The Girl Who Dreamt of Dolphins

Chapter One

Lucy woke up and stretched, lying sprawled across her bed. Her duvet had half slipped off and she shivered in her pyjamas. Her mind though was still full of dreams of dolphins in the deep, emerald-blue water, swimming all around her. It was the same dream that she had so often before. In her dream she always stretched out her arm towards the dolphins, but never could quite touch them. Then one dolphin, smaller than the rest but with sparkling eyes and a look in its eyes that made her heart feel warm would turn briefly towards her clicking encouragement, almost as if to say ‘follow me’, before swimming off into the deep blue void.

Lucy stretched again. It was a beautiful dream and so vivid, she felt as though she was almost there. Some dreams you just don’t want to wake up from, they’re so nice.

‘Lucy’ called Dad from downstairs, ‘It’s time to get up.’

‘Coming’ replied Lucy sleepily, as she crawled out of bed, knocking a teddy or two to the floor as she did so. She yawned before pulling on her school clothes and stumbling downstairs to breakfast.

Dad was busy, rushing around, dressed in his suit, keen to get Lucy out of the house before heading off to work. He looked stressed and preoccupied.

‘Breakfast is on the table Lucy’ he said. ‘Eat up. You know we don’t have all day.’

‘Yeah yeah’, she mumbled through a mouthful of cornflakes, still half asleep.

‘And remember’ he continued, ‘its homework club again today, so I won’t be picking you up from there until five thirty.’

‘Great!’ she thought with a grimace. Packed off to the after-school club again. It was just not the same since Mum….

Dad crammed toast into his mouth with a spray of crumbs as he raced around the house in his rush to get out.

‘And another thing’ he added, ‘I’ve got a work-do again this evening, so I’m leaving the house again at six thirty and Maureen’s coming over at six to baby sit. You’re okay with that aren’t you Luce?’ he continued. ‘And I don’t want to hear Maureen complaining about you again like she did last time.’

‘You know I’m not a baby any more don’t you’ replied Lucy. I don’t need a baby sitter.’

‘Well you’re only just twelve years old and not quite grown up yet young lady’ he replied. ‘I can’t just very well leave you alone all evening can I?’

‘I could sleep over at Amy’s house like I did before’ Lucy replied.

‘I’m sorry Lucy, I just can’t keeping asking Amy’s Mum for favours like that all the time, it’s just not fair on her.’

‘She doesn’t mind’ complained Lucy, frowning into her cornflakes.

‘Look’ I’ve arranged for Maureen to baby sit and that’s the end of it’ he said definitively.

Dad was always like this, rushed, preoccupied, or just not there. It wasn’t fair. He hadn’t always been like this. They used to have a great time together. Now it just seemed so much duty and drudgery. Lucy sighed to herself as she finished her cereals.

Dad looked at his watch. ‘Better get going Luce’ he said ‘You don’t want to be late again.’ Lucy gave him a thin smile.

‘Me, late??!’ she said. Dad grinned.

‘Make sure you’re not then.’

Lucy slipped on her shoes, grabbed her satchel and snatched one last gulp of her juice as Dad chivvied her out of the house.

‘You want a lift or are you good to walk?’ he asked as he played with his car keys.

‘It’s okay Dad, I’ll walk’ said Lucy. She knew he didn’t want to get delayed in the school traffic. He gave her a peck on the cheek.

‘See you this evening then’ he said.

‘Yeah, sometime’ replied Lucy cynically.

Lucy was the kind of girl who never really stood out in the class photo. She was middling height and generally got stuck standing in the third row. Her Dad always said she was skinny and her Gran always told her she looked lovely, though Lucy thought that Gran was just saying that to be nice. She had a freshly scrubbed complexion and kept her shoulder length hair in a tidy pony tail when she was at school. Pretty much all her class-mates seemed to get on with her though she was never the class favourite and in her school reports her teachers always commented on how nice she was to have in class. Everyone had been very kind to her this last year. Lucy had fine features and a slightly olive complexion, which meant that she tanned easily. She got that from Mum. She dressed tidily and was generally well turned-out for school. She hated to be the centre of attention because it made her feel self-conscious. She could stand up for herself against bullies in the playground if she had to, but fortunately it hadn’t been necessary for quite a while.

School wasn’t so bad, though she didn’t relish the prospect of another day of study this chilly Monday morning and wished it was already half term. As she trudged determinedly to school, her best friend Amy popped her head out of her bedroom window as Lucy passed her house and then quickly ran out of her door, with a noisy ‘Bye Mum’, slamming the door behind her before racing to catch up with Lucy. Amy was the same height as Lucy, but with jet-black hair and Lucy always thought her the prettier one, though Amy wouldn’t agree.

‘Hi Luce’ said Amy, just a little out of breath, ‘done your homework?’

