Dolphin Child

by James Carmody

  ‘Fireflies!’ answered Breeze quickly and they all laughed. ‘I swallowed one once by accident when was leaping from the water. I thought my insides would explode with light!’

  ‘You know in the depths of the ocean there are strange fish that can generate their own light’ said Storm conversationally. ‘Angler fish they are called. It is so dark down there that they cannot see otherwise. Of course it is not possible for us dolphins to descend to such depths, but I have seen one or two that have come up to the surface. They use the light as bait to lure their victims to them. Strange ugly looking fish they are. They look like they might have come from outer space. I give them a wide berth.’

  The dolphins chatted on for a while and then one by one they started to drift off into their waking sleep.

  Just then Spirit felt a prickling sensation, like a wave of energy pass through his flank. He knew by now what this meant and swam a short distance from the others. A larger pulse of energy flowed through him a few moments later and then suddenly Lucy was there in the water next to him, her hair floating around her like tendrils of fine seaweed, her night dress billowing around her like a jelly fish.

  ‘Lucy!’ exclaimed Spirit keenly. ‘Where have you been?’ Even though he could not read the expressions on human faces in the way that other humans can, Spirit was able to sense immediately that there was something wrong. Lucy greeted him as warmly as ever, but then took a long time to compose herself.

  ‘Spirit, there’s something I need to tell you’ she said. He waited expectantly for her to continue speaking.

  ‘There’s a narrow estuary along the coast, where a river flows into the sea. There are various inlets along it and one inlet is fenced off. In that fenced-off inlet or lagoon, there’s …., well.’ Lucy paused again before continuing. ‘There’s a dolphin kept there. It’s your mother Star-Gazer.’

  Spirit was dumb-struck and at first didn’t know what to say or how to react. A whirl of thoughts passed through his brain.

  ‘I…., you.., how do you know?’

  ‘You know that boy Paul?’ continued Lucy. ‘The one who I introduced you to the other day and who swam with us? He told me that he’d seen a dolphin kept prisoner in a lake. I didn’t know whether to believe him at first, but I kept dreaming about the dolphin and I started to wonder if it was linked to you in some way. I didn’t want to say anything to you in case Paul was making it all up, or if I was entirely wrong. But I’ve been able to reach out to the dolphin, like I do with you. I’ve met her. It’s Star-Gazer.’

  It was almost all too much for Spirit to take in.

  ‘Why would she be held prisoner like that? Why would humans do that to her?’ asked Spirit, shaking his head in shock and confusion.

  ‘I, I don’t know Spirit’ admitted Lucy. ‘I haven’t been able to find out yet.’

  ‘Is she well? Is she safe?’ asked Spirit anxiously.

  ‘I think she’s terribly unhappy’ admitted Lucy. ‘She’s fed alright, but she hates being there. She’s lonely and she misses you and the pod.’

  ‘Humans!’ exclaimed Spirit. ‘Humans did this, like they hunt for pilot whales and catch us in their nets. Why can’t they just leave us alone?’ Spirit pulled away slightly from Lucy. ‘I love you Lucy, but I don’t like humans. They do bad stuff to us.’

  ‘I don’t know what to say Spirit’ she replied. ‘But I won’t rest until we’ve been able to rescue her.

  ‘If it weren’t for you Lucy, maybe I’d believe everything that Storm says about humans. But I know you and I know that humans can be good and loving. It just makes it harder to understand when they do something terrible like this. What can we do? How can we save Star-Gazer?’ Spirit looked intently at Lucy, but already her image was starting to fade in the water. He could tell that she was starting to tire and that soon she would disappear altogether. They only had a few seconds left.

  ‘If only she could jump over the fence, or find a gap at the edge of it and force her way through, then she would be able to swim down the estuary and back to the sea’ replied Lucy. ‘Otherwise we will have to set her free.’ Lucy’s image faded into the water like a drop of ink. She was gone.

  Spirit was left with a great and overwhelming sense of relief at the knowledge that his mother was alive, but also a terrible anxiety at the thought of her lonely plight. He looked back at where the rest of the pod were resting. Storm and Dancer had awoken and were quietly looking his way, as though they already knew that something was wrong.

