Susie (2nd draft [modified])
by Tursi
(note: this version has been modified by the author for posting on this web
page.)
"Arg!"
Dan McGregor tossed the sunday edition paper across the living room,
where it fluttered mockingly in the air before finally settling onto
the clean, dark carpet. "MIDDLE EAST ON BRINK OF WAR" proclaimed the
headline, next to the articles about increases in violent crime being
attributed to television and video games, and election debates in which
the candidates had reduced the campaigns to slander wars.
He stood up, running his hand idly through his short, neatly combed blonde
hair. At 6'1, and 170 lbs of muscle, he looked like the perfect college
'jock'. Yet he was a man of intelligence, and compassion. He'd graduated
university with several degrees, and was working a comfortable, well-
paying job with a legal firm. Yet he was not content.
"It seems to me that the whole world has just lost what little grasp of
reality it may ever have had. All everyone wants is a piece of the other
guy's life, or money, or whatever. Why can't anyone just be happy with
what they have, and love people for what they are? This world doesn't
work."
He wandered over to the window, where his eleventh story apartment
overlooked a crowded, dirty city, not yet beginning to stir under the
warm red glow of the rising sun. A faint hint of smog hovered in the
air, tinting the light even more as it reached the sidewalk, illuminating
the litter and dirt with filtered rays of light. Dan looked upwards,
where, in the distance, the sun was throwing the first rays of light
onto the bay, where it was reflected and refracted across the top of
the city in all the colours of the rainbow. The bay was several miles
away, and from his apartment Dan could see only a thin sliver of it,
but he knew exactly where his twenty foot 'relaxation boat', as he called
it, was docked and waiting for him. The "Pretty Lady", he knew,
would be sitting peacefully in her spot, rocking gently in the morning
breeze, and waiting for him.
A smile tugged faintly at his lips, and without even consciously forming
the thought he decided to spend the day in his boat, listening to the
relaxing lap of the waves against her hull.
He removed his shirt and walked into the bathroom, where he began to
run a shower for himself. Stripping naked, he stepped into the warm
water, and washed himself, enjoying the splashing of the warm spray.
The water felt natural to him, and washed away some of the bad feelings
he'd absorbed from the newspaper.
"Maybe everyone just needs a nice warm shower," he told himself, jokingly.
Once done, he stepped out and turned off the water. Wrapping a thick
brown towel around his waist, he stepped in front of the mirror. He
wiped the steam from the shower off the mirror with a corner of the
towel, and picked up a can of shaving cream.
He sprayed the cream into his hand, and smothered his face, then picked
up a razor and began long, deliberate strokes with it. He was almost
finished one side of his face when the phone rang.
"Damn!" he uttered, half-smirking at the position he was caught in. He
put down the razor and left the bathroom, going into the kitchen. He
picked up the phone and, holding it away from the shaving cream, put
it up against the side of his head.
"Hello?" he asked.
"Dan? It's Kathy." Kathy was Dan's old girlfriend. They'd lived together
for six months, before mutually deciding that it wasn't for either of
them. They parted on good terms, and still spent time together.
"Do you want to meet me for lunch today?" she continued.
"Today?" asked Dan. "What's the occasion?"
"Oh, nothing, really. I just thought you might want to."
Dan smiled slightly. "No, sorry, Kathy. I already planned to go spend
the day on my boat. Can I get a raincheck?"
"Oh, sure, Dan! No problem." Kathy still sounded cheerful, and not the
least put-off. She understood Dan's love of the sea, although she had
at times felt it was stronger than his love of her. That was before,
though.
"So, another time, then!" she finished.
"Another time," replied Dan.
"Bye!"
"Talk to you later!" He made an exaggerated kissing noise, as he usually
did, and they both chuckled as he hung up.
He shook his head, smiling to himself. Kathy was a real nice girl, but
she had a bad habit of not showing up for planned meetings unless they
were absolutely essential to her. Dan had been stood up more than once,
and although she always had a good reason, the reasons really wore a
little thin after a while. Dan had decided to himself that he wouldn't
put off his plans for her offers of 'nothing special' any longer. But,
of course, he wouldn't tell her that. He didn't want to hurt her.
He headed back towards the bathroom to finish shaving.
An hour later he drove his jeep into the parking lot of the marina, and
turned off the ignition. He got out, locked the door, and starting
walking out towards the dock.
"Hey, Dan," waved Jack, the marina's owner. He waved. He was a large,
honest, and friendly man, and very familiar with Dan's days on the bay.
"Hi Jack," replied Dan. "How's it going?"
"Not bad," replied Jack, "business has been good." His face went
serious for a moment. "You won't want to spend more than a few hours
out there today, Dan. Bad storm coming in from offshore."
"Really? When's it due to hit?"
"Maybe four, or five this afternoon, but the coast guard is putting out
the warnings now to be out of the water by two at the absolute latest.
So you be careful to get back early."
"Ok, Jack. Thanks for the warning."
Jack waved off the thanks, and his good-natured smile returned. "And
if you find your mermaid today, ask her if she has a sister for me."
Dan laughed. Jack always pretended Dan spent all his time out on the
sea looking for mermaids. He'd once joked that Dan would be the man
to attract them, if he'd only stay on the fishing line long enough.
"See you, Jack," called Dan, stepping onto the dock and walking down it.
"Bye, Dan," called Jack back.
Dan soon reached his boat and climbed aboard. The engine started on the
first try, and the hum of the well-tuned inboard engine echoed
throughout the hull. Dan checked his watch before backing out.
It was 11:00... he'd only have three hours.
He sighed. For what it was worth, he might have well gone out with
Kathy. But then, if she was late, he doubted that he'd be very relaxed
by the end of the day.
Ten minutes later, free of the marina and out in the bay, he opened up
the engine and raced ahead at top speed. The water was as smooth as
glass, and he found it hard to imagine that a storm was on it's way.
Everyone else seemed to believe it, though. The bay, usually busy, was
pretty empty.
He slowed the boat at the mouth of the bay and looked out into the open
ocean. Only a few small whitecaps were visible, and he wondered whether
it would be a good idea to go out into the sea.
He shrugged. "What the hell?" he thought. He turned the boat out of the
bay and gunned the motor again. The powerful craft lept forward, leaving
behind a foamy wake.
After a few minutes he felt far enough from the bay, and shut off the
engine. Taking careful note of the approximate distance to the shore,
he dropped anchor, then sat back under the canopy and put his feet up
on the rail at the side of the boat.
"Ahhh," he thought. "This is the life. No people. No civilization. Just
me and the peaceful sea."
He paused. "Well, and that storm. Oh well, maybe it'll be late."
He relaxed, casually looking at the sky, still too blue and pretty to be
threatening, and watched some light fluffy clouds drifting slowly across
the sun. They didn't look at all dangerous. He turned his gaze to the
water, which was lightly salted with small whitecaps as far as he could
see. His eyes began to grow heavy, and he relaxed and welcomed sleep
under the warm sun.
Time passed.
He woke up abruptly, as someone was rocking the boat. As he opened his
eyes, he realized it was darker than he expected it to be. The waves had
grown alarmingly large, several feet, and the boat was rocking and
bouncing. The fluffy light clouds had grown menacingly dark and covered
the entire sky.
Dan's eyes snapped fully open. "Damn," he muttered, glancing at his
watch. It was four-thirty, and it looked like the storm had actually
hit. Dan looked around himself, but couldn't see the mainland.
"Damn, damn, damn," he continued. He grabbed the anchor rope, and was
surprised to see how easily it pulled up. He realized why it was so
easy when he pulled up the frayed end of the broken rope.
"Oh, DAMN," he uttered, looking around himself. "Where the hell am I now?"
He ran to start the engine, noticing for the first time the amount of
water that had splashed into the boat and was sloshing around in the
bottom.
It seemed no amount of turning the key or cursing would start the engine,
and Dan ran to the back to lift the engine cover. The waves appeared to
be growing in size, and several times he was thrown off balance as water
tipped the boat over and splashed inside.
"SHIT," he uttered, as he saw the depth of the water in the engine
compartment. "That thing will NEVER start!"
Nevertheless, he had to try. He grabbed a bucket and began to bail from
the engine compartment. The boat rocked violently as a very large wave
struck the side, and he was thrown off balance and fell against the wall,
striking his head. Dazed, he tried to stand up, as a second wave struck
the boat and knocked him right over the side.
There was water all around, but somehow he made his way to the surface,
only to be pushed down by another wave. He gasped for breath, but
couldn't get his bearings. He thought he saw his boat, impossibly far,
then it went behind another wall of water, and was lost to sight.
There were no thoughts, his mind was too confused to register what
was going on. He repeatedly blanked out as he continuously tried to
keep his head above the increasingly hostile sea. Finally, exhausted,
he accepted that he was about to die. There were no lights in sight, no
boat, and he couldn't keep his head above water. He began to sink.
He felt someone scoop him up, lift him out of the water. He had the
sensation of being carried, and pushed, for a long distance. Then
finally, he was deposited onto something soft and wet. His mind registered
nothing more.
Minutes, maybe hours later, his eyes opened, and his mind slowly
registered that all was quiet, save the gentle lapping of waves on the
shore. He was laying on a sandy strip of beach, about five feet above
the water line. There was evidence scattered around that the water had
been much higher, and had only recently settled back to it's
current position.
It was night, and the air was fresh and cool, with the scent of departing
rain. A few stars were showing through a thick cloud cover which was
beginning to break up, and a bright moon, nearly full, peeked through the
clouds to provide an erie pale light. Dan looked around himself, trying to
figure out where he was. His first thought was that he was too cold and
hungry to be dead. He next realized that it was night, that the storm must
have passed, and that he had no idea where he was or how he got there.
Thankfully, though drenched, he seemed unhurt.
About thirty feet in front of him the sand ended, and he dimly saw brush
and tall palm trees.
"I must be at a resort or something. I'll look around and see if I can
find some help."
Several hours later, he returned to the beach and sat down, dejected.
