CHAPTER FIFTEEN
The two of us moved toward the dryside and as the wa-
ters rippled around us in wake, I cheerfully chided my mate, “You
thought I was fat? In all my years I will never be as fat as your
head, you bait fish.”
“Well, how was I to know?” said he with a laugh.
I looked at him in total shock at his naiveté. I splashed him
in the face and, pretending insult, swam quickly away. It was be-
coming more of a chore to stay ahead, for I was now swimming for
two. Little Brother easily caught up and spoke a quick, mumbled,
and squeaky apology. Then he splashed me full in the face, and
the laughter returned to our journey as we sought the others. For
the Conclave of all who sang in the sea was to be the greatest event
ever since the beginning of ALL THAT IS RIGHT IN THE WORLD.
As we traveled down the world telling all of the great gath-
ering our play and love-making was restrained, as if the child I was
carrying was some frightening mystery. With the passing of the
tides, Little Brother once again began to act with the same reckless
abandon of our idyllic days in the corals of Winsome Bright. He
was a bit gentler and not quite as rough when we played the simple
games that made us dolphin.
I loved all the laughter and the games Little Brother invented,
for if anything, I played even rougher than before. Often I would slap
water full in his face with my tail for no other purpose than to hear
him squeak in shock and delight at the deception. Fat indeed!
For the moment, child bearing was a great lark, but there
were some little things that caused me a bit of dismay. The child
growing within me took away from my sleekness and also interfered
with the smoothness of my swimming. For the most part, I felt I was
swimming like a rock.
My dives, however, did become things of great power. I could
quickly drop into the deep, leaving my mate far behind. The return
was an entirely different matter. Little Brother and I would surge
up, and he would leap into the dryside in a great, powerful, rainbow
arch. I, on the other fin, would surface only to flop back to where we
belonged. Not quite a thing of beauty and grace.
To compensate for the extra weight I was carrying, I began
to eat more and more to add body fat, in theory — my theory — to
increase my buoyancy. I would devour anything and everything: the
firm fish that are sleek of skin and bright of eye, the twisted-legged
squid, and also the slow and somewhat dull-eyed bottom fish that
tasted like mud but were filling just the same.
The odd thing was that everything was absolutely delicious
— in unusual combinations, and in great quantities. I’m sure Little
Brother was dismayed and slightly disgusted with me, but what was
I to do? Everything tasted so good.
I came even to love the bitterness and texture of the long,
floppy kelp, which normally no self-respecting dolphin would eat. In
shock at my unusual diet, Little Brother would turn the color and
hue of a stormy sea and swim away. I found myself eating alone
quite often. It all tasted so good, and the extra fat did help me float,
though like a water-soaked bit of dryside wood.
The message carried by Little Brother and me was of ex-
treme importance to all who lived in the sea. My mate would dash
ahead to tell the others, and then return to check on my progress.
He would usually find me chugging along, with my cheeks both
plump and pumping, as I munched upon this or that.
One tide, in the bright of the morning sun that warmed our
sides as we swam, he said, “I know that you are great with our child,
but we must find some way to hurry on our way or the Conclave will
be sung, and all we will hear is a vague echo in the sea.”
“But I am doing all I can,” I argued. “Perhaps you could help?”
“And how would you best propose, my sweet Laughter Ring,
that I do that? Should I drag you through the seas with a bit of
kelp? Or maybe you wish that I would carry you on my great back?”
“Hmm,” I reflected in jest, “your back may be broad but I am
afraid not sturdy enough for the child and me. Maybe you could
give a ride to a bug-eye, something more your own size?”
I must have insulted Little Brother with my pregnant humor,
for he swam ahead and soon disappeared. I lumbered along, my
wake wide and without definition. Soon I was shocked to feel myself
lifted slightly in the water, and there I was swimming at great speed.
Below me, I could sense the strong undulations of Little
Brother as he tried vainly to accommodate my wishes. I could feel,
rather than hear, his laughter bubbling beneath me. Together, we final-
ly crashed through a wave and were left giggling in the surf and foam.
We rolled in the water nosing and slapping each other and
as was our desire we became delightfully entangled in love-making.
Our laughter and love was frozen in mid-giggle by dolphin voices.
In our frolic and play, we had broken into the perfect formation of
a regimented group of needle-nose dolphin, the strictest and most
organized in the sea. We settled down, feeling a bit foolish.
“I’m sorry,” Little Brother said gathering his composure as
best he could. “My mate and I are on a quest to tell all of the Con-
clave, a great congregation of all the thinking creatures of the sea.”
When he finished, the sea ran silent.
Finally, a wrinkled, narrow female spoke, “All this sounds
very suspect coming from two dolphin who cannot think two seri-
ous thoughts in a row. Could this be no more than a fabrication to
bring you laughter? How do we know whether you tell us nothing
more than fun-filled lies?”
