The Girl Who Dreamt of Dolphins (32 page)

‘
But what are you doing up so early? Do your Mum and Dad know
you’re out here hitching a lift? You want to give someone a call
and let them know you’re here?’ he asked, indicating towards his
mobile phone on the dashboard.

‘
It’s ok’ replied Lucy hurriedly, ‘I’m meeting my, err, Aunt at
the surf school. We’re going to do some bird-watching.’ The young
man frowned to himself, as he put the car in gear and drove off.
What the young girl said didn’t quite seem to add up.

‘
You’re not from round here are you? What’s your
name?’

‘
My name’s Lucy Parr’ she replied. ‘I’m staying with my Aunt
for a few days’ she added. The more she said, the more she realised
that her cover story didn’t quite make sense. Why would she be
meeting her Aunt at the lighthouse if she was already staying with
her?

‘
My name’s Dan Merryweather’ the young man said. ‘I’m a teacher
at the surf school. The rest of the time I work at the Jet Ski
Centre. So it’s no trouble for me to take you there.’

‘
Are you going surfing this morning?’ asked Lucy, trying to
make conversation.

‘
Yeah, I’ve got a class to take in about forty minutes, so I’ve
got to get the wet suits and boards out and ready before everyone
arrives. I’m running a bit late today’ he added, glancing at his
watch. ‘These early mornings are a bit of a killer after a Saturday
night out.’

They sped along the empty road. Soon they took a turning off
to the right. Lucy saw a sign for the lighthouse and surf school.
The lane veered down a small hill and Lucy could see the lighthouse
clearly now. The sun was catching the top and the light glinted in
the glass of the light. The landscape was more open here and Lucy
could make out two buildings of the surf school and the wildlife
centre in the small bay.

Lucy glanced back over her shoulder nervously, half expecting
Bethany’s Land Rover to come round the corner after them. There was
no one else on the road now and Dan soon pulled up in the grassy
parking area just behind the surf school. They climbed out of the
car.

‘
Where’s your Aunt then?’ asked Dan with a concerned look on
his face. Lucy tried to smile nonchalantly.

‘
Oh she’ll be here in a minute’ Lucy tried to reassure
him.

There was a big roll-down shutter on the front of the surf
school, a bit like a shop might have when it was closed and Dan
busied himself with unlocking it and pulling up the shutters. Lucy
watched him shyly as he worked. She felt a little awkward and
wasn’t sure what to do now. Inside the school she could see racks
of surf-boards and neatly hung wet suits, organised according to
size. There were changing rooms at the back and a little glass
fronted office at the side. Dan glanced at his watch.

‘
I’m just going into the office for a moment. You be sure to
tell me when your Aunt gets here’ he said.

Lucy turned and looked out towards the bay. The surf school
was right next to the beach. The tide was in and she could see the
rolling foamy waves crashing into the shore. The waves weren’t
particularly high and Lucy wondered how good the surfing would be
this morning. She scanned the sea for any sign of Storm or Dancer.
Try as she might, she couldn’t see a single dolphin in the
water.

In the little office, out of earshot, Dan was on the
phone.

‘
Hello Aunt Thelma. I’m so sorry to wake you up so early. It’s
about that young girl you told me about, Lucy Parr. I just found
her wandering along the main road. Said she was meeting her Aunt at
the lighthouse, but it doesn’t make sense though. I’ve given her a
lift to the surf school. Thought I’d keep an eye on her till her
Aunt got here.’

Dan frowned again, listening to his Aunt Thelma’s
reply.

‘
I will, of course Aunt Thelma’ he replied. ‘See you
soon.’

Dan turned to look outside as a mini-bus pulled up next to his
own car and a group of twelve or so people stumbled out, all
clearly as sleepy as he felt. Dan went out to meet his surf
students. They were full of questions and soon Dan was busy getting
them the right-sized wet suits and choosing the right boards. Lucy
hung around at the edge of the group, looking out at the sea. She
made out something in the distance, a hundred metres or so from the
shore. Could it be the dorsal fin of a dolphin? Her heart
quickened. ‘I’m here, I’m here’ she thought, trying to project her
message out to the waiting dolphins. She glanced back at the surf
school and had an idea.

