Dolphin Child (26 page)

They stood quietly for a moment. Lucy wished that she could
walk down to the sea and find her mother on a rock, looking up at
her with a smile and waving as though she had never been away. She
wished with all her being that Mum could come back to her and for a
moment she felt the pang of loss within her again. Then she thought
of Spirit and a curious thought seized her that would not leave
her.

Just then Dad walked in through the open door of the studio.
Bethany stirred herself into life and quickly covered the picture
of Megan before Dad spotted it. Dad was wearing his shorts again
but his legs had by now lost the worst of their pallor.

Dad was full of the news of the day and before long, they were
sitting at the trestle table with the food spread in front of them,
eating and chatting. Bethany had not yet heard about Paul and the
gang of children, but she knew what Lucy had told her. Some local
families distrusted Dolphin-Children because of what Susan
Penhaligon had done so many years before. Bethany looked at Lucy
with quiet, insightful eyes.

‘
So what happened when you took Paul to the door?’ she asked
Dad, turning her attention back to him.

‘
She turned a bit funny when I said I was Lucy’s dad’ he
explained, a forkful of food half way to his mouth. ‘I don’t know
why, but she appeared to shrink away from me as though I had some
disease. Like you say Luce, she doesn’t seem to like you does she?’
he said matter-of-factly.

‘
I don’t think so’ Lucy answered cautiously. She was reluctant
to start explaining why.

‘
Apparently Mrs Treddinick has had her own troubles recently’
Bethany broke in, before Dad could ask any more difficult questions
of Lucy. ‘I think she’s a bit off with everyone really.’

‘
Oh well maybe that explains it’ said Dad through a mouthful of
food. ‘She said something about ‘you people’ and looked at me as
though I’d just beamed down from Mars or something’ he continued.
‘Anyway I told her what had happened and she looked set to blow a
gasket. At the end though she did say how grateful she was to Lucy.
It’s a good thing his mother knows, kids can’t cope with that kind
of bullying on their own.’

They chatted on about Paul, where to go in Cornwall, the farm
and all manner of other things. The only thing they didn’t really
talk about was Lucy’s connection to dolphins and the time that she
had spent with Spirit since getting there. She certainly couldn’t
tell them both about reaching out to Star-Gazer that afternoon.
Lucy could tell that Dad didn’t really want to talk about it and
Bethany was wary of raising the subject in his presence too. She
and Dad had reached an uneasy truce on the subject. Bethany brought
out summer pudding and ice cream and they feasted on it greedily.
All the while the thought that had struck Lucy before dinner kept
running through her head so powerfully, that in the end she was
hardly aware of what Dad and Bethany were saying at all.

‘
Are you alright Kiddo?’ asked Bethany. It took Lucy a moment
to realise that she was being spoken to.

‘
Oh yes, I’m fine’ she answered eventually. The sun had dipped
below the hills and it was practically dark. The candle that
Bethany had put on the trestle table was burning low. A couple of
moths buzzed around it whilst above them the pipistrelle bats
swooped low over their heads.

‘
I suppose we should be heading on back to the cottage now’
said Dad, glancing at his watch. ‘It’s been a delicious meal, but I
for one am exhausted.’

‘
Oh!’ said Lucy suddenly feeling anxious. ‘I must help Bethany
with the washing up’. She shot her aunt an imploring glance which
Bethany seemed to understand.

‘
It’s alright John, I’ll walk Lucy up to the cottage as soon as
we’ve finished drying up.’ Dad strolled off up the lane and Bethany
and Lucy carried the chairs and plates back to the studio kitchen.
Lucy picked up a tea towel.

‘
Forget the washing up’ commanded Bethany, ‘I can do that in
the morning. Sit down and tell me what’s on your mind.’

Lucy poured out how with Paul’s help she’d been able to focus
her mind, find the murky lagoon and speak to Star-Gazer
there.

‘
So you want to help Spirit’s mother then?’ said Bethany
thoughtfully.

‘
I have to. She’s suffering Bethany! She’s so alone and sad, I
don’t think she’ll hold out much longer otherwise.’

