Ocean's Kiss

by Lani Wendt Young

  She didn’t look convinced.

  “You already shot me. I could have died. I’m sitting in your kitchen, completely at your mercy, half-naked, and my shoulder glued tight with some funky leaf medicine shit. You got me.”

  In that moment Ronan felt like she looked at him. Really looked at him, like how a woman looks at a man. A half-naked man in the evening light. Her gaze moved from his face to his shoulder, then over the contours of his chest, along the line of his arms. The glare faded, replaced with something else, a flare of appreciation, curiosity?

  “What do you want from me?” she asked. This time she was asking, not demanding. Her voice soft in the night.

  “You say you know the whales. That you understand them. So you know better than I do, that they’re in danger. Their numbers are depleting. Fast. The females aren’t having as many calves as they used to. Why? Is it the rising ocean temperature? Or the increased fishing boat activity in the Pacific? Or is it something else? We can’t help, if we don’t know what’s hurting them. Help me. Help us.”

  “So you do care,” she said.

  “Yes. We may not get it right all the time, but I swear, I care. The whole team does. And our methods may be primitive and screwed up, but that’s why I’m asking for help so we can get it right.”

  “I’ll think about it,” she said.

  His smile was immediate as relief flooded him. He’d expected her to say no.

  “I guess I’ll go now. Thank you for fixing me up,” he said.

  He put his shirt back on and slowly made his way to the door, reluctant to go. Wanting to stay here in her home. Anywhere that she was is where he wanted to be.

  When he was at the door, she spoke.

  “Moanasina,” she said. “My name. It’s Moanasina.”

  Ronan went out into the night with a smile on his face and a name dancing on auto replay in his head.

  Several days later and Ronan was out at sea with the team. It was an overcast day and a restless wind had the ocean whipped to a rough swell.

  “We better turn back,” Thomas shouted over the sound of the waves. “We won’t get any work done out here. Not in this.”

  The others agreed. The boat was on its way back to the island when Ronan caught sight of something.

  “Wait. Up ahead. There’s a dolphin caught in something.”

  They pulled the boat alongside, as close as they dared and the sight of the magnificent creature struggling in a thick web of netting had them all swearing. They all hated to see any creature suffer and this was particularly bad. The dolphin had obviously been trapped for some time because it’s struggling was getting weaker by the minute. They knew she wouldn’t last much longer.

  Ronan stripped off his shirt and reached for the snorkel gear.

  “What do you think you’re doing?” Thomas snapped at him.

  “I’m going in,” said Ronan. He got one of the knives they used for situations like this, and strapped the holster to his thigh.

  “You can’t,” said Thomas. “It’s too rough out there. And besides, how are you going to swim with that shoulder?”

  Too late, Ronan had dived from the deck and into the choppy water. “Chuck me the ring!” he yelled.

  Out of options and muttering under his breath about stubborn idiots, Thomas threw the life ring down to him and then the men watched as Ronan made his way to the trapped dolphin. As he approached, the creature threshed to life with renewed vigor, driven by fear as a human drew near.

  “Watch out!” shouted Gene.

  “I know what I’m doing,” said Ronan, more to himself as he proceeded to cut through the netting. It was harder than it looked. It didn’t help that the dolphin had decided that she didn’t want Ronan anywhere near her and she was going to use whatever energy she had left to try and smash him. Ronan held onto the ring with one hand, and cut at the net with the knife in the other, while doing his best to avoid the dolphin’s frantic rolling and splashing.

  Dolphins may look fun and carefree in movies, but when you’re next to a full grown one in the water, you realize they’re actually quite large. And strong.

  Ronan tried soothing her like he would a scared angry dog. But his dolphin whisperer voice wasn’t working and he cursed loudly as she succeeded in hitting him solidly on the side, knocking the air out of him. For a wild moment the sky was a dark mass of seething stars as he struggled to breathe, clutching to the ring. “That hurt! I hope you didn’t break some ribs girl…” He knew he would be covered in bruises tomorrow.

