The Search Begins
Chapter 4: A Very Unique Challenge
The story so far: The shark gives up on having the swimmers for dinner due to the intervention of the dolphins protecting them. The group completes the final leg of the swim to earn their lifeguard certification. Meanwhile Poindexter, Kayote and Mattie decide to play a game with very unusual results.
As the sun was setting, Mattie found he was able to start refocusing his mind and body. Poindexter and Kayote were still letting the waves carry them and they were floating peacefully. Mattie was almost afraid to try and communicate with them. What if none of them could talk again? What if they were never the same again? What was that strange fish anyway? It had tasted awful. Mattie started to hear clicks coming from Poindexter and then slowly Kayote started to respond with clicking sounds. For some reason Mattie started to laugh. He kept laughing and then he was joined by the sound of his friends laughing with him. They couldn’t stop laughing. They laughed so hard and for so long that when they stopped laughing, they just floated and rested.
“What was ththaaatttt?” asked Kayote. They were feeling almost like their old selves again.
Poindexter looked at Kayote very seriously. “I don’t know but I blame it all on you! It was YOUR fault! I am quite sure of that! You couldn’t just pick up some seaweed, no not YOU! You had to try something different! It was your fault!”
“BBBUTTT,” Kayote started and then stopped. He was the last one to return to his normal way of talking. That was because he had held the ball fish in his mouth the longest so he got the most of whatever the fish gave them.
Mattie shook his head at the both of them. He was upset. “I just know that I never, ever want to go through that again! I thought we were going to die. I was scared. Really scared. Almost like the time when the black twirling monster spit me out and I was lost and all alone.”
Mattie knew the only thing that would calm him now was seeing his mother. He turned and slowly swam away. Kayote and Poindexter quietly watched him until he was out of sight.
Mattie started calling his signature whistle to let his mother, Awalix, know that he was coming. When he heard her return signature whistle, he calmed and started swimming faster. As he got closer, he started leaping through the waves. He couldn’t reach her fast enough.
She was waiting. She was close to the shore line but as he approached she started towards him and they danced together below the surface. Their love for each other played out in their movements. They turned and rubbed and turned and rubbed and twirled in a dance of communication that was as old as time. It was quiet and peaceful and inspired positive energy to flow through them.
Mattie indicated to his mother he needed to eat. They worked together at the shoreline using their bodies to wash small fish ashore. They needed to grab the fish quickly so they didn’t beach themselves. As they ate, Mattie sensed a great energy thrumming through his mother. He knew she was stronger than the last time he had seen her.
Finally filled, Mattie and Awalix swam beside each other happy and content to be together again. No words were needed.
Awalix was the first one to say something. “Mattie, what is wrong? I sensed your fear when you arrived. That is not like you.”
Mattie started slowly, “I usually feel fine. But sometimes, I will remember being pulled into the Black Twirling Monster and I feel scared and anxious. It is like it is happening all over again. I feel lost and I miss you and long for you. I have to purposely tell myself it is NOT happening again and I have to remind myself that I found my friends and I found you. I know in my head you are safe but in my heart I feel I need to come and see you to double check. Once I hear your signature whistle, I start to calm down and my fears start ebbing away.”
Awalix in her ever wise way understood. “You went through a life changing experience. Although it was frightening, you didn’t give up. You trusted your instincts and intuition and knew what you had to do. Your intuition is a gift to help you through life. It served you well then and it will serve you well in the future. In time, the fears and memories will not come as often. But, when they do come, it will help to take extra breaths and very deep ones. Practice breathing deeper every day. It will calm your mind and your soul!”
Mattie felt the wisdom of her words fill him with a new sense of peace and gratitude. “I am so glad you are better mom,” said Mattie. “I know you are better because you are talking just like your old self! Since you are better you can travel with me again.”
Quietly, Awalix looked at her wonderful son, feeling very proud. “I don’t think I can travel quite yet Mattie. But there is something you can do for me. I have been given a challenge and I need your help.”
Everything else stopped when Mattie heard these words. His mother was asking for his help. He looked at her knowing that she understood without words that he would do whatever was needed.
Awalix continued. “There is a dolphin where I am that I cannot leave. He needs me. I call him PROPRIUS. It means, ‘special, unusual, different from others.’ He is part dolphin and part something else. He was very young when he came. He needed a mother and eventually a friend. I am both for him.”
Mattie nodded. “Well, he can come too! Poindexter and Kayote will be so happy to make another friend. We can teach him how to play, although there is one game that he must NEVER play.”
Awalix went on. “Proprius will like that. He needs to learn about his old home in the sea. He has never travelled in a pod with family and friends as we have. Nor does he catch fish like we do. Instead he is given his food by human beings like Robby and Jessica. And, every day other humans come. They come to watch Proprius do things that make them clap their strange fins and make a lot of noise. It is like the Dolphin Olympics. But, it is not quite the same because he is the only dolphin doing the leaps and turns and somersaults. He must do the same things over and over again every day which makes him sad. But, Mattie, he gets very tired too because it is extra hard for him to perform these
feats. It is extra hard for him because he is different from us. He doesn’t look like us.”
Mattie knew his mother was being very careful with how she was telling him about Proprius. He was curious. What could be so different about him?
“What is it?” Mattie asked. “What is so different about him?”
With wide eyes and a soft voice Awalix responded. “Mattie, HE HAS NO TAIL!”
To be continued Monday January 29. Next Time: A Gift