The Dolphin

I learn more of humans when Maggie brings a female to meet me.

This female is foolish and does not answer when I speak to her. I see this before with humans in the one named Morris and the one named Jerry when first they come to meet me. Morris is foolish for long and still does not speak much to me, and Maggie says this one is the mate of Morris, so perhaps that is why.

But then the female begins to speak to Maggie in a bad way. Her voice does not change but I see that her words cause trouble in Maggie and I believe she intends that her words will cause that trouble.

Maggie is a friend to me. I decide that I do not like this female, she is not only foolish but also unpleasant. I tell her this and I tell her to leave. Then I wish to make my speech stronger, so I go below and rise to make much water go on the land where she is. When I see that Maggie moves so she will not be wet I also make pee in this water that will fall only on the unpleasant female, though perhaps she does not know this. I think it is funny that she may not know.

It is also funny to see that the water is so much that the female falls. As she rises again she speaks to Maggie very loud and very unpleasant, but then she almost falls again and I see there is a thing on her foot that will not let her stand well. I think that is funny, too. The female goes away, as I tell her; as she goes she takes the things from her feet and throws them.

I do not know why Morris chooses this female as his mate. Morris is foolish sometimes but he is not unpleasant. I ask Maggie this, but she tells that it is complicated and hard to understand. She says that in the shadow time when Morris mates with her the female may not act in such a way as I see.

I would not stay with a mate who acts in this way, and I ask why does Morris do so. Maggie says that is what is complicated, she says it has to do with this money that seems so important to humans.

I do not know if I can ever understand about money and why it commands the lives of many humans.

Later I ask Maggie may I see the things the female has thrown, and Maggie brings them. She says they are called shoes. One has a long part near one end and one does not. I ask Maggie why they are different and she shows me where the long part of one is broken and comes away.

When I ask more, Maggie tells that humans wear the shoes so that their feet will not be hurt by the land beneath them when they walk on it. I ask how does the long part help this and she says it does not. She says that only females wear such shoes with long parts that she calls heels, and that they do this to make their legs appear more attractive to males.

I do not understand how this is so. The leg will be the same if the female wears the shoes or does not wear the shoes. The ways of humans are curious.

Their ways seem to me even more curious when I ask why the humans put other things on their bodies in places that do not touch the land when they walk. I say I do not think they need such things to protect them from cold, and Maggie agrees. She says the main purpose is to conceal parts of their bodies from one another.

It is true that some bodies are more attractive than other bodies, but I do not know why humans find this important. I do not think my own body is unattractive, but I never give it thought and would not seek to conceal it even if it were. I would feel foolish if I put things on my body to hide it. It is my body.

I ask Maggie of this and she makes a long talk. In the end it seems that humans place these things on their bodies less in fear that others may find their bodies unattractive than that others may find their bodies attractive!

They put on the shoes to make their legs appear more attractive to others. They put on the other things—clothing is the name that Maggie says—to hide parts that others may find attractive. This is not sensible. I still am not near to understanding humans and their ways.

But I am glad that I send the unpleasant female away with the water that I push at her with my pee in it. She does not return, and that pleases me.