Contents (45)
- ALSO BY AUDREY SCHULMAN
- THE DOLPHIN HOUSE
- ONE Tampa, Florida Feb. 1965
- TWO Aug. 1957 Ogunquit, Maine
- THREE May 1965
- FOUR March 1958 Orlando, Florida
- ARRIVAL
- FIVE June 4, 1965
- SIX June 4, 1965
- SEVEN June 5, 1965
- EIGHT June 6–10, 1965
- NINE June 11–16, 1965
- TEN June 17–26, 1965
- ELEVEN June 27–30, 1965
- TWELVE July 1–8, 1965
- THIRTEEN July 9–13, 1965
- FOURTEEN July 14, 1965
- LANGUAGE LESSONS
- FIFTEEN July 15–17, 1965
- SIXTEEN
- SEVENTEEN July 18–25, 1965
- EIGHTEEN July 26–Aug. 1, 1965
- NINETEEN Aug. 2–7, 1965
- TWENTY Aug. 8–15, 1965
- TWENTY-ONE Aug. 16, 1965
- TWENTY-TWO Aug. 17–30, 1965
- HOMEARIUM
- TWENTY-THREE Homearium, Day 1
- TWENTY-FOUR Homearium, Day 3
- TWENTY-FIVE Homearium, Days 4–7
- TWENTY-SIX Homearium, Week 2
- TWENTY-SEVEN Homearium, Week 3
- TWENTY-EIGHT Homearium, Week 4
- TWENTY-NINE Homearium, Week 5
- THIRTY Homearium, Weeks 6–8
- THIRTY-ONE Homearium, Weeks 9–11
- THIRTY-TWO Homearium, Week 12
- THIRTY-THREE Homearium, Week 13
- THIRTY-FOUR Homearium, Week 14
- THIRTY-FIVE Homearium, Week 15
- THIRTY-SIX Homearium, Week 16
- THIRTY-SEVEN Homearium, Week 18
- THIRTY-EIGHT
- AUTHOR’S NOTE
- ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Blum said to her—O.K. Yes. Let’s do it.
And in that moment afterward, Tibbet changed, his head went down, he stopped speaking. He turned and left the building. What scared her the most was that he did not move with anger, stamping his feet or slamming the door. No, he was quiet now and dangerous.
So Blum and Eh and Cora were the ones to drag the net through the lagoon to tug Kat onto the beach and then pick her up in the stretcher. With just three of them, they stumbled a bit with the weight, but they managed to lug her along the chute and across the beach into the surf, lowering her somewhat abruptly into the sea. She floated there, as they pulled the stretcher out from under her and stepped away. She eyed them, wondering if this was a trick. One extended moment. Then a wave splashed over her and she shot away, faster than any of them had ever seen her move. She was gone.
A few minutes later, they carried Mother down to the sea. She bolted sooner than Kat had, as soon as her belly touched the water. Her tail caught on the edge of the stretcher and yanked it out of their hands, up into the air. Then she was gone and the empty stretcher landed, with a splash in the waves.
For a long moment, they could not see either of the dolphins. Thirty seconds passed. A minute. Then in the distance, Mother and Kat jumped out of the water, again and again, 10 feet high, 15 feet high, a synchronized watery fireworks of joy.
The men left, but Cora sat there and watched, her mouth twisted, filled with so much.
The two dolphins jumped again and again, within sight of the shore. Perhaps they were still leaping from joy, or maybe by this point they were jumping into the air to see if the men were carrying Junior down to the sea also. Over the next half an hour, they jumped higher and higher.
* * *
That afternoon in front of the CBS crew, she had Junior speak each of his twenty-three words, as well as recite the alphabet up to the letter G. Blum stood in front of her, expounding on his research.
* * *
The next morning she walked down to the beach. Standing there, she couldn’t see Kat or Mother anywhere, but the moment she was in the water, her head submerged, she could hear them. Even at this distance, she recognized their voices. Calling and calling. For their families? For Junior? For her? She listened hard.
At one point she felt the pinging in her bones. One of them examining her. She spun, but could not spot the dolphin anywhere.
After twenty minutes in the water, she walked up the chute and climbed the stairs to the homearium, returning step by step to the pool there.
Over the past few months she had created her role, chosen it, actively built it.