  The men yelled to him from the boat. “Get back here Ronan! Give it up. The storm’s coming and the wind’s picking up. Don’t be stupid mate!”

  The dolphin was making clicking noises and what sounded like a keening wail. As suddenly as it had started, her threshing stopped as if she were tired out. As if she was giving up.

  Ronan took a deep breath and bit down on the pain in his ribs. He wouldn’t let this dolphin die. He reached out with a steady hand and raised his voice over the rushing wind. “Don’t give up girl. We can do this. Trust me. Let me help you.”

  She started kicking and splashing with renewed vigor and again Ronan copped a hit to his side, this time nearly dislodging the knife from his hand. “That’s not what I meant by not giving up!”

  Again he tried cutting the net and again his progress was slowed by the dolphin’s roll and struggle. Disappointment swamped him as the realization hit. This dolphin was going to die because he couldn’t get her cut free. Because the ocean was full of fishing waste and plastic and humans were killing everything in it. The frustration had him choking. “I’m not giving up on you. I’m not leaving you, y’hear? I’m staying right here.”

  It was raining now and jagged streaks of lightning lit up the sky with flashes of fury.

  Gene used the bullhorn now to yell at him from the boat. “Ronan, get your ass back here now before we leave you out there. The boat isn’t equipped for this kind of weather and you know it!”

  Ronan was torn. He didn’t want to leave the dolphin but he couldn’t put his team’s lives at risk too. In that moment, the dolphin bucked and knocked the knife from his hand. It was gone beneath the waves. Ronan swore. But before he had to make the decision he didn’t want to make – she was there.

  “Moanasina!”

  He didn’t know how or from where, but she appeared beside him, her face taut and severe in the silver light. Rain streamed down her face as she clung to the tangle of net and the rise and fall of the surging waves carried them both heavenward and down again. She reached out and he saw a gleaming knife in her hand.

  “You cut,” she shouted in his ear. “I’ll talk to her.”

  Before Ronan could reply, she dived, reappearing on the other side of the threshing creature. Almost immediately, the dolphin stopped fighting. And while the rain continued to whip at his face, it seemed as if the ocean around them soothed and became a gentle oasis of blue.

  Ronan didn’t know how it was even possible, but he wasn’t going to waste a single minute of the tranquility he suddenly found himself in. He cut at the net and now that the dolphin was at peace, it was easy to slice through the cords. In no time at all, the beautiful silver being was free. A wriggle and a slight roll, and it swam away, leaving them with a series of clicks and chirps. It looked as though Moanasina was going to swim away with it. But how? They were out in open water. Where did she even come from anyway?

  “Come back to the boat!” Ronan called to her.

  Moanasina looked at the dolphin which had paused a few meters away and was leaping in and out of the water – waiting? Moanasina looked undecided, but then the shouts of the men from the boat seemed to make up her mind for her. She shook her head and dived, surfacing impossibly far away. She threw a wave his way and then she disappeared with the dolphin. Ronan wanted to shout and go after her, but with her disappearance, the bubble of calm went too and once again the waves rolled and surged.

  “Ronan! Get back here now,” bellow
ed Gene on the foghorn.

  Back on the boat, the men reprimanded him even as they expertly gunned the motors to get out of the storm.

  “You’re lucky she didn’t drown you,” Gene said. “I thought for sure you were a goner the way she was thrashing around out there.”

  Ronan felt gingerly for his ribs. “I thought she might have broken a couple…but nah, seems okay. Just bruised. Lucky Moanasina showed up.”

  Gene gave him a funny look. “Who?”

  “Moanasina. The woman? The one who helped me with the dolphin?”

  The men exchanged a glance. “What girl?”

  “The woman who was out there with me…” Ronan’s voice trailed away as he realized how they were all staring at him. He tried one more time. “She helped me calm the dolphin so I could cut the net. You probably couldn’t see her because of the rain.”

