And then he simply stopped sending it back, the ball remaining in his mouth.

After thirty seconds, worried his jaw had spasmed, she put her hands on the ball to tug on it. With her hands just starting to pull, she noticed his eyes. They were not narrowed with pain, but wide and focused.

In a flash, she understood. Her hands were between his open jaws. This was the action she had refused to do until now, out of fear of his sharp teeth. At the moment, her right thumb was touching the side of one of his incisors.

She coughed with surprise.

He had planned this. He had made it happen. He’d worked for weeks to get her to this point.

He had played catch with her, throwing the ball shorter and shorter distances, moving her closer and closer, until accustomed to this, she would do what she was doing right now, reach into his open mouth without fear. He’d realized she would feel safe, since she would know with the ball between his teeth, he could not close his mouth and bite her, not even by mistake.

She let go of the ball. She stepped away from him.

She felt a little scared. Unsure who was training whom.

THIRTY-THREE
Homearium, Week 13

Rubbing against the back of Cora’s leg was not the same as having sex with another dolphin. As the novelty wore off, it became less satisfying and took Junior a little longer to finish off each day. Three seconds, four seconds, five. She leaned against the side of the pool to keep her balance, and even then, he sometimes shoved against her so hard she fell over. One day, she narrowly missed hitting her temple against the side of the pool.

So the next morning she tried instead sitting down on the pool stairs, her knees 18 inches under the surface of the water. Sitting, she couldn’t be knocked over. He slid on top of her knees, his penis found the satisfying crevice under her bent knee, he rocked back and forth twice, and he was done.

* * *

Blum called her name from the doorway to get her attention.—Cora.

Junior squealed in excitement at this, then pronounced loudly and distinctly that mysterious word he’d been saying—Kh orhh!

The way Junior formed words took concentration. It reminded her of the Little Mermaid walking on land, a painful and technically difficult action. He was not one to waste words. Still he repeated this word with energy and import.—Kh orrh. Khh orrh!

A suspicion entered her mind. She ignored Blum to test out a theory. She pointed at Junior’s ball floating in the water.

He said—Bh-all.

She pointed to the fish in her hand.

He raised his head out of the water. He knew where this was going.—Fff-ish.

Slowly she pointed to herself, touching her sternum with two fingers.

Kh orhh—he said, his impatience gone, such happiness, such joy.—Kh orh.

She’d never tried to teach him her name, was not even sure how often he’d heard her name, didn’t know how he’d figured out this word referred to her.