by Imogen Tovey
‘Wow, you’re so lucky! Can you really talk to the dolphin?’
‘Yes,’ replied Maddy. ‘Look, it’s really important that you keep this a secret. No one would believe us, but if they did they could take Indigo off and do experiments on him.’
CJ added, ‘And Maddy, they might take her away too.’
Lucy stood up and looked out into the bay. The other two joined her, leaning on the rail. ‘Thank you, both of you, for trusting me. I won’t let you or Indigo down. I will never ever tell anyone, and I will try my best to help.’
The door crashed open and Ishbel walked in. ‘Hi, kids, how was your day?’ Then she noticed Lucy and they explained about meeting her when they fell off their bikes. CJ started to say that Lucy’s dad was the President, but Lucy kicked him and stopped him. It would be easier if she didn’t know.
As Ishbel went to pour them all a drink, CJ and Maddy agreed that it would probably be better too. Then CJ said, ‘Is James still outside?’
‘Yes, he will be.’
Maddy and CJ looked at each other and laughed – ‘Mum never notices anything.’
Swimming with a Dolphin
Lucy was standing on the balcony of the room in the hotel she was staying in with her dad. The hotel was on the outskirts of Loutraki, on the left of the bay, and their suite of rooms had a magnificent view of the sea. The early morning sun was shining and it promised to be another beautiful day. Lucy had just finished breakfast with her dad and was now standing watching the sea.
In the sea was a dolphin with Maddy and CJ. They were swimming and diving and jumping out of the sea. One minute Maddy was swimming towards the dolphin, the next the dolphin had vanished under the water followed by Maddy; then they both appeared, breaking the surface at a rate of knots, the dolphin jumping high into the air. Maddy, on breaking through the surface, released her grip of the dolphin’s dorsal fin and crashed back into the water. On the dolphin diving back into the sea, CJ would do a surface dive and then both dolphin and CJ would appear again on the surface, CJ holding onto the dolphin’s dorsal fin, both sprinting along the surface with the water breaking in front of them as they ploughed along the waves.
Lucy was totally engrossed in the scene and hadn’t noticed her dad had joined her until he spoke. ‘Wow, that’s amazing – the two kids and the dolphin, amazing.’ He stood with his coffee cup in his hand. They were up early as usual. He would be heading off to Athens any minute now to another day full of meetings. Having found the letter Maddy and CJ had sent her dad, she had got him to change the arrangements for the trip so that they would stay in Loutraki instead of Athens. She had been hoping to find Maddy, CJ and their dolphin.
‘That’s Indigo, the dolphin that Maddy and CJ sent you a letter about.’
Her dad turned away from the sea and looked at his daughter. ‘What letter?’
Lucy went on to explain that she had knocked a pile of his letters down and found one from Maddy and CJ, explaining how the sonar from the military was harming the dolphins and whales around the world.
‘Lucy, I get hundreds of letters a day, I can’t read them all, you know.’
‘That’s why I brought you here, Dad, and here’s the letter.’ From her pocket she pulled out the letter which she had kept and brought with her and handed it to him.
‘Mr President, your car is here, it’s time to go now,’ said his aide from the patio door.
‘OK – five minutes.’ He knew his daughter wouldn’t let him leave without reading the letter.
Lucy watched as he read the letter, then returned his gaze to the water. ‘That’s Indigo then, is it?’
‘Yes, I met Maddy and CJ yesterday, they are great’
‘They are certainly good swimmers. You know, Lucy, we wouldn’t use the sonar if we didn’t have to, but we need to protect ourselves from terrorists; I have to keep America safe.’
Lucy looked at her dad and said, ‘Did you hear about the sperm whales stranding themselves on the beach? Was that because of our submarines in the seas around Greece?’
Her dad turned and placed his cup down on the table. He then told Lucy that they did have submarines in the seas off Greece and their sonar may have caused the whales to strand themselves, but that it was necessary.
Lucy opened her mouth to argue that it certainly wasn’t necessary, but her dad went on. ‘Lucy, I have to go now. Have fun today and I will see you later.’ He then picked up his jacket and went.