‘
You’ve got to find the place for real first. And you can’t
just knock on the door and say let my dolphin go.’

‘
Paul can show me’ replied Lucy, ‘and Darren says it’s the old
Penrose Place on the estuary’.

‘
I can see you’ve been doing your research’ nodded Bethany
approvingly. She paused and looked intently at her niece. ‘But…, I
can tell that’s not all that’s troubling you.’ Lucy looked back at
Bethany and as she did so a sob caught painfully in her throat and
her eyes welled up with tears. She couldn’t help herself and she
cried for everything that had happened over the last year or so and
for everything that might have been.

‘
There there’ said Bethany, rocking Lucy gently in her arms.
‘It’s okay now.’ After a few minutes Lucy was able to compose
herself and wiped her eyes. Bethany smiled gently.

‘
What’s up Kiddo?’

‘
It’s just that… Well. I feel that Spirit is part of me and
that I am part of him. He lost his mother and now he’s found her
again. But I….’ Lucy broke down in tears again.

‘…
But you have not been able to find yours’ said Bethany,
finally finishing the sentence for her. Lucy nodded sadly. ‘Listen
Lucy’ whispered Bethany quietly, stroking her hair. ‘There is a
symmetry between your life and Spirit’s, but it does not go that
far. It cannot. Mum is gone. We buried her together. It was the
saddest day of our lives, but we cannot bring her back with prayers
and wishes, no matter how much we try. There are certain things we
cannot change and that we just have to accept, no matter how
painful they are.’

‘
But it’s so unfair!’ wept Lucy into her aunt’s
arms.

Presently, when Lucy had recovered sufficiently, washed her
face and blown her nose, Bethany walked Lucy up the lane to the
cottage. Dad had been reading in bed and padded down in his pyjamas
to let Lucy in. As she climbed the stairs she heard Bethany murmur
something to him about Lucy having had a long and emotional day. In
the privacy of her own little room in the cottage, she sat cross
legged on the bed and stretched out with her mind to Spirit and
broke the news to him that his mother was alive. Her own sense of
loss seemed less acute now and Spirit’s happiness and determination
were overwhelming. She had to put aside her own pain and focus on
saving Star-Gazer.

So there Lucy lay, her mind racing, in her little bed in the
cottage under the wide starry night. She imagined that somewhere
far above, one star was sparkling down on her more than the rest.
The thought comforted her and eventually she was able to slip into
a dreamless sleep.

The next morning Dad awoke with a start. There was noise in
the kitchen and his immediate thought was that there were burglars
in the cottage.

‘
Who’s there?’ he called warily as he came down the
stairs.

‘
Dad, the milks gone off’ Lucy replied.

‘
Goodness Lucy, it’s six o’clock in the morning!’ exclaimed
Dad. ‘You should be snoozing in bed’.

‘
But we’re going out’ Lucy replied matter of factly.

‘
Out?’

‘
I have to see Spirit’ she replied. ‘You promised. Either let
me go alone or come with me, but you said…’ Dad put up his hand and
nodded, still bleary eyed. It wasn’t what he wanted to hear, but he
knew that it was an inevitable part of being down here.

‘
Okay, okay’ he replied, ‘let me get my jeans and a t-shirt
on.’ Lucy wanted to cycle up to the cove and assured him that there
were two bikes at the farm they could borrow. Mary was already up
and doing her rounds of the farm as they tumbled out of the cottage
and walked the short distance to the farmyard where the bicycles
were kept in one of the sheds. She waved cheerily at
them.

Dad, still half asleep, wondered what he was doing there and
why they couldn’t just drive up the lane like any sane person at
six fifteen in the morning. Instead he soon found himself peddling
up the lane next to Lucy on a bicycle that was way too small for
him. He hadn’t cycled for what seemed like years and his legs felt
like lead. Still, it felt strangely exhilarating to be up so early
in the morning and to see the day stirring.

Dad had never actually met Spirit and he had to admit that he
was curious. Of course they were beautiful animals and if he hadn’t
been so worried about the danger they represented to Lucy, he’d
have been thrilled to see them. As it was, he was there only
grudgingly and against his better nature to try to protect his
daughter until all of this was over and she could be normal again.
He hoped it would be soon.