  ‘Storm, Dancer!’ whispered Spirit so as not to wake the others. ‘I need your help.’

  Dad had enjoyed the castle, with its views across the hills towards the sea. He was beginning to feel more relaxed now and some of the stresses of his working life were dropping away. He’d missed Lucy and worried about her, but when he saw her again in the farmyard the other day when he’d arrived she’d seemed so happy and alive, that he realised that he’d been right to give her the freedom she needed. ‘You shouldn’t deny Lucy her true self’ Thelma had said a few months before. ‘If you deny Lucy her true self now, she will never be complete. There will always be a ghost of what might have been. She will be restless and unhappy for all her days.’

  Dad had thought about Thelma’s words many times since he’d met her and he pondered them again as he walked along the High Street of Merwater after Lucy had gone to find that boy Paul. ‘But a Dolphin-Child doesn’t stay a child for long’ she’d continued. ‘Within a year her gift will leave her’ she went on ‘and she’ll be just a regular girl again into pop music and whatnot’. Thelma’s words had assured him. He hoped she was right. What Lucy had inherited from Megan was both a blessing and a curse. He was well aware that all Lucy could think about were the blessings. All Dad could think about was the danger and the curse. Every day he wished that Megan was alive and well still. Every day her loss ached within him.

  Dad had spoken to Thelma on the phone once or twice in the intervening months and several times since Lucy had come down to stay this summer. He looked forward to seeing her soon, but today he hoped to find Mrs Penhaligon. He’d come across the business card she’d given to Lucy at the supermarket the other day and Lucy had mentioned that she was helping out her sister in the shop. The door-bell tinkled as he pushed open the door of the gift shop and walked in.

  The shop was cramped and full of curios and knick-knacks. Dad was relieved to see Mrs Penhaligon working at the till, but there were several customers waiting to pay and she was obviously very busy. He browsed the shelves while she served them.

  ‘Oh Mr Parr, how are you?’ Mrs Penhaligon said, glancing up and seeing him once things had calmed down. Dad approached her to pay for the postcards that he’d selected. Dad chatted to Mrs Penhaligon for a minute or two and then got to the point.

  ‘Can I talk to you about Lucy for a moment?’ he asked. ‘I’m a little concerned about her. She’s got ….well a lot going on in her life at the moment.’

  ‘I know it must have been terribly hard for you and Lucy after your wife died’ Mrs Penhaligon answered sympathetically.

  ‘I don’t mean just that’ replied Dad. ‘There’s other stuff going on as well. She’s passionate about sea life and dolphins in particular’. Dad wanted to say ‘she’s a Dolphin-Child’, but he couldn’t bring himself to say the words. Fortunately he didn’t need to.

  ‘Yes, I am aware’ said Mrs Penhaligon quietly. ‘She is a Dolphin-Child.’

  ‘So you know?’ asked Dad, the surprise showing in his voice. She nodded silently.

  ‘It’s hard for you of course, but I hope you’re giving her the freedom she needs to understand what she is. It’s very important that you do.’

  ‘Do you think she will grow out of it?’ he asked anxiously. He needed to know that someone other than Thelma believed that would be the case and that he would not regret it if he did give her freedom now.

  ‘From what I know of the folklore’ Mrs Penhaligon replied, ‘more often than not children will grow out of it
by the age of thirteen or so. Children can feel a terrible loss when it happens though…’

  ‘But it’s for the best when it does’ Dad broke in quickly.

  ‘That’s something I wonder about’ replied Mrs Penhaligon frankly. ‘She has a gift, a very special one.’

  ‘And I want her to lose it and be a normal child again’ replied Dad.

  ‘You want her to suffer that loss too?’ asked Mrs Penhaligon.

  ‘I have my reasons’ he replied. ‘I intend to protect my daughter and make sure she has a long and safe life. If you learn something that I may need to know to ensure that, you will tell me won’t you?’ Dad urged her. Mrs Penhaligon thought for a moment and then eventually nodded again.

  ‘Yes of course. I understand your concern. If I do become aware of anything, I will certainly tell you’ she assured him. ‘Lucy’s safety will always be paramount as far as I am concerned.’ Dad made sure that Mrs Penhaligon took his mobile telephone number and left the shop with his postcards. He glanced at his watch. Lucy would be already there, waiting for him at the car park. He hurried off.