James came onto the balcony and joined her, looking out to the sea as the two children and one dolphin swam towards the beach. ‘What are we doing today then, Lucy?’
Maddy and CJ ran out of the water and up the beach. Maddy said bye to Indigo and they arranged to meet each other up by Cape Heraion later that day. It was out past the lake, by a lighthouse and some old ruins. There were some great rocks to dive off into the sea from there and it was a good distance from Loutraki so that people wouldn’t see too much of what was going on. They had arranged with Lucy that James would drive them over there today.
At breakfast, they told Ishbel where they were planning to go. ‘But I thought we could all go shopping today, I haven’t seen much of you this week; and who is this Lucy anyway?’
‘She’s American, Mum,’ said CJ.
‘Yes, I had worked that one out, CJ, thanks.’
Maddy continued, ‘She’s on holiday with her dad and we bumped into them yesterday and got friendly; we told them about the ruins and volunteered to take them there.’
Ishbel was quite pleased that they had found someone to play with and practice their English with; and, thinking about it, she could get a lot more shopping done without them, so she said that they could go, but they had to be back in time to go waterskiing. ‘You know your dad won’t let you off a day from your waterskiing.’
‘Yes, Mum,’ they chorused and, looking at her watch, Maddy said, ‘We’ve got to go. See you later, Mum.’
As they ran out, grabbing a towel each as they went, Ishbel noticed that CJ still had his swimming trunks on – the same ones he had swum in that morning, so the same ones he would have slept in last night as well. ‘CJ…’ He was already gone. She would have to remember to make sure that he didn’t go to bed with the same ones on again tonight!
As they ran out of the building, Lucy was waiting for them in the same black jeep with James driving. As they climbed in, Jorgos walked up. ‘Hey, kids, where are you going?’
They told him and introduced him to Lucy. ‘And this is…’ said Maddy, pointing to James and then looking towards Lucy.
Lucy continued, ‘This is my dad, James.’
Jorgos greeted him and they exchanged a few pleasantries before he turned to Maddy and CJ saying, ‘On the beach at three then, you two. Don’t be late.’ And he walked off.
They all jumped into the jeep and away they drove, with Lucy saying, ‘It’s just easier saying he’s my dad rather than my bodyguard. That just opens up so many more questions.’ And, turning to James, she said, ‘Drive on, James.’
The Pod
‘Look out below!’ CJ called as he stood on a rock outcrop high above the sea. And with that he threw himself forward and down towards the sea, head first. With his arms out straight above his head, he cut though the surface of the water as he hit, causing a little splash as he disappeared into the waves. Maddy had climbed further up the cliff face and was standing on a rock about two metres higher than the one CJ had just thrown himself off. She too then launched herself off the rock, arching her athletic body as she plummeted down into the sea. As she continued her journey downwards, now surrounded by water rather than air, she spotted Indigo and slowed, bringing her feet down and her head up.
‘How do you always know exactly where I am going to land?’ said Maddy, as she smiled at the face of her favourite dolphin.
‘CJ makes so much noise before he jumps that I think every living thing in the sea knows he is about to plunge in.’
They surfaced and were joined by CJ, who sa
id, ‘Hi, Indigo, did you hear me shout a warning?’
Maddy told him that Indigo thought the whole sea had heard him and they all laughed out loud.
From the cliff, Lucy looked on with amazement at how high up they had jumped from; even James, looking on, was quite impressed, and he used to be a Navy Seal.
They were at Cape Heraion. Having left the jeep up on the track, they had run down the dust track, past the whitewashed chapel which was perched on the cliff, and on past the ancient ruins and up the rocks on the other side. This was a popular place for diving, and on a public holiday the place would be full of people having fun, picnics and diving from the rocks. Luckily today wasn’t a holiday and they were the only ones there.
After a while of swimming around, diving down and racing each other, Maddy looked up to where they had left Lucy and shouted out, ‘Come on down.’ On seeing the look of horror on her face, Maddy quickly added, ‘You can walk down to the cove we passed and just paddle in; we will swim around and meet you.’