They came up to the main coast road and cycled along it for a
short distance before Lucy pulled off by the gate with the stile
and sign to the path. They hoisted their bikes over and leant them
out of sight against the hedge on the other side. Lucy clearly knew
the path well and Dad followed her, still stifling the occasional
yawn.

Dad slipped and slithered his way down the steep path leading
to Old Man’s Cove, while Lucy bounded down it in front of him. He
felt like he’d done a day’s work already and when they finally got
to the bottom, he planted himself on a boulder to recover. It was a
lovely little spot he thought, just the place for a picnic and a
paddle. Dad looked out to sea, irresistibly drawn to the far
horizon and the prospect of being able to see a dolphin break the
surface of the sea. He thought he saw one, but it was just a
wave.

In the meantime, out of sight, Lucy had squeezed herself into
her wetsuit and pulling up the zip at the back, she walked over the
pebbles on her bare feet. Then she made her way down to the
shoreline and stood with her feet in the water, staring intently
out to sea. Dad was struck at how focused and alert his daughter
was and how…., well how much like Megan she was in the early days
of their marriage. All he wanted to do was to protect Lucy from all
this, he thought to himself. All this danger in beauty. Was he
right to trust Thelma Merryweather so much?

He thought about dragging Lucy away, up the path, into the car
and back home as far away as they could possibly get from the
coast. Yet at the same time Dad knew that it was futile and that
the force that exerted itself on Lucy would still apply wherever he
took her. He could never stop her reaching out to Spirit and the
other dolphins with her mind if she wanted. It was no good; he knew
he could not protect his little girl in the way that he would like.
‘Ride the wave, ride the wave’ he murmured to himself. ‘Time will
do its work and she will be a normal girl again.’ Lucy glanced back
at Dad.

‘
I’m sure he will come to us soon’ she called with a smile. She
turned back to look at the sea. Minutes past and Dad could see that
Lucy started to shift restlessly as she waited. He decided to slip
off his shoes and socks, roll up his jeans and wade out into the
shallows to where Lucy was waiting.

‘
What’s up then Luce?’ he asked conversationally. Lucy shook
her head.

‘
I have an idea…but…’ she replied, trailing off. Dad could tell
that she was reluctant to tell him and he didn’t press the issue.
It was natural enough that she would not want to tell him
everything that was going on, after all the resistance that he had
put up to this dolphin business in the past.

More time slipped by and from the expression on Lucy’s face,
it was obvious that she no longer thought that Spirit would be
coming.

‘
Don’t worry’ he said, ‘I’m sure he’ll come some other day’.
Inside though, Dad was secretly pleased. Was this a tell tale sign
that the bonds between girl and dolphin were already weakening? He
hoped so, though he could tell that Lucy was a little
upset.

‘
I have to reach out to him’ Lucy replied simply. ‘With my mind
I mean.’ Dad watched as Lucy walked over to a boulder and settled
down to focus herself and attain the mental state necessary to
reach out to Spirit. Despite the fact that Lucy was his daughter
and that they shared the same house, Dad had never actually seen
Lucy do this before. He felt like an interloper, rudely intruding
on this private moment. He’d heard a little about it, but even
Thelma Merryweather didn’t know exactly how it happened. It seemed
to be a mystery to all but Lucy herself.

Dad watched curiously. There was not much to see, but after a
while it seemed as though Lucy had become completely disconnected
from her immediate surroundings and that her mind was somewhere
else entirely. Dad started to look around distractedly. With a
start that made him half jump with surprise, Lucy came to herself
again and sprung up from the boulder where she had been sitting.
She walked up to him and looked at him urgently.

‘
Dad’ she said. ‘I know you’re not going to like this, but
there are some things that I have to do today …. alone.’ Dad looked
back at her, puzzled and surprised. ‘I’d like to tell you but, …
well I don’t know how to. Please let me do this thing!’ she
implored him. ‘I promise I’ll keep safe and that I won’t do
anything stupid.’ Dad thought for a moment.