He didn't seem to be at a resort, he seemed to be on a small island,
no more than a half mile across by a quarter mile wide. It was well
populated with palm trees and grass, but little else. He'd climbed a
small rocky hill, and looked, but as far as he could see there was
nothing but the dark ocean.
He sighed. "Maybe going with Kathy wouldn't have been such a bad idea
after all," he reflected whimsically, looking out into the water. "If
I only knew where I was."
After staring out at the ocean for some time, looking for ship lights,
and straining his ears to listen for the sounds of civilization, he began
to feel a little discouraged. He decided that there was not very much he
could find out at night - he needed the light of the sun. He went back
into the trees, and gathered up several of the large palm leaves which
had fallen to the ground. He then spread them out on the dry sand of
the beach, to make a mat he could lay on. Next he went back and got some
very dry leaves and small sticks, and carried them back. Carefully he
arranged the leaves and sticks into a small pyramid near the mat. Finally
ready to light a fire, he realized that he didn't have any matches or
a lighter.
"Oh, damn," he said, again. "What was that trick with the two sticks?"
He went back into the trees, and managed to locate two fairly good sized
sticks, and brought them back. Holding one stick in each hand, he sat down
beside his intended fire, and began vigourously rubbing the sticks together.
Nothing seemed to be happening, so after several minutes he stopped, and
felt the sticks with his fingers. They were warm, so he figured that he
must have been doing SOMETHING right. He started rubbing them again.
Many hours later he lay on his back, looking up at the stars. The
sticks lay idle and cold beside the pyramid of sticks, uncharred. Dan
nursed a nasty blister on his hands as he pondered the ridiculous notion
of starting a fire by rubbing sticks together.
Drowsy, a part of his mind wondered if, despite all else, this might be
the start of just the isolation from the real world that he wanted.
Then he slept.
He woke up to the sun blazing down on the sand, already high in the sky.
The water was lapping quietly against the shore, and he'd covered his
body and face awkwardly with the leaves as he slept, to protect himself
from the light and heat.
But something else had awakened him, some strange sound. He sat up
abruptly to look around. There was a splash from a few feet out in the
water, and Dan looked to see the ripples circling out from where
something large had landed in the water.
"Must've been some big fish," thought Dan. The thought made him rather
hungry, and he realized it had been some time since he'd eaten. At the
same time he suddenly found himself quite thirsty, and he wondered about
where he would find water. For the moment, however, food seemed easier
to find, so he approached the water to see if he could see the fish,
and maybe, somehow, catch it.
A glint in the wet sand caught his attention, and he looked down.
Something fairly new and shiny was glinting on the surface of the sand,
and after a brief moment he recognized it as a small lighter. Being
beige, the case had blended in with the sand, but the metal around the
top had reflected the light at him. He picked it up and looked at it
with wonder.
"Just what I needed!" he thought. "But does it work?"
He carefully brushed all the sand he could off of it, and used his shirt
to dry off as much of the water as he could. In retrospect, he decided
he didn't really need to wear his shirt in the fine weather, and took
it off, dropping it on his mat of leaves.
He looked at the lighter, afraid to try it for fear it would not work.
Finally he flicked it. The flint, still wet, did nothing, but he heard
the slight hiss of escaping gas as he pressed the button. Encouraged, he
tried a few more times.
Finally, the flint dried enough to produce a spark, and he quickly had a
stable flame coming from the lighter. He held it down by the edges of
some of the smaller leaves on his pile of leaves and wood, and it
quickly began to burn. Blowing gently to encourage the flames, Dan
finally breathed a sigh of relief when the small sticks began to burn.
He ran to the edge of the trees again, and found some larger wood,
and more leaves. He made several trips, and made a small pile of spare
fuel near the fire, and added some of the larger pieces to the fire. It
seemed he would now have a decent fire after all.
He shook the lighter, and decided it was about half full. He reflected
that it was pretty amazing that it had washed up before being destroyed
by the water, and offered a silent thanks to whoever had dropped it
overboard. He placed it down on his shirt, so that it would not be lost.
Then he picked up one of the longer sticks, and a rock. He needed a spear
to catch fish with, and he began using the rock to sharpen an end of the
stick.
It was a lot harder than he had expected it to be, and it took a very
long time. He wasn't really satisfied with the point on the stick, but
he was hungry, and he decided it would have to do. He dropped the rock,
tossed some more fuel onto the fire, and stood up. He removed his shoes
and socks, which were still soggy anyway, and rolled up his pant legs. He
then walked down to the water with the stick and waded in.
The water was warm, and not at all uncomfortable, and Dan waded in just
past his knees, and stopped. He stood as still as he could, hoping to see
a fish nearby. The large one which had jumped had not been much deeper
than where he stood now.
After fifteen minutes or so, he saw a small movement a foot or so away.
He turned and leapt towards it, driving his makeshift spear into the
water. He lifted the spear out, and found nothing on the end of it. He
realized he needed to be more patient, and wait till the shot was a
little more definite.
After several more minutes, he saw another small movement, and a glint
of scales. This time he stood very still, and waited. Soon the fish
swam more closely, and was fully in his field of view. It was a decent
sized perch, which he felt would make good eating. Dan licked his lips,
but still did not move. He turned the stick slightly above the water,
preparing to make his move.
The perch hovered in place, studying the two legs poking down into it's
world, apparently wondering whether they were dangerous or not.
Eventually, it seemed to decide they posed no threat, and moved more
closely, completely ignoring them.
Dan jabbed the spear again, and this time lifted up the perch skewered on
the end of it. Uttering a whoop of success and cheer, Dan splashed out of
the water towards his fire. He stuck the end of the spear in the sand,
so that the fish was over the fire, and let it cook that way. He was
careful to ensure that he cooked the whole fish, both sides, before
he was ready to eat it.
He decided that it was a good fish as he ate it, but forced himself
to eat only a little of it, as it made him thirstier. It was somewhat
salty, and Dan was concerned. Finally, in an effort to quench his
thirst, he chewed the juices out of some of the smaller plants. More
or less satisfied for the moment, he let the fire run a little low. He
had decided to re-explore the island in the daylight, and get a clear
perspective on exactly where he was, and it seemed like a good time to
do that.
He found little that he had not seen in the night. The island appeared
completely devoid of human habitation, and seemed to have been so for
a long time, as far as he could tell. The underbrush was thick, the
trees tall, and the plants undamaged by human or animal life. There were
a few coconuts high up on the palms, but he wasn't sure if he wanted to
try his hand at climbing way up there just yet.
He decided to end his exploration with a circle around the island. He
walked quietly, feet in the water, considering his position. He found
himself stuck on an island somewhere in the ocean. Presumably not too
far from the mainland, but he had no idea what direction to go. For
now, it seemed he would be all right for food. He wasn't sure about
water yet, he didn't know how long chewing on plants would sustain him.
He couldn't drink the seawater, even he knew that was the way to
dehydration and death. He wondered about boiling the salt out of the
water, but wasn't sure what he could boil water in.
He suddenly stubbed his toe on a sharp rock under the water, and
stumbled, cursing the pain. He looked at the shore and realized that
he had absently walked right beside the cliff, and there was very
little beach before the rock rose almost straight up, jagged and ugly.
He was about to turn back to the beach when he noticed an opening in
the rock.
He cautiously approached it, trying to ignore the small jagged rocks,
that had replaced the soft sand around the rest of the island, digging
into his feet, and the way that the water deepened near the mouth till
it passed his waist. He looked inside, and saw that it was a large
cavern, going about 100 feet back. The water pooled inside in a large
pool, and he heard the trickle of water splashing. Curious, he entered
the cave. At the entrance, the water deepened still more, and he broke
into a long swimming stroke to proceed. He swam to about the center of
the pool, and began to tread water. He turned back to the entrance,
to verify that it was still open, then turned back around and waited for
his eyes to adjust to the dim light.
Finally he could see reasonably well, and noticed that the cave was
actually better lit than he'd expected it to be. There was a sandy
beach on one side of the pool, off to the right, and he swam towards it.
Standing on the beach, he attempted to locate the sound of the trickling
water. He quickly he found it, a small stream was coming out of the rock
wall, and trickling into the pool itself. He sniffed the water, then
dipped his finger into it and tasted it.
It was fresh water! However it got here, he'd found his source of
drinking water. Using his hands as a cup, he gathered handfuls of
the water, and drank quickly. He drank as much as he could, and
suddenly felt a lot stronger. He hadn't realized how dehydrated he
had actually been getting.
He wandered around the beach some more. It was about fifty feet wide
and one hundred feet long. Dan figured from the sand colouration that
the water probably went about twenty feet more up the beach at high tide,
so there was about thirty feet of sand that was usable.
He nodded. This would, he felt, be a good place to set up his home and
firepit. The air was fresh, suggesting good ventilation, the sand was
soft, and the cave well sheltered against any storm.
Dan smiled to himself. He felt no desire to return to a hectic life
filled with worry and fear. Now he could make his best effort to leave
peacefully and freely on his own little retreat from the world. All
he had to do now was build a new firepit.
Dan waded back into the water, and swam out of the cave. He thought he
saw something under the water dart out ahead of him as he neared the
mouth, but he dismissed it as his imagination. He returned to the beach
where he had been set up, and began to prepare to move.
It took a while to move everything, because of Dan's efforts to keep
his leaf bed, lighter, and fire fuel dry, but eventually he was set
up in the cave.
"Just as nice as home," he thought, smiling. "Now to get some more food."
Over the next few days Dan found catching fish to be much more
difficult than his original attempt had been. Repeatedly he stabbed
his spear into the water, only to have the fish dart out of the way. He
couldn't understand why his first try had worked so well. Over the
three days he'd been trying he'd only caught two more fish.
Extremely hungry, he had tried eating the palm leaves and several other
plants, but found none of them very edible. He'd managed to get up a
tree, and collected several coconuts, but the coconut meat did not taste
as good as he'd hoped. He didn't really want to have to live on it,
nor was he sure he could.
