Song of the Dolphin Boy by Elizabeth Laird

Author:Elizabeth Laird
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Pan Macmillan UK

‘I don’t want to risk it,’ said Charlie. ‘This is my boat. I’m the skipper. I—’

‘Just shut up, Charlie, and look, can’t you?’ snarled Jas. ‘This is an emergency. Do you want this poor creature to die?’

The dinghy rocked violently as Amir and Charlie moved. Then Charlie’s head appeared alongside Jas’s.

‘That’s terrible,’ Charlie said, looking horrified. ‘The poor thing. Here, Jas, pass me the scissors. I’m nearer its head than you are. Shift it round a bit this way, Finn. Can you catch its flipper and hold it steady? Why don’t you sing a wee song? Aren’t you supposed to sing to dolphins? To calm them down?’

‘That’s seals,’ called out Amir, who was leaning so far out of the dinghy on the other side that he looked as if he was about to fall into the sea.

In spite of Finn’s sea-strength, it was all he could do to keep the slippery dolphin from panicking completely and wriggling out of his arms.

‘Hurry up, Charlie,’ he said. ‘I can’t hold her much longer.’

‘Nearly there,’ said Charlie. He had the dolphin’s head at the right angle now, and the scissors snipped away the string. ‘There you are. It’ll be all right now.’

As Jas and Charlie watched, with big grins on their faces, the dolphin shook herself, waggled her head, opened her beak experimentally, smacked her flippers down on the water, and with an energetic arching of her back, she was gone.

‘High five!’ yelled Charlie, slapping Jas’s upraised hand. ‘Life saved! That was great.’

‘Hey, watch out!’ shouted Amir. The dinghy had tipped alarmingly as Charlie and Jas stopped leaning over the side. ‘You could have warned me you were moving. I nearly fell in.’

‘What’s Finn doing now?’ said Jas. ‘Look, he’s grabbing the strings we cut. Wait, he’s bringing them here to us!’

Of course I am, you idiot, thought Finn, not bothering to answer. What do you want me to do? Leave all this junk in the sea so the others can get caught up in it too?

He swam back to the dinghy and handed the strings and the last few balloons up to Jas. She leaned over the side and took them.

‘I can’t see any more,’ he said. ‘Can you?’

‘No, but I’m sure we let loose a whole lot more.’

‘You did,’ Finn said grimly. ‘The other dolphins have eaten the rest. Wait, there are a couple more over there.’

He streaked away again. The pod of dolphins was a little way away now, as the Peggy Sue had started drifting. Finn grabbed the last two balloons, swam back to the dinghy and handed them to Charlie and Amir. Finn could see awe and astonishment in the two boys’ eyes as they took in the transformation that had come over him.

‘This can’t be happening,’ said Amir, taking off his glasses to wipe off the sea water that was smearing them with salt. ‘We’ve got to be in some kind of dream.’

‘No one’s ever going to believe us,’ said Jas. ‘Everyone’s going to think we’re crazy.’

‘Better not say anything then,’ retorted Charlie.

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