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
In the wading pool, she was closer to the house. She worked in her bathing suit in the pool with Kat all day.
Once she caught sight of Blum in the upstairs bathroom, standing and watching her. His hands were down out of sight, somewhere in the area of his zipper.
He looked her in the eye, flushed the toilet, zipped up and stepped back.
* * *
One evening, Eh asked her if she wanted to get drinks. There was a bar down the road, he said. In his eyes was that coldness. He tried to cover it up by stretching his face in a smile.
She replied she was tired, no thanks.
Looking at his expression she remembered the learned helplessness experiment. Clearly it was not applicable to some men. Instead, Eh was getting angry.
* * *
Kat loved being gently scratched. At a certain point in the day, she would no longer work for food or squid or even to play catch with the ball. The only thing she’d work for was the treat of fingernails lightly running over her skin. If Cora touched her this way, moving her fingernails over Kat’s skin, she would freeze, her gaze internal, her mouth slightly ajar. For as long as the rubbing continued, she would not breath, even if her blowhole was already at the surface. She’d just float there, holding her breath, feeling the miraculous sensation of fingers.
Every day, she learned so quickly, nothing else to do. When Cora walked away to go the bathroom or get herself some food, Kat would squeal with distress until Cora came back. Then, watching Cora walking back, Kat would trill with joy in her tiny pool.
At times Kat wanted more than her back and body rubbed. During a massage, she’d open her mouth and stretch her face toward Cora, her jaws wide, a dental patient waiting for the first touch. It appeared she wanted her mouth touched, her gums and maybe her tongue massaged.
Cora would step back from all those razor-sharp teeth. She knew that Kat meant no harm, but she would not place her hands anywhere near her mouth. Kat would stretch her head forward, reaching and reaching, but Cora would back away.
TWENTY-ONE
Aug. 16, 1965
The NASA official arrived at the research center. The men ushered him outside, clustered around him, eager and obsequious. She didn’t know what they’d told him prior to this moment. He blinked at the sight of Cora, wearing her bathing suit and hearing glasses, with her deviant haircut, standing in the wading pool with a dolphin.
Nervous, she told Kat to talk, then without any introduction began to recite “Baa-baa Black Sheep.”
Kat kazooed along, a fraction of a second behind. The official looked back and forth from Cora to the dolphin. She watched him gradually comprehend what he was seeing.
Cora recited “Itsy Bitsy Spider”; she spoke the words to “America the Beautiful”; she sang “Put your head on my shoulder.”