‘At first no one realised that she was a Dolphin-Child, though she showed all the tell-tale signs. She didn’t tell anyone you see, not even her sister who she was really close to. Then one morning she was gone from her bed and their mum thought something terrible must have happened.’
‘What did happen?’ asked Dad.
‘It was their father who found her’ Thelma continued. ‘He was a fisherman too like many folk round here in those days. He’d left before dawn to put out to sea and didn’t know his daughter had gone missing, but he must have had a feeling in his bones. He thought he saw a pod of dolphins in the distance and as they sometimes show where the shoals of fish are, he put his eye-glass up to his face. There was a girl riding on the back of one of them beasts and although he couldn’t see from that distance, he had a horrid feeling that it was one his own little girls that he’d thought he’d left tucked up safe and sound in bed.’
Thelma paid attention to the traffic for a moment while she and Dad crossed a road and started down the hill.
‘The girl’s father turned his boat around and followed the pod of dolphins. They weren’t far from the shoreline and as he watched, dolphins brought her in uncommonly close and the girl swam back to the beach. He was unable to get his boat that close but he could see that it really was his very own little girl.’
Dad glanced at Thelma as they walked. He could see that she had a faraway look in her eyes as she remembered.
‘Well that girl’s mother and father were mighty worried when they found out that she was a full blown Dolphin-Child.’
‘So what happened then?’ asked Dad curiously. Thelma smiled.
‘Well they just let her be’ she said. ‘They let it run its course like you might with a fever. She was like that for a year or two, you know swimming with her dolphins and whatnot. Then one morning she found that she couldn’t speak with those dolphins using her mind anymore. Then her dolphin dreams lost their colour and she stopped having those too. She was growing up see?’ Dad nodded.
‘And how did the girl cope with it?’ he asked. Thelma sighed.
‘Well as you can well imagine, she felt she’d lost her closest friends. She was distraught. For a while she used to go out with her father on his boat and search for those dolphins and would weep buckets when she couldn’t find them. Then her dad banned that, saying it wasn’t good for her. She got over it in the end, but it took a while. She moved on. She’s all right now you know. She’s got kids of her own and they’re all grown up and left home too.’
‘This girl’ said Dad. ‘It wasn’t you by any chance was it?’ Thelma smiled sadly.
‘No, no it wasn’t. It was my sister. But I almost wished it had been me you know. When I was young I was quite envious of her. It must have been great…’
‘Does she live locally? Can I go and speak to her?’ asked Dad.
‘Oh she moved away.’ Thelma sighed again, shaking her head. ‘She doesn’t like to talk about those things now. I think she still feels the loss. She lives in a big town up north, a long way from the sea.’
‘Is she happy?’
‘Happy enough I reckon’ replied Thelma. ‘I don’t speak to her that much now save for Christmas and birthdays. Our lives went in different directions I suppose. I stayed here and married Nate and she moved far away.’
By now Dad and Thelma had walked all the way down the hill and were close to the harbour. They paused and Thelma gestured for them to sit down and continue their conversation on a bench.
‘And does it pass down the generations, from mother to daughter?’ asked Dad. Thelma smiled again.
‘I know why you’re asking that John Parr’ she replied. ‘It can do, like with your Megan and your Lucy. But mostly it doesn’t. It’s not just girls that become Dolphin-Children you know’ Thelma added. ‘The other one I knew was a boy. But that’s another story.’
‘Is that why the town’s called Merwater?’ asked Dad curiously. ‘I mean, is there a link between Dolphin-Children and well, mermaids?’ Thelma nodded in the direction of the small town museum just across the road next to the public toilets.
‘If you pop your head in over there, there’re all sorts of stories about the name of the town, but I reckon you might be onto something.
‘Is there more stuff about Dolphin-Children in there?’ asked Dad, glancing in the direction of the museum.