“Yes,” the others chorused prudishly and prudently. “How do
we know that you do not lie?”
I was ready, as was Little Brother, to bash a few heads to
convince this group of needle nose dolphins the truth of our words,
when we were interrupted.
“Because they tell the truth!”
I spun to see our champion, only to be brushed aside by the
leader of the group who continued to speak. “These dolphin, silly
though they may be, do speak the truth. I have heard the Narwhal
sing in the colder waters. I have seen the whales throw themselves
up onto the dryside to die in protest of all the destruction wrought
by the sandwalker. I lost my mate to a shell-shark that carries the
sandwalker into the sea. We will join the Conclave!”
This odd pod of dolphin, in their strict formation, promised
to carry the message of the Conclave as they made their way up the
seas to the gathering. It was with relief that we bid them farewell,
but not until they admonished us again for our silliness and inappro-
priate behavior.
Rebuked, we swam away in solemn silence.
“Forgive me, Laughter Ring, I am so silly,” Little Brother
whispered as we moved away.
“No, it is not yours to forgive, for it was I who was most sil-
ly,” I said.
“No, no, little pregnant love-starved dolphin it was I and I
alone that was silliest of all. Yes, yes, I am silly most.” Argued Lit-
tle Brother.
“I think that I am silly most and more than you. You are
more the idiot.” I snickered.
We could contain ourselves no longer and both broke into
laughter, and the waves rippled with our joy.
We continued on but it was becoming more and more evident
that in my advanced state of pregnancy, I was holding us slow in the
water. Soon Little Brother began swimming ahead crying out his
message to any and all who would hear.
One tide as I lumbered along he came rushing excitedly to
me. “Come, my little lumpy lover,” he laughed merrily, “I have found
you a ride.”
Curiously, I followed. Soon we came upon a large shell-
shark plowing through the water. I was shocked to see Little Brother
rush to the front of the beast. There he threw himself in its path
but, instead of being run over, he was carried along by the massive
wave it created as it hacked its way through the seas.
So this was his ride for me. With a giggle, I soon caught
up with the ponderous shell-shark and placed myself beside Little
Brother in this great shell-made wave. I was carried along effortless-
ly, and with an occasional kick or two, I would stay there, racing
along at great speed.
We glided this way, exhilarated by the effortless speed, shout-
ing to all of the coming Conclave. The message was received by a
small pod of whale here, and groups of dolphin and flipper-fin there,
as we moved along. Unfortunately, all good things soon come to an
end. When the great shell-shark reached shallow water, precursor to
the dryside, it slowed and then nearly stopped. Our free ride ended.
Little Brother began to swim once again under our own pow-
er, but it was obvious I was slowing us down. Finally, I stopped and
cried out to Little Brother who had rushed ahead.
He swam back to me, and I said, “My mate, my love, the
Conclave is too important. Go and tell all who would hear and
have them tell others. I will wait near the dryside, and when you are
finished come back for me. Together we shall move up the seas to
join the meeting.”
Little Brother protested about my safety but I quickly con-
vinced him that I would be safe. It was only after much arguing that
he reluctantly agreed, and after much cuddling, he resumed the
quest alone but unencumbered. I laughed at his warm memory as
I wiled the hours and tides, ever moving closer to shore where the
feeding was easy.
On the seventeenth tide after Little Brother departed, several
yellow-skinned shell-shark-hummers came buzzing into the cove
where I fed. I was much accustomed to the sandwalkers and their
odd, noisy craft. Truly, I feared them not at all, knowing I could eas-
ily escape if they became over-friendly. Besides, Little Brother and I
had taught Harmony that some of the puny-finned sandwalkers were
but curious to touch us.
As the hummers skittered about, they suddenly seemed to
be just over there, and there, and there. It was with much conster-
nation that I realized they seemed to be everywhere. Still I felt safe
in the knowledge that I could dive to safety if the need should arise,
and I continued my feeding.
Suddenly I knew that something was amiss. The shell-
sharks were moving slowly around me, circling in tighter and tighter
circles. If I swam this way they moved this way. If I swam that way
they moved that way, and now unfortunately I had been moved near-
ly to the dryside where I couldn’t dive beneath them for the water
was too shallow. I decided to charge at them, and then veer off
between. In that way, I would gain the open water.
I rushed at the hummers, and then at the last moment, I dove
and was shocked nearly out of my wits to find myself wrapped in
the strange kelp web. I struggled only to become wound in these
unnatural nets. I had seen these webs before, but never had I been
tangled. How stupid of me!
I struggled and tore at the captive kelp, but only succeeded
in using all my reserve of sweet air, and my strength ebbed fast. I
needed to breathe.
I twisted and turned in the effort to free myself, but to no
avail. I prepared to die and to return to the end . . . the beginning.
Little Brother, my mate, my friend, I loved you. . .