by Lewis, Gill
I shrug my shoulders. It could be anything from her favourite food to the Latin name for starfish.
I duck under the white cover and crouch down next to Daisy. Beside me in a bucket are the remains of a dark brown liquid. Straggly pieces of gut entrails stick like cooked spaghetti on the bucket’s sides. I wrinkle my nose. It stinks of fish. Greg is in the water supporting the flotation raft. In front of the dolphin stands a woman, holding up a funnel attached to a long tube that passes into the dolphin’s mouth.
The woman smiles at me. ‘So you must be Kara. I’ve heard all about you from Carl. I’m Sam, the vet, by the way.’
I smile back and look at the white dolphin. I lean forward so I can look into her eye. She blinks and looks back at me. I wonder if she recognizes me, if she remembers who I am. ‘Will she get better now?’ I ask.
Sam nods. ‘She’s got a fighting chance. Once she can balance in the water and feed herself, we can set her free.’
Daisy pushes back her curls of hair. ‘Can we help look after her?’
Sam laughs. ‘I don’t think you’d like this job.’ She points to the thick brown liquid in the funnel. ‘It’s dolphin baby food! Puréed fish and antibiotics! When the swelling in her mouth goes down, we try her with whole fish.’
Daisy takes her shoes and socks off and dangles her feet from the pool edge. ‘What’s her name?’
Sam shrugs her shoulders and smiles. ‘She hasn’t got a name.’
‘She has to have a name,’ says Daisy.
‘I’m sure she has a dolphin name,’ says Sam. ‘Every dolphin has its own signature whistle, a name they call themselves.’
‘We have to find her a name,’ says Daisy. She slides knee deep into the water and reaches out to stroke the dolphin.
Sam shakes her head. ‘We mustn’t get her used to human contact. It’s really hard, I know. But it’s best for her.’
I jump when a flurry of black wings rushes past me. A jackdaw tips the bucket and flaps off with a piece of fish tail in its mouth. I watch it fly up above the Blue Pool, and see a figure walking slowly along the clifftop path.
‘The Bird Lady,’ whispers Daisy.
Felix shades his eyes against the sun to look at her. ‘The Bird Lady? Who’s she?’
I glare at Daisy and nudge her in the ribs. I don’t want her to say anything about me going to see Miss Penluna.
‘I know her,’ says Sam. ‘She sometimes brings sick birds to the surgery.’
Daisy clings on to my sleeve. ‘She says dolphins are the angels of the seas.’
Sam smiles. ‘Angels?’ she says. ‘Yes, maybe they are.’
The white dolphin glows pearly pink in the early morning light.
‘Then that’s what we’ll call her,’ says Daisy, a big grin on her face. ‘We’ll call her Angel.’
CHAPTER 25
‘Angel?’ says Carl.
Daisy nods. ‘She’s got to have a name.’
Carl stares at his mobile phone in his hand. ‘That’s just what the man said to me. He said she had to have a name.’
‘What man?’ I say.
Carl frowns and puts his phone in his back pocket. ‘A journalist from the local paper. There’s been loads of interest in the dolphin, especially since we put her story on the Marine Life Rescue website,’ he says. ‘There are newspapers and TV and environmental groups who want to come and see her. I’ve got to find a venue for a press conference for Saturday. I’ve rung up the town hall but they say, “no”. They say it’s too short notice.’
‘No surprise there,’ says Greg. ‘Dougie Evans is on the committee.’
I fold my arms and lean back against the rocks. ‘We’ll soon have coach-loads of people coming here to our bay. Everyone will want to see her. She’ll become like a side show in a theme park.’
‘People love to see dolphins,’ says Carl. ‘It gives us a chance to tell them about what the Marine Life Rescue team do, and the dangers facing our sea life too.’
Felix slaps the water with his hand. ‘But that’s it,’ he shouts. ‘That’s exactly what we need her for. We need to use her to tell them about the reef.’
I shake my head. ‘And make her something for people to stare at? People should be interested in the reef without putting a dolphin on display.’
Felix rolls his eyes. ‘It’s not the same is it? I mean, what d’you think people want to read about, “Save the Sea Squirt” or “Save the Dolphin”?’