‘Well there’s the tale of that sad girl Susan Penhaligon. But she must have lived a couple of hundred years ago now I reckon. There’ve been no stories like that about Dolphin-Children since then that I know of, not in modern times at least. They mostly all grow out of it by their early teens.’ Dad looked down.
‘I know of one girl that didn’t’ he said quietly. ‘It cost her her life. I can’t take that risk with Lucy.’ For a moment Thelma thought he was going to be overcome with emotion and she briefly grasped his hand to comfort him.
‘Let nature take its course’ she assured him. ‘It won’t be like with your Megan. Not this time. Things will work out for the best, you mark my words.’ Just then they heard shouting across the street.
‘Oh it’s that pair Baz and Mike again’ exclaimed Thelma disapprovingly. ‘I really don’t like those two boys.’
‘Who?’ asked Dad.
‘Oh you know’ replied Thelma. ‘They’re the two that have been ganging up on Paul, that friend of young Lucy. I don’t trust them further than I can throw them. I wonder what they’re doing hanging around here.’ They watched for a few moments before the two boys suddenly turned and ran off up the street.
They chatted for a while longer and then Thelma apologised saying that she really must get off to her appointment in town. They went their separate ways and as Thelma bustled off, Dad pushed his bike across the road and walked up to the entrance of the small museum, lost in thought.
The bow of the Lady Thelma broke through low choppy waves. A wind had picked up and Nate could feel the small trawler rise and fall with the sea as they ploughed on. Bob was repairing a lobster pot at the back.
‘Wind’s rising!’ Nate called to him from the cramped cabin.
‘You heard the weather forecast?’ Bob called back.
‘I thought it was going to be clear for this morning’ Nate replied. ‘But it looks to me like the weather’s on the change.’ He thought about raising the Coast Guard on the radio to get a weather update, but he didn’t like to bother them unless it was really necessary. They were heading back to port anyway and they’d be there long before the sea got rough enough to worry about. A while later Nate glanced over his shoulder. The sky was clear and the sun bright, but on the horizon a wall of grey blue cloud seemed to be rolling in towards them.
The pod rested in deeper waters a couple of miles off the coast. Wind picked the sea into tongues that flicked spray up into the air. A cloud of jelly fish drifted glumly into view but the dolphins ignored them disdainfully. Storm took a low leap and surveyed the conditions above the surface of the water.
‘We will have rain before tonight and lots of it’ he said. Spirit had been floating idly in the water, lost in thought.
‘Rain?’ he asked, suddenly paying attention.
‘A summer storm’ continued Storm. ‘The clouds are piling up over there and they are heavy and dark. There will be lightning too. It should be quite a show.’
‘You know what Star-Gazer said?’ Dancer asked. Spirit caught her eye.
‘Yes, she said that if there is rain, then the silt around the fence to the entrance of the lagoon will be washed away. Then there may be a chance of finding a way through. We might find some way to set her free.’ They both turned to look at Storm. The others were all looking in their direction and listening too. He swam a long slow circle while he thought it over.
‘That might just work’ he said quietly, almost to himself.
Bethany strolled out of the studio and across the farmyard. She had been working hard on a painting and needed to go outside, breath in some fresh air and look
at the view. She leant on a gate and stared out across the field to where the cows stood meditatively chewing the cud. Mary came up and leant companionably against the gate beside her.
‘Handsome beasts aren’t they’ she said, ‘and good milkers too’. Bethany nodded absently. ‘What’s on your mind then Beth?’ Mary asked.
‘Oh I was just thinking about Lucy and John’ Bethany replied.
‘Anything in particular?’
‘I’ll really miss Lucy when she goes back home and starts school again. But in the meantime I’m worried about her.
‘This dolphin business?’
‘That’s right’ replied Bethany. ‘The dolphin she has this connection with, Spirit his name is. Well his mother has been lost but now they think that they’ve found her in an inlet off the estuary by a big house.’
‘That would be the old Penrose place that Darren was talking to Lucy about?’
‘Exactly’ Bethany replied, ‘have you been there?’
