Dolphin Child (24 page)

The shop was cramped and full of curios and knick-knacks. Dad
was relieved to see Mrs Penhaligon working at the till, but there
were several customers waiting to pay and she was obviously very
busy. He browsed the shelves while she served them.

‘
Oh Mr Parr, how are you?’ Mrs Penhaligon said, glancing up and
seeing him once things had calmed down. Dad approached her to pay
for the postcards that he’d selected. Dad chatted to Mrs Penhaligon
for a minute or two and then got to the point.

‘
Can I talk to you about Lucy for a moment?’ he asked. ‘I’m a
little concerned about her. She’s got ….well a lot going on in her
life at the moment.’

‘
I know it must have been terribly hard for you and Lucy after
your wife died’ Mrs Penhaligon answered sympathetically.

‘
I don’t mean just that’ replied Dad. ‘There’s other stuff
going on as well. She’s passionate about sea life and dolphins in
particular’. Dad wanted to say ‘she’s a Dolphin-Child’, but he
couldn’t bring himself to say the words. Fortunately he didn’t need
to.

‘
Yes, I am aware’ said Mrs Penhaligon quietly. ‘She is a
Dolphin-Child.’

‘
So you know?’ asked Dad, the surprise showing in his voice.
She nodded silently.

‘
It’s hard for you of course, but I hope you’re giving her the
freedom she needs to understand what she is. It’s very important
that you do.’

‘
Do you think she will grow out of it?’ he asked anxiously. He
needed to know that someone other than Thelma believed that would
be the case and that he would not regret it if he did give her
freedom now.

‘
From what I know of the folklore’ Mrs Penhaligon replied,
‘more often than not children will grow out of it by the age of
thirteen or so. Children can feel a terrible loss when it happens
though…’

‘
But it’s for the best when it does’ Dad broke in
quickly.

‘
That’s something I wonder about’ replied Mrs Penhaligon
frankly. ‘She has a gift, a very special one.’

‘
And I want her to lose it and be a normal child again’ replied
Dad.

‘
You want her to suffer that loss too?’ asked Mrs
Penhaligon.

‘
I have my reasons’ he replied. ‘I intend to protect my
daughter and make sure she has a long and safe life. If you learn
something that I may need to know to ensure that, you will tell me
won’t you?’ Dad urged her. Mrs Penhaligon thought for a moment and
then eventually nodded again.

‘
Yes of course. I understand your concern. If I do become aware
of anything, I will certainly tell you’ she assured him. ‘Lucy’s
safety will always be paramount as far as I am concerned.’ Dad made
sure that Mrs Penhaligon took his mobile telephone number and left
the shop with his postcards. He glanced at his watch. Lucy would be
already there, waiting for him at the car park. He hurried
off.

‘
I can’t believe that Star-Gazer is still alive!’ exclaimed
Dancer in amazement. ‘Is Lucy sure?’

‘
Lucy has travelled there with her mind, like she does when she
stretches out to talk to me or you’ replied Spirit ‘and this boy
Paul has seen a dolphin trapped in this inlet from the estuary. We
have to go there and find her.’

‘
It is very dangerous for us to swim into the mouth of an
estuary’ warned Storm. ‘The waters are shallow and mud banks block
the way. It is very easy to become stranded. What’s more the
rubbish that humans leave in the water can cut you open and there
is not the space to avoid it. Boats may come and if you are not
careful their propellers will slice you up the back’ Storm
continued. You might swim to your death if you try it.’

‘
How can I not try to find her?’ asked Spirit
passionately.

‘
At least because you are smaller like me, you’ll be more agile
and better able to slip through small gaps’ commented Dancer. ‘Me
too for that matter. Maybe we can go together?’

‘
We will discuss it with the pod at first light tomorrow
morning’ said Storm. ‘Only then will we decide if you should try to
reach her. It is too important a decision to be taken without
talking it through carefully with the others. Now both of you, go
and eat. You need to keep your strength up for
tomorrow.’