‘Just about’ grinned Lucy. ‘You know me, I do it, but only at the last minute.’

‘Well it doesn’t seem to harm your marks anyway’ said Amy ruefully, ‘So, what did you do this weekend?’

‘Oh you know, the usual’ said Lucy with an expression that said ‘don’t get too excited now.’ ‘Dad was pretty much working from home all weekend’ she continued. ‘All he does is work, either that or do the shopping and then we just watch TV in the evening. He never does fun stuff anymore. I asked him if he wanted to kick the ball about a bit in the garden, but he just said he was too busy.’

‘That’s no good’ said Amy. ‘We had Gran and Grandad around for lunch on Sunday and Gran fell asleep on the sofa and snored.’ Lucy snorted a laugh as they crossed the road and joined the other children streaming towards school.

‘So are you doing swimming practice this lunchtime, or do you want to hang out with me?’ Lucy’s school was right next door to the local swimming pool and, though the paint was peeling round the windows and an ant’s nest seemed to have taken up residence in the changing rooms, it was Lucy’s favourite place to be.

‘I’m in the pool of course’ smiled Lucy. She just loved swimming and her classmates called her ‘the fish.’ Lucy was a natural in the swimming pool and could stay under water longer than anyone else in the school. Miss Baldwin, their sports teacher, said that Lucy should train seriously and that she could go far. But Dad was dead-set against it and said he wouldn’t support all that time training out of hours when she should be doing her homework. Lucy was trying to think of a way to talk Dad round to it, but hadn’t done anything about it yet. Ms Baldwin said she would talk to him, but Lucy was worried it would have the opposite effect. She just had to content herself with time swims twice a week during the lunch break. It was only for twenty five minutes or so, but it was better than nothing and what Dad didn’t know he couldn’t complain about.

‘I figured you wouldn’t want to hang around with the cool crowd like me’ joked Amy.

‘Like you?’ exclaimed Lucy, giving her a playful nudge in the ribs. They walked in through the school entrance.

That lunchtime, Lucy stood poised on the side of the pool and then dived gracefully and easily into the water. She sliced into it like a knife, leaving barely a ripple. She surfaced again almost half way across the length and before finishing it with the front-crawl. She did three more lengths the same way before pausing a moment at the edge. She took a deep breath, then plunged underwater and swum the next length without breaking the surface for air.

Unluckily for Lucy, she wasn’t the only girl in the pool and she often felt that the other children just got in the way. It looked like Miss Baldwin agreed, as she told Todd Simmons to get into the next lane and let her through. Lucy did the butterfly for the next half a length, powering herself through the water with power and style. It was very tiring though and Lucy only did a short distance before turning over and floating for a few moments on her back, staring up at the ceiling. Miss Baldwin loomed into view.

‘So have you talked to your Dad yet about getting serious with your training schedule?’ she quizzed her.

‘No, not yet’ admitted Lucy reluctantly. ‘It’s complicated.’

‘So you keep telling me Lucy’ said Miss Baldwin, ‘but you don’t know until you try.’

‘I’m working on it’ bluffed Lucy, before plunging under the water again. Ms Baldwin sighed and then looked at her watch. She blew the whistle.

‘Everyone out!’ she called. ‘Break ends in ten minutes. You’d better get showered and changed ASAP.’

Lucy changed quickly, rubbing her hair briskly before pulling on her clothes onto her still-damp body. She had to sprint back to class and got there only just in time.

At the end of the last lesson, Lucy remembered what Dad had said about being in the after-school club. It wasn’t so bad there, but it’d be nicer just to walk home with Amy, Anya and her other friends. Instead, in the after-school club the boys just tore around all the time making noise, throwing balls around and generally getting in the way. Lucy needed a chance to unwind at the end of a long day.

Mr Baines told the class to pack away their things and opened the door to the playground, out to where a few parents were congregating at the school gates ready to take their children home. Lucy glanced up and then uttered a small gasp of surprise.

‘Bethany!’ she exclaimed. Her aunt had appeared at the door. She rushed to get her things together.

‘Hey Kiddo’ Bethany said with a smile. ‘I thought I’d just drop by and pick you up from school today.’

‘Sounds good to me’ said Lucy eagerly, ‘Dad didn’t tell me you were coming.’

‘Oh you know, I just thought why not?’ said her aunt vaguely as they left the classroom, having asked Mr Baines to tell Ben the after-school club supervisor that she wasn’t coming today.

‘Well you don’t just drop by when you live in Cornwall’ Lucy pointed out, ‘that’s over two hundred miles away!’

‘Well I guess you haven’t seen the way I drive when I’ve a mind to’ joked Bethany. ‘It’s just round the corner really.’

‘It’s so nice to see you’ said Lucy warmly, giving Bethany a big hug, ‘I’ve missed you.’

