Dolphin Dreams

by Lyle Nicholson

  What the dry-cleaning bag revealed was the pair of jeans and the T-shirt he had flown to Cancun in. The sports coat, three pairs of dress slacks, dress shirts, and ties were still missing. Niklas imagined his missing clothes still hanging somewhere in the hotel laundry, wondering why he had abandoned them.

  Niklas sighed, took off his Mexican beach wedding shirt and linen trousers, which were still damp with sweat, and hung them up. He changed into the only reasonably clean pair of cargo shorts and T-shirt he had.

  He decided that he might as well do a reconnoiter of the beach and sea wall. In case any of this outlandish dream plays out, I should know what I’m facing, he thought. In his very distant past as a demolition diver, being able to assess a target before demolishing it was considered a luxury. On too many dives in the Baltic Sea, he had had to get in, set charges, and get out to avoid Russian patrols. This venture should be easy. He cracked open a Coronita and wandered out of his room.

  On the beach, he could smell a mixture of sand, suntan lotion, and salt water. Roasting bodies in various shades, from beige to red to brown, occupied the rows upon rows of beach chairs and loungers. Some lay under straw-thatched roofs, or palapas, as the Mexicans called them, and some lay spread eagle while the sun basted their bodies and alcohol drenched their livers. Servers weaved in and out of the sun worshippers, delivering fresh concoctions of alcohol.

  Niklas had never been a sun worshipper, unlike those in his home country who joined the rush of Swedes and Germans in the southern countries, like Spain, to get as brown as humanly possible. No, Niklas was not a worshipper of the sun, but he did find Maria attractive. He imagined her brown legs, the water dripping off them at the pool, her deep brown eyes. He stopped himself. There was an emotion there, just below the surface: he had feelings for her but did not know what they were.

  He made up his mind —he would plant the Dexpan in the wall, as he had promised Maria he would. The walls would crack, the dolphins would flow out to the sea, and he would fly back to Finland to face the music and start some kind of new life.

  These thoughts were circling his head when he rounded the walkway corner and came upon the sea wall that contained the dolphins. He could not believe his eyes.

  One Mexican worker stood on the wall with a large drill in his hand, and two others stood below —one was roughing out the cracks with a chisel, and the other was mixing a bag of PATCHCRETE in a five-gallon bucket with a motorized mixer. Yellow tape was tied to the palm trees to keep pedestrians out. Niklas walked to the boundary of the tape and stood with his mouth open in shock.

  The dolphins on the other side of the wall were splashing and making a chorus of noise. They knew what these workers were up to. They could sense it. The worker on the wall was attempting to drill diagonal holes and drive lengths of reinforcement bar into them with a sledgehammer that lay on the ground.

  The dolphins were making their job difficult by splashing them with their tails. In final desperation, they began doing a series of belly flops. Wave after wave of water came over the sea wall and drenched the Mexican workers. At first it was just a nuisance, but the dolphins became more organized. They flopped in twos on each side of the pool, circling and circling.

  At first, the workers had been lighthearted about the water coming over the wall, and then they became mad. They swore at the dolphins, who rocked back on their tails and chirped. A crowd of sun-drenched, alcohol-infused hotel guests gathered around to cheer on the dolphins.

  Niklas heard the crowd yelling in Russian, Polish, and some German. Then the Americans started yelling, “Free the dolphins, free the dolphins, the dolphins rule!”

  The crowd grew larger and larger as hotel guests left their beach chairs to watch the scene. A final wave rushed over the wall and drenched the workers’ power equipment. The workers stood back in disgust. They packed up, muttering to themselves, and then yelled “Hasta mañana” at the dolphins as they walked away.

  The onlookers cheered loudly, spilling their plastic beach beverages as they clapped. Then slowly, the crowd dispersed. Some people went back to the beach, and some to the bars. Niklas was left alone, standing twenty meters from the sea wall. Stepping over the yellow construction tape, he wondered what good or harm the workers had done.

