Dolphin Child (22 page)

It always amazed Lucy that in day to day life, you could hear
the sound of birds singing around you, but not truly hear them. You
just had to focus. After a while Lucy dozed off again.

‘
Wake up Luce’ called Dad upstairs from the tiny kitchen of the
holiday cottage. ‘I’ve got your chocolate milk ready!’ Lucy awoke
with a start. She glanced at her watch. ‘Ten to nine already?’ she
thought to herself. She stretched for a moment and then tumbled out
of bed and padded downstairs. Dad was sitting at the tiny kitchen
table, nursing a mug in his hands.

‘
Hey pyjama girl!’ he greeted her. ‘How did you sleep?’ Lucy
mumbled something about not having slept so well and then took her
mug of chocolate milk and sipped it, still sleepy and bleary
eyed.

‘
I saw Bethany drive off up the lane in her Land Rover a bit
earlier’ said Dad conversationally. ‘She’s up with the lark, that
one.’ Lucy smiled.

‘
Actually she’s not very good at getting up early at all’ she
replied.

‘
It’s so lovely down here among the fields and the lanes and
the sea. I’ve only been here a day and already I feel so much more
calm and relaxed than when I’m back home’ Dad continued. ‘I feel
like the peace and quiet is seeping into my bones.’ Lucy smiled and
Dad paused, collecting his thoughts.

‘
You know it’s at times like this, when I feel more relaxed and
happy, that it comes home to me that Mum isn’t with us anymore. I
feel bad that she isn’t here to enjoy all this with us.’ Lucy
looked up at Dad. The emotion was written across his
face.

‘
I know Dad’ she said quietly. ‘I feel the same
too.’

‘
When I’m rushing around at work or doing chores at home I can
block those thoughts out’ he continued, quickly brushing his hand
across his eyes as if to hide any trace of tears. ‘Maybe that’s why
I haven’t been there for you as much as I’d like Luce. But that’s
going to change, starting with this holiday. You’re growing up
fast. Before I know it you’ll be off to University. I don’t want to
find you’ve suddenly grown up without my noticing.’

Lucy felt for Dad but didn’t know quite what to say, so she
stretched out her hand instead and gave his a quick squeeze. She’d
wished that he could have said something like that so much over the
past few months. Now there was so much going on in her life, but
she still didn’t feel able to talk to Dad about it.

‘
I’m so glad to be down here and to be able to meet Spirit’ she
said, steeling herself against his response. Not so long ago he
would have hit the roof if she’d started talking about dolphins
with him. She still didn’t fully understand why. She sensed Dad
stiffening a little, though he tried hard not to show
it.

‘
Yes I know you’re going through this stage with dolphins’ Dad
replied. ‘I dread to think what risks you’ve taken to see that
friend of yours Spirit and what’s her name, Dancer. But I suppose
I’m glad you’re able to while you can.’ Lucy didn’t know quite what
he meant by that, but let the comment pass.

‘
You won’t stop me seeing Spirit will you Dad, now that you’re
down here too?’ Dad sighed and then forced a smile.

‘
I guess not Luce’ he replied eventually. ‘After all, we won’t
be here that long will we?’

‘
Can I go and see Spirit tomorrow morning?’ she asked. Dad
sighed again.

‘
I suppose so, but I’m coming too to make sure you’re safe.
Let’s enjoy ourselves today though. There’s this castle I thought
we could go and see. They say you can see for miles and miles from
the ramparts.’ Lucy felt a knot of anxiety rising in her
chest.

‘
But you know that boy Paul I told you about Dad’ she said.
‘There’s something he needs to show me. It’s… It’s important.’ She
could see that Dad was hurt and didn’t really
understand.

‘
Can’t you see that boy some other time Luce?’ he asked. ‘I
really hoped that we could, well, hang out together.’

‘
Oh please Dad’ she pleaded. He looked exasperated.

‘
I suppose so’ he answered eventually. ‘But we’re going to the
castle this morning. You can go and find this Paul boy this
afternoon if it’s so important. Now let’s have breakfast. I’ve got
bacon and eggs. Do you want your eggs fried or
scrambled?’

