The Girl Who Dreamt of Dolphins (18 page)

‘
I know things aren’t so good between you and your Dad at the
moment’ said Bethany, ‘but you know, they’ll get better. Things
always do, no matter how bad they seem at the time.’

‘
Can I come and see you though?’ implored Lucy through her
tears. ‘Please?’

‘
Would you like me to speak to your Dad again?’ replied
Bethany. The line was bad and Lucy had trouble catching all her
words. ‘I’m sure I can talk him round.’ Lucy shook her head to
herself, though of course Bethany couldn’t see.

‘
No, no, don’t speak to him. I just want to come and be with
you.’ Lucy knew what Bethany was thinking before she even said
it.

‘
We’ve got to ask your Dad, Kiddo.’ The line was clearer now.
‘You can’t just swan off down here without telling him. He is your
father after all. What’s the matter between you and him
anyway?’

‘
You know, we’ve had an … argument.’ Lucy was aware that if
she’d say it was an argument about swimming, it would just sound
silly to Bethany, but it was so much more than that. It was just
the end of a hideous year for her. She’d tried so hard to hold
things together after Mum had gone. Now she felt like everything
was falling apart. It wasn’t just the swimming, it was like she’d
lost two parents, not just one. Everything that had once felt
familiar was now alien to her and strange, everything and everyone
except Bethany and she was so far away.

‘
I know it’s a terrible old cliché’ said Bethany, desperate to
convey the warmth and compassion that she really felt, ‘but things
will feel better in the morning. Really they will.’

‘
Oh yes, said Lucy emptily. She suddenly felt tired and
defeated. ‘Of course they will.’

‘
Or I could come and see you. How about that Lucy?’ Bethany
asked positively, trying to make her niece feel better.

‘
Oh it’s ok’ said Lucy. ‘Don’t worry. I’ll be alright.’ She
didn’t know what to say now. She suddenly felt so flat. All she
wanted to do was to hang up and go to bed.

‘
What if I ring you up tomorrow and see how you
are?’

‘
Oh yeah’ said Lucy non-committaly. ‘I’d like that.’

‘
Ok, let’s talk tomorrow.’

‘
Bye’ said Lucy.

‘
Bye Kiddo. I love you!’

Lucy hung up. She got herself ready for bed and climbed in
between the covers. She shivered and huddled under the bedding for
warmth. Shortly afterwards Dad put his head round her door. Lucy
pretended to be asleep and he closed her door quietly. She heard
him sigh and then the rattle of crockery as he picked up the tray
with her un-eaten dinner. He padded back downstairs.

That night Lucy had troubled dreams about Dad and swimming
pools, in which she was underwater and he was on the side of the
pool shouting down at her. Towards morning, she started to dream of
Spirit. She could feel the upset and hurt that he also felt, in his
world, so far away. The storm buffeted her little dolphin and Lucy,
in turn, thrashed about in her sleep under her duvet, as though she
too was being hurled this way and that by giant waves. Lucy could
not follow all that was happening and her dreams were broken and
confusing, but she became aware that Spirit had slipped away from
the rest of the pod and swum off into the inky darkness, all alone.
Lucy felt desolate and lonely, but she knew that Spirit was
determined to strike out alone and prove himself. Somehow, that
thought gave her courage and made her feel less bad. She could come
through the storm inside her, as Spirit had come through a real
one. When she awoke, Lucy still felt unhappy, but not as bad as she
had before.

Lucy awoke in the first morning light, her thoughts still full
of Spirit swimming away from the pod. She knew she had to speak to
him. Carefully, she knelt on her bedroom floor and focused her eyes
into the middle distance in the way that she had taught herself.
She strained to connect, but then let her mind drift sideways a
little, so that she could feel carefully for the door which would
allow her to slip out of her world, into that other world of water,
salt and dolphins.

It was like plunging into an icy cold swimming pool. The shock
took her breath away and, engulfed in the cold waters, she looked
around her, trying to orientate herself. She could tell that dawn
was filtering through the surface of the water and could make out
the shape of a lone dolphin, just ahead of her, ploughing on
through the water with a steady, regular rhythm. Without trying,
she found herself by Spirit’s side.

‘
Spirit, stop’ she whispered without words. The young dolphin
turned to look at her, surprise and happiness showing in his
face.

‘
I’m so glad to see you Lucy’ he exclaimed. Lucy felt his words
without hearing them and she smiled to herself in turn, as she hung
suspended in the cold waters of the sea, her hair floating out in
front of her.

‘
Where are you going?’ she asked shyly. ‘Are you all right?’
The young dolphin frowned for a moment, but then a look of defiance
broke over his features.

‘
I am going on a journey’ he said proudly. ‘It is something
that all young dolphins do to come of age. When I return, I shall
be equal with all the other dolphins in the pod. I will have proved
myself to all and then I can take my rightful place.’

‘
Aren’t you afraid?’ asked Lucy hesitantly. ‘I would be’ she
thought to herself, all alone in these cold waters, far away from
everyone familiar. She didn’t like to say that though. She didn’t
think that Spirit would like to hear those words and she admired
his resolve and determination.

‘
No I am not afraid’ he claimed, but then he paused a moment.
‘Well perhaps a little.’ He gave a small smile. ‘But it’s better to
feel afraid and do it anyway, than to feel no fear at all. In my
pod we say that there is no victory unless you first overcome
fear.’ They swam on for a while, in silent
companionship.

‘
I wish I was as brave as you’ said Lucy quietly. ‘I wish I
could strike out alone like you are.’

Spirit paused again and looked at her with soulful
eyes.