  “There was nobody out there with you. How could anyone just pop up out of nowhere in the middle of the ocean? I don’t see any boats? Where’d she come from?” demanded Thomas.

  “Yeah, where’d she come from?” added Gene. “Are you okay? Did you bump your head?”

  “No, never mind. I’m fine,” said Ronan, waving away their concern. Maybe it was better they hadn’t seen Moanasina. How do you explain what a woman is doing in the open ocean? Just swimming along with dolphins?

  Ronan was quiet for the rest of the trip back to shore. As the men unloaded, Thomas took him to the side. “You’re nuts, y’know that? You could have been killed. What’s gotten into you? Ever since you got shot, you’ve been acting strange. What’s going on?”

  Ronan shook his head. “Nothing. I’m fine. Just tired, that’s all.”

  After cleaning himself up, Ronan went to her house.

  “What are you doing here?” she asked. It wasn’t friendly. But it wasn’t exactly hostile either.

  “I came to thank you for helping me out today.”

  She shrugged. “I wasn’t helping you. I came to help her.”

  “Either way, you saved me from a lot more bruises and possibly getting dunked permanently.”

  There was a gleam in her dark eyes at that. “So you’re saying I saved your life?”

  “I wouldn’t go that far,” amended Ronan with a grin. “I wouldn’t call it that.”

  “So what would you call it?”

  “I was rescuing a dolphin in need and you assisted,” he said.

  “I assisted YOU?” she raised an eyebrow at him. “You were assisting ME out there. I was in charge of that rescue.”

  The mood between them had changed. She still wasn’t smiling at him and she still spoke every sentence with an accusatory tone, like she was ready to battle at any minute. But Ronan was convinced they had moved to friendly bantering.

  “Can I come in?” he asked, with a winning smile.

  “What for?” she replied. Surly and with her arms folded across her chest.

  “I thought you might want to check my wound. Y’know, make sure it’s healing alright. And I brought you dinner.” He showed her the paper bag he held in one hand.

  She looked suspicious and nodded at what he held in his other hand. “What’s the guitar for?”

  “You’ll see,” he said. “Are you going to let me in?”

  “I was going to sleep early. I’m tired,” said Moanasina. “I’m not hungry.”

  “Even for lu sipi and faikakai topai?” said Ronan as he opened the paper bag.

  A whiff of coconut cream and caramelized sugar had her eyes widening. “Is that Afereki’s cooking?”

  “It sure is.”

  “He only makes it on Tuesdays. How did you get that?” Moanasina demanded.

  “Afereki and I are friends. I put in a special request. So…are you hungry now? I brought enough for both of us. And extra for your breakfast.” Ronan was using bribery and they both knew it.

  It worked. Moanasina took the bag from him and he followed her inside where she grabbed plates and then led the way outside the back door through to the garden. There was a wooden table and platform chairs under a sweeping tamaligi tree. The day was fading and cooling to a pleasant few degrees lower from the usual tropical sweltering heat. Moanasina lit a coconut oil lamp and Ronan sat across from her as she divided up the food between two plates. There was some sort of essential oil in the lamp and the aromatic perfume curled on the edges of the lilting breeze.

  “It keeps the mosquitos away,” explained Moanasina.

  There was no more talk as she focused on eating and Ronan knew better than to try talking, remembering the serious intensity from the other night at the bar. The meal was delicious but even more enjoyable, was watching Moanasina eat. Out of the corner of his eye of course, trying to pretend like he wasn’t watching her. She ate slowly, chewing each mouthful with focused enjoyment.

  “You’re a serious eater,” he said, not expecting a response.

  “I was hungry a lot as a child,” said Moanasina. “I don’t waste a single bite now. Or let it go unappreciated.” She jerked her head at his empty plate. “You eat too fast. Even the concept of fast food is for people who have never truly felt hunger.”

  It was a rebuke and he felt it as such. Okaaaaay then. Time to change the subject.

  “What were you doing out there today?” he asked. “You appeared out of nowhere.”

  “Visiting friends,” she said.