Dad sat in the car waiting. Lucy was definitely very late now.
They’d agreed to meet there after half an hour. Dad himself arrived
five minutes after he’d meant to. Lucy was by now twenty five
minutes late and she still hadn’t showed up. He tapped the steering
wheel fretfully. He hoped she was okay. She said she’d gone to find
this boy Paul. Maybe she’d got caught up in some game or other.
Still, it annoyed him if she didn’t come back when she’d agreed to.
He’d have to have words with her.

Suddenly, there she was standing next to the car window,
tapping on the glass. She’d appeared from a direction that he did
not expect. Next to her was a slightly built boy with curly hair.
He looked a complete state. He seemed to be covered in a film of
dry dusty mud and his face was streaked with marks where tears had
partially washed the mud away. What’s more a couple of bruises had
appeared on his arms. Dad got out and quizzed them on what had
happened. Lucy quickly told him that Paul was being bullied by a
group of kids and that she had stepped in and got him out of
there.

‘
You did the right thing Luce’ Dad assured her. ‘And you Paul.
Are you feeling better now?’ Paul nodded, still sniffing back his
tears as he did so and Dad could tell that he wasn’t really feeling
that much better at all.

‘
We’d better get you home to your mum’ he said. ‘She needs to
know what’s happened so that she can do something about it. This is
serious. You can’t fight these battles on your own.’ Paul sniffed
again, as though the tears were just about to well up.

‘
Can I go and wash my face?’ he asked, pointing to the public
toilets at the corner of the car park.

‘
Of course’ said Dad. ‘You clean yourself up and then I’ll
drive you over to your mum’s house.’

‘
Dad, Paul’s Mum doesn’t like me’ said Lucy, as they waited for
Paul to come back. ‘It’s because I’m,… well….. And I’m a bit afraid
of her as well.’

‘
Don’t worry Lucy’ replied Dad. ‘You can stay in the car if you
like while I go and speak to Paul’s mum. I’m really proud of you
for helping Paul like that. You remind me so much of Megan, I mean
Mum when she was younger.’

Lucy felt emotionally drained. It was so good to know that Dad
was there to take control of things, talk to Mrs Treddinick and
help Paul. She wished that she could just tell him about what
Star-Gazer had said to Lucy when she’d reached out to her, so sad
and alone there in that muddy inlet. If only Dad could just sort
that out as well. She wanted to be able to tell him, but she knew
that she could not. That was something that she and Spirit would
have to sort out on their own.

Paul came back and Lucy and Dad drove him home, with Paul
giving directions as they went. When they got there Lucy stayed in
the car while Dad walked Paul up to the front door. She shrank into
her seat in case Mrs Treddinick spotted her. Instead Paul’s mum
ushered them both into the house and Lucy waited for what seemed
like a very long time before Dad finally emerged again. As Dad
walked back to the car, Lucy glanced up at the box room window over
the front door. Paul was up there. He held up his palm to the glass
of the window, as if to say goodbye. Dad climbed back into the
car.

‘
Mrs Treddinick was very grateful to you for helping Paul.
She’s very concerned and she’s going to have a word with some of
the local parents.’ He paused. ‘She’s a bit prickly, that lady. I
hope they can sort their troubles out between them.’ He started the
engine.

‘
Come on, let’s get home to the cottage. Bethany promised that
she’d cook for us this evening. Something with lentils I think she
said.’

All Spirit could dream about that night was his mother, alone
in the muddy waters of the lagoon, sad and unhappy. He woke as soon
as the rays of light broke over the horizon and started circling
restlessly while the others roused themselves from sleep. As soon
as Dancer awoke, she soon brought the others to order.

‘
It’s amazing that Star-Gazer is still alive’ exclaimed Summer
when she heard, as her calf No-Name nudged her
playfully.

‘
And it was your human Lucy who found this out?’ asked Chaser
thoughtfully. ‘Maybe that’s the reason you are a Child-Seer; not to
find us fish but help protect us when we are in danger.’

‘
The point is that we must do something to help Star-Gazer’
said Storm. ‘But she is trapped behind some sort of steel netting
up the estuary. It is perilously dangerous to venture up there. It
would be a tragedy to lose another one of us in an attempt to save
Star-Gazer.’