I scowl at him. ‘OK, so how do you suggest we do it?’
‘Use the internet,’ says Felix. He’s grinning from ear to ear. ‘Websites, social networking sites, blogs, and Twitter, get people involved.’
I shake my head. ‘It wouldn’t work.’
Felix throws his hand up. ‘Why not, Kara? I can’t believe you don’t want to give it a go. We could get an online petition for people to sign to stop the dredging of the reef.’
‘It’s no use,’ I say. ‘You can put up all the stupid blogs you like. You can get a million people to sign the petition, but nothing will work. Nothing will work unless we can convince the trawler owners to save the reef.’
I turn my back on Felix and flick small stones across the flat rocks.
‘Come on,’ says Felix’s dad. ‘It’s time I got you all to school.’
We sit in silence on the way to school. I hold my bag tightly against my chest and stare out of the car window. I can’t believe Felix and Carl want to use Angel like some circus act for the newspapers and TV to come and gawp at.
By the time we’ve dropped Daisy off, we’re late for lessons. I watch Felix walk along the corridor to his maths class. His steps are short and jerky. It’s all right for him; he could use it as an excuse for being late. I would if it were me. I know I’ll be told off for being late again. It’s almost the end of term. So instead of climbing the stairs, I walk out of the side door into the playground and sink down against the thick trunk of the horse-chestnut tree.
I curl up in the fork of tree roots, hidden from the school, and rest my head on my schoolbag. My eyes ache with lack of sleep and my thoughts spin out like threads of cloud across the blue, blue sky. The shade beneath this tree is cool and still. Somewhere above, a blackbird sings. A breeze sifts through the dense leaf cover, and draws me into sleep.
‘There you are,’ says Felix.
I open my eyes and sit up.
Felix is standing in front of me, frowning. ‘I’ve been looking everywhere for you.’
I get up and brush grass and dirt from my skirt. ‘What time is it?’
‘It’s the end of break,’ he says and frowns. ‘Mrs Carter wants to see us both.’
I guess we’re in trouble for being late this morning, but I’ve gone past caring. There’s only two more days left. Two more days and I can forget all about school. I follow Felix along the corridor to Mrs Carter’s office. He knocks and pushes open the door. Inside the room, Chloe and Ella and several others from our year sit on cushioned chairs around the table. I glance at Mrs Carter. I wonder what they’re doing here as well.
‘Come on in, Kara,’ she says. Her smile unnerves me.
Felix sits down next to Chloe.
Mrs Carter points at a seat for me to sit down, but I don’t take it. I stand beside the door. ‘Felix has been telling us about the dolphin you both helped to save.’
I glance at Felix.
‘We’d all like to offer our help too,’ she says.
Ella’s smiling. Chloe is fiddling with her bracelet, but looks up at me through her fringe.
I don’t want this to be happening. I can’t believe Felix has been telling everyone at school.
‘What do you think, Kara?’ Mrs Carter is still smiling at me, waiting.
‘There are plenty of helpers at the moment,’ I say. ‘And it’s a bit crowded down at the Blue Pool. No one’s allowed to touch her anyway.’
I see Ella’s face fall.
‘Felix suggested a way maybe the whole school can be involved,’ Mrs Carter says.
I shake my head. Angel’s our dolphin. We found her. Now Felix wants everyone to have a piece of her too.
I take a couple of back steps to the door and glare at Felix. ‘Thank you, but we don’t need any help.’
Felix glares back at me. ‘You’re wrong, Kara,’ he says. ‘If we want to save the reef, we need all the help we can get.’
‘We’re fine just as we are,’ I say.
Mrs Carter opens her arms wide. ‘Felix is right, Kara,’ she says. ‘We all want to protect the bay too. None of us want the dredging ban to be lifted. I’ve offered Carl the school hall for the conference he needs. There’ll be everyone from the press and politicians to the trawler men here. It’s our chance to show everyone how much we all care about our bay.’
‘We’re going to make posters and put them up all around the hall,’ says Chloe.
‘Come on, Kara,’ pleads Ella. ‘It’s important to us all.’