Over the entire period he couldn't shake the feeling that he was being
watched. Yet whenever he turned to look, there was nothing but the
gentle waves, or, occasionally, a few ripples where a fish had jumped
to mock him. His dreams became unusual and disjointed, and he once
dreamt of a giant squid wrapping it's tentacles around him.
He sat up abruptly, suddenly awake. A loud splash sounded from the
pool, and he whipped his head over to look. Laying on the beach, at
the edge of the waterline, was a large perch, apparently dead.
Dan approached it, cautiously, expecting huge tentacles to leap out of
the water for him at any second. But he was hungry, and he wanted to
see why there was a fish on his beach.
He began to reach for the fish, muscles tensed, eyes on the cave's
dark, smooth pool. Suddenly something surfaced twenty feet or so out.
Dan leapt back, and rolled away from the water, before leaping to his
feet to face the monster. But there was no monster, only a few ripples
where whatever it was had surfaced. The perch was still on the beach.
Dan looked at it longingly, then carefully approached it again. This
time he grabbed a stick from the fire, bright embers still glowing on
the end of it, and approached it again.
He got right up to it again, and froze, waiting for movement from the
water. After a few moments, he decided to make his move. He grabbed the
fish with one hand, and simultaneously swung the stick with the other.
Then he leapt and rolled back again, and looked back at the water.
It remained still, so Dan examined his prize. It was about two pounds
of large perch, and seemed very fresh. There appeared to be nothing
wrong with it, and Dan decided that he was too hungry to pass up on it.
He stirred up the fire and added a few dry leaves to get the flames
going, then placed the fish on a stick over it.
He could only wait a few minutes as the smell of the fish filled his
nostrils, and he soon grabbed it from the stick. With the flesh
tenderized, he quickly removed the fish's entrails, and began to eat
the flesh.
Halfway through the meal, he got the feeling that he was being
watched again. He slowly turned to face the pool again.
Head up in the middle of the pool, facing him, was a dolphin. He stared
at it, mouth open, and their eyes met.
The dolphin paused a moment, then dove under the water and was gone from
sight. Dan stared at the spot it had vanished for several minutes, unsure
as to what had just happened.
The dolphin was watching him, he was sure of this. But why? Did the
dolphin leave the fish for him? He'd heard of dolphins doing things
like this, but only on TV shows like 'Flipper'. Could it happen in
real life?
He soon decided that whatever the dolphin's reason for watching him,
it wasn't coming back right away. He was still hungry, so he continued
eating the fish. All the while, he couldn't shake the feeling that the
dolphin had met his gaze with some kind of intelligence, an awareness of
what was going on. Maybe even a bit of concern.
He supposed that he would find out as time went on. Meanwhile, the food
was very good.
Over the next few days he saw the dolphin more often, always watching
him from a distance, and disappearing a few moments after being noticed.
He'd had more luck with catching fish, and he wondered if the dolphin
was helping him. At the same time he improved his bed a bit by weaving
bits of the leaves into a more solid mat, and managed to weave together
a reasonable pitcher to hold fresh water to drink. He'd also perfected
his technique for cooking the many types of fish that he had found
suitable for eating.
One day, as he finished cooking his day's catch, he looked into the pool
to see the dolphin looking at him again. This time it did not leave as
soon as he looked at it.
"My friend," he called to the dolphin. "We are meeting far too often to
be strangers. My name is Dan."
The dolphin remained unmoving, only bobbing slightly in the waves. Dan
admired the smooth lines of the dolphin's head and face, and the
gentle, intelligent look in the eyes.
"Your name," thought Dan aloud, "must be Susie. You look like a Susie
to me. What do you think?"
"Errreeee-oooo?" asked the dolphin.
"Yes, that's right. You are Susie, and I am Dan. Want some of my
special fish, Susie?"
Dan held out a large piece of the hot, freshly cooked fish towards
Susie. She remained in place, about fifteen feet away.
"Come on, it's really good!" encouraged Dan.
"Errrreeee?" asked Susie.
Dan smiled. "Here," he called, tossing the piece of fish into the
water towards Susie. As the fish piece flew towards her, she quickly
dove and swam out of the way. The fish splashed into the water and
floated as Susie surfaced a few feet away from it.
"Try it," called Dan. "It won't hurt!"
Susie slowly faced the fish. Dan heard her making creaking noises, and
she circled it a few times. Finally she took it in her mouth, and
appeared to swallow it.
Dan was elated. "Did you like that?" he asked.
Susie just studied him for a moment. Then she flipped up a foot or so
into the air and then landed on her side. There was a large splash,
which arced to the beach and soaked Dan. He stood there for a moment,
startled and dripping. Then Susie surfaced near the mouth of the cave.
"Eh-eh-eh-eh-eh-eh!" she laughed. Then she dove and was lost to sight.
Dan paused, confused. Then he yelled after her. "FINE! See if I ever
give you my fish again!" Then he returned near his fire, which was far
enough from the water to avoid the spray, and removed his clothes to dry
them. He grumbled slightly as he finished his meal.
He realized that he had been looking forward to making friends with
the dolphin. As he thought about it, he realized that maybe Susie had
only been trying to make friends in her own way, too. He supposed his
reaction to the water might have looked pretty funny to a water animal,
after all. He also considered that maybe she wasn't really laughing,
but dismissed that thought. Laughter, he thought, is pretty universal.
With a good-humoured grin, he resolved to continue trying to make friends
with his neighbor, Susie the dolphin.
He awoke from a sound sleep that night, unsure as to why he woke up. Then
he heard a splash from the pool, and looked over.
"Su-SIE!" he yelled. "You woke me up again."
To his surprise, Susie surfaced again, about ten feet from the shore.
He couldn't clearly see her in the dark, but he could make out where
she had surfaced and was watching him, her head just out of the water.
"Just what do you find so interesting about me?" asked Dan, curious.
Susie didn't respond, but continued to watch him.
Dan stood up, slowly, and approached the water. Susie turned to keep
watching him, but remained in place. Dan hesitated at the shore, then
started to wade into the water.
"Want to meet me half-way?" he asked, stopping when the water was just
past his waist. Susie remained still, now only about five feet away. Dan
could now clearly see her face, and her bright, aware eyes. Faintly,
through the water, he could make out where her tail was slowly swishing
back and forth, holding her in place. He looked back up at her.
"Come on," he called. He reached towards her, and she backed off,
quickly. But she kept her head above the water, and her eyes on him.
Dan sighed, frustrated.
"Please," he pleaded, looking her in the eye. He suddenly realized
an incredible lonliness, and he desperately wanted to make contact.
He took a few steps towards her, and she remained in place. He lifted
his feet off the bottom and started to tread water. As soon as he started
to swim towards her, she flipped over and jumped into the water. He
caught a glimpse of her tail re-entering the water, and she swam off
towards the exit.
"Ohh," he sighed, disappointed. As he was about to turn back to the
beach, he saw her resurface at the exit of the cave.
"Eeee-ooooo," she whistled. Then she was gone.
Dan went back to the beach and laid down, very discouraged. The
loneliness of his situation had hit him with a sudden force that he
was wholly unprepared for, and he badly wanted someone to hold. But
despite how he felt, he soon managed to sleep.
She came back again the next day, as Dan was sharpening a new stick into
a fishing spear. Dan heard her surface, and looked to see her toss a
large fish onto the shore from several feet out. She chattered rapidly,
and nodded her head towards him. He walked over and picked up the fish.
It was another perch, and weighed close to four pounds, far more than he
had ever caught.
"Thanks, Susie," he called. "How are you today?"
"Oooo-eeooo!" replied Susie. She nodded her head rapidly, and backed off
a few feet. Then she chattered some more.
"You're pretty excited today, Susie. What's up? You want to meet up
close today?"
Susie swam straight up out of the water, and stood in place for a few
seconds with powerful strokes of her tail, chattering at Dan. Dan was
able to admire almost her entire body. He could see her smooth, flowing
lines, and the powerful muscles running three-quarters of the length of
her body, flexing as she used her tail to balance. Then she turned to
the side, and gracefully fell back into the water. Almost instantly she
surfaced again, and continued to face him and chatter.
Dan smiled, and a warm feeling ran through his body. He entered the water
and began to wade towards Susie. Suddenly Susie became very quiet, and
backed away from him a bit.
Dan stopped, the water around his waist. "Please, Susie, don't do
this again." He took a few slow steps towards her, and the water
rapidly deepened to his chest. He didn't start to swim, not wanting to
scare her away again.
Susie stayed where she was, looking at him. She was trembling slightly,
and Dan suddenly realized how nervous she was.
"Oh, Susie, it's ok. I won't hurt you."
She suddenly submerged, but Dan could see she was still in the same
place, just under the surface. He heard the odd creaking sound he'd
heard her make when he threw the fish in, and felt a weird sensation
covering his body, as if he were standing in a mild sandstorm. He stood
absolutely still, unsure what to make of it.
Suddenly, it stopped, and Susie surfaced again.
"K-k-k-kree," sounded Susie, almost stuttering. She began to swim slowly
towards him.
Dan smiled broadly, and held his arms out to receive her. She stopped,
and looked him over again. Then, still shaking, she continued swimming
forward.
She stopped in front of him, and looked him in the eye. Dan sensed that
she was asking him not to hurt her, not to betray to trust she was
placing in his good-nature. He saw what he felt must be the same hope
that he expected was in his own eyes.
Dan slowly moved his hand forward, and, hesitating, reached to stroke
her beak. She swam back a few inches, then, seemed to change her mind.
She very slowly swam forward again, until Dan was able to run his fingers
lightly over her beak. Her skin was incredibly soft, and he gently stroked
her mouth, and ran his hand up onto her rounded melon.
After a few moments she seemed a lot more at ease, and Dan was thrilled.
She swam small, slow circles around him, allowing him to run his hand
down her entire body. She moved closer and closer until her body was
rubbing against his as she circled him. On impulse, Dan wrapped his
arms around her, and hugged her.
She wrapped her flippers around his sides, and rubbed his skin lightly.
He rubbed her back as he held her.
"Oh, Susie! You were just as lonely as I was! It's okay now, we're
both okay now."
