BooksBarbecue
Back The Dolphin House Save as PDF
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

—Where you going?

He looked at her confused, then understood.—Ah. No, I meant a mental trip. We’ll use guided imagery and psilocybin.

—Ilo-what?

—Psilocybin. A psychoactive compound found in certain mushrooms. Leary, the researcher, found it opens doors to the mind, allowing for experiences like temporal distortion and synesthesia.

Each time she talked to Blum, he used words she did not know. She wasn’t sure if he was purposefully showing off or if he couldn’t imagine she didn’t know these words.

Blum changed the subject.—Look. I’m glad you’re here. I have a project for you. That dolphin that mimicked our speech yesterday . . .

—Kat?

—Can you teach her to do that on command? Mimic whatever we say?

—What? Why?

—It’ll show progress to the funders.

She paused.—I thought your goal was to communicate with the dolphins.

—Yes.

—Mimicking isn’t communication.

—True, but it’ll be proof of concept, that dolphins can physically make the sounds, that they are smart enough to imitate.

—Why me?

—You have an aptitude for this. You’re able to work with them, to intuit their actions. If you manage, I’ll double your salary.

He watched her to see her reaction to this offer. Working here, she already had more money than ever before, more than she knew what to do with. However, money was a power that she could collect. Who knew when she might need it to get others to hear her?

She asked—Is there a time limit?

—Our main funder arrives in under a month.

She blinked.—Not much time.

He nodded.

She looked around, the bathtub, the lawn.—I’ll try on two conditions.

—Yes.

—I can borrow some of the books in the house.

He nodded, surprised. Pleased.—Of course, of course. What’s the second condition?

She inhaled, then said it.—You can’t operate on them meanwhile. If I succeed you can’t operate on them for two months afterward. On any of them. Agreed?

She saw the way his eyes flickered, registering her request. Like a bird, there was a certain coldness to him, a part of the brain constantly calculating.

Agreed—he said, but she could see that now he knew her weakness.

LANGUAGE LESSONS

FIFTEEN
July 15–17, 1965

After the agreement with Blum, she walked down to the lagoon, pulled on her snorkel, mask and fins and frog-walked in. She stayed in the shallows, watching the dolphins through her mask. She needed to figure out how to get them to mimic human speech on command.

In the water she was awkward and heavy-breathing, a tugboat laboring along. They, on the other hand, cut through the water with ease, curving up to within a few feet to study her, making their noises.

Marbles bouncing down wood stairs.

It was impossible to tell which dolphin made which noise since, underwater, all sound was immediate and tactile, resonating in her teeth and nasal cavities, in her lungs and gut and bones.

Balloons squeaking against each other.

After they each greeted her appropriately, they curved away.

In order to train them, she needed a way to reward them. It was time to see if they would take food from her hands. She swam back to the dock and retrieved a butterfish from the food bucket. Ducking back under the water, she kicked forward slowly, holding the fish out toward them.