As they swam around, Indigo took the opportunity to update Maddy with what had been going on. He explained that at high tide last night he had managed to get Lunar out of the narrow entrance from the lake and back into the sea. Lunar had eaten some fish and was feeling a lot better.
Indigo also stated that two pods of dolphins had moved into the Gulf of Corinth over the last couple of days, having had problems with their sonar; they were feeling disorientated and generally quite ill and confused. They all stated they had heard and felt lots of noise before this had started. They had all drifted into the Gulf and when the noise had stopped they felt a lot better, but some of the young and very old in the pods were still quite unwell. All the dolphins were very anxious and didn’t know what they could do. They wondered whether it was safe to return to the open sea.
CJ, who never liked to be quiet for long and hadn’t of course been able to hear what Indigo had been saying, interrupted. ‘How’s Lunar? Is she around here somewhere? It would be great to have a swim with her.’
Indigo said that Lunar wasn’t far away; he had told her to stay out a bit in case there were people around, but that he would call her in now. As Maddy relayed this to CJ, Indigo emitted a loud, high-pitched call, which would travel a long way through the water.
They turned the corner, coming into view of the cove, and saw Lucy walking into the sea. ‘This is Lucy, Indigo, the President’s daughter I told you about.’
Indigo swam forward slowly, trying to appear as gentle and unthreatening as possible, which isn’t difficult for a dolphin. He stopped an arm’s length from Lucy, in water only about a metre deep. Indigo raised his rostrum up towards her and Lucy raised her hand to bring it towards his nose and touched her open palm to its tip. ‘Wow!’ was all she could say.
CJ shouted out, ‘Come on, then, let’s play,’ and turned out to sea again.
They all swam out into the sea. Lucy, who was a good swimmer, but not half as confident in the water as Maddy and CJ, swam with Indigo at her side and she stroked his side every now and again. She couldn’t believe how soft but firm his skin felt, nor how big and powerful he was this close up.
As they swam deeper, there was a sudden surge as the water was pushed aside; Lunar surfaced in front of them, causing a great break in the water’s surface and Lucy couldn’t help herself – she screamed. But both Maddy and CJ shouted out ‘Wow!’ and CJ gave Lunar a great big hug, putting his arms as far as he could reach around the neck area of Lunar’s body, and giving her a great big kiss.
Lunar wasn’t too sure of humans yet and was scared of the scream, which was of such a high pitch that she could hear it, but she felt safe with the boy and filled with joy as he hugged her. She loved being touched and was missing her family badly. It felt quite natural having this little boy hanging on to her. She moved her tail down and her whole body plunged vertically down under the surface, with young CJ attached.
For the next hour all five of them forgot their worries and just had fun, playing games such as tag and hide and seek, and racing each other – first to a certain point, first to a rock at the bottom and first to the surface. They all laughed a lot and had the best of fun. James was out on the shore, ever-watchful for any type of threat to Lucy. He could not believe what he was witnessing. He had been quite worried at first, but had soon realised that they were safe with the whale and the dolphin.
On the small beach in the cove they ate some sandwiches that Lucy had got James to bring along. Maddy told them what Indigo had related about the dolphins and the noise in the open sea. They all came to the conclusion that the noise was from the submarines that were patrolling around the seas of Greece, to protect against any terrorist attack while all the most important men and women of the most developed counties were in Greece for the NATO summit. They thought that the dolphins were safe in the Gulf as the sonar didn’t come up the channel; sonar can’t bend round corners, or something like that. But they worried about the dolphins and whales that couldn’t escape it and get into the Gulf; and also, as CJ pointed out, if there were too many dolphins and whales in the Gulf, they may become short of food.
Maddy agreed. She also pointed out that Lunar was used to diving down very deep for her food, and that since the Gulf was really too shallow for her, she couldn’t catch the type of food she normally would and probably wouldn’t be able to eat well.
They all saw the problems and had worked out what had caused them, but none of them could work out what they could do to help stop the sonar.