  The cracks were still there but were now somewhat wider to make room for the patching compound the workers intended to use. Niklas could not see the top of the wall and the depths of the holes the workers had drilled there. He determined that he would still need to drill some holes in the wall and wondered how quiet his drill would be when he did so. He scanned the area. The sea wall that was the outer edge of the dolphin pool was three hundred meters from the restaurant and over five hundred meters from the nearest hotel room.

  If there were no interruptions for the thirty minutes it would take to drill four holes, and if no one inspected the wall during the two hours it would take for the Dexpan to set, and if the dolphins could flow out of the pool with no one but Tepeu and himself to assist, it would be perfect. He heard himself think these thoughts and realized his chances were slim. But they could not wait. Tomorrow the Mexican workers would reinforce the pool and lace the potential opening like a prison cell —with bars. Niklas wondered how the dolphins knew this. They must know. Why else would they fight so hard? he thought.

  Niklas shook his head at the fantasy he had become involved in. He looked at his watch; it was 5:00 p.m. He decided to go back to his room, shower, order room service, and take a nap. The evening would be interesting. He needed to get some rest.

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  MARIA TELLS HER STORY

  A knock on his door woke Niklas from a sound sleep. He rubbed his eyes and looked at his bedside clock. It was 11:00 p.m. The knock continued. Not too loud, unhurried —just a steady knocking. He pulled on his shorts and a T-shirt and answered the door.

  Tepeu was smiling and holding a large bucket and duffel bag. He walked in immediately. “Ah, Señor Niklas, I was afraid you were not here. This is good, very good. You are here, and we can begin.” He dropped what he was holding. From the duffel bag, he proceeded to take out the drill Niklas had requested, and he showed it to him with great pleasure. “See, it is as you ordered, yes?” Tepeu’s smile widened.

  Niklas stood with Tepeu in the middle of the room. He had hoped when falling asleep several hours ago that he would wake up in the morning, find his clothes that were still missing from the hotel laundry, pack, and make his way to the airport. Obviously, he thought, the fantasy still exists. Well, I guess I have a job to do in the fantasy. Might as well get to it.

  Niklas inspected the drill, saw it was the exact one he wanted, and looked over the cement compound that would work as the cracking agent. “Yes, Tepeu,” Niklas smiled back. “This is exactly what we need. This should take no time at all.”

  There was another knock at the door. Niklas wondered who else could be arriving. He was speechless when he opened the door to find Maria holding Elisa’s hand. They were both dressed in black pants and black T-shirts.

  “Maria,” Niklas stammered. “I didn’t expect to see you here.”

  Maria smiled. “Who else will direct the dolphins to the sea? We cannot leave everything to you and Tepeu, can we?”

  Maria brushed by Niklas as she walked in the door, and he could smell her lovely scent of sea, and suntan lotion. He had to remember to breathe. “Yes, yes of course. What was I thinking?”

  Once in the room, Maria turned. “I also have to release the other dolphins from the inner pool to have them ready in the outer pool at the sea wall when it’s time for them to flow to the sea.” She stared at Niklas with her hands on her hips, looking determined.

  “Of course, of course,” Niklas stammered again. He could not take his eyes off her. Finally, he turned away, blushing slightly.

  Tepeu placed the drill on top of the bucket and raised his hands. “Now, I must leave you two to discuss the events while I make sure my security guards are taken care of. I ha
d to pay them even more pesos than I had wanted, but we have them on our side. I see you later.” Tepeu made his way out the door and closed it quietly as he left.

  Maria and Niklas stood in shy silence as they looked at each other and down at Elisa. Maria finally said, “We should go on the balcony, and I can show you what we will do with the dolphins.”

  Elisa stayed inside and turned on the television, and the two went out onto the balcony. The moon was full; large clouds formed a wall that advanced towards the shore.

  Maria moved closer to Niklas. Her hand was almost touching his as they stood at the rail looking down over the dolphin pool below. As she pointed out the pool she would open to free the remaining dolphins, and the point on the beach where the reef opened to the sea, their legs touched. Niklas felt energy, an electricity, pass through him.

  He wondered if she felt it too. She looked up at him, and her eyes flashed an almost telepathic sign —there it was, he was sure: mutual attraction.

