in one of the coves?”

  I blinked, startled by the sudden change of topic. “Um, yeah?”

  “Did the one you saw look injured? Because everyone’s talking about that one.”

  “Injured?” My heart skipped a beat. Had something happened to Squeak? “What are you talking about?”

  “Check it out.” She dug a smartphone out of the pocket of her shorts and poked a few buttons on the screen. “Right here.”

  I peered at the tiny screen. It showed the logo of the local news site. Right b
elow that was a headline: SCARRED DOLPHIN VISITS LITTLE TWIN COVE.

  “What?” I exclaimed, instantly recognizing Squeak in the two photos below the headline. His head was poking out of the water in both of them, clearly showing his scar. “How …”

  My gaze hit the words under the photos. CREDIT: MORGAN PIERCE.

  I stared at Morgan’s name, my head spinning. How in the world had she gotten those pictures of Squeak?

  Emma.

  Suddenly I knew that had to be it. Emma had been holding her smartphone when Squeak had turned up in the cove the other day. She must have snapped some photos while he and I were playing.

  That didn’t explain how they’d ended up on the news site. But I had a pretty good theory about that, too.

  “I didn’t even know Morgan’s mom was a TV newswoman until now,” Zoe commented, scrolling down to the brief article beneath the photos. “I haven’t had much chance to talk to Morgan yet. She seems nice, though.”

  Shows what you know, I wanted to say, though I held my tongue.

  “Um, yeah,” I said instead.

  I stared at the photos, not quite believing this was really happening. I mean, it wasn’t hard to believe that Morgan would pull something like this—claiming credit for pictures someone else had taken was right up her alley. It wasn’t even that surprising that Emma would let her do it.

  The part that was hard to believe? That Emma had broken her promise not to tell Morgan about Squeak.

  “I can’t believe her,” I muttered, anger bubbling up in me.

  Zoe glanced at me. “Huh?”

  “Nothing.” I clenched my fists, glaring up toward the Point. “I have to go.”

  I took off at a run, quickly leaving behind Zoe’s confused shouts and Bongo’s excited barking. Halfway up the first hill, I was panting and hot and had to slow to a jog. But my fury kept me going all the way up to the Point.

  Emma was lying on a chaise longue in the backyard flipping through a magazine when I stormed in through the gate. “I can’t believe you!” I shouted.

  She sat up, looking startled. “Annie?”