‘Actually I have’ said Mary. ‘Norman Penrose was one of those financial wizards who made a lot of money in the City and then came down here with all his money to live in the lap of luxury. He and his wife were really into sailing in regattas and that kind of thing. They used to have a big party in the summer at their house. Lovely place it is. It looks down an inlet from the estuary. The house has got massive grounds and woods on both sides. They’d invite anyone and everyone to their summer parties and that’s how I wangled an invite. I had a great time sipping their champagne and nibbling their canapés. Kept thinking I’d get slung out though.’ Mary paused.
‘Don’t know what’s happened to them actually. Haven’t heard a peep about them for ages. I guess they just got old and quietened down. So you think this dolphin’s mother might be stuck there. That’s a bit rum isn’t it?’
‘I know’ replied Bethany, ‘and Lucy’s still not really over the death of her own mother. She’s been through so much in the last year or so and I’m afraid that she’s going to feel even more hurt now, whether that dolphin trapped there is Spirit’s mother or not.’
‘Do you really believe all this stuff about dolphins?’ asked Mary. ‘I mean, they’re just another animal aren’t they? Don’t get me wrong. I think dolphins are lovely, but I work with animals every day and I’ve learned not to be so sentimental about them. Maybe Lucy’s imagination has got the better of her.’
‘Well Lucy doesn’t think so and neither do I’ replied Bethany, feeling a little defensive.
‘But what is it about dolphins that sets them apart?’ asked Mary. Bethany could tell from her expression that she was genuinely curious. Bethany thought for a few moments. It wasn’t an easy question to answer.
‘It’s not just the intelligence you see in their eyes when you look at them’ Bethany answered eventually. ‘It’s more than that. Since the time of the ancient Greeks there have been stories of dolphins saving people in trouble at sea. They show empathy and compassion which is uncannily like our own.’ Mary frowned a little.
‘When I went down sick with the flu last winter, my dog Pip wouldn’t leave me. She kept licking me and nuzzling in to me until I got better again. What’s the difference between my Pip and the compassion which you say that dolphins show.’
‘Yes of course dogs are loyal to their master and mistresses, but the remarkable thing about dolphins is that they are wild and free. They owe no allegiance to any human being. But time and time again they have come and helped us humans in trouble for no other reason than that they wanted to. I don’t think that dogs are like that, do you?’
‘No, I suppose not’ replied Mary thoughtfully as she leant on the fence. ‘But are they really that smart? Pip is a clever dog, but I know she’s not going to start opening her mouth and talk to me.’
‘Dolphins spend more of their time in social interaction than they do in searching for food’ replied Bethany, warming to her subject. ‘They use complex whistles and clicks to communicate with each other which we humans have yet to understand.’
‘That’s just meaningless noise isn’t it? Like a bird singing in a tree.’
‘A dolphin’s brain is pretty much the same size as our own’ continued Bethany. ‘Scientists haven’t been able to crack the code of what they are saying to each other, but we know they cooperate in complex social groups. They wouldn’t need a brain that size if they weren’t interacting with each other in a sophisticated way. It’s a bit like with Egyptian hieroglyphics. For a long time scholars had no idea what they meant. Then they found the Rosetta Stone and that meant they were able to crack the code and figure out what it all meant. With dolphins, we just haven’t found a Rosetta Stone yet.’
‘No I see what you mean, really I do. But as you know, it’s my Darren who’s the local boy. I’m not from these parts. I don’t have this thing with dolphins like some of the local people round here do. But what I don’t reckon on is how Lucy could speak to dolphins somehow. That’s just beyond me.’
‘I don’t know either’ replied Bethany, ‘but somehow it happens. How else could Lucy have known about that little girl trapped on the rock. If it weren’t for her ability to communicate with dolphins, who knows what might have happened to that girl.’