‘
Can’t the human child save Star-Gazer?’ asked Moonlight.
‘Surely we should just leave it up to her?’

‘
No!’ Spirit almost shouted. ‘I know that Lucy will do
everything that she can to save Star-Gazer. She is human but in her
soul she is one of us. But it was humans that took my mother. We
dolphins should first do everything in our power to help ourselves.
I know we can do it.’ The other dolphins pondered this for a few
moments.

‘
Then Breeze and I should go and save Star-Gazer’ said Chaser.
‘We are the strongest and the fastest swimmers.’

‘
But you are also fully grown’ replied Summer. ‘How will you
get up narrow channels and past the mud-banks?’

‘
That’s true’ said Moonlight. ‘Spirit and Dancer are both much
lighter than you. Spirit especially.’

‘
And she’s my mother after all. It should be me that finds
her.’

‘
Isn’t Spirit too young for such an escapade?’ asked Breeze.
‘He may have taken his coming of age swim, but he almost died in
the process and he still has much to learn.’ There were murmurs of
agreement.

‘
I agree with Summer’ said Storm eventually. He looked serious
and thoughtful. ‘Spirit is the lightest and smallest of all of us.
He stands the best chance of getting through. He has learnt much in
the last few months and is a much wiser dolphin than he was. Also
he has Lucy on his side and that is an advantage that cannot be
underestimated’. The dolphins of the pod continued to discuss the
subject. Eventually it was agreed one by one that Spirit and Dancer
should go, but come back immediately if things got
difficult.

‘
And remember’, Storm continued ‘it will be high tide half way
through the morning, but then the tide will drop back rapidly. You
do not have much time in the estuary. You must get there quickly if
you are to come back to us safely. Dancer, it’s your job to make
sure Spirit doesn’t get too carried away. You must be the voice of
reason. Spirit, you must listen and obey Dancer if she orders you
to turn back.

Normally Spirit would have swum to Old Man’s Cove in the hope
that Lucy would be there, but this morning such thoughts were
forgotten. The whole pod swam with Dancer and Spirit to within a
couple of hundred meters of the mouth of the estuary. The silt
laden waters were discoloured and cloudy. Fresh water mingled with
salt and tasted completely different to the familiar sea water that
Spirit was used to. The tide was reaching its highest point and
Spirit and Dancer swam off with a sense of urgency and
danger.

‘
Are we mad to do this?’ asked Spirit, suddenly anxious and
doubtful.

‘
You know that until Star-Gazer is safely back with the rest of
the pod, none of us will rest’ Dancer assured him. ‘This is
absolutely the right thing to do, even if it is dangerous and
….exciting.’ Dancer shot Spirit a bright look. ‘Come on, we’ve got
work to do.’

At first the swimming was easy. The estuary wasn’t
particularly wide, but at high tide it was quite deep enough for
them to be able to navigate the waters without difficulty. Every so
often they looked nervously over the surface of the water. Densely
wooded slopes rose off to each side of the estuary, interspersed
with the occasional isolated house. ‘So those are the boxes that
humans live in’ thought Spirit to himself. ‘I don’t know how they
manage it.’

The visibility was poor, but they were able to compensate by
using their clicking as sonar to detect underwater obstacles. They
spotted a couple of mooring ropes stretched tight across their path
and swum around them just in time. They each took particular care
to sense the waters, so that as soon as the tide began to turn and
to flow out again, they would know and be prepared to get
out.

Suddenly the deep channel that they had been swimming up
appeared to finish. Instead, in front of them was a submerged
mud-bank, with three distinct streams of water flowing in, each
with a different taste and character. There was much less clearance
between them and the mud below them now and suddenly they both
became aware of the risk they were taking by going any
further.

‘
Which way shall we go then?’ asked Dancer uncertainly. Spirit
had little more idea than she did, but he knew that the human town
called Merwater lay to the left of them and he guessed that it was
more likely to be in that direction than the other.