Betina Krahn by The Mermaid

Author:The Mermaid
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Eleven

THE NEXT MORNING, Celeste helped Titus add the arm movements to his floating technique, transforming it into true swimming. After some practice, he tried swimming to the dock and back and made it with no difficulty. When they paused to rest, Celeste noticed the way the salt water had reddened his eyes and produced two pairs of her goggles.

A new world opened to him. Peering through the round glass of the rubber-rimmed goggles, he could see with startling clarity under the water. He sat on the bottom in the shallows, staring at his hands and feet … then at her hands and … other interesting parts. Having his eyes open under the water made swimming a much more productive endeavor, and made the repeated transition between air and water much easier to bear. But the first time he looked up and saw Prospero bearing down on him, he scrambled up out of the water.

“What is it? What happened?” Celeste surfaced just behind him.

“Did you see that?” He pointed frantically.

“It was just Prospero,” she said, bewildered until she recalled her first experiences with goggles and understood the reason for his shock. “The water makes everything seem larger at first, including dolphins. Come with me. I want you to see how Prospero swims under the water as well as on top.”

Together, they ventured out into water that was slightly over their heads. At first Titus had to fight his uneasiness at barely having a bottom beneath his feet. But with Celeste’s reassurance and reminders to breathe calmly and let the water buoy him, he gradually relaxed and was able to alternate treading water and touching bottom. She swam off and returned shortly with Prospero. Pointing under the water, she dove with the dolphin and Titus groaned, telling himself it was now or never.

Summoning every shred of self-control he possessed, he drew breath, held his nose, and sank below the surface. And he entered an environment that few humans in his part of the world had ever seen.

The water was relatively clear and an eerie blue-gray light illuminated everything, overlaying all colors with a wash of blue and silver hues. As the bottom sloped away, toward the center of the cove, there were boulders sticking up through a mixed bed of sand and rock. Brown seaweed and nondescript algae covered every available space. There were nooks and crevices in the rocks, around which occasionally something elusive would dart into view and be gone before it could be identified. After several brief glimpses, he realized they were small, quick shallows fish that used their speed for protection. He surfaced, took another breath, then submerged again, focused now on the riveting spectacle of a woman and a dolphin swimming in concert with one another.

It was nothing short of astounding … the sight of Prospero’s seemingly effortless motions propelling him through the water … the sight of Celeste hanging on to the dolphin’s dorsal fin and using her feet much like flukes. Her sleek body moved

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