Later that morning, they both stood on the castle ramparts,
looking down at the fields below them. The castle keep was tall and
stark. Its interior had long since been ruined, whether by some
siege or other or simple neglect, but the outer walls and tight
spiral staircases still remained and wooden gantries had been built
so that the tourists wouldn’t fall from the landings. Lucy loved
castles and liked to picture in her minds eye what it must have
been like all those years before, with peasants toiling in the
fields and knights riding out to joust on their heavy
chargers.

Lucy wandered along the ramparts, peering out of the arrow
slits. Dad lingered behind her, reading a notice. From the west
corner of the castle keep Lucy could just glimpse the sea. At that
spot, carved into the stone work, was a creature leaping from the
water. It looked to Lucy like a dolphin, though she couldn’t be
sure. She traced her fingers round the rough stone carving,
wondering who it was that had put it there so many years before and
why. She missed Spirit right now and wished that she could reach
out to him, or swim with him again. She wondered where Paul might
be right now and how she would find him. They had a leisurely lunch
in the café next to the castle and then set off again. By this time
Dad was happy to go back into Merwater again for an ice-cream and
to wander round and this suited Lucy just fine. She would slip off
for half an hour, find Paul and then… Well, she wasn’t sure, but
she’d figure something out.

Paul had been disappointed not to see the dolphin in the
lagoon the day before and to compensate his mind raced with
dramatic stories and adventures. He imagined evading the henchmen
patrolling the grounds and climbing over the wall just in time
while shots rang out behind him and bullets whizzed through the air
inches from his head. He pretended that every car on the country
lane he pedalled along back home was full of the bad guys searching
for him and pictured himself hiding in the verge until they had
passed. It was, he decided a criminal gang intent on training
dolphins to smuggle drugs and he imagined how impressed the police
would be when he helped them smash the operation. The day dream
sustained him all the way home and he was still thinking about it
the next day when his Mum sent him out to play in the recreation
ground.

Afterwards, he couldn’t remember quite what he had said at
first, but he’d boasted to a younger kid that he knew where a
criminal gang was operating from. Before he knew it a couple more
kids joined them and started asking him more questions. As he tried
to justify what he had just said, one of the children started
jeering and that attracted a group of boys that had been playing
football to come over. Then, as he knew they would, Baz and Mike
appeared and he found that all the kids were jeering at him and
calling him names, even children he used to play with a month or
two before.

Then one of the gang of kids picked up a clump of earth and
threw it at him. The hard dry earth stung where it hit his arm, but
then another lump hit him and suddenly it seemed like half the
children there were reaching down for bits of earth to throw at him
while they encircled him and called out sneering insults. He tried
to be tough, to show them he did not care, but then a pebble caught
him on the neck. Paul seemed to fold in on himself and he started
to cry quietly, his tears streaking the dusty earth that was stuck
to his face; his hands at his sides, his head bent to deflect the
worst of the blows.

After she left Dad down by the harbour, Lucy had taken the
route up the walled stream bed which was the quickest way she knew
to get up to the part of town where the recreation ground was. She
had no idea if she’d find Paul, but it was the only place she could
think of where he might be. She knew where his house was, but she
was afraid of his mother and wouldn’t dare knock on the
door.

Then she heard the noise and the group of kids near some
bushes on one side of the recreation ground and made her way over,
curious about what was causing all the commotion. As she got
nearer, she could hear that the atmosphere was nasty and
threatening and Lucy started to run. The kids were so tightly
packed in a circle, that at first it was impossible to see what was
the object of their derision, but then at last she saw Paul,
standing alone in the middle and in tears, while the children flung
anything they could at him, no longer knowing or caring
why.

One of the larger boys had just levered up a big clump of
earth from a flower bed and was making a great play of getting
ready to lob it at Paul. Fury overtook Lucy and she rushed at the
boy, giving him an enormous shove between his shoulder blades and
sending him sprawling at Paul’s feet, his lump of earth dropped.
Several of the other kids began to titter.