  ‘I can’t believe that Star-Gazer is still alive!’ exclaimed Dancer in amazement. ‘Is Lucy sure?’

  ‘Lucy has travelled there with her mind, like she does when she stretches out to talk to me or you’ replied Spirit ‘and this boy Paul has seen a dolphin trapped in this inlet from the estuary. We have to go there and find her.’

  ‘It is very dangerous for us to swim into the mouth of an estuary’ warned Storm. ‘The waters are shallow and mud banks block the way. It is very easy to become stranded. What’s more the rubbish that humans leave in the water can cut you open and there is not the space to avoid it. Boats may come and if you are not careful their propellers will slice you up the back’ Storm continued. You might swim to your death if you try it.’

  ‘How can I not try to find her?’ asked Spirit passionately.

  ‘At least because you are smaller like me, you’ll be more agile and better able to slip through small gaps’ commented Dancer. ‘Me too for that matter. Maybe we can go together?’

  ‘We will discuss it with the pod at first light tomorrow morning’ said Storm. ‘Only then will we decide if you should try to reach her. It is too important a decision to be taken without talking it through carefully with the others. Now both of you, go and eat. You need to keep your strength up for tomorrow.’

  Dad sat in the car waiting. Lucy was definitely very late now. They’d agreed to meet there after half an hour. Dad himself arrived five minutes after he’d meant to. Lucy was by now twenty five minutes late and she still hadn’t showed up. He tapped the steering wheel fretfully. He hoped she was okay. She said she’d gone to find this boy Paul. Maybe she’d got caught up in some game or other. Still, it annoyed him if she didn’t come back when she’d agreed to. He’d have to have words with her.

  Suddenly, there she was standing next to the car window, tapping on the glass. She’d appeared from a direction that he did not expect. Next to her was a slightly built boy with curly hair. He looked a complete state. He seemed to be covered in a film of dry dusty mud and his face was streaked with marks where tears had partially washed the mud away. What’s more a couple of bruises had appeared on his arms. Dad got out and quizzed them on what had happened. Lucy quickly told him that Paul was being bullied by a group of kids and that she had stepped in and got him out of there.

  ‘You did the right thing Luce’ Dad assured her. ‘And you Paul. Are you feeling better now?’ Paul nodded, still sniffing back his tears as he did so and Dad could tell that he wasn’t really feeling that much better at all.

  ‘We’d better get you home to your mum’ he said. ‘She needs to know what’s happened so that she can do something about it. This is serious. You can’t fight these battles on your own.’ Paul sniffed again, as though the tears were just about to well up.

  ‘Can I go and wash my face?’ he asked, pointing to the public toilets at the corner of the car park.

  ‘Of course’ said Dad. ‘You clean yourself up and then I’ll drive you over to your mum’s house.’

  ‘Dad, Paul’s Mum doesn’t like me’ said Lucy, as they waited for Paul to come back. ‘It’s because I’m,… well….. And I’m a bit afraid of her as well.’

  ‘Don’t worry Lucy’ replied Dad. ‘You can stay in the car if you like while I go and speak to Paul’s mum. I’m really proud of you for helping Paul like that. You remind me so much of Megan, I mean Mum when she was younger.’

  Lucy felt emotionally drained. It was so good to know that Dad was there to take control of things, talk to Mrs Treddinick and help Paul. She wished that she could just tell him about what Star-Gazer had said to Lucy when she’d reached out to her, so sad and alone there in that muddy inlet. If only Dad could just sort that out as well. She wanted to be able to tell him, but she knew that she could not. That was something that she and Spirit would have to sort out on their own.

  Paul came back and Lucy and Dad drove him home, with Paul giving directions as they went. When they got there Lucy stayed in the car while Dad walked Paul up to the front door. She shrank into her seat in case Mrs Treddinick spotted her. Instead Paul’s mum ushered them both into the house and Lucy waited for what seemed like a very long time before Dad finally emerged again. As Dad walked back to the car, Lucy glanced up at the box room window over the front door. Paul was up there. He held up his palm to the glass of the window, as if to say goodbye. Dad climbed back into the car.