The Castle at Corinth
They were driving past the ancient city of Corinth – well, the remains of it, and there really wasn’t that much left. ‘A few stones,’ as CJ called it.
‘But old ones,’ was always Maddy’s reply.
Ishbel was driving them up to the medieval castle at the top of the very high hill. They had spent a lot of great days up there in the past, having picnics and playing hide and seek among what was left of the turrets and rooms. Ishbel would pack up the food, the kids and a book and drive them up there for a day out. She hadn’t been driving very long, only a couple of years. Before that, she had made Jorgos drop them off, then they had to wait for him to remember to collect them. It was much better now she was driving. Of course, Ishbel had had her British driving licence for years, but despite having passed she still couldn’t drive well and had no confidence. Even now, she only ever really drove around Loutraki, never in Athens.
Lucy was with them; Maddy had asked if she could come along when Ishbel had suggested the night before that they go to the castle. Ishbel said Lucy could come, so Maddy had phoned and asked her. They had decided that James could keep an eye on her from a distance. He was following them on a motorbike at the moment. They were playing at who could catch sight of him the most times. They hadn’t told Ishbel that their new friend was in fact the daughter of the President of America yet. Lucy liked it that way. She was being treated as a normal kid for a change and she liked it.
‘You must get your dad to take you around the ruins of Ancient Corinth before you go, Lucy. He can’t work for the entire holiday, can he?’
‘No, he is planning to have a couple of days off at the end.’
It was another lovely hot day; the sun was out, Maddy and CJ had had a great swim with Indigo that morning and everything should have been fantastic, but Maddy couldn’t help feeling worried, as if a great heavy weight were on her shoulders. She needed to come up with a plan to help the dolphins. What was the point of having the gift of speaking to dolphins if she could not help them?
They pulled up on the grassy patch just outside the gates of the castle. It was like being right at the edge of the cliff, looking straight out onto the sea. Maddy had been scared parking here in the past. She remembered the day she had been here once with her Aunt Imogen. She had only been two and it was a very windy day. She was so glad that Imogen was holding on to her tight that day.
CJ was out of the car straight away and, holding on to hi
s football, started running up the path to the gates and through. ‘CJ, get back here. You need to help carry something.’
‘I’ve got the ball, Mum,’ he shouted back.
So the others picked up everything else then started up the path themselves, loaded down with what looked like enough stuff for a week, rather than just a day.
After the walk up the hill to the main gates, the stone path wound up steeply to the interior gate and the ramparts. Of course, not all of it remained, and there were lots of piles of stones among the grassy areas. There were still some turrets, ramparts and towers, with room shapes that could still be used as hiding places. It was set on the hill and the views of the sea below, with Loutraki to the right, and across to the Cape Heraion, were fantastic.
Ishbel found her favourite spot and laid the blanket down. There was a rock here which looked like it was a purpose-built lounging chair. With the blanket for added cushioning, she could and would lie back and read her book in comfort for hours. CJ was already nowhere to be seen, so as soon as Maddy and Lucy laid down their loads, they ran off to find him.
They eventually found CJ, hiding. James pointed him out in the end. He had been following them and had made his way up into the castle intending to keep out their way, while keeping an eye on them. When CJ had raced past him and jumped down into a small hole, James thought the girls would take all day to find him if he didn’t point them in the right direction.
Football was next on the agenda. They had great fun chasing around after the ball, tackling each other and trying to score goals. Maddy and CJ were both very good at football. They had to be, really, because their dad, Jorgos, was football mad. They had been playing since they could run, just a little after they started waterskiing.
By this time CJ was starving and they raced back to Ishbel, who broke open the picnic. They had Marmite sandwiches, ham sandwiches, crisps, cheese and cream crackers, with biscuits to finish it all off. Lucy had never tried Marmite before. CJ told her that, as a baby, his Aunt Imogen had not been able to eat solid food until they started her off on Marmite, and since then it had been a family favourite. Maddy explained that you couldn’t buy it in Greece, so their nana sent it in the post from England. Lucy decided that she rather liked it too.