He ran his hand down her back a bit, feeling her firm dorsal fin.
Then he ran his hand a little lower, and the soft smooth skin gave way
to a rougher, tough area.
"What's this?" asked Dan, releasing Susie. She stayed close to him, and
he walked a few steps to get a look at her back. An evil-looking oval
of teeth marks several inches across marred her otherwise near-perfect
skin. It appeared to be a fairly old scar, now healed, but Dan could see
it would mark her for life.
"Ohh, you poor thing," cooed Dan. "Nasty shark bite."
"Ooooreee!" agreed Susie, turning to face him again. Dan resumed stroking
her face and back.
"Where are all your friends?" he pondered aloud. "Why are you here
giving comfort to a silly creature like myself, anyway?"
"Aaaeee-ooo," replied Susie, rubbing close to Dan.
"You're right," answered Dan. "What does it matter? As long as we are
both happy."
Over the next few days Susie stayed with Dan almost continuously, and
proved to be very demanding of his time. Dan often found sleeping
difficult, as Susie didn't ever seem to do more than nap occasionally.
But after much insistance on his part, Susie seemed to accept that Dan
required more continuous sleep than she did. She still revealed an
almost child-like impatience, never letting him sleep more than a few
hours before waking him with a loud, continuous chatter.
Susie more than made up for the inconvenience by helping Dan immensely
with his fishing. At first she provided the fish for Dan complete,
and Dan had a hard time understanding how she got the fish without any
kind of obvious damage, like tooth marks. But after a while she showed
him. She found the fish, and pointed her beak at one. Dan would hear
a sudden loud sound, sort of a crack, from the water, and the fish would
suddenly flex, and then remain stunned for Dan to spear it. Susie would
then catch and eat one for herself. Dan had found that she didn't really
like his cooked fish as much as the fresh ones she caught for herself.
Dan was very happy with her, and she seemed happy with him. He'd forgotten
all about his old life in the city, and was always looking forward to the
time he would spend with Susie the next day.
Dan admired Susie for her good points. She had an offbeat sense of humour,
and yet, she seemed to be very honest. She never judged him, she never
seemed to be moody. She kept inventing new games to try with Dan, and
also ways to catch him off-guard, like stealing his fishing spear from
his hand as he was about to spear a fish, or leaping into the air and
knocking him into the water. She only did that once, as the impact of
her four hundred fifty pound body knocked the wind out of Dan, and he
spent a few minutes getting his breath back while she circled him
nervously, crying out.
She also had a quiet side which Dan appreciated. She would lie next to
Dan in the shallow water, and cuddle up against him while he stroked
her body, and lay content, occasionally uttering what sounded like a
sigh of satisfaction.
All in all, Dan loved Susie, and he felt that she was coming to love
him. Dan wondered what she might think of him. Next to her grace and
beauty he felt awkward, and sometimes ugly. Yet if Susie thought this,
she never let on. She always seemed happy to be with him.
About a week or so later, as Dan and Susie were laying in the shallows,
enjoying each other's company, Susie seemed a little restless. She kept
moving, pressing her entire body against Dan, and wriggling around.
She nibbled lightly on his fingers when he rubbed them by her mouth.
"What is it, Susie?" asked Dan. "Why are you so restless."
"ooo-OO!" replied Susie. She wriggled around, pressing her body against
him so they were belly-to-belly. Dan looked at her curiously.
Susie began gently flexing herself against his body, and shifting her
position against him, slowly working her way down his body.
"What are you..oh!" Dan stopped in mid-sentence, as Susie flexed against
his groin. She seemed to realize what she had found, and began to press
more urgently, and gently rub against the area.
"SUSIE!" called Dan. "This.. isn't right." Yet something, deep inside
of him, wouldn't provide the energy to make her stop.
Susie turned her head to look directly at him, a seductive spark in her
eyes. Dan could see a pinkish flush all along Susie's underside, and
felt himself beginning to respond to her caress. Having been alone for
so long, he found himself getting very aroused.
"Susie?" he asked again, but there was no longer any conflict in his
voice, he was too aroused to want to fight the feeling. Susie appeared
to sense this, and she wriggled back a bit till her face was beside
Dan's. Overcome with lust, Dan kissed her on the end of her beak. Her
soft skin against his lips excited him, and he placed his tongue in her
mouth. She responded, apparently knowing what to do, as her own tongue
met his, and wrapped around it. Dan could feel her teeth around the tip
of his tongue, and taste the salt water in her mouth, and he loved it.
He reached down and removed his weather-worn jeans, leaving him naked in
the shallow water with her. He threw them onto the beach.
She pressed against his body again, and the silken feel of her warm skin
against his own thrilled him, and he rubbed himself against her skin.
Susie made a sound that sounded very much like a moan, and they rolled
and loved together in the shallow water. Afterwards, Dan wrapped his
arms around her and soon fell asleep.
He awoke in the morning on the beach, with his legs dangling in the warm
water. He sat up and looked around. Susie was nowhere to be seen. Dan
saw his pants laying a few feet away on the sand, where he had thrown
them, and the details of what he had done the night before suddenly hit
him. He felt a confused mixture of disgust and anger at himself. He felt
very dirty, and waded into the water. He began to scrub his entire
body, trying to wash the memory away. But he felt no better when he was
finished.
What had he done? He'd had intercourse with an animal! That was
disgusting! Dan couldn't understand his own motives. Nothing could make
him that desperate, so why had he done it? What bothered him the most
what that he had actually enjoyed it. But she was just a dumb animal,
she probably didn't even realize that he was a different species. Acting
purely on instinct, and he'd reacted. Anger rose up inside of him.
Suddenly he heard a splash, and the familiar chirping of Susie popping
up to greet him. She began swimming straight for him, but he couldn't
handle the thought of touching her. He quickly waded out of the water,
and stood on the beach, facing her. She surfaced at the point where he
had been standing, and looked at him.
"Get away!" he shouted. Susie half rose from the water, and chattered
teasingly, apparently trying to understand the rules of this new game.
"I said 'LEAVE!'," Dan yelled, making shooing noises, and pointing
towards the mouth of the cave. Dan allowed his confusion-driven anger
to funnel out at Susie, and he felt it growing. Susie glanced towards
the mouth of the cave, and apparently seeing nothing of interest, turned
back to Dan. After a moment's thought, she dove under the water and
splashed a large quantity of water at him with her tail flukes. He dodged
it angrily as she surfaced again.
"Eh-eh-eh-eh-eh-eh!" she laughed.
Normally Susie's laugh would bring a smile to Dan's face, but today it
ground against his anger and guilt. He was annoyed and insulted, and
fumed at her. Susie looked at him again, measuring him up. Then, with
a seductive gleam in her eye, she rolled over to expose her underside
to him, flexing her tail in a teasing manner.
Dan's guilty feelings multiplied and exploded, and he snapped. He quickly
bent down and picked up a fist-sized rock.
"I said 'Go away', you whore!" Dan screamed. He threw the rock at her
with all his force.
The rock struck her on the side as she was rolling upright again, and
she recoiled away from it. A small stream of blood began to flow into
the water as she righted herself, and swam away from him a few feet
before rising up to face him. Her eyes were large and hurt, and Dan felt
new guilt added on to what he already felt.
"Brr-eeee?" asked Susie, looking Dan in the eye. Dan couldn't handle the
feelings anymore, and he turned away from her, silent.
"Brr-EEEE?" she asked again, more insistantly. Dan ignored her as best
he could.
After a few moments he heard her splash back into the water. Out of the
corner of his eye he saw her surface near the mouth of the cave, quietly,
and look at him again. He did not acknowledge her, and she soon turned
away and was gone.
Dan was alone with his feelings, and the anger faded quickly, leaving
only the true feelings of guilt he was experiencing. He fell to his
knees, and fought back the tears that were trying to take over his body.
He finally succumbed to them, and he fell into the sand.
Eventually the tears stopped, and Dan sat up, away from the pool. The
guilt was still there, but the pain had been dried out by the tears. He
tried to sort out his feelings, what he had done, and why.
He'd met a dolphin.. just an animal. In his loneliness he'd made friends
with her. He thought he loved her, and he'd thought she loved him. But
that was just silly, animals work on instincts, not love. He'd used her
to satisfy his lust, and that was where the problem was.
An animal! Not a loving woman, but a dumb animal! And yet, she had
responded just as intelligently as any woman he'd ever been with. She'd
been undemanding and honest with him. Was she really a dumb animal? In
his heart, he knew she was as intelligent as he was. She was creative,
friendly, and always cheerful. So why was what he had done so wrong?
The only reason he could come up with was that she was an animal. But
was that really wrong? It was not as if he'd forced her, and they'd
both been happy, or so he thought. Why had it bothered him so much?
Because it was wrong, his mind answered.
Why was it wrong?
He didn't know why. Somewhere, somehow, that's what he had been taught.
But wasn't it all about love? Sex was just about two people who loved
each other, and wanted to share each other. Susie was closer to human
than some people Dan knew. She was intelligent, and what's more, Dan
knew he really DID love her. He was sure, too, that in her own way, she
loved him too.
He'd chased her off. He'd hurt her physically with a rock, and mentally
with his actions. He'd seen that in her eyes before he turned away. She
didn't understand why he had chased her off, after she'd extended so much
trust to get close to him. Truth was, Dan wasn't really sure either. He
felt a lot of shame from his actions, and wondered if being human really
meant the shutting out of all love. Was that not the problem he'd been
complaining about only a short time ago? That people didn't just accept
and love each other for what they were? He was doing it himself,
rejecting Susie's unconditional love simply because she was not human.
To some, he reflected, that might be reason enough. But where should
the line be drawn? Love is love, whatever it's source.
Dan began to feel a lot of pain for his actions, for throwing a rock
at Susie. The flow of blood he'd caused brought anguish when he thought
about it, and he began to believe that he was no better than any other
human he'd previously de-cried.
He stood up, and approached the pool. The water was still, and he put
his hand in it and splashed a bit.