‘I’ve missed you too Kiddo’ said Bethany hugging her back, ‘it’s been too long.’ She tousled Lucy’s hair as they walked along.

Lucy’s aunt Bethany was a good head or so taller than Lucy and had an unruly mass of curly blond hair. She wore no make up, but she didn’t need to, Lucy always thought as she was pretty in an overgrown tom-boy kind of a way. Bethany always wore colourful, but practical clothes in a casual style that Lucy liked. Lucy liked most things about Aunt Bethany and thought that she was pretty cool. She was one of a kind, though Dad said Bethany was a bit of a hippy.

Bethany was her Mum’s sister, younger than her by some six years. She’d lived down by the coast in Cornwall since before Lucy was born and Lucy was dying to go down there on holiday again, though Dad, as ever, seemed dead-set against it. ‘Dad’s such a kill-joy’ thought Lucy as she walked happily home with her aunt. Bethany was an artist and painted pictures of the sea; of stormy waves crashing on rocks, or seals basking on sandbanks in the wet afternoon sunshine. Bethany had said many a time that she couldn’t live anywhere but near the sea and that it was the drama of life on the coast’s edge that gave her inspiration for her work. If she didn’t see the sea everyday she said, she’d die. Down in Cornwall, it was all rocks and cliffs, caves and small sandy beaches. Bethany liked it best in the winter and spring when there were fewer tourists about and nature felt more immediate and raw. Life wasn’t always easy for Bethany as an artist and sometimes she’d have to take a second job to keep things together, but she always said she wouldn’t swap her life there for the world.

Bethany told Lucy that she’d called ahead and spoken to Dad on his mobile and so everything was okay and they had the rest of the afternoon to themselves. Bethany would be staying over, just for the night and Dad had called and cancelled Maureen, the dreaded baby-sitter. Lucy wondered why Dad had been so cooperative, but didn’t say anything. She didn’t want to put a dampener on any fun.

‘So what do you fancy doing then Kiddo?’ asked Bethany as they strolled along with Bethany’s arm draped casually across Lucy’s shoulders.

‘It’s just not the same’ Lucy told Bethany later over the remains of her pizza, ‘Dad’s always so miserable now and he never seems to be around anymore’ she continued.

‘Well it’s hard for your Dad you know, after everything that’s happened. And of course he’s got to work Lucy’ Bethany replied with a sympathetic look on her face.

‘But even at the weekends he’s really distant’ protested Lucy. ‘We used to do lots of fun stuff together before, well before you-know. He could do that now with me if he wanted, but he’s always got some excuse. I wanted him to take me to the seaside over the summer, but now he’s got this thing about the sea. I asked him to take me to Sea-World, but he’s got something against that too. It’s hard enough getting him to come out and kick a ball around with me’ she went on. ‘And when he does, it’s like he’s not really quite there. It’s more like his mind is on other things and then he doesn’t even notice the ball when I kick it to him.’

Bethany pressed Lucy’s hand sympathetically. ‘I know it’s been hard on you, but it’s been hard on your Dad too over the last year. You know he just wants to look after you, but maybe he has difficulty showing you how much he cares sometimes.’ Lucy took another sip of lemonade.

‘Look at that face of yours’ Bethany laughed. ‘That’s not the expression I was hoping to see on a fun night out.’ ‘Look, let me talk to your Dad. Maybe I can persuade him to let you come down and stay with me in Cornwall in the half term. I’ll get you on a surfboard again. You were pretty good a couple of years ago if I recall. I bet you’ll really be a surf dude next time.’ Lucy smiled.

‘Yeah, next time I won’t fall off quite as quickly’ she joked, remembering how she’d spent more time under the surfboard and in the sea than on top of it. But she had been getting the hang of it and she was sure she’d master it next time she’d give it a go.

‘Yes, I’ve got a photo of you in a wet-suit and covered in seaweed’ laughed Bethany. ‘And do you remember the time you buried your Mum in so much sand she couldn’t get up? I had to dig her out in the end.’

‘That’s right’ Lucy went on, ‘and Mum said she’d buy me a surfboard next time, if I promised not to bury her again ……..’ She broke off mid-sentence.

‘Don’t worry Kiddo, you and your Dad will get through. It’ll be ok, you’ll see.’ Lucy smiled bravely.

‘I guess he’s not too bad, sometimes. I just wish things were like they were before.’ She sniffed and a tear pricked the corner of her eye.

‘I know Kiddo’ Bethany said ‘but we can’t turn the clock back, no matter how much we wish we could. We’ve got to go forward and you know what? Things always get better.’ She squeezed Lucy’s hand again.

One of the good things about Bethany was that she wasn’t worried if Lucy stayed up a bit later than normal on a school night. But even she was startled when she suddenly realised the time.