  The clouds rolled in, covering the moon in their thick cloak. They were billowy, a kilometer high in places. The beach and sea went dark. Maria placed her hand on Niklas’s. “You see, the Mayan gods have brought the clouds to hide our mission tonight —this is a good omen.” She smiled at Niklas. Her eyes searched his.

  Niklas intertwined his fingers with hers. “You believe in the Mayan gods?” He did not want this moment to end. This could last forever, just the two of us together, he thought.

  Maria looked down towards the dolphin pools. “I think the dolphins believe in the Mayan gods. The god Hunab Ku, the sky father, created what they called the Heart of Heaven, according to the Maya. In the beginning, it was only sky and seas, until he created the Maya.” She looked up at Niklas.” I think the dolphins long for only sky and seas — it would be much simpler for them.

  Niklas moved a centimeter closer to Maria, and his body vibrated with the nearness of her. “Do you think dolphins dislike humans?”

  “No, they dislike what we do to them. They sense our fascination with them but are puzzled by us.” Maria watched two of the dolphins below circle slowly near the sea wall. They were no longer splashing. They seemed to be waiting.

  “Why are they puzzled?” Niklas said. He felt his heart start to pound as Maria moved closer and her thigh touched his. He wondered if she could feel his body vibrating.

  Maria squeezed Niklas’s hand while still staring down at the dolphins. “They do not understand why humans will rush onto a beach to save them, and help push them back in the ocean, when the dolphins strand themselves yet will watch them do tricks and applaud when they are captive.”

  “Why do you work with the captive dolphins then?” Niklas winced as he asked the questioned. He wished he had not been so blunt.

  Maria shook her head. “They are my, what you call, therapy. My husband was a police officer, and he was murdered by drug cartels three years ago in Jalisco. I moved back to Cancun to be with my godfather, Señor Acun. He suggested I work with the dolphins and got me the job.”

  “Señor Acun got you the job with the dolphins even though he knew that they want to be free?” Niklas breathed in deeply, looking at Maria. He could see the deep sadness in her, he wished he could hold her, and take it all away.

  “Yes, his Elisa had already met the dolphins. They were already in her dreams. He wanted me to be with them. He thought that perhaps I could get them to leave her alone at night.” She flipped her hair and looked sideways at Niklas. ”I guess it worked. They came into my dreams as well. You could say I was her relief, no?”

  Niklas smiled as he looked into her eyes and squeezed her hand. “Yes, you could say you were her relief.”

  “And you …you hear them, you swim with them in your dreams. I sense in you a kindness. The dolphins are attracted to you …and it seems I am attracted to you also.” Maria turned towards Niklas and pressed her body into his warm embrace.

  Niklas, speechless, wrapped his arms around Maria. “I …yes, I’m attracted to you as well, Maria.”

  Maria raised her head, and their lips met for a brief moment, there on the balcony, beneath the cloud-covered moon, until she pushed him away gently.” Now, I must go. I have many things to do tonight, and so do you.” She kissed him quickly on the cheek and went inside.

  Niklas stood on the balcony, wishing she didn’t have to leave. The door closed in the outer hallway, signaling she had left with Elisa. He turned and looked down at the dolphin pools again. Tepeu was there talking with the security guards, the same small one and the mountain of flesh.

  Tepeu was gesturing wildly with his hands. The large security guard stood, his hands at his sides, saying nothing, only nodding his head once in a while. Niklas looked at his watch; it was 11:45 p.m. He needed to get moving. The Dexpan compound needed to be mixed, and he would do so in the room. He hoped the drill was charged and that the security guards were on side, as well as the Mayan gods that Maria had spoken of. They would need all the luck they could get.

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  MISSION UNDER THE MAYAN MOON

  With the pail in one hand and a sack with the drill in the other, Niklas headed out his room at midnight. He was thankful there was no one around. He looked suspicious. He was dressed in his black t-shirt and jeans, to conceal himself while he worked.

  The only life was coming from the nightclub…a steady thump of music sounded in the distance. His feet sounded loud on the tile. He tried to be quiet.