"Susie?" he called. "Susie, come back! I'm sorry."
by Tursi
(note: this version has been modified by the author for posting on this web
page.)
"Arg!"
Dan McGregor tossed the sunday edition paper across the living room,
where it fluttered mockingly in the air before finally settling onto
the clean, dark carpet. "MIDDLE EAST ON BRINK OF WAR" proclaimed the
headline, next to the articles about increases in violent crime being
attributed to television and video games, and election debates in which
the candidates had reduced the campaigns to slander wars.
He stood up, running his hand idly through his short, neatly combed blonde
hair. At 6'1, and 170 lbs of muscle, he looked like the perfect college
'jock'. Yet he was a man of intelligence, and compassion. He'd graduated
university with several degrees, and was working a comfortable, well-
paying job with a legal firm. Yet he was not content.
"It seems to me that the whole world has just lost what little grasp of
reality it may ever have had. All everyone wants is a piece of the other
guy's life, or money, or whatever. Why can't anyone just be happy with
what they have, and love people for what they are? This world doesn't
work."
He wandered over to the window, where his eleventh story apartment
overlooked a crowded, dirty city, not yet beginning to stir under the
warm red glow of the rising sun. A faint hint of smog hovered in the
air, tinting the light even more as it reached the sidewalk, illuminating
the litter and dirt with filtered rays of light. Dan looked upwards,
where, in the distance, the sun was throwing the first rays of light
onto the bay, where it was reflected and refracted across the top of
the city in all the colours of the rainbow. The bay was several miles
away, and from his apartment Dan could see only a thin sliver of it,
but he knew exactly where his twenty foot 'relaxation boat', as he called
it, was docked and waiting for him. The "Pretty Lady", he knew,
would be sitting peacefully in her spot, rocking gently in the morning
breeze, and waiting for him.
A smile tugged faintly at his lips, and without even consciously forming
the thought he decided to spend the day in his boat, listening to the
relaxing lap of the waves against her hull.
He removed his shirt and walked into the bathroom, where he began to
run a shower for himself. Stripping naked, he stepped into the warm
water, and washed himself, enjoying the splashing of the warm spray.
The water felt natural to him, and washed away some of the bad feelings
he'd absorbed from the newspaper.
"Maybe everyone just needs a nice warm shower," he told himself, jokingly.
Once done, he stepped out and turned off the water. Wrapping a thick
brown towel around his waist, he stepped in front of the mirror. He
wiped the steam from the shower off the mirror with a corner of the
towel, and picked up a can of shaving cream.
He sprayed the cream into his hand, and smothered his face, then picked
up a razor and began long, deliberate strokes with it. He was almost
finished one side of his face when the phone rang.
"Damn!" he uttered, half-smirking at the position he was caught in. He
put down the razor and left the bathroom, going into the kitchen. He
picked up the phone and, holding it away from the shaving cream, put
it up against the side of his head.
"Hello?" he asked.
"Dan? It's Kathy." Kathy was Dan's old girlfriend. They'd lived together
for six months, before mutually deciding that it wasn't for either of
them. They parted on good terms, and still spent time together.
"Do you want to meet me for lunch today?" she continued.
"Today?" asked Dan. "What's the occasion?"
"Oh, nothing, really. I just thought you might want to."
Dan smiled slightly. "No, sorry, Kathy. I already planned to go spend
the day on my boat. Can I get a raincheck?"
"Oh, sure, Dan! No problem." Kathy still sounded cheerful, and not the
least put-off. She understood Dan's love of the sea, although she had
at times felt it was stronger than his love of her. That was before,
though.
"So, another time, then!" she finished.
"Another time," replied Dan.
"Bye!"
"Talk to you later!" He made an exaggerated kissing noise, as he usually
did, and they both chuckled as he hung up.
He shook his head, smiling to himself. Kathy was a real nice girl, but
she had a bad habit of not showing up for planned meetings unless they
were absolutely essential to her. Dan had been stood up more than once,
and although she always had a good reason, the reasons really wore a
little thin after a while. Dan had decided to himself that he wouldn't
put off his plans for her offers of 'nothing special' any longer. But,
of course, he wouldn't tell her that. He didn't want to hurt her.
He headed back towards the bathroom to finish shaving.
An hour later he drove his jeep into the parking lot of the marina, and
turned off the ignition. He got out, locked the door, and starting
walking out towards the dock.
"Hey, Dan," waved Jack, the marina's owner. He waved. He was a large,
honest, and friendly man, and very familiar with Dan's days on the bay.
"Hi Jack," replied Dan. "How's it going?"
"Not bad," replied Jack, "business has been good." His face went
serious for a moment. "You won't want to spend more than a few hours
out there today, Dan. Bad storm coming in from offshore."
"Really? When's it due to hit?"
"Maybe four, or five this afternoon, but the coast guard is putting out
the warnings now to be out of the water by two at the absolute latest.
So you be careful to get back early."
"Ok, Jack. Thanks for the warning."
Jack waved off the thanks, and his good-natured smile returned. "And
if you find your mermaid today, ask her if she has a sister for me."
Dan laughed. Jack always pretended Dan spent all his time out on the
sea looking for mermaids. He'd once joked that Dan would be the man
to attract them, if he'd only stay on the fishing line long enough.
"See you, Jack," called Dan, stepping onto the dock and walking down it.
"Bye, Dan," called Jack back.
Dan soon reached his boat and climbed aboard. The engine started on the
first try, and the hum of the well-tuned inboard engine echoed
throughout the hull. Dan checked his watch before backing out.
It was 11:00... he'd only have three hours.
He sighed. For what it was worth, he might have well gone out with
Kathy. But then, if she was late, he doubted that he'd be very relaxed
by the end of the day.
Ten minutes later, free of the marina and out in the bay, he opened up
the engine and raced ahead at top speed. The water was as smooth as
glass, and he found it hard to imagine that a storm was on it's way.
Everyone else seemed to believe it, though. The bay, usually busy, was
pretty empty.
He slowed the boat at the mouth of the bay and looked out into the open
ocean. Only a few small whitecaps were visible, and he wondered whether
it would be a good idea to go out into the sea.
He shrugged. "What the hell?" he thought. He turned the boat out of the
bay and gunned the motor again. The powerful craft lept forward, leaving
behind a foamy wake.
After a few minutes he felt far enough from the bay, and shut off the
engine. Taking careful note of the approximate distance to the shore,
he dropped anchor, then sat back under the canopy and put his feet up
on the rail at the side of the boat.
"Ahhh," he thought. "This is the life. No people. No civilization. Just
me and the peaceful sea."
He paused. "Well, and that storm. Oh well, maybe it'll be late."
He relaxed, casually looking at the sky, still too blue and pretty to be
threatening, and watched some light fluffy clouds drifting slowly across
the sun. They didn't look at all dangerous. He turned his gaze to the
water, which was lightly salted with small whitecaps as far as he could
see. His eyes began to grow heavy, and he relaxed and welcomed sleep
under the warm sun.
Time passed.
He woke up abruptly, as someone was rocking the boat. As he opened his
eyes, he realized it was darker than he expected it to be. The waves had
grown alarmingly large, several feet, and the boat was rocking and
bouncing. The fluffy light clouds had grown menacingly dark and covered
the entire sky.
Dan's eyes snapped fully open. "Damn," he muttered, glancing at his
watch. It was four-thirty, and it looked like the storm had actually
hit. Dan looked around himself, but couldn't see the mainland.
"Damn, damn, damn," he continued. He grabbed the anchor rope, and was
surprised to see how easily it pulled up. He realized why it was so
easy when he pulled up the frayed end of the broken rope.
"Oh, DAMN," he uttered, looking around himself. "Where the hell am I now?"
He ran to start the engine, noticing for the first time the amount of
water that had splashed into the boat and was sloshing around in the
bottom.
It seemed no amount of turning the key or cursing would start the engine,
and Dan ran to the back to lift the engine cover. The waves appeared to
be growing in size, and several times he was thrown off balance as water
tipped the boat over and splashed inside.
"SHIT," he uttered, as he saw the depth of the water in the engine
compartment. "That thing will NEVER start!"
Nevertheless, he had to try. He grabbed a bucket and began to bail from
the engine compartment. The boat rocked violently as a very large wave
struck the side, and he was thrown off balance and fell against the wall,
striking his head. Dazed, he tried to stand up, as a second wave struck
the boat and knocked him right over the side.
There was water all around, but somehow he made his way to the surface,
only to be pushed down by another wave. He gasped for breath, but
couldn't get his bearings. He thought he saw his boat, impossibly far,
then it went behind another wall of water, and was lost to sight.
There were no thoughts, his mind was too confused to register what
was going on. He repeatedly blanked out as he continuously tried to
keep his head above the increasingly hostile sea. Finally, exhausted,
he accepted that he was about to die. There were no lights in sight, no
boat, and he couldn't keep his head above water. He began to sink.
He felt someone scoop him up, lift him out of the water. He had the
sensation of being carried, and pushed, for a long distance. Then
finally, he was deposited onto something soft and wet. His mind registered
nothing more.
Minutes, maybe hours later, his eyes opened, and his mind slowly
registered that all was quiet, save the gentle lapping of waves on the
shore. He was laying on a sandy strip of beach, about five feet above
the water line. There was evidence scattered around that the water had
been much higher, and had only recently settled back to it's
current position.
It was night, and the air was fresh and cool, with the scent of departing
rain. A few stars were showing through a thick cloud cover which was
beginning to break up, and a bright moon, nearly full, peeked through the
clouds to provide an erie pale light. Dan looked around himself, trying to
figure out where he was. His first thought was that he was too cold and
hungry to be dead. He next realized that it was night, that the storm must
have passed, and that he had no idea where he was or how he got there.
Thankfully, though drenched, he seemed unhurt.
About thirty feet in front of him the sand ended, and he dimly saw brush
and tall palm trees.
"I must be at a resort or something. I'll look around and see if I can
find some help."
Several hours later, he returned to the beach and sat down, dejected.