‘
Get off him you bully!’ Lucy shouted angrily at
Mike.

‘
Oi, who do you think you are coming here and spoiling our
fun?’ shouted Baz. Lucy turned on him furiously. She was shorter
than the boy by a head and was much slighter than he was, but she
detested bullies and was so angry that nothing was going to stop
her. A few months ago Lucy’s friend Amy had showed her some Ju
Jitsu self defence moves and they’d spent the afternoon practicing
them in the garden. Without thinking of how much bigger and heavier
he was than her, she pulled him off balance and with an
outstretched foot sent him crashing down too. Baz clutched his knee
in pain and writhed on the ground.

The other kids were so surprised by what had just happened to
the two biggest boys that they started to scatter.

‘
Clear off you cowards!’ she yelled after them. Mike staggered
to his feet and made to come towards her.

‘
Don’t make me hurt you more than I’ve hurt him!’ Lucy
threatened, indicating towards Baz, who was still groaning on the
ground. Mike started to back off too.

‘
Come on, let’s get out of here’ she said to Paul. Paul knew
better than to argue with his deliverer and followed her as they
marched off at a swift pace back across the recreation ground the
way that Lucy had come.

As they walked Lucy still seethed with anger at how kids could
pick on a lone boy like that, but as they strode along in silence,
she became more aware of her heart racing. She’d never had to do
anything like that before and now that they were out of danger, her
legs felt as if they were turning to jelly. She thought that she
might cry too, but she didn’t want to show herself up in front of
Paul.

They crossed the road and clambered across the broken down
fence into the old orchard which the walled stream ran
through.

‘
Lets sit down’ she said and they both collapsed onto the grass
verge. Paul was still crying and sniffed loudly as he wiped his
eyes, streaking the mud on his face even more.

‘
You okay?’ Lucy asked Paul, turning to look at him. He looked
terrible, but she didn’t feel that much better herself. He nodded
silently and they sat there for a while, trying to compose
themselves.

‘
What was that all about then?’ she asked. Paul half
shrugged.

‘
I, well I don’t know’ he stammered. ‘They like make fun of
what I say and…’

‘
What do you tell them?’ Lucy was puzzled.

‘
Well, you know, just things I’ve seen. Like the lake and the
house…’

‘
You didn’t tell them about the dolphin did you?’ she asked,
suddenly worried.

‘
No, no’ he replied truthfully enough. He hadn’t got that far
before they started jeering at him. ‘It’s just, you know, they say
I make things up.’ Paul sniffed again and wiped his eyes with his
t-shirt.

‘
And do you?’ Lucy asked. She suddenly felt a clutch of worry
at the pit of her stomach. She’d had an uneasy feeling about Paul
already. What if he’d made it all up and all the stuff he’d told
her about dolphins was just a fantasy?

‘
Well, you know, sometimes, a bit’ he sniffed.

‘
And did you make up your story to me about the dolphin?’ Lucy
asked sharply. Paul turned his head and looked her directly in the
eye.

‘
No’ he said firmly. ‘I saw the dolphin in the lagoon. It’s
trapped there. They’re keeping it there. I still don’t know why.
It’s true that when I went back there yesterday after you didn’t
turn up I couldn’t see it. But it’s there. I know it is.’ Paul
sniffed again and half a sob caught at the back of his throat. He
caught Lucy’s eye for half a second more, then looked away down at
the ground between his knees where he was sitting. Lucy knew
instinctively that he was telling the truth.

‘
We’ve got to help that dolphin’ said Lucy urgently. I keep
dreaming about her like I did with Spirit before I knew how to
reach out with my mind and speak to him. She’s desperately alone
and she needs her pod.’ She turned to look at him again. ‘We’ve got
to save her.’

‘
Why didn’t you come with me yesterday then, if she’s so
important to you? I waited for you for over an hour’ Paul sniffed.
It was Lucy’s turn to hesitate now.