‘
Can I try on a wet suit?’ she asked Dan, while he pulled out a
surf board for one of his students. Dan glanced up distractedly. He
just wanted to keep her out of mischief until Thelma got
there.

‘
Sure thing’ he replied. He nodded over at a rack of smaller
suits. ‘Those ones there should fit you.’

Lucy took a wet suit that looked about her size and slipped
into a spare changing cubicle before anyone got in there before
her. She’d never put on a wet suit before and it was quite tricky,
but soon she was in. There was a long pull on the back, so that she
could zip herself up. She soon emerged, ready for the water. She
started walking to the beach. Dan caught sight of her and called to
her.

‘
You just wait there on the beach Lucy. We’ll all be up there
in a minute. I’m showing the group some surfing theory on the beach
before they get in the water.’

Lucy turned back for a moment and half nodded. That was enough
for Dan, who turned back to the group and the man who was asking
him something about the board he was holding. With Dan distracted,
she turned and jogged across the beach, scanning the sea again for
the dorsal fins that she had seen earlier.

Yes, there were two fins in the water. Lucy felt a surge of
excitement. She splashed out into the sea. ‘Wow, its cold’ she
thought as the water engulfed her feet and legs. ‘Thank goodness
for the wet suit.’

The shelf of beach quickly dropped away and she soon found
herself wading in water up to her chest. Lucy started swimming out.
‘I must be mad doing this’ she thought to herself, but she knew she
could not turn back now. ‘I’m here, I’m here!’ she called out. She
could not take the time to compose herself, or to focus to stretch
out with her mind to the dolphins. She just had to hope that Dancer
and Storm would realise that she was there. It was completely
different swimming in the sea to swimming in a pool and she
strained her muscles to keep going through the incoming waves. Lucy
could well imagine how easy it was to drown at sea and was well
aware of the serious risk that she was taking. This was another
thing her Dad would have told her not to do. The third dangerous
thing she’d done this morning and it still wasn’t even six
thirty.

Lucy braced herself for another wave and managed to ride over
the top just before it broke behind her. Suddenly, she saw a dorsal
fin in the water and then briefly, the smiling face of a dolphin.
It was amazing to see the two dolphins coming towards her and,
although she felt that she knew them well, seeing them there in
front of her in real life felt completely different to the
experience of dreaming of them, or even transporting herself to
their world with her thoughts. Now she was just busy with keeping
herself afloat.

Lucy stretched out with her hand and felt the firm flank of a
dolphin with her fingertips. Was it Storm or Dancer? The dolphin’s
head broke the surface of the water again. It was Dancer! Storm
came up next to them on the right. Lucy took hold of Dancer’s
dorsal fin and the two dolphins turned to leave the bay, pulling
Lucy along with them. Lucy glanced back. Over the top of the waves
she could see a figure on the beach. She thought that he was
shouting, but she couldn’t make out what over the crashing of the
waves. She turned back to look out to sea, hanging onto Dancer’s
dorsal fin. They were on their way.

Nate Merryweather and Bob were just about to set off on the
Lady Thelma, bound for their lobster pots, when the real Thelma
came running down the dock towards them, calling out something
indistinct as she came. Bob was just about to cast of the second
mooring rope, but stopped, his mouth half open with surprise. Nate
was at the wheel of the boat, standing in the small cabin. He cut
off the engine and leant out.

‘
Whatever is the matter Thelma?’ called Nate from the open door
of the cabin. Thelma stood there, panting, completely out of
breathe, unable to speak for a few moments. She gestured
ineffectually with her hand while she caught her breath.

‘
I’m getting on’ she gasped eventually. Just then, a Land Rover
drove up onto the edge of the dock. Bethany slammed the door and
ran up to join them, a look of anxiety and worry on her
face.

‘
She’s getting on too’ panted Thelma.