‘
If I was Storm, I might have wise words for you’ he said, ‘but
I don’t. I think that you will find a way though. I believe that
you are braver than you think you are.’ They smiled at each other.
‘Will you come to me sometimes while I am swimming alone?’ asked
Spirit uncertainly.

‘
Of course I will’ Lucy assured him.

‘
Then I think that I will feel safer too!’ With that Spirit
took a great leap out of the water, high into the air before
slicing back elegantly through the waves. Lucy followed him and
felt the exhilaration as she did so. He touched her momentarily
with a fin and Lucy felt warmth flow through his skin into hers.
She felt a glimmer of happiness again. They swum on together for a
while, but then Lucy felt the world of water slipping away
again.

‘
I have to go now, goodbye’ she called to Spirit. Before she
knew it, he became a blurred spot in the distance and then she was
in her room again, sitting on the floor, staring towards the window
in front of her.

There was a knock on the door. Dad put his head around the
opening.

‘
How are you feeling this morning Luce?’ he asked tentatively.
Though Lucy felt a little better inside now, she didn’t want to
tell him that.

‘
I’m ok’ she said in a flat voice, not giving anything away.
She looked down at the floor. It seemed like Dad wanted to say
something more, but then he glanced at his watch.

‘
Look at the time Luce. You’d better get ready. I’d better get
ready’ he exclaimed. ‘I…., you…., we’ll …...’ He trailed off. Lucy
shrugged.

‘
I’ll be down in a minute’ she said.

Lucy dressed and went downstairs. She got her bowl of cereal
and a glass of chocolate milk and sat eating, trying to avoid Dad
who was leaning against the kitchen counter, attempting to eat a
slice of toast whilst simultaneously sending a text on his mobile
phone. He looked up.

‘
I suppose we’d better think what we’re going to do with you
during half term next week’ he announced. ‘Maybe you can spend a
day with Amy and there’s the stables where I can book you onto
another Own Your Own Pony Day and there’s always the activities the
after-school club lay on in the school holidays …..’ he trailed
off.

‘
You know what I want to do’ said Lucy quietly and
defiantly.

‘
No, what’s that?’ replied her Dad.

‘
I want to go to Cornwall and see Bethany.’

‘
What? No. I told you that’s just not possible.’ Lucy could
tell that Dad was trying to moderate his tone and avoid another
confrontation like the one they’d had last night. He quickly
thought up some excuses. ‘You can’t travel down there by yourself,
you’re too young and I certainly can’t take the time off to come
down with you, you know that. Besides, Bethany’s really busy down
there. She’s got all sorts of commissions and exhibitions and
things she has to do. She can’t have you trailing around after her
all week, getting under her heels.’ Lucy knew it would be
impossible talking to him, but she answered back anyway.

‘
She said she’d like me to come down’ replied Lucy.

‘
Oh I’m sure she’d like you to come down some time’ said Dad,
warming to his theme, ‘but you can’t just organise these things on
the spur of the moment, they take planning.’

Lucy thought of all the things she could say to Dad, of how
angry she could become with him when she knew perfectly well that
Bethany would love her to come down and that it could easily be
sorted out if only he wanted to.

‘
You don’t ever want me to go and see Bethany’ she said simply.
Dad put his mug down slowly.

‘
You’re right Lucy, I don’t’ was all he said.

‘
But why?’ exclaimed Lucy, her voice full of anguish. Dad took
a deep breath.

‘
There are some things I just can’t explain to you. Not yet,
not till you’re older. There are dangers; dangers I need to protect
you from. You’re all I’ve got left.’ Lucy could hear the emotion
creeping into his voice. ‘I’ve got to look after you
Luce.’

‘
Well you’re not doing it very well!’ she shouted back angrily,
her voice full of hurt. She stood up abruptly, pushing back her
chair and making for the door. She grabbed her bag and coat and
banged angrily out of the house before Dad had a chance to reply.
She walked up the street towards school quickly, tears smarting in
the corners of her eyes. The sky was as grey and flat as she felt
and there was a light drizzle in the air. But as she walked she
started thinking and as she thought a plan came into Lucy’s mind
and then things didn’t seem quite so grey after all.

Chapter Eleven
:

After his first burst of enthusiasm, Spirit felt nervous,
swimming alone on his own across the dark ocean at night. Away from
the comforting presence of the pod, the sea was as black as ink and
seemed unfriendly and unwelcoming. It was a cloudy night and so not
even the moon lit the way. Spirit swam on, knowing that he had to
put as much distance between him and the pod as he could before
first light. He could only just make out the tips of the low waves
above him. His main fear was that instead of going in a straight
line, he would go round and round in circles all night without a
means of navigating and find himself hardly any distance from the
pod again in the morning.

His other worry was the larger predators, such as sharks and
orcas. At night though they would be resting too and so he would
not be at risk under the cover of darkness. It was instead in
daylight that he would be open to attack; a lone young dolphin, far
from the safety of the pod. He knew that last time, when the orcas
had attacked, if he had not been with Storm and if he had not taken
safety close to the fishing boat, he would not have got away. Next
time, he may not be so lucky.

The safest thing would be to seek the seas close to the coast
where the rocks and kelp beds would give him cover and places to
hide. If he remained in the open sea alone, he could not out-swim
the big hunters. For this reason, Spirit had to head for the coast,
but not towards the islands which he and Dancer had explored
together. They were too near to the waters where the pod normally
stayed. He would have to go further and head on towards the
mainland. That was a day’s swimming at least. He thought back to
Storm’s portentous warnings about humans. He would keep his
distance from them too, but he already knew, far better than Storm
would ever understand, that humans could be good creatures
too.