Kat was so pleased with herself. She flailed backward, waving her flippers, a perfect imitation of Cora’s fall. The other dolphins peered out of the water, heads tilted and watching.

Furious, Cora stopped giving Kat anymore squid.

* * *

That afternoon after lunch, the men brought out paperwork and talked on the veranda, cigarettes bobbing in the corners of their mouths, comparing charts and discussing data. They refilled their glasses from a pitcher. At first Cora assumed this liquid was water, then saw Blum fishing an olive out of his glass with his fingers.

She had to go to the bathroom. Her hair was dry enough for her to wrap a towel around her head and pull on her hearing glasses.

Almost at the top of the stairs, she heard Tibbet say something about ability, his voice irritated, every consonant sharply hit. Looking at the men sitting there, she saw the tension, no one moving, the expressions locked down and staring.

Eh was facing her, so she could lipread as he said—When do we need results by?

Blum turned to look at her. He said—I told them one year.

She passed by the table. Swinging open the glass door to the house, she caught the reflection of Blum and Eh glancing at her in the bathing suit.

* * *

Early that morning, before the men were up and moving, Mother balanced the front of her body on the sluice and managed to shimmy 2 feet further up it.

She stopped there, her body balanced, halfway onto the chute, halfway off. Perhaps past this point, it would be harder to back up. Dolphins were not made for slithering along on rough concrete, mostly out of water. They were not intended for terrestrial gravity. It was 30 feet from here to the water and the surf there was very shallow. She could get beached. Mother paused and lifted her head as high as she could, looking up the chute, focused. This much out of water, her breath was labored. The surf beating on the beach, the deeper blue of the ocean beyond. She remained there, a long moment, looking. Cora could see the incisions on the right side of her head, just in front of her blowhole.

She looked behind her at the other dolphins, at Junior.

Then she blew all the air in her lungs out, a slow heavy exhale. She rolled backward to splash back into the lagoon.

* * *

That afternoon when Cora stepped out of the water, Blum was sitting in a chair reading her notebook. He watched her as she wrapped a towel around her body, tucking it in around her.

He said something.

She didn’t have her hearing glasses on, and there was a little water in her good ear. She didn’t hear anything he said.

She hit the side of her head, trying to get the water out of her good ear as she asked a stalling question.—What do you mean?

Junior surfaced 20 feet away. Blum jerked his chin at him. He seemed to be making a suggestion.