He didn't seem to be at a resort, he seemed to be on a small island,
no more than a half mile across by a quarter mile wide. It was well
populated with palm trees and grass, but little else. He'd climbed a
small rocky hill, and looked, but as far as he could see there was
nothing but the dark ocean.
He sighed. "Maybe going with Kathy wouldn't have been such a bad idea
after all," he reflected whimsically, looking out into the water. "If
I only knew where I was."
After staring out at the ocean for some time, looking for ship lights,
and straining his ears to listen for the sounds of civilization, he began
to feel a little discouraged. He decided that there was not very much he
could find out at night - he needed the light of the sun. He went back
into the trees, and gathered up several of the large palm leaves which
had fallen to the ground. He then spread them out on the dry sand of
the beach, to make a mat he could lay on. Next he went back and got some
very dry leaves and small sticks, and carried them back. Carefully he
arranged the leaves and sticks into a small pyramid near the mat. Finally
ready to light a fire, he realized that he didn't have any matches or
a lighter.
"Oh, damn," he said, again. "What was that trick with the two sticks?"
He went back into the trees, and managed to locate two fairly good sized
sticks, and brought them back. Holding one stick in each hand, he sat down
beside his intended fire, and began vigourously rubbing the sticks together.
Nothing seemed to be happening, so after several minutes he stopped, and
felt the sticks with his fingers. They were warm, so he figured that he
must have been doing SOMETHING right. He started rubbing them again.
Many hours later he lay on his back, looking up at the stars. The
sticks lay idle and cold beside the pyramid of sticks, uncharred. Dan
nursed a nasty blister on his hands as he pondered the ridiculous notion
of starting a fire by rubbing sticks together.
Drowsy, a part of his mind wondered if, despite all else, this might be
the start of just the isolation from the real world that he wanted.
Then he slept.
He woke up to the sun blazing down on the sand, already high in the sky.
The water was lapping quietly against the shore, and he'd covered his
body and face awkwardly with the leaves as he slept, to protect himself
from the light and heat.
But something else had awakened him, some strange sound. He sat up
abruptly to look around. There was a splash from a few feet out in the
water, and Dan looked to see the ripples circling out from where
something large had landed in the water.
"Must've been some big fish," thought Dan. The thought made him rather
hungry, and he realized it had been some time since he'd eaten. At the
same time he suddenly found himself quite thirsty, and he wondered about
where he would find water. For the moment, however, food seemed easier
to find, so he approached the water to see if he could see the fish,
and maybe, somehow, catch it.
A glint in the wet sand caught his attention, and he looked down.
Something fairly new and shiny was glinting on the surface of the sand,
and after a brief moment he recognized it as a small lighter. Being
beige, the case had blended in with the sand, but the metal around the
top had reflected the light at him. He picked it up and looked at it
with wonder.
"Just what I needed!" he thought. "But does it work?"
He carefully brushed all the sand he could off of it, and used his shirt
to dry off as much of the water as he could. In retrospect, he decided
he didn't really need to wear his shirt in the fine weather, and took
it off, dropping it on his mat of leaves.
He looked at the lighter, afraid to try it for fear it would not work.
Finally he flicked it. The flint, still wet, did nothing, but he heard
the slight hiss of escaping gas as he pressed the button. Encouraged, he
tried a few more times.
Finally, the flint dried enough to produce a spark, and he quickly had a
stable flame coming from the lighter. He held it down by the edges of
some of the smaller leaves on his pile of leaves and wood, and it
quickly began to burn. Blowing gently to encourage the flames, Dan
finally breathed a sigh of relief when the small sticks began to burn.
He ran to the edge of the trees again, and found some larger wood,
and more leaves. He made several trips, and made a small pile of spare
fuel near the fire, and added some of the larger pieces to the fire. It
seemed he would now have a decent fire after all.
He shook the lighter, and decided it was about half full. He reflected
that it was pretty amazing that it had washed up before being destroyed
by the water, and offered a silent thanks to whoever had dropped it
overboard. He placed it down on his shirt, so that it would not be lost.
Then he picked up one of the longer sticks, and a rock. He needed a spear
to catch fish with, and he began using the rock to sharpen an end of the
stick.
It was a lot harder than he had expected it to be, and it took a very
long time. He wasn't really satisfied with the point on the stick, but
he was hungry, and he decided it would have to do. He dropped the rock,
tossed some more fuel onto the fire, and stood up. He removed his shoes
and socks, which were still soggy anyway, and rolled up his pant legs. He
then walked down to the water with the stick and waded in.
The water was warm, and not at all uncomfortable, and Dan waded in just
past his knees, and stopped. He stood as still as he could, hoping to see
a fish nearby. The large one which had jumped had not been much deeper
than where he stood now.
After fifteen minutes or so, he saw a small movement a foot or so away.
He turned and leapt towards it, driving his makeshift spear into the
water. He lifted the spear out, and found nothing on the end of it. He
realized he needed to be more patient, and wait till the shot was a
little more definite.
After several more minutes, he saw another small movement, and a glint
of scales. This time he stood very still, and waited. Soon the fish
swam more closely, and was fully in his field of view. It was a decent
sized perch, which he felt would make good eating. Dan licked his lips,
but still did not move. He turned the stick slightly above the water,
preparing to make his move.
The perch hovered in place, studying the two legs poking down into it's
world, apparently wondering whether they were dangerous or not.
Eventually, it seemed to decide they posed no threat, and moved more
closely, completely ignoring them.
Dan jabbed the spear again, and this time lifted up the perch skewered on
the end of it. Uttering a whoop of success and cheer, Dan splashed out of
the water towards his fire. He stuck the end of the spear in the sand,
so that the fish was over the fire, and let it cook that way. He was
careful to ensure that he cooked the whole fish, both sides, before
he was ready to eat it.
He decided that it was a good fish as he ate it, but forced himself
to eat only a little of it, as it made him thirstier. It was somewhat
salty, and Dan was concerned. Finally, in an effort to quench his
thirst, he chewed the juices out of some of the smaller plants. More
or less satisfied for the moment, he let the fire run a little low. He
had decided to re-explore the island in the daylight, and get a clear
perspective on exactly where he was, and it seemed like a good time to
do that.
He found little that he had not seen in the night. The island appeared
completely devoid of human habitation, and seemed to have been so for
a long time, as far as he could tell. The underbrush was thick, the
trees tall, and the plants undamaged by human or animal life. There were
a few coconuts high up on the palms, but he wasn't sure if he wanted to
try his hand at climbing way up there just yet.
He decided to end his exploration with a circle around the island. He
walked quietly, feet in the water, considering his position. He found
himself stuck on an island somewhere in the ocean. Presumably not too
far from the mainland, but he had no idea what direction to go. For
now, it seemed he would be all right for food. He wasn't sure about
water yet, he didn't know how long chewing on plants would sustain him.
He couldn't drink the seawater, even he knew that was the way to
dehydration and death. He wondered about boiling the salt out of the
water, but wasn't sure what he could boil water in.
He suddenly stubbed his toe on a sharp rock under the water, and
stumbled, cursing the pain. He looked at the shore and realized that
he had absently walked right beside the cliff, and there was very
little beach before the rock rose almost straight up, jagged and ugly.
He was about to turn back to the beach when he noticed an opening in
the rock.
He cautiously approached it, trying to ignore the small jagged rocks,
that had replaced the soft sand around the rest of the island, digging
into his feet, and the way that the water deepened near the mouth till
it passed his waist. He looked inside, and saw that it was a large
cavern, going about 100 feet back. The water pooled inside in a large
pool, and he heard the trickle of water splashing. Curious, he entered
the cave. At the entrance, the water deepened still more, and he broke
into a long swimming stroke to proceed. He swam to about the center of
the pool, and began to tread water. He turned back to the entrance,
to verify that it was still open, then turned back around and waited for
his eyes to adjust to the dim light.
Finally he could see reasonably well, and noticed that the cave was
actually better lit than he'd expected it to be. There was a sandy
beach on one side of the pool, off to the right, and he swam towards it.
Standing on the beach, he attempted to locate the sound of the trickling
water. He quickly he found it, a small stream was coming out of the rock
wall, and trickling into the pool itself. He sniffed the water, then
dipped his finger into it and tasted it.
It was fresh water! However it got here, he'd found his source of
drinking water. Using his hands as a cup, he gathered handfuls of
the water, and drank quickly. He drank as much as he could, and
suddenly felt a lot stronger. He hadn't realized how dehydrated he
had actually been getting.
He wandered around the beach some more. It was about fifty feet wide
and one hundred feet long. Dan figured from the sand colouration that
the water probably went about twenty feet more up the beach at high tide,
so there was about thirty feet of sand that was usable.
He nodded. This would, he felt, be a good place to set up his home and
firepit. The air was fresh, suggesting good ventilation, the sand was
soft, and the cave well sheltered against any storm.
Dan smiled to himself. He felt no desire to return to a hectic life
filled with worry and fear. Now he could make his best effort to leave
peacefully and freely on his own little retreat from the world. All
he had to do now was build a new firepit.
Dan waded back into the water, and swam out of the cave. He thought he
saw something under the water dart out ahead of him as he neared the
mouth, but he dismissed it as his imagination. He returned to the beach
where he had been set up, and began to prepare to move.
It took a while to move everything, because of Dan's efforts to keep
his leaf bed, lighter, and fire fuel dry, but eventually he was set
up in the cave.
"Just as nice as home," he thought, smiling. "Now to get some more food."
Over the next few days Dan found catching fish to be much more
difficult than his original attempt had been. Repeatedly he stabbed
his spear into the water, only to have the fish dart out of the way. He
couldn't understand why his first try had worked so well. Over the
three days he'd been trying he'd only caught two more fish.
Extremely hungry, he had tried eating the palm leaves and several other
plants, but found none of them very edible. He'd managed to get up a
tree, and collected several coconuts, but the coconut meat did not taste
as good as he'd hoped. He didn't really want to have to live on it,
nor was he sure he could.
