They wiped themselves down with their towels, Ken closed the umbrella, and he and Beth started for the car. Hutch had noticed that one of the Dolphins, a female, seemed to be trying to get her attention. She lingered behind and finally dropped back when the female raised a hand, apparently asking her to wait. Two others were with her, a male, and a child whom she belatedly recognized. It was the one she’d thought was in trouble yesterday and had tried to rescue. The child pointed at her and backed shyly away. The female advanced and her eyes filled with emotion. “Koraka som,” she said. She introduced herself and the male, and came forward with obvious reluctance. When Hutch didn’t back away, she embraced her. Then she delivered a surprise. “Thank you, Parsilla,” she said. Her voice shook.

The male closed his eyes and bowed his head.

•  •  •

On the way back to the cottage, Arin explained. Ken listened with a smile growing ever wider. “He says they called last night and asked your name. And how to say thank you.”

“She did pretty well,” Hutch said, wondering if she’d be remembered as Parsilla. “But I don’t think the kid was ever really in trouble. I misread the situation.”

Ken translated for Arin. And the response came: “That doesn’t matter. You put yourself at risk to help her child.”

They arrived at the cottage. The three passengers got out, Arin said something, which Ken interpreted as back in a minute, and drove across the parking lot. They walked slowly toward the front door, watched him get out of the car and go inside the temple. “I guess he’s getting the chicken salad,” said Ken. They mounted the steps onto the porch and went into the house. Derek was asleep on the sofa.

They waited in the living room. The temple was visible through a side window, but Arin’s door remained closed. “Maybe it was just good-bye,” said Beth.

“Maybe,” Ken said. They gave it another couple of minutes and then went upstairs, dried off, and got dressed. When they returned to the living room and sat down, there was still no sign of Arin.

Derek was still asleep. “So what do we do now?” asked Beth.

“Well,” Ken said, “we could try to figure out how much time passes when the big hand circles the clock.”

“Good,” she said. “Watch the clock.”

Ken grinned. “Sorry. It’s all I’ve got.”

“We should have stayed at the beach,” said Hutch.

Ordinarily, after concluding the surprise was a misunderstanding, they wouldn’t have mentioned it to Derek. But there was so little to talk about that Ken told him about it immediately after he woke up, and then asked if he had gotten any impression that something was going to happen.