‘That’s true enough’ replied Mary. ‘The coastguard were amazed when I rang up from the farm and said there was a girl stuck on a rock just off the beach. I could hardly believe it myself when I phoned up. I suppose there are just some things that can’t be readily explained.’
‘I guess not’ sighed Bethany. ‘But still, I worry about Lucy.’ Mary glanced up at the sky.
‘Weather’s on the turn’ she said. ‘There’s a storm forecast’. I’d better press on and get a few things sorted out round here before the rains reach us. Catch up with you later Bethany!’
With that, Mary strode off purposefully in the direction of the top field. Bethany stayed leaning on the fence for a few minutes more, studying the placid cows, before she too went inside to resume her work. She wondered where Lucy was now.
When Lucy had turned up at his house and asked him to show her the lagoon where the dolphin was trapped, Paul felt something inside that he hadn’t expected. It wasn’t just that he felt needed, or that now he had a friend who was actually seeking him out. It was that he was proud that in some way he could help. He didn’t know what was going to happen, but at least he could guide her to the big house by the lagoon. They were a team.
As they cycled along, Paul wanted to tell Lucy all about his daydreams of guards running around the grounds with guns and mantraps, but he realised that it would be silly to do so and in any case, it all seemed less important now.
To be a Dolphin-Child seemed to Paul to be an amazing thing. His mum had told him that Dolphin-Children were dangerous and that generations ago a Dolphin-Child called Susan Penhaligon had led their ancestors to a watery grave. She warned him against Lucy and told him to stay away from her. Yet Lucy had been the only one to stand up against his bullies and tormentors. Even his mum seemed to recognise now that Lucy was a good person. Why else would she have let him cycle off up the road with her?
The time that he had swum in the sea with Lucy and her dolphin friend had been magical and electrifying. He could still barely believe it, but it felt as though it were the most important thing that had ever happened to him.
Paul glanced at Lucy as they cycled. She seemed so confident and self-possessed. He was convinced that she didn’t need any other human being because she had her dolphin friends instead. Who needed people anyway? After the last few days, he knew that he didn’t. If Lucy could be a Dolphin-Child, why couldn’t he? It had to be possible, it just had to be.
Paul felt nervous as he showed Lucy the route over the wall to take her into the Penrose estate. He was still half convinced that they would have to dodge bullets on the other side. When they clambered through the rhododendron thicket and came out at the waters edge, Paul could see Lucy focus on the water of the inlet, scanning it for life. Cov
ertly, he tried to do the same too, but was startled when Lucy had strode out from the bank, wading out into the briny water.
Paul didn’t know what to do except just stand there, hoping that in some way Lucy would include him too. Instead she forgot everything else but the sight of the dolphin trapped in the muddy lagoon. Lucy looked and touched the dolphin in a way that showed a level of understanding between girl and creature that Paul could only imagine. He ached to be able to do the same.
In the end he ineffectually waded out a few yards into the water, his feet sinking down into the soft mud as he did so. He didn’t quite know why he did it; he just wanted to be involved in some way. Instead the dolphin pulled Lucy along the length of the inlet all the way up to the closed-link fence that blocked it off from the rest of the estuary and kept the creature trapped.
As they turned, Paul became aware of the tall figure of the old woman standing watching them from the landing stage in front of the big house. He half expected guards to creep up behind him and seize him there and then. He was ready to turn and run, but instead of turning away, he couldn’t believe that Lucy would confront the woman instead.
When she shouted ‘Let this dolphin go!’, it felt like an electric shock running through his entire body. He looked with a mixture of awe and fear from Lucy to the severe-looking woman, wondering what was going to happen next.
Chapter Eighteen:
‘You’d better come in’ the woman said curtly. ‘You can’t walk around in those wet things, even on a summer’s day like this’ she continued, looking disdainfully at Lucy’s wet and muddy clothes. ‘It’s overcast and I think it’s going to rain.’ She glanced in Paul’s direction where he was now standing thigh deep in the water. ‘That goes for your friend there too.’
Dolphin Child Page 21