The Dolphin
Copyright© 2017 by Colin Barrett
Chapter 8
This is a place like no other I ever am in. And the creatures are like no other creatures I ever know.
After Kitik and I eat I rest for a small time. I am weary from my coming to this place, and from all that I see here, and the food that I eat is heavy in me.
But sooner than I am ready to end my rest I hear the sound of something striking the land nearby, and at almost the same time I hear one of the creatures make a noise. Near me Kitik stirs; he tells me that one of the creatures calls to him, that is the meaning of what I hear.
Kitik goes to the part of the land where the creatures give us food. I do not go with him, the creature does not call to me. Kitik returns soon and tells me the creature wishes him to make joy. He asks will I make joy with him. We go from the water together, and when Kitik again returns to the land where I see the creature standing I go with him.
The creature asks Kitik to do other things, and I do them with him. First is to turn over; that is simple, and it asks us to do again and we do. Then are more things. The creature asks that we rise from the water and travel by our flukes, and we do that. It makes things come in the water, and Kitik goes to the things and brings them back to the creature. I do not go to get the things that the creature throws into the water, but then it throws two things, and when Kitik goes to one of them I go to the other and bring back.
Then is something that is funny. A thing hangs out over the water and the creature asks Kitik to rise and strike it, the way I strike food in the water. I think to do this together with him, but when we go up we are too close and bump each other so that neither of us can strike. We tease that the other one is in the way. When we do again this time Kitik rises first and I go after him, and we both strike the thing. It makes a noise when we strike it.
The creature goes away for a time. I say to Kitik why does the creature ask us to do these things. He does not know, only that he does them because the creatures seem to want it and because they give him food. He says soon there will be many of the creatures near. I say will all of the creatures ask us do these things and he tells me no, it is only the two I see that do this. I ask what do the other creatures do and he says they make noise sometimes but otherwise do not seem to do anything.
I think to when I am in the pod and the others would sometimes stop doing and watch when I make big joy, I “do Minacou,” because it pleases them to see. I wonder do the other creatures watch us because it pleases them.
Kitik says soon there will be many of the creatures gathered and we will be asked to do more things. I wait with him and play; there will be time for resting later.
When I hear the call again I go with Kitik to the side of the land. There are many creatures there now, as Kitik says, and this time it is the one that is Kitik’s favorite who asks us to do things. The creature begins to make a movement with its stick-out part to one of us, and I quickly understand that when it does this it wishes only this one to do the thing that is asked. After a time it makes the movement to Kitik and gives the noise that asks make joy, and Kitik does. Then it makes the movement to me and gives the same noise.
As I go down Kitik says to me, “do Minacou.” He wishes me to go high. I am still tired, but I will do it. I go as deep as I can and then come up from the water hard. The creatures around are making noise from time to time as we play, but when I go up there is no noise at all. Then I come back to the water and I hear very loud noise, much louder than before. Kitik tells me this means the creatures are pleased.
But I am not pleased. The water is not so deep in this place as it is where I come into here. Even if I were not tired I could not go so high and so far as I do then. And if I cannot go high and far then I cannot go back to the sea where I am before.
I am never before in a place that I could not leave it when I wish. But for the first time I ask myself how will I ever go out from this place?
“There.” Maggie pointed down. “Right about there ... probably.”
She and Jason had walked out along the sea-wall after she’d shared her speculation that Emily—the name was becoming easy to her already—had jumped into the lagoon. They were looking for where the dolphin might have entered.
Jason had doubted her at first. “If she could jump it coming in, why can’t she going out?” he asked reasonably.
“Have you ever seen Toby go anything like as high as she did today?” she asked. He admitted he hadn’t. “Jason, I’ve got a little more experience than you do with dolphins, and I’ve never seen any of them go that high, not even close. She’s got to be about the high-jump champion of the dolphin Olympics. Come on, let’s take a look.”
Now he just shrugged at her selection of an entrance point. “OK, I guess this is as good as any place, but why here?” he asked.
“Well, you can see the sea-wall’s just a little lower here,” she told him. “Not a lot, but some.” He nodded. “And the fence is quite a bit higher, and more than that it has spikes on top, or the edges of the chain link which are about the same. If a dolphin tried to jump it and landed on them it’d be dead immediately, right?”
“How’s a dolphin going to know that?”
“You know they navigate with a sort of built-in sonar, right?”
“Yeah.”
“Well, it works in the air too. Not as well as underwater, but they can get some idea of what’s above the surface. She’d know about the spikes.
“And look right there,” she continued, pointing to the water now. “It’s deeper there, no bottom in sight. The deeper they dive, the higher they can jump. Remember how long she was under before that big jump today? She was getting a running start, as it were. So this strikes me as the most likely place.”
He cautiously crossed the three or four feet to the other side of the wall, negotiating the treacherous footing with some care. “Looks pretty deep there, too,” he said, pointing down into the lagoon.
She understood his meaning immediately; if Emily could jump in, she could jump back out.
“No, the fall-off is shallower,” she contradicted. “Out that way”—she pointed into the lagoon—”it’s maybe as deep, maybe even deeper, but not as close to the wall. She could handle that on a landing if she glided in shallow, but it wouldn’t give her the same run-up for the big jump.
“Anyhow, she was really motivated coming in. Her mate was here. It wouldn’t be the same, and besides he can’t jump anything like as high and I don’t see her leaving without him now that she’s got here—”
She stopped because he was shaking his head. “Maggie, you’re making an awful lot of this ‘mate’ business,” he said. “Aren’t you just guessing, because he’s a boy and she’s a girl?”
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