Dolphin Dreams, Chapter 2
#3 of Stories
By late morning of the second day, my little bungalow was beginning to take shape. I stood back, looking around me at what I was making.
The house was never meant to be a luxury palace, and we had chosen it for its simple utilitarian beauty. The entire living area was on one raised level, to protect it from rising waters in any storm-surge, and it consisted of a single nice-sized bedroom, a small guest bedroom, bathroom, kitchen, and a cozy living room. The living room overhung the beach, with plenty of windows to let in the view and the morning sun. There was a door on the end which led out to the big wrap-around deck, perfect for enjoying my morning coffee or relaxing in the cool of the evening. There was no real "downstairs", just a shelter for the car, to keep it out of the sun's heat. Simple, functional, and more than enough for two people, let alone one.
I stepped out onto the deck, the blazing heat of the mid-day sun striking me like a hammer. Now I know why we always saw Central American men wearing those big white hats, in all those movies, I thought, and I resolved to pick up a few, on my first trip into town... the couple of hats I had brought with me (still packed away, somewhere) were going to be woefully inadequate for this blazing tropical sun.
Way out in the cove, I could just make out the splashing of the dolphins, and I smiled. It would appear they were going to be a regular part of my day, here.
The growling in my belly suddenly reminded me that I needed to get something to eat. The fridge and cupboards were bare, and it was long past time that I did something about it. Time for a drive into town, to take care of the matter.
The nearest civilization was about a 20-minute drive, just north to Dangriga, a modest little town along the coast. For any serious shopping, I'd have to go further, to Belmopan (which looked like about a 40-minute drive, inland) or all the way up to Belize City (maybe an hour), but for a grocery run, Dangriga would do fine. Many of the roads down here were kind of iffy, but I was pleasantly surprised to find that this one wasn't too bad, and I got there without hitting any major potholes. Belize is an English-speaking country (one of the reasons we'd decided on it), so it was a simple matter to locate a decent shop and buy what I needed. I even managed to find a good hat store, and picked up one or two for starters. The trunk loaded with my haul, I headed back home, whistling, looking forward to stocking the kitchen -- and to a nice ham and cheese sandwich, and a cold beer.
By the time I had stocked the fridge and pantry, and filled my belly, it was early afternoon, but I was feeling much better about the world. I could do this. Life would go on. I took the last of my beer out to the deck, once again feeling the hammer-blow of the heat, now at its peak. Have to invest in some white clothes, too, I thought, as my gringo T-shirt started to stick to me. Within moments, I was anxious to rinse in the brilliant blue water. Just for a few minutes, I told myself. Besides, the dolphins were back...
After tossing back the last swallow, I strolled down to the sand (again leaving a trail of clothes) and waded out into the warm water, flopping the rest of the way into it back-first. The dolphins were closer, this time, and heard my splash, two of them swimming over to investigate. "Hello, again!" I called, as they approached, and one of them answered me with a couple of screeches. Bottlenosed Dolphins, I noted, for the record, now that I was paying attention. Bottlenose are known to grow up to 8 feet long, but these appeared to be smaller, more like 5 to 6 feet. I seemed to recall that the males grow larger than the females, but I had no real way to tell which was which, at this point.
The two of them came bobbing up to me, obviously in a playful mood, and one of them poked me gently with its snout. Giggling with surprise, I poked back. This prompted the other one to swim around and poke me in the butt, and I laughed out loud at the unexpected contact with these delightful creatures. We played like that for just about 3 or 4 minutes, whereupon the two of them circled me, gave one final squawk, and swam away.
Alone in the water now, I considered my little beachfront haven, and decided I needed a dock, of some sort, resolving to whip one up, before too long. It would also be nice to have some kind of little boat, maybe just to row out into the cove and back. Rowing was such good exercise, and I was going to need some, if I didn't want to get completely out of shape. Besides, with a dock, I could walk out closer to where the dophins swam, without even having to be in the water. Sounded like a plan...
The next daycycle, the landwalker appeared more than once, in the same way, paddling weakly in the shallow water. One of my pod-sisters came with me, the first few times, and she was confident enough to try playfully poking it in the belly with her rostrum. Its delight was plain, in the sounds it made, so I grew bolder and poked it from behind. This earned me an even happier response, and so the two of us played this way for the rest of the short visit, and the next...
It was strange to me that my sorrow began to lift a little, each time I was playing with the landwalker. Perhaps it was simply the joy it showed, when we were around, but I did not believe that...
Our people are empathic, able to feel what each other feels, at times. Not quite actual thoughts, but feelings of joy, anguish, fear, contentment... these things we could hear in each other without speaking, it has always been that way. And in this landwalker, I became certain that I could feel a deep sadness... one that was lifted when we came to play with it. I began to wonder if it had suffered a great loss, as I had.
The next time, I decided to visit the creature alone, to hear its inside voice more clearly. We had become comfortable enough by now for me to nuzzle it under its limbs, which seemed to please it. So I took an even bolder step, and rolled upside-down, inviting it to nuzzle my underside...
...twice more, that afternoon, I paddled out into the water a bit, and was rewarded with the dolphins coming to play. The same two seemed to come back, at first, but the last time, it was just the one who had been bolder about poking me in the backside. That time, after it nuzzled up under my arm, it even rolled over on its back, inviting me to rub its belly. Their skin felt like smooth, slippery rubber, and I marvelled at the beauty and strength of these highly-intelligent animals, our aquatic cousins. Somehow, I felt deeply honored by their attention...
...the landwalker understood quickly, stroking my skin with its small fin. This felt warm and smooth against me, and I found its touch oddly soothing, alien as it was. But more, I could sense the creature's tension easing, both of us becoming calm and contented, as my thoughts became attuned to its own, not so alien at all...
...as this one let me stroke its upturned underside, I wondered again whether it was male or female. I had no idea how to tell for sure, an ignorance I resolved to address in the near future. There seemed to be an almost-invisible slit, down toward the tail, and out of pure curiosity, I slid my hand to it and gently traced its couple inches of length, with one finger...
...as it touched me lower, around my female parts, my body began to tingle, and I shuddered in spite of myself. This land-creature was arousing feelings like my mate once did...
...suddenly, I felt the dolphin shudder, and with a subtle flip of its body, it pushed up against my finger, which went smoothly into the slit before I even realized what was happening...
...without even thinking, I twitched upward against its fin, and one of those skinny appendages went into me. Oh, gods...
_..._well, I guess this one is female, I thought, as I felt the sudden heat of her insides, such a contrast from her cool skin...
...I expected the creature to back away, startled by my impulsiveness -- but I didn't sense anything in it beyond mild surprise, and then curiosity...
...she continued to float there belly-up, showing no sