Dolphin Child (15 page)

Paul climbed out of bed. The floor boards in the house had an
unfortunate habit of creaking and it sounded all the louder so
early in the morning when the rest of the house was quiet. Mum was
a restless sleeper too and more than once he’d almost jumped out of
his skin when he’d gone downstairs early and found her silently
smoking a cigarette on her own in the front room. He slipped on his
jeans and tee-shirt, and then put on his trainers. They were his
prized possession, but had seen better days. There was a big hole
where his toe protruded through the fabric. His trainers were
another thing that Baz and Mike made fun of.

He contemplated climbing out of his bedroom window and
shinnying down the drainpipe. That’s what kids did in movies, but
by the looks of the drainpipe on his house, it’d just collapse if
he tried that. The safer option was to go downstairs, as quietly as
he possibly could, taking particular care over the third and fourth
steps, which were especially creaky. Luckily, neither Mum nor
Hayley seemed to hear him and he was soon out in the backyard where
he kept his bike.

He was dead lucky, he thought, that Mum had given him the
money for the puncture repair kit the previous afternoon. He didn’t
know how he’d get to Old Man’s Cove otherwise. He wheeled his bike
out, making sure that the gate didn’t bang behind him. The street
outside his house was perfectly still and the early morning light
filtered weakly through the trees of the recreation ground. The
only sound was of the birds singing in the trees. It was as though
he was the only person up. It felt quite eerie. He couldn’t even
detect the sound of the milk float doing its rounds.

Paul glanced at his watch again briefly before he pedalled
off. He should be able to get there in plenty of time, but he
didn’t want to be late. He still didn’t know if he could trust
Lucy, even though he had to admit that she’d been really nice to
him, and he couldn’t leave anything to chance.

Even though it was summer, the early morning air was sharp and
chilly. His body soon warmed up as he pedalled along, but his hands
still felt cold on the handle bars.

The last bit of the journey was a tough climb on his bike up
the hill towards Old Mans Cove. There were a few cars on the main
road, but nothing compared with usual. He was glad to be able to
get off his bike and give his legs a rest. He heaved his bike over
the stile and climbed over after it. Lucy was waiting for him on
the other side, sitting cross legged on the grass.

‘
Hi’ she said.

‘
Morning’ he replied coolly. They stood awkwardly for a
moment.

‘
I didn’t think you’d come’ Lucy said.

‘
Well I guess I did’ he answered defensively. He hadn’t been
sure whether she’d come, or else he thought she might have some
nasty trick up her sleeve for him, like the kids in town. He’d
trusted kids before and then they turned on him. Lucy might be just
like them.

‘
You know what we agreed though’ Lucy continued. ‘I’ll let you
meet my dolphin, but then you’ve got to take me to the dolphin that
you told me about. The one in the brackish lake I mean.’

‘
Course I will’ replied Paul, trying to sound more certain that
he actually felt.

‘
All right then’ said Lucy cautiously. ‘I guess we’d better get
going. I don’t suppose you’ve got a wet suit?’ Paul shook his head.
‘Well I’m a fair bit taller than you, but you’d better wear mine.
I’ve already got my swimming costume on under my sweatshirt.’ He
could see she’d stuffed her wetsuit into her backpack along with a
towel. He realised that he’d completely forgotten a towel for
himself.

‘
You swim okay don’t you?’ Lucy asked him as they walked up the
path. ‘The currents are really dangerous here and you’ve got to be
dead careful.’ In fact Paul hated swimming and at lessons at school
he was always stuck in the learner’s pool when most of the other
kids were splashing around noisily in the deep end.

‘
Course I do’ he lied. ‘I can swim like a fish.’ He hoped he
wouldn’t be put to the test. They walked up the footpath to the
edge of the cliff and the steep path that led down to the cove and
the small beach. The sea sparkled in the early morning light. He’d
seldom seen it look so beautiful or inviting. He felt excitement
and fear in equal measure. There below them, a short distance from
the edge of the beach, he could see the dorsal fin of a dolphin
swimming languorously in the lapping water.

Chapter Nine:

Lucy glanced at Paul’s face as they looked down from the top
of the cliff into the cove where Spirit was waiting for them. A
look of wonder and surprise stole across Paul’s features as he
stared down. Lucy was pleased at his reaction, but she still had a
nagging doubt in the back of her mind. This wasn’t supposed to be
the first dolphin he’d seen. When they’d sat together on the wet
bough of the tree in the recreation ground, he told her he’d seen a
dolphin in that salt water lake. Would he really be so surprised
and delighted to see a dolphin now if he’d seen one before? Perhaps
it was different today though, seeing a dolphin that he was
actually going to meet free in the sea. She just could not be
absolutely sure that he was telling her the truth. They started
making their way down the steep path.

An hour before Lucy had still been asleep in her bed in
Bethany’s studio. She’d dreamt the same, comfortable and familiar
dream that she so often had of the dolphins all swimming together,
relaxed, peaceful and happy. Then as she had dreamt on, the water
had turned murky and dark and she’d almost expected to see the
silhouette of the dolphin that Paul had told her about and which
now haunted her. Instead she couldn’t make out anything in the
watery gloom. She wondered why. Was that dolphin in
trouble?

Lucy woke up as the early morning light streamed in, with an
uneasy feeling in the pit of her stomach. As soon as she awoke, a
vivid image came in to Lucy’s mind. It was a memory of Mum before
she’d died when Lucy herself had still been very little. The two of
them had been walking in the woods near their house. Lucy ran on
ahead of Mum, her short fat legs kicking the leaves as she went.
She felt so happy and secure, but then she suddenly realised with a
shock that she didn’t know where Mum was. She found herself
standing in a shallow depression between tall birch trees and she
had the impression of being in a natural bowl. All directions
looked the same and Lucy couldn’t remember which way she’d come
from. She called out again. She could hear Mum reply, but still had
no idea where she was. Mum’s voice sounded muffled and distant. It
felt as though Mum was a million miles away and that she was
completely alone. Suddenly she became scared and started to
cry.

A second or two later Mum had appeared and Lucy was soon
engulfed in the warm comfort of her embrace. Yet Lucy felt shaken
by just how easy it was to lose all that was familiar to her. Lucy
couldn’t remember quite how old she had been when it happened, but
she must have been very young at the time.

She kept Mum very close to her for a while after that and
years later Mum had told her not long before she died that as a
toddler she’d gone through a very clingy phase, following her about
everywhere. Lucy was much older when she’d lost Mum forever and
more able to rationalise and understand what had happened. It
didn’t make losing her any bit easier though. In fact it was
indescribably worse. Somehow that memory of losing Mum in the woods
and dream of the shadowy dolphin seemed to belong together, but she
couldn’t quite say why.

Lucy got up and quickly put her swim suit on and then her
jeans and sweatshirt over the top. She didn’t have to creep around
now like she used to. Lucy knew that Bethany was willing to give
her the freedom to go and see Spirit unaccompanied. Sometimes she
wondered why Bethany was so relaxed at letting her venture out like
this. Just then Bethany put up her bleary and tousled head, her
curly blond hair half obscuring her face.

‘
I just don’t understand how you manage to get up so horribly
early every day’ she sighed, before slumping back into the
bedclothes. ‘I guess you’re off to swim with Spirit? I must be mad
letting you go like this.’

‘
You are!’ joked Lucy. ‘Don’t worry. Spirit will take good care
of me.’ Lucy decided not to mention that Paul was going to be there
with them too. Bethany would have woken up pretty quickly if she
had.

‘
You betcha he will’ Bethany mumbled sleepily, ‘or he’ll have
me to answer to. Like I always say Kiddo, don’t do anything
silly.’

‘
I’ll be okay’ Lucy reassured her, pulling on her trainers and
then padding down the steps from the living platform to the kitchen
area. She quickly spooned some cereals down her and then called out
goodbye before clicking the studio door closed behind her. Mary was
walking across the farmyard in her wellington boots towards the
tractor shed.

‘
Hello there Lucy’ she called. ‘You off out early
again?’

‘
That’s right’ Lucy called back.

‘
You know you should be a farmer when you grow up’ Mary joked.
You’re a natural for getting up at an unearthly hour of the
morning.’ Lucy smiled.

‘
See you later.’ Lucy gave Mary a little wave and then climbed
astride the bicycle before pedalling off over the cattle grid out
of the farmyard and up the lane.

She loved this time of morning. It was before anyone was
around that she would see rabbits nibbling at the edge of the road,
or even a deer grazing shyly in the field next to the copse. The
bird song seemed more vivid and bright when the sun had just risen
and on a morning like this she always experienced a surge of
optimism. It felt like all the problems of the world could be
solved before the sun had burned away the dew on the grass. Lucy
glanced at her watch. She wanted to get to the cove in good time
before Paul got there.

As they walked down the steep path to the cove, Paul was torn
between the sensation of excitement that he would soon be swimming
in the sea with a real wild dolphin and the feeling that something
was bound to go wrong, that it would all be snatched away from him
before anything good could happen. Lucy seemed so confident and
assured. It was as though she had been living here all her life,
not him. He felt gauche and awkward walking down the sheer path
behind her. Sometimes Paul felt like everyone one else had been
invited to a party except him and that all he could do was to look
in from the outside. Even now he felt as though he wasn’t really on
the invitation list at all.

‘
What’s his name then?’ he asked, trying to crowd out his
thoughts.

‘
His name’s Spirit’ Lucy replied.

‘
And you can speak to him can you?’ Paul continued.

‘
Not when I’m with him like this. It’s, well…it’s difficult to
explain.’ Paul nodded. He was used to people not bothering to
explain things to him. It didn’t surprise him that Lucy didn’t want
to explain either.

They got to the bottom of the path and crunched onto the
pebbles of the beach. They could see Spirit more clearly now,
swimming just off the shore, as close to land as he dared to come.
He looked in their direction and Lucy gave him a little wave. Paul
stood transfixed.

‘
Well, let’s get changed then’ said Lucy, struggling to pull
the wetsuit out of her backpack. It was awkward to roll up and
carry like that. Eventually she got the wetsuit out. Paul was a
good head shorter than Lucy and it was evidently going to be too
big for him. Once he got into it though, the suit fitted well
enough and he immediately felt warmer with it on.

‘
You don’t need arm bands or anything like that do you Paul?’
she asked with a worried expression on her face.

‘
Don’t be daft!’ he replied. He just hoped with all his heart
that he’d be able to swim all right when it came to it.

He could see Lucy shivering as she stood there in her swimming
costume. It might be summer, but the sun was barely up and there
was a cool breeze coming in from the sea.

‘
Come on then’ she said. ‘We can’t stand round here all day.’
Paul paused.

‘
Do you think…do you think he’ll like me being here?’ he asked,
suddenly uncertain again. Lucy turned and looked back at him. She
smiled reassuringly.

‘
You’ll be okay’ she said. ‘He knows you’re coming. You just
stick close to me and do everything I say. Remember, you can
absolutely trust Spirit with your life and he’ll keep you safe even
if you’re pulled out by the current or something. Just hang onto
him if you need to. Don’t try anything clever and you’ll be all
right.’

Paul had expected Lucy to just plunge into the sea from the
shallow crescent of beach and swim out. Instead she picked her way
over the rocks at the edge of the beach. Paul followed just behind
her. It was low tide and the rock shelf was more fully exposed as a
result. Barnacles and limpets encrusted the rock and it was
uncomfortable to walk over in their bare feet. Lucy came to a
boulder at the edge of the water and sat down with her lower legs
and feet submerged in the salty water. Paul did likewise. It felt
icy cold.

The water was deeper here and Spirit was able to swim right up
close to the rocky outcrop. Spirit put his head out of the water a
looked up at them with a calm, intelligent gaze. Paul felt as
though the rest of the world melted away and focused all his senses
on the dolphin in front of him, trying to drink in every aspect of
the experience; the fascinating and intelligent creature in front
of him, the gentle lapping of the waves, the salty tang of the
exposed seaweed in his nostrils. He smiled.