  “I didn’t see a boat anywhere.”

  “That’s because there wasn’t one,” she replied.

  “We were thirty miles out!” said Ronan. “How did you get there?”

  “I’m a good swimmer.”

  “You’re really not going to tell me, are you?” said Ronan in resignation.

  “Tell you what?” replied Moanasina. “What’s to tell? There was a dolphin caught in a fishing net. You helped me free her. Nobody got injured. No boats were damaged.”

  “Nobody got shot,” added Ronan, with a straight face.

  She didn’t take the bait. Ronan gave up trying to get any more details from her. Instead he got his guitar and started tuning it.

  She gave him a puzzled frown. “What are you doing?”

  “I thought we could have some music for our dinner date,” said Ronan.

  More frowning. “This isn’t a date.”

  “It’s not?” Ronan faked innocence. “Oh, I’m sorry. I thought that’s what you call it when two people have dinner together.” Then before she could come up with a harsh reply, he started playing. He started soft and slow, his voice a tentative whisper in the night, growing in confidence as he warmed up.

  Moanasina’s frown faded. He’d worried she would put a stop to his singing, that she would spurn his attempt to serenade her under the silver moon.

  “You can sing,” she said with something that sounded like awe.

  A nonchalant shrug. “Everybody can sing.”

  She shook her head. “I can’t.”

  Ronan laughed at the conviction in her voice. “Sure you can. Come on, join in with me.”

  “I don’t know the words,” said Moanasina.

  “I’ll write them down for you,” said Ronan. “Got pen and paper?”

  For the first time, she looked ill at ease. Unsure of herself. “I can’t read.” Her stare dared him to judge her.

  Ronan didn’t miss a beat. “Okay. Then I’ll sing each line and you can repeat it after me.”

  And that’s how Ronan taught Moanasina her first country music duet. Her voice was beautiful, like he knew it would be, raspy and rich, and she was a fast learner. After only a few stumbles, they were singing in perfect harmony, and then Ronan concentrated on simply playing the guitar so she could solo the rest. They were so focused on the music that they didn’t notice at first, that she was attracting an audience. Until the splashing distracted them.

  Ronan saw it first and the sight stopped his playing. “I don’t believe it! Look.”

  Moanasina turned and her face lit up with delight.

  The lagoon was li
t up with silken moonlight, and the shallows churned with the splashing pirouettes of a pod of silver dolphins. Joyful.

  “They like your singing,” said Ronan.

  “No,” laughed Moanasina. “It’s the dolphin you helped rescue today. And her family. They’re saying thank you. Come on.” She ran lightly down to the shore and into the shallows. “Are you coming in?”

  It was an invitation he couldn’t refuse. Ronan tugged his shirt off and joined Moanasina in the water where she playfully splashed him, and laughed when he returned the favor. Over the next hour, he saw a different side to the woman he was still trying to understand. In the water, with the dolphins, she seemed to come alive. She talked to them in a lilting voice, and they responded with clicks and splashes, as if they could understand her. She had an ease with the dolphins that told Ronan she knew them well. And that ease seemed to include him as she drew him into a light hearted game of splashing and wrestling. Gone was the reserve and mistrust, the ever present suspicion and readiness to go on the attack. In the water, Moanasina was in her element. This was her happy place. She felt safe. She came alive.

  It was the best night of Ronan’s life.

  And after, when the dolphins had swum away, and Moanasina had flopped down on the sand declaring herself exhausted, it somehow seemed the most natural and right thing in the world, that Ronan would take her hand and help pull her up. That she would laugh as she stumbled, and ended up in his arms. That he would hold her close, pressed against the warmth of his chest, the thudding beat of his heart.

  He looked into her eyes, and there were no more walls between them. There was only an ocean of light and being. He knew there was still much he didn’t know or understand of her mysteries. That he probably never would. But then she kissed him, and none of that mattered. All that mattered was this moment, right here, right now, as Moanasina kissed him on a moonlit beach.