  Niklas knew from the amount of all-inclusive drinks people consumed during the day that most guests were probably passed out in their rooms by this point. Still, he padded as quietly as possible. No one was on the beach when he reached it. The surf gently washed up on the sand, and he could hear the two dolphins splashing softly on the other side of the sea wall, patiently waiting. They were probably the two that would not go into the pens at night –their persistence was paying off. So Niklas hoped.

  Niklas surveyed the wall. The yellow tape was still in place, and workers had widened and smoothed the large cracks on both sides to ready the wall for the concrete patching compound they intended to use. Niklas ran his hands over the cracks, acknowledging the great help the workers had been.

  He still needed to give the cracks some help, and for that, he would drill four holes in the centre of the wall, between the cracks. He started to drill and found the concrete soft, “lucky day,” he whispered to himself.

  He thought originally that it would take thirty minutes to drill the holes, the soft concrete gave way to his drill, and he thought each one would take only three to five minutes. He looked up at the cloud covered moon, “Thank you Mayan gods.” He smiled and would have whistled if he thought no one could hear him.

  Then the power light on the drill started to blink —the power was draining, and he had only drilled half of the way into the fourth hole. He pressed harder. It stopped.

  He threw the drill on the ground and spotted a piece of rebar that the workers had left behind. He grabbed it and plunged it into the hole, he hoped it might push into the soft concrete, and make a hole, but it was no use. The rebar just thudded back and forth and made too much noise. After a few more attempts, he stopped.

  Niklas sat there, scrunched down on his haunches, and wondered if there was a Mayan god of power drills. He blew out his breath and looked once more at the wall. The last unfinished hole was crucial. It was near the top, and if the wall did not crack here, the whole venture would be useless. He looked up at the dark clouds above and suddenly got an idea.

  He remembered the workers had been drilling on top of the wall. Swinging himself up, he found two holes drilled down into the wall where the workers had intended to shove reinforcement bars. Niklas jumped back down, grabbed a two-meter length of rebar, and jumped back up. He looked around at all the hotel balconies that overlooked the dolphin pool, praying no one could see him.

  He shoved the rebar down each hole and was delighted to find that both were almost two meters deep. The workers ha
d done a better job than he could have. He quickly set to work jamming the bar down the holes to get rid of the excess water and then retrieved his bucket of Dexpan concrete buster. Using the rebar as a ramming rod, Niklas quickly filled both holes with the compound.

  He jumped back off the wall and filled the large cracks and the holes he had drilled. Back on track! he thought. Now to wait for the compound to expand and crack the concrete. Packing up his things, he felt a heady sense of accomplishment. Then he heard voices on the path from the beach coming towards him.

  Niklas leaped behind a small palm tree and kept his face hidden, hoping no one would see the bucket and duffel bag by his side. A few moments passed, and the voices got louder. They were drunken voices, voices laden with vodka and tequila and too much of everything the hotel offered.

  As the voices drew near, Niklas recognized them —Pekka and Caroline. They walked slowly by him, keeping each other up in a staggering embrace. Stopping briefly, they engaged in a sloppy, mouthy kiss, and Caroline gave Pekka a free crotch massage. Then they moved on.

  Niklas only shook his head and muttered under his breath, “Another win for the conference cougar.”

  When they were gone, Niklas collected his bucket and drill, and crept away from the wall. Standing there on the beach, he realized he had not thought of how to dispose of the empty bucket and drill. He couldn’t leave it in his room. He walked quickly to the back of the Sushi restaurant, and dumped the two items in their garbage cans. He hoped no one would notice it as they emptied the trash.

  He was tired and shaking as he entered his room. The clock showed 12:45 AM. He decided to take a shower and change out of his clothes which were covered in concrete dust and sand.

  Stepping out of the shower, he remembered the only somewhat clean clothes left in his closet were the Mexican beach wedding shirt and the linen pants. With a sigh, he put them on. Then he grabbed a Coronita from the bar fridge, opened the balcony door, and sat down on his bed.