Over the entire period he couldn't shake the feeling that he was being
watched. Yet whenever he turned to look, there was nothing but the
gentle waves, or, occasionally, a few ripples where a fish had jumped
to mock him. His dreams became unusual and disjointed, and he once
dreamt of a giant squid wrapping it's tentacles around him.
He sat up abruptly, suddenly awake. A loud splash sounded from the
pool, and he whipped his head over to look. Laying on the beach, at
the edge of the waterline, was a large perch, apparently dead.
Dan approached it, cautiously, expecting huge tentacles to leap out of
the water for him at any second. But he was hungry, and he wanted to
see why there was a fish on his beach.
He began to reach for the fish, muscles tensed, eyes on the cave's
dark, smooth pool. Suddenly something surfaced twenty feet or so out.
Dan leapt back, and rolled away from the water, before leaping to his
feet to face the monster. But there was no monster, only a few ripples
where whatever it was had surfaced. The perch was still on the beach.
Dan looked at it longingly, then carefully approached it again. This
time he grabbed a stick from the fire, bright embers still glowing on
the end of it, and approached it again.
He got right up to it again, and froze, waiting for movement from the
water. After a few moments, he decided to make his move. He grabbed the
fish with one hand, and simultaneously swung the stick with the other.
Then he leapt and rolled back again, and looked back at the water.
It remained still, so Dan examined his prize. It was about two pounds
of large perch, and seemed very fresh. There appeared to be nothing
wrong with it, and Dan decided that he was too hungry to pass up on it.
He stirred up the fire and added a few dry leaves to get the flames
going, then placed the fish on a stick over it.
He could only wait a few minutes as the smell of the fish filled his
nostrils, and he soon grabbed it from the stick. With the flesh
tenderized, he quickly removed the fish's entrails, and began to eat
the flesh.
Halfway through the meal, he got the feeling that he was being
watched again. He slowly turned to face the pool again.
Head up in the middle of the pool, facing him, was a dolphin. He stared
at it, mouth open, and their eyes met.
The dolphin paused a moment, then dove under the water and was gone from
sight. Dan stared at the spot it had vanished for several minutes, unsure
as to what had just happened.
The dolphin was watching him, he was sure of this. But why? Did the
dolphin leave the fish for him? He'd heard of dolphins doing things
like this, but only on TV shows like 'Flipper'. Could it happen in
real life?
He soon decided that whatever the dolphin's reason for watching him,
it wasn't coming back right away. He was still hungry, so he continued
eating the fish. All the while, he couldn't shake the feeling that the
dolphin had met his gaze with some kind of intelligence, an awareness of
what was going on. Maybe even a bit of concern.
He supposed that he would find out as time went on. Meanwhile, the food
was very good.
Over the next few days he saw the dolphin more often, always watching
him from a distance, and disappearing a few moments after being noticed.
He'd had more luck with catching fish, and he wondered if the dolphin
was helping him. At the same time he improved his bed a bit by weaving
bits of the leaves into a more solid mat, and managed to weave together
a reasonable pitcher to hold fresh water to drink. He'd also perfected
his technique for cooking the many types of fish that he had found
suitable for eating.
One day, as he finished cooking his day's catch, he looked into the pool
to see the dolphin looking at him again. This time it did not leave as
soon as he looked at it.
"My friend," he called to the dolphin. "We are meeting far too often to
be strangers. My name is Dan."
The dolphin remained unmoving, only bobbing slightly in the waves. Dan
admired the smooth lines of the dolphin's head and face, and the
gentle, intelligent look in the eyes.
"Your name," thought Dan aloud, "must be Susie. You look like a Susie
to me. What do you think?"
"Errreeee-oooo?" asked the dolphin.
"Yes, that's right. You are Susie, and I am Dan. Want some of my
special fish, Susie?"
Dan held out a large piece of the hot, freshly cooked fish towards
Susie. She remained in place, about fifteen feet away.
"Come on, it's really good!" encouraged Dan.
"Errrreeee?" asked Susie.
Dan smiled. "Here," he called, tossing the piece of fish into the
water towards Susie. As the fish piece flew towards her, she quickly
dove and swam out of the way. The fish splashed into the water and
floated as Susie surfaced a few feet away from it.
"Try it," called Dan. "It won't hurt!"
Susie slowly faced the fish. Dan heard her making creaking noises, and
she circled it a few times. Finally she took it in her mouth, and
appeared to swallow it.
Dan was elated. "Did you like that?" he asked.
Susie just studied him for a moment. Then she flipped up a foot or so
into the air and then landed on her side. There was a large splash,
which arced to the beach and soaked Dan. He stood there for a moment,
startled and dripping. Then Susie surfaced near the mouth of the cave.
"Eh-eh-eh-eh-eh-eh!" she laughed. Then she dove and was lost to sight.
Dan paused, confused. Then he yelled after her. "FINE! See if I ever
give you my fish again!" Then he returned near his fire, which was far
enough from the water to avoid the spray, and removed his clothes to dry
them. He grumbled slightly as he finished his meal.
He realized that he had been looking forward to making friends with
the dolphin. As he thought about it, he realized that maybe Susie had
only been trying to make friends in her own way, too. He supposed his
reaction to the water might have looked pretty funny to a water animal,
after all. He also considered that maybe she wasn't really laughing,
but dismissed that thought. Laughter, he thought, is pretty universal.
With a good-humoured grin, he resolved to continue trying to make friends
with his neighbor, Susie the dolphin.
He awoke from a sound sleep that night, unsure as to why he woke up. Then
he heard a splash from the pool, and looked over.
"Su-SIE!" he yelled. "You woke me up again."
To his surprise, Susie surfaced again, about ten feet from the shore.
He couldn't clearly see her in the dark, but he could make out where
she had surfaced and was watching him, her head just out of the water.
"Just what do you find so interesting about me?" asked Dan, curious.
Susie didn't respond, but continued to watch him.
Dan stood up, slowly, and approached the water. Susie turned to keep
watching him, but remained in place. Dan hesitated at the shore, then
started to wade into the water.
"Want to meet me half-way?" he asked, stopping when the water was just
past his waist. Susie remained still, now only about five feet away. Dan
could now clearly see her face, and her bright, aware eyes. Faintly,
through the water, he could make out where her tail was slowly swishing
back and forth, holding her in place. He looked back up at her.
"Come on," he called. He reached towards her, and she backed off,
quickly. But she kept her head above the water, and her eyes on him.
Dan sighed, frustrated.
"Please," he pleaded, looking her in the eye. He suddenly realized
an incredible lonliness, and he desperately wanted to make contact.
He took a few steps towards her, and she remained in place. He lifted
his feet off the bottom and started to tread water. As soon as he started
to swim towards her, she flipped over and jumped into the water. He
caught a glimpse of her tail re-entering the water, and she swam off
towards the exit.
"Ohh," he sighed, disappointed. As he was about to turn back to the
beach, he saw her resurface at the exit of the cave.
"Eeee-ooooo," she whistled. Then she was gone.
Dan went back to the beach and laid down, very discouraged. The
loneliness of his situation had hit him with a sudden force that he
was wholly unprepared for, and he badly wanted someone to hold. But
despite how he felt, he soon managed to sleep.
She came back again the next day, as Dan was sharpening a new stick into
a fishing spear. Dan heard her surface, and looked to see her toss a
large fish onto the shore from several feet out. She chattered rapidly,
and nodded her head towards him. He walked over and picked up the fish.
It was another perch, and weighed close to four pounds, far more than he
had ever caught.
"Thanks, Susie," he called. "How are you today?"
"Oooo-eeooo!" replied Susie. She nodded her head rapidly, and backed off
a few feet. Then she chattered some more.
"You're pretty excited today, Susie. What's up? You want to meet up
close today?"
Susie swam straight up out of the water, and stood in place for a few
seconds with powerful strokes of her tail, chattering at Dan. Dan was
able to admire almost her entire body. He could see her smooth, flowing
lines, and the powerful muscles running three-quarters of the length of
her body, flexing as she used her tail to balance. Then she turned to
the side, and gracefully fell back into the water. Almost instantly she
surfaced again, and continued to face him and chatter.
Dan smiled, and a warm feeling ran through his body. He entered the water
and began to wade towards Susie. Suddenly Susie became very quiet, and
backed away from him a bit.
Dan stopped, the water around his waist. "Please, Susie, don't do
this again." He took a few slow steps towards her, and the water
rapidly deepened to his chest. He didn't start to swim, not wanting to
scare her away again.
Susie stayed where she was, looking at him. She was trembling slightly,
and Dan suddenly realized how nervous she was.
"Oh, Susie, it's ok. I won't hurt you."
She suddenly submerged, but Dan could see she was still in the same
place, just under the surface. He heard the odd creaking sound he'd
heard her make when he threw the fish in, and felt a weird sensation
covering his body, as if he were standing in a mild sandstorm. He stood
absolutely still, unsure what to make of it.
Suddenly, it stopped, and Susie surfaced again.
"K-k-k-kree," sounded Susie, almost stuttering. She began to swim slowly
towards him.
Dan smiled broadly, and held his arms out to receive her. She stopped,
and looked him over again. Then, still shaking, she continued swimming
forward.
She stopped in front of him, and looked him in the eye. Dan sensed that
she was asking him not to hurt her, not to betray to trust she was
placing in his good-nature. He saw what he felt must be the same hope
that he expected was in his own eyes.
Dan slowly moved his hand forward, and, hesitating, reached to stroke
her beak. She swam back a few inches, then, seemed to change her mind.
She very slowly swam forward again, until Dan was able to run his fingers
lightly over her beak. Her skin was incredibly soft, and he gently stroked
her mouth, and ran his hand up onto her rounded melon.
After a few moments she seemed a lot more at ease, and Dan was thrilled.
She swam small, slow circles around him, allowing him to run his hand
down her entire body. She moved closer and closer until her body was
rubbing against his as she circled him. On impulse, Dan wrapped his
arms around her, and hugged her.
She wrapped her flippers around his sides, and rubbed his skin lightly.
He rubbed her back as he held her.
"Oh, Susie! You were just as lonely as I was! It's okay now, we're
both okay now."