‘Hey we’d better get you back or your Dad’ll have my guts for garters.’ They paid and left the pizza restaurant, strolling back home in the dark, giggling and telling each other silly jokes as they went. It was late when they got home. Lucy was soon washed and in her pyjamas, and Bethany perched on the corner of her bed to kiss her goodnight.

‘Tell me about when Mum was a little girl’ Lucy asked with a smile.

‘Oh that sister of mine was a real tear-away, so full of life. In our summer holidays when we went to the seaside, she would scamper over the rocks like a little mountain goat and she was more at home in the water than on land. Once she brought an injured crab home and put it in the bath while she made a splint for its damaged claw. I can tell you that Gran was not pleased when she found it. That crab wasn’t where your Mum had left it and it almost bit Gran in a very painful place!’ Lucy giggled. ‘Gran was furious and grounded your Mum for a week. But she shinnied out of the window and down a drainpipe and came back two hours later drenched in rain.’

‘Dad would kill me if I did that’ said Lucy suppressing a smile.

‘And you’d better not try’ added Bethany only half seriously. ‘Goodness knows what he’d say if he realised I’d been putting ideas into that head of yours.’

Bethany planted a kiss firmly on Lucy’s forehead. ‘Goodnight Kiddo. Sweet dreams.’

Lucy was so full of the day that she had trouble drifting off. Twenty minutes or so later she heard the door click shut as Dad came in and the murmur of conversation between him and Bethany downstairs. She heard him pad up the stairs and he shyly peeked around the door in case he woke her.

‘Hi Dad’ she said.

‘Hey Luce’ he replied. ‘I thought you were asleep. Did you have fun with Bethany?’

‘It was great Dad. I didn’t know she was coming over.’

‘Neither did I’ he said, pulling a bit of a face. ‘You get to sleep now. I’ll see you in the morning.’

‘Night night Dad’ she said. But even though she was tired, she couldn’t help but wonder what he and Bethany were saying downstairs. Eventually her curiosity got the better of her. She tiptoed to her door, eased it open slowly so that it wouldn’t creak and crept to the top of the stairs so she could hear what was going on down below.

Lucy heard the sound of chairs scraping, the tap running in the kitchen and the clatter of plates. Dad coughed and she heard the murmur of voices, both Bethany’s and his, though she could not hear exactly what they were saying. Then the voices moved into the living room directly below.

‘So Bethany’ she heard Dad saying, ‘I know you said you were just passing by and wanted to drop in, but I just don’t buy it. It looks to me as though we were the object of a special visit.’

Lucy could imagine Bethany putting on a thin, brave smile before replying.

‘You know John, I shouldn’t need an excuse to come and see you both…It’s just that you don’t always exactly make me feel welcome when I do.’

‘I don’t think that’s fair’ her Dad responded guardedly.

‘Well, I don’t get the impression that you want me here this evening.’

‘I can’t pretend I wasn’t surprised when you called this afternoon and told me that you wanted to pick Lucy up from school’ said her Dad. ‘And sometimes I wonder just what you’re filling Lucy’s head with.’

‘You know I love Lucy.’ Lucy felt a surge of emotion to hear Bethany say so. ‘Why wouldn’t I want to spend time with my niece? She’s the only one I’ve got.’

‘It’s not that which I’m worried about’ said her Dad. ‘It’s what you tell her, what you say to her that worries me.’

‘Ok, so I know what you think about me, that I’m some sort of hippy and I know what you think about my opinions, but I have said nothing to Lucy, nothing at all. I have done exactly what you have asked me to do. I’ve been the model of discretion. I may talk to Lucy about Cornwall, I may tell her about how I love painting the sea, but that’s as far as it goes John. I don’t say one word more.’

‘Well I’m glad to hear it Bethany, I really am, but I can’t say it puts my mind at rest.’ Lucy could hear the strain in her Dad’s voice. She imagined him frowning as he spoke, pacing the room. ‘What worries me is that Lucy is bound to get drawn towards you and to get pulled into your world. Now you tell me she wants to come and stay with you in the half term. What am I supposed to say to that?’

‘You could say yes John. I’d love Lucy to come down and stay and I think it’d be good for her. She needs a break. Lucy’s not had much fun over the last year or so.’ There was a pause.

‘Oh, I’m sorry John, that was stupid of me to say. It’s been pretty hellish for the both of you. Maybe you could come down too. Why not?’

‘No, I can’t’ her Dad replied quickly. ‘I just can’t get away. There’s just too much going on at work.’

‘So what do you say? Can Lucy come down in half term? You put her on the train. I’ll collect her at the other end.’ Again Dad paused.

‘No, no I don’t think so’ Dad answered eventually. ‘Especially not down there in Cornwall.’ Dad hesitated a moment. ‘I just can’t take that risk.’

Lucy winced at the news, as she sat in the darkness