It was both exhilarating and scary to be on the back of a
dolphin, being carried out to sea. Even beyond the breakers, the
sea was choppy and the salt spray caught in Lucy’s mouth and eyes.
She clung to the back of Dancer with all her might. She felt
Dancer’s skin warm and smooth, firm and ever-so-slightly rubbery
beneath her touch. She pulled herself up so that she was almost
astride Dancer’s back. The young dolphin swum with powerful strokes
of her tail. Occasionally Lucy caught Storm’s eye. He was swimming
beside them and regarded Lucy with thoughtful, intelligent eyes.
She glanced behind her again. The lighthouse was far away now and
they were fully clear of the bay. The cliffs were banking up to
their right. Despite the danger of the strong currents and the open
sea, Lucy knew that as long as she was with Dancer and Storm, she
would be safe. She wondered how far along the coast they would go
before they found Spirit and what state he’d be in when they did.
She hoped it wasn’t too late.

‘
So let me get this right. This young girl Lucy is a Dolphin
Child?’ Nate asked his wife incredulously, standing on the deck
with Bethany, Thelma and Bob. Thelma nodded.

‘
You know there have been Dolphin Children in these parts for
generation upon generation’ replied Thelma.

‘
But she’s not from round here is she?’ Nate asked.

‘
But she’s got strong family links here’ broke in Bethany.
‘Listen Nate. We don’t have any time. We need your
help.’

‘
That’s right Nate’ continued Thelma. ‘Dan called me not half
an hour ago. First of all he told me that he’d found young Lucy
walking along the road, thumbing a lift to Lighthouse Bay. I said
to keep her there and I’d be along there as soon as I could.
Fifteen minutes later he called me again in a blind panic. She’d
only gone and got herself carried away on the back of a bloomin’
dolphin!’

‘
Blimey O’Reilly!’ exclaimed Bob.

‘
She said that this special dolphin, Spirit, is trapped by a
steel cord at the foot of the cliff somewhere along there’ added
Bethany hurriedly, gesturing with her arm. ‘She told me that his
two friends would come and take her to him. I wouldn’t let her
though and now she’s gone anyway. I’m desperately worried about
her.’ Nate looked from the face of Bethany to the face of his wife.
This was no joke.

‘
Tell me where you want me to take you’ he said
seriously.

The two dolphins pulled in close to the cliff now. Low waves
broke rhythmically at the foot of the sheer wall of rock, which had
been worn smooth by the wave’s endless pounding. Seaweed and
limpets hung onto the rock at the water line. Higher up the rocks
were craggy and rough and in places the stone was stained white by
the guano of the seagulls that nested there and which glided in the
swirling up-currents of air. Lucy glanced up and the sheer face of
the cliff, wondering how anybody could climb up if they needed to.
She hoped that she wouldn’t have to try. Dancer came to a stop and
Lucy glanced down at the water in front of them. There was another
dorsal fin in the water!

The thought that she was so close to Spirit took her breath
away. Everything else seemed to melt into the background and all
she was aware of was Spirit, hanging there on the surface of the
choppy water.

Lucy slipped down from Dancer’s back into the water and swum
over to Spirit. This was the moment that she imagined for such a
long time. Spirit regarded Lucy with his deep liquid-dark eyes.
They seemed to have a world of meaning within them. Lucy had just
assumed that she would be able to communicate with Spirit as she
had done when she was sitting in her bedroom projecting her mind
out to him. Instead she realised with a shock that she couldn’t.
Lucy’s mind spilled over with things that she wanted to say to him,
but instead she couldn’t tell him anything at all. She could hear
Spirit’s clicks and whistles through the water, but she had no idea
at all what it meant. It was so strange.

Lucy stretched out her hand and placed it gently on the side
of Spirit’s face. It felt as though electricity were passing
between them. It energised her and her whole body tingled with it.
It was hard to keep her hand there, she was having to tread water
with her feet and use her other arm to balance and soon she had to
let go again.

Lucy dipped her head underwater to look at the loop of steel
around Spirit’s tail. She was not wearing goggles and the water was
much harder to see through than it had been in her visions and
dreams. She could just about make out the steel through the murk
and swirl of the water and she felt tentatively down Spirit’s flank
until her fingers curled around the metal cord. She could feel that
it cut tight into Spirit’s skin. Spirit flinched slightly as she
touched the wound and she felt a shooting of pain in her own ankles
in sympathy to Spirit’s own pain.