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Contents (45)
  1. ALSO BY AUDREY SCHULMAN
  2. THE DOLPHIN HOUSE
  3. ONE Tampa, Florida Feb. 1965
  4. TWO Aug. 1957 Ogunquit, Maine
  5. THREE May 1965
  6. FOUR March 1958 Orlando, Florida
  7. ARRIVAL
  8. FIVE June 4, 1965
  9. SIX June 4, 1965
  10. SEVEN June 5, 1965
  11. EIGHT June 6–10, 1965
  12. NINE June 11–16, 1965
  13. TEN June 17–26, 1965
  14. ELEVEN June 27–30, 1965
  15. TWELVE July 1–8, 1965
  16. THIRTEEN July 9–13, 1965
  17. FOURTEEN July 14, 1965
  18. LANGUAGE LESSONS
  19. FIFTEEN July 15–17, 1965
  20. SIXTEEN
  21. SEVENTEEN July 18–25, 1965
  22. EIGHTEEN July 26–Aug. 1, 1965
  23. NINETEEN Aug. 2–7, 1965
  24. TWENTY Aug. 8–15, 1965
  25. TWENTY-ONE Aug. 16, 1965
  26. TWENTY-TWO Aug. 17–30, 1965
  27. HOMEARIUM
  28. TWENTY-THREE Homearium, Day 1
  29. TWENTY-FOUR Homearium, Day 3
  30. TWENTY-FIVE Homearium, Days 4–7
  31. TWENTY-SIX Homearium, Week 2
  32. TWENTY-SEVEN Homearium, Week 3
  33. TWENTY-EIGHT Homearium, Week 4
  34. TWENTY-NINE Homearium, Week 5
  35. THIRTY Homearium, Weeks 6–8
  36. THIRTY-ONE Homearium, Weeks 9–11
  37. THIRTY-TWO Homearium, Week 12
  38. THIRTY-THREE Homearium, Week 13
  39. THIRTY-FOUR Homearium, Week 14
  40. THIRTY-FIVE Homearium, Week 15
  41. THIRTY-SIX Homearium, Week 16
  42. THIRTY-SEVEN Homearium, Week 18
  43. THIRTY-EIGHT
  44. AUTHOR’S NOTE
  45. ABOUT THE AUTHOR

He slapped his tail and flippers, so thrilled, water flying. Finally she’d understood. His blowhole winked open and closed.—Kh orrh! Kh orrh!

Blum observed all of this, his eyes bright with power.

* * *

Tibbet mentioned he was going to present the results of his experiment to Blum that afternoon. He seemed excited. She told him she hoped it went well. He said he was sure it would.

Later that day, she heard a loud voice. Looking up, she could see Tibbet standing in the main room next to the table, half yelling and gesturing. She couldn’t see who he was addressing, so she rolled off the inflatable raft and stood up in the water. The side of Blum’s head and upper body was visible through the window. Unlike Tibbet, he didn’t look upset. Instead he was leaning back in a chair and seemed amused, tapping ash off a cigarette. When he spoke it must have been at a normal volume, because she couldn’t hear any of it.

Tibbet’s face was red and splotchy. He yelled back, baffled. His mouth movements exaggerated enough for her to lip read; 20 percent!

Blum said something. He was mostly faced away so she couldn’t see the words. From the tilt of his head, it looked like a question. His expression was not unfriendly. His eyebrows raised, he waited for the answer.

In reaction, Tibbet’s face tightened, almost in pain. He had no response.

Blum held his hands up, helpless in the face of this. He rose from the chair, said one short sentence, and left the room.

Tibbet stared after him, breathing.

Worried that he would turn and realize she had witnessed this scene, she ducked fast under the water.

* * *

Within two days, Tibbet had come up with a new version of his research into the dolphins’ ability to communicate. Cora walked down to watch. There were a few crucial differences. He’d now permanently separated Kat and Mother with an opaque net that ran across the lagoon, keeping Mother on one side of the dock and Kat on the other. This way he felt sure they could not see which geometric shape the other was shown or which shape the other tapped. During the experiment, Tibbet no longer got in the water, but instead sat on the dock, hiding behind a blind so he could not give them unintentional clues about what he wanted. Finally, and perhaps most importantly, he did not give them any food all day long, except when they answered correctly. This way they would be strongly motivated to answer correctly.

Tibbet’s wife, Terry/Carrie, didn’t come to the research center anymore. Tibbet didn’t say anything about this, but with every passing day, he looked more on edge. Before he could leave the research center, he needed to finish this version of the experiment. He needed to show that even when the dolphins were strongly motivated, and when they had no clues from him of what he wanted, they still performed badly on the test. These results would strengthen his research enough for him to publish it. His tenure review was this fall. He ate Tums and rubbed the side of his gut. His gut looked a little bigger than before.