  ‘Mrs Treddinick was very grateful to you for helping Paul. She’s very concerned and she’s going to have a word with some of the local parents.’ He paused. ‘She’s a bit prickly, that lady. I hope they can sort their troubles out between them.’ He started the engine.

  ‘Come on, let’s get home to the cottage. Bethany promised that she’d cook for us this evening. Something with lentils I think she said.’

  All Spirit could dream about that night was his mother, alone in the muddy waters of the lagoon, sad and unhappy. He woke as soon as the rays of light broke over the horizon and started circling restlessly while the others roused themselves from sleep. As soon as Dancer awoke, she soon brought the others to order.

  ‘It’s amazing that Star-Gazer is still alive’ exclaimed Summer when she heard, as her calf No-Name nudged her playfully.

  ‘And it was your human Lucy who found this out?’ asked Chaser thoughtfully. ‘Maybe that’s the reason you are a Child-Seer; not to find us fish but help protect us when we are in danger.’

  ‘The point is that we must do something to help Star-Gazer’ said Storm. ‘But she is trapped behind some sort of steel netting up the estuary. It is perilously dangerous to venture up there. It would be a tragedy to lose another one of us in an attempt to save Star-Gazer.’

  ‘Can’t the human child save Star-Gazer?’ asked Moonlight. ‘Surely we should just leave it up to her?’

  ‘No!’ Spirit almost shouted. ‘I know that Lucy will do everything that she can to save Star-Gazer. She is human but in her soul she is one of us. But it was humans that took my mother. We dolphins should first do everything in our power to help ourselves. I know we can do it.’ The other dolphins pondered this for a few moments.

  ‘Then Breeze and I should go and save Star-Gazer’ said Chaser. ‘We are the strongest and the fastest swimmers.’

  ‘But you are also fully grown’ replied Summer. ‘How will you get up narrow channels and past the mud-banks?’

  ‘That’s true’ said Moonlight. ‘Spirit and Dancer are both much lighter than you. Spirit especially.’

  ‘And she’s my mother after all. It should be me that finds her.’

  ‘Isn’t Spirit too young for such an escapade?’ asked Breeze. ‘He may have taken his coming of age swim, but he almost died in the process and he still has much to learn.’ There were murmurs of agreement.

  ‘I agree with Summer’ said Storm eventually. He looked serious and thoughtful. ‘Spirit is the lightest and smallest of
all of us. He stands the best chance of getting through. He has learnt much in the last few months and is a much wiser dolphin than he was. Also he has Lucy on his side and that is an advantage that cannot be underestimated’. The dolphins of the pod continued to discuss the subject. Eventually it was agreed one by one that Spirit and Dancer should go, but come back immediately if things got difficult.

  ‘And remember’, Storm continued ‘it will be high tide half way through the morning, but then the tide will drop back rapidly. You do not have much time in the estuary. You must get there quickly if you are to come back to us safely. Dancer, it’s your job to make sure Spirit doesn’t get too carried away. You must be the voice of reason. Spirit, you must listen and obey Dancer if she orders you to turn back.

  Normally Spirit would have swum to Old Man’s Cove in the hope that Lucy would be there, but this morning such thoughts were forgotten. The whole pod swam with Dancer and Spirit to within a couple of hundred meters of the mouth of the estuary. The silt laden waters were discoloured and cloudy. Fresh water mingled with salt and tasted completely different to the familiar sea water that Spirit was used to. The tide was reaching its highest point and Spirit and Dancer swam off with a sense of urgency and danger.

  ‘Are we mad to do this?’ asked Spirit, suddenly anxious and doubtful.

  ‘You know that until Star-Gazer is safely back with the rest of the pod, none of us will rest’ Dancer assured him. ‘This is absolutely the right thing to do, even if it is dangerous and ….exciting.’ Dancer shot Spirit a bright look. ‘Come on, we’ve got work to do.’

  At first the swimming was easy. The estuary wasn’t particularly wide, but at high tide it was quite deep enough for them to be able to navigate the waters without difficulty. Every so often they looked nervously over the surface of the water. Densely wooded slopes rose off to each side of the estuary, interspersed with the occasional isolated house. ‘So those are the boxes that humans live in’ thought Spirit to himself. ‘I don’t know how they manage it.’