He ran his hand down her back a bit, feeling her firm dorsal fin.
Then he ran his hand a little lower, and the soft smooth skin gave way
to a rougher, tough area.
"What's this?" asked Dan, releasing Susie. She stayed close to him, and
he walked a few steps to get a look at her back. An evil-looking oval
of teeth marks several inches across marred her otherwise near-perfect
skin. It appeared to be a fairly old scar, now healed, but Dan could see
it would mark her for life.
"Ohh, you poor thing," cooed Dan. "Nasty shark bite."
"Ooooreee!" agreed Susie, turning to face him again. Dan resumed stroking
her face and back.
"Where are all your friends?" he pondered aloud. "Why are you here
giving comfort to a silly creature like myself, anyway?"
"Aaaeee-ooo," replied Susie, rubbing close to Dan.
"You're right," answered Dan. "What does it matter? As long as we are
both happy."
Over the next few days Susie stayed with Dan almost continuously, and
proved to be very demanding of his time. Dan often found sleeping
difficult, as Susie didn't ever seem to do more than nap occasionally.
But after much insistance on his part, Susie seemed to accept that Dan
required more continuous sleep than she did. She still revealed an
almost child-like impatience, never letting him sleep more than a few
hours before waking him with a loud, continuous chatter.
Susie more than made up for the inconvenience by helping Dan immensely
with his fishing. At first she provided the fish for Dan complete,
and Dan had a hard time understanding how she got the fish without any
kind of obvious damage, like tooth marks. But after a while she showed
him. She found the fish, and pointed her beak at one. Dan would hear
a sudden loud sound, sort of a crack, from the water, and the fish would
suddenly flex, and then remain stunned for Dan to spear it. Susie would
then catch and eat one for herself. Dan had found that she didn't really
like his cooked fish as much as the fresh ones she caught for herself.
Dan was very happy with her, and she seemed happy with him. He'd forgotten
all about his old life in the city, and was always looking forward to the
time he would spend with Susie the next day.
Dan admired Susie for her good points. She had an offbeat sense of humour,
and yet, she seemed to be very honest. She never judged him, she never
seemed to be moody. She kept inventing new games to try with Dan, and
also ways to catch him off-guard, like stealing his fishing spear from
his hand as he was about to spear a fish, or leaping into the air and
knocking him into the water. She only did that once, as the impact of
her four hundred fifty pound body knocked the wind out of Dan, and he
spent a few minutes getting his breath back while she circled him
nervously, crying out.
She also had a quiet side which Dan appreciated. She would lie next to
Dan in the shallow water, and cuddle up against him while he stroked
her body, and lay content, occasionally uttering what sounded like a
sigh of satisfaction.
All in all, Dan loved Susie, and he felt that she was coming to love
him. Dan wondered what she might think of him. Next to her grace and
beauty he felt awkward, and sometimes ugly. Yet if Susie thought this,
she never let on. She always seemed happy to be with him.
About a week or so later, as Dan and Susie were laying in the shallows,
enjoying each other's company, Susie seemed a little restless. She kept
moving, pressing her entire body against Dan, and wriggling around.
She nibbled lightly on his fingers when he rubbed them by her mouth.
"What is it, Susie?" asked Dan. "Why are you so restless."
"ooo-OO!" replied Susie. She wriggled around, pressing her body against
him so they were belly-to-belly. Dan looked at her curiously.
Susie began gently flexing herself against his body, and shifting her
position against him, slowly working her way down his body.
"What are you..oh!" Dan stopped in mid-sentence, as Susie flexed against
his groin. She seemed to realize what she had found, and began to press
more urgently, and gently rub against the area.
"SUSIE!" called Dan. "This.. isn't right." Yet something, deep inside
of him, wouldn't provide the energy to make her stop.
Susie turned her head to look directly at him, a seductive spark in her
eyes. Dan could see a pinkish flush all along Susie's underside, and
felt himself beginning to respond to her caress. Having been alone for
so long, he found himself getting very aroused.
"Susie?" he asked again, but there was no longer any conflict in his
voice, he was too aroused to want to fight the feeling. Susie appeared
to sense this, and she wriggled back a bit till her face was beside
Dan's. Overcome with lust, Dan kissed her on the end of her beak. Her
soft skin against his lips excited him, and he placed his tongue in her
mouth. She responded, apparently knowing what to do, as her own tongue
met his, and wrapped around it. Dan could feel her teeth around the tip
of his tongue, and taste the salt water in her mouth, and he loved it.
He reached down and removed his weather-worn jeans, leaving him naked in
the shallow water with her. He threw them onto the beach.
She pressed against his body again, and the silken feel of her warm skin
against his own thrilled him, and he rubbed himself against her skin.
Susie made a sound that sounded very much like a moan, and they rolled
and loved together in the shallow water. Afterwards, Dan wrapped his
arms around her and soon fell asleep.
He awoke in the morning on the beach, with his legs dangling in the warm
water. He sat up and looked around. Susie was nowhere to be seen. Dan
saw his pants laying a few feet away on the sand, where he had thrown
them, and the details of what he had done the night before suddenly hit
him. He felt a confused mixture of disgust and anger at himself. He felt
very dirty, and waded into the water. He began to scrub his entire
body, trying to wash the memory away. But he felt no better when he was
finished.
What had he done? He'd had intercourse with an animal! That was
disgusting! Dan couldn't understand his own motives. Nothing could make
him that desperate, so why had he done it? What bothered him the most
what that he had actually enjoyed it. But she was just a dumb animal,
she probably didn't even realize that he was a different species. Acting
purely on instinct, and he'd reacted. Anger rose up inside of him.
Suddenly he heard a splash, and the familiar chirping of Susie popping
up to greet him. She began swimming straight for him, but he couldn't
handle the thought of touching her. He quickly waded out of the water,
and stood on the beach, facing her. She surfaced at the point where he
had been standing, and looked at him.
"Get away!" he shouted. Susie half rose from the water, and chattered
teasingly, apparently trying to understand the rules of this new game.
"I said 'LEAVE!'," Dan yelled, making shooing noises, and pointing
towards the mouth of the cave. Dan allowed his confusion-driven anger
to funnel out at Susie, and he felt it growing. Susie glanced towards
the mouth of the cave, and apparently seeing nothing of interest, turned
back to Dan. After a moment's thought, she dove under the water and
splashed a large quantity of water at him with her tail flukes. He dodged
it angrily as she surfaced again.
"Eh-eh-eh-eh-eh-eh!" she laughed.
Normally Susie's laugh would bring a smile to Dan's face, but today it
ground against his anger and guilt. He was annoyed and insulted, and
fumed at her. Susie looked at him again, measuring him up. Then, with
a seductive gleam in her eye, she rolled over to expose her underside
to him, flexing her tail in a teasing manner.
Dan's guilty feelings multiplied and exploded, and he snapped. He quickly
bent down and picked up a fist-sized rock.
"I said 'Go away', you whore!" Dan screamed. He threw the rock at her
with all his force.
The rock struck her on the side as she was rolling upright again, and
she recoiled away from it. A small stream of blood began to flow into
the water as she righted herself, and swam away from him a few feet
before rising up to face him. Her eyes were large and hurt, and Dan felt
new guilt added on to what he already felt.
"Brr-eeee?" asked Susie, looking Dan in the eye. Dan couldn't handle the
feelings anymore, and he turned away from her, silent.
"Brr-EEEE?" she asked again, more insistantly. Dan ignored her as best
he could.
After a few moments he heard her splash back into the water. Out of the
corner of his eye he saw her surface near the mouth of the cave, quietly,
and look at him again. He did not acknowledge her, and she soon turned
away and was gone.
Dan was alone with his feelings, and the anger faded quickly, leaving
only the true feelings of guilt he was experiencing. He fell to his
knees, and fought back the tears that were trying to take over his body.
He finally succumbed to them, and he fell into the sand.
Eventually the tears stopped, and Dan sat up, away from the pool. The
guilt was still there, but the pain had been dried out by the tears. He
tried to sort out his feelings, what he had done, and why.
He'd met a dolphin.. just an animal. In his loneliness he'd made friends
with her. He thought he loved her, and he'd thought she loved him. But
that was just silly, animals work on instincts, not love. He'd used her
to satisfy his lust, and that was where the problem was.
An animal! Not a loving woman, but a dumb animal! And yet, she had
responded just as intelligently as any woman he'd ever been with. She'd
been undemanding and honest with him. Was she really a dumb animal? In
his heart, he knew she was as intelligent as he was. She was creative,
friendly, and always cheerful. So why was what he had done so wrong?
The only reason he could come up with was that she was an animal. But
was that really wrong? It was not as if he'd forced her, and they'd
both been happy, or so he thought. Why had it bothered him so much?
Because it was wrong, his mind answered.
Why was it wrong?
He didn't know why. Somewhere, somehow, that's what he had been taught.
But wasn't it all about love? Sex was just about two people who loved
each other, and wanted to share each other. Susie was closer to human
than some people Dan knew. She was intelligent, and what's more, Dan
knew he really DID love her. He was sure, too, that in her own way, she
loved him too.
He'd chased her off. He'd hurt her physically with a rock, and mentally
with his actions. He'd seen that in her eyes before he turned away. She
didn't understand why he had chased her off, after she'd extended so much
trust to get close to him. Truth was, Dan wasn't really sure either. He
felt a lot of shame from his actions, and wondered if being human really
meant the shutting out of all love. Was that not the problem he'd been
complaining about only a short time ago? That people didn't just accept
and love each other for what they were? He was doing it himself,
rejecting Susie's unconditional love simply because she was not human.
To some, he reflected, that might be reason enough. But where should
the line be drawn? Love is love, whatever it's source.
Dan began to feel a lot of pain for his actions, for throwing a rock
at Susie. The flow of blood he'd caused brought anguish when he thought
about it, and he began to believe that he was no better than any other
human he'd previously de-cried.
He stood up, and approached the pool. The water was still, and he put
his hand in it and splashed a bit.
"Susie?" he called. "Susie, come back! I'm sorry."