Chloe nods. ‘It’s our bay too, Kara.’
I look around them all. ‘D’you really think it could work?’
Felix pushes himself forward on his seat. ‘It has to work, Kara,’ he says. ‘The ban is lifted in less than one week’s time. It’s the only thing left that we can do.’
CHAPTER 26
I make sure I get to the school just after lunch on Saturday. I thought I’d be early, but I’m not the first one here.
I hold the main doors open for Greg. He’s carrying a big cardboard box in his arms. I can see rolled-up posters and bits of dried seaweed sticking out of the top. ‘Back at school already, Kara?’ he says with a grin. ‘On the first day of the holidays? You must be keen.’
I laugh and follow him into the school hall. I wouldn’t miss this for the world.
I can’t believe how much we’ve managed to do in so little time. We stopped lessons for the last two days and did a school project on the reef instead. Our year made a huge mural of the coral reef along one side of the hall. Year Eights made a timeline of our town with fishing boats and nets and shoals of tin-foil fish. Only Jake and Ethan didn’t get involved. Jake didn’t even come in to school at all on the last day.
‘What d’you think?’ says Chloe.
She’s pinning up the last photo on a display board just inside the doors. There are the first photos Carl took on the day we found her, to new photos Chloe took today.
‘It’s great,’ I say. I stare into the photo Chloe took this morning of Angel swimming on her own in circles in the Blue Pool.
‘She’s eating by herself too,’ says Chloe.
I look at another photo, a close-up of Angel’s mouth. The deep wound has almost healed. Apart from a line of thick scar tissue that dips down at the corner of her dolphin smile, there’s no sign that she’s had an injury at all.
Felix’s dad walks past with a stack of chairs. ‘Hey, Kara, can you give us a hand?’
Felix’s mum is here too, putting chairs out in rows. The chairs almost fill the hall from front to back.
‘How many d’you think will come?’ I ask.
Felix’s dad shrugs his shoulders. ‘We’ll find out soon enough,’ he says.
Felix hands me small postcards with a photo of Angel on the front. ‘Can you help with these?’
I turn one over in my hand. ‘What are these for?’ I say.
‘I made them yesterday,’ Felix says. ‘I thought we’d put them on all the seats. They’re for people to sign on the other side and put in the petition box to stop the dredging.’
I turn one over and see the black lettering on the other side. ‘They’re great, Felix,’ I say, ‘really great.’
Felix looks at me and grins. ‘I hoped you’d like them.’
I walk up and down the rows putting cards on the chairs. At the back of the hall, Carl is setting up the laptop for the big screen up on the stage. It’s less than two hours until the meeting and less than two days until the trawlers can dredge the reef.
More children and parents join us and help stick pictures on the wall and put a display of different shells and seaweeds on a table. When the last picture has gone up, Greg walks in from the kitchens with a tray of drinks.
I take a glass of orange squash and flop down next to Felix. ‘We’re done,’ I say. ‘There’s nothing more we can do now.’
The doors open and swing shut and Mrs Carter walks through. She unrolls a long sheet of paper. ‘I’ve just come across this on the internet,’ she says.
Ella helps to pin it to the board then stands in front of it and reads the words out loud. ‘ “To the dolphin alone, beyond all other, nature has granted what all good philosophers seek; friendship with no advantage.” ’
Mrs Carter nods. ‘Plutarch, an ancient Greek philosopher, wrote that, two thousand years ago. It’s important for today too. Friendship, for friendship’s sake, and not because we think there’s something else we can gain. It’s amazing how dolphins have an effect on people.’
‘The Maoris in New Zealand believe dolphins carry the spirits of their ancestors,’ I say. I stop and look around. Everyone is quiet, listening.
Mrs Carter smiles. ‘I wonder what the Maori name for dolphin is.’
I stare into a picture of a dolphin above Mrs Carter’s head. I try to remember. I know Mum told me once. I remember the name sounds like dolphin breaths bursting above the water.
‘What is it then?’ says Felix.
His question’s so direct. I turn to look at him.
He leans forward and stares at me. ‘Well?’
‘It’s “te . . . pu-whee”,’ I say.
‘Are you sure?’
‘I think so.’
‘How d’you spell it?’
‘I don’t know,’ I say. ‘Does it matter?’
Felix runs his hand through his hair. He looks at me and then at the clock. ‘I’ve got to go,’ he says. ‘It’s worth a try.’
‘What?’ I say.
‘Tell you later.’
He gets up and pulls his dad away.
‘Carl’s giving his talk in an hour,’ I call after him.
But Felix and his dad have gone. The doors of the hall swing and slam shut behind them.
I help Greg and Mrs Carter clear away the cups and take them to the sink in the kitchens.
‘Goodness, look out there,’ says Mrs Carter.
I stand on tiptoe to look out of the high windows. I can’t believe my eyes. ‘We won’t fit them all in,’ I say.
Greg shakes his head. ‘Some will have to stand.’
The car park is already full of cars, and some are lined up along the road. A long queue of people curls around the playground.
‘Does Carl know?’ I say.
‘He’s gone to get changed,’ says Greg. ‘I don’t think he’ll know what’s hit him.’
I look out along the row of people. There are lots of tourists in bright shorts and beach gear. But I see lots of people I know from the town too.
‘That’s Mr Cooke, our local politician,’ says Mrs Carter.
‘That’s got to be good,’ I say. ‘Maybe he can pass a law to stop the dredging.’
Greg frowns. ‘That’s up to politicians up in London,’ he says. ‘Most of them wouldn’t know a cod from a mackerel if one hit them in the face.’
Then I see who Mr Cooke is talking to. I see Dougie Evans. I see them smiling, sharing a joke. I don’t want Mr Cooke to be on Dougie’s side. I remember what Felix said about not giving up without a fight. There’s less than two days until the dredging ban is lifted. Less than two days before the trawlers can haul their chains across the reef. We might never get this chance again.
This is it.
It has to work.
This is our one big chance to save the bay.
CHAPTER 27
I push my way through the crowd of people milling in the entrance and take a seat next to Dad and Daisy at the front. The room is packed. People are lined up along the the walls. I see a group of fishermen a few rows from the front. Dougie Evans is leaning bac
k in his chair, arms folded across his chest, a smug smile on his face.
‘Dougie met some of the trawler owners at the pub at lunch time,’ whispers Dad. ‘He told them all to protest about the petition for the dredging ban, told them it’s their livelihoods being taken away.’
I turn round to look at the sea of faces in the room. ‘I bet loads here will sign the petition to protect the bay.’
Dad shakes his head. ‘It will only be a voluntary ban for now. You know it won’t mean a thing if the fishermen don’t agree.’
The room is hot despite the open doors and windows. The murmur of voices hushes as a journalist and cameraman walk up through the aisle and take a stand in a corner at the front. The local radio is here too, about to broadcast the meeting live.
‘Where’s Felix?’ I whisper. ‘He should be here by now.’ I glance back over my shoulder at the crowded room. Maybe Felix can’t push his way through. I get up to go and look but Dad pulls me back down.
‘Carl’s about to talk,’ whispers Dad.
I watch Carl climb up the steps onto the stage and turn to face all the people.
Silence falls across the hall. Chair legs scuffle and a baby cries somewhere at the back. I watch Carl. He looks so different in a suit and tie. His hair is brushed and he wears thin gold-rimmed glasses. He shifts from foot to foot. He looks pale too. I can hear the rustle of paper in his shaking hands.
I cross both fingers for him.
It doesn’t start well. The microphone doesn’t work and he’s so quietly spoken that I guess people halfway back can’t hear him speak at all. Sunlight slants through the windows and someone has to pull the curtains and switch the lights out to see the screen behind him. People listen when he shows pictures of Angel. There are gasps at the deep wounds in her mouth, and sighs at her taking her first fish.
But then Carl starts to talk about the bay and the project to save the coral reef. He shows graphs and pie-charts on the screen, and talks about the different sorts of rock under the sea. He uses the Latin names of different sea animals and plants and holds up fragments of coral in his hand. I know the people at the back can’t see. No one’s really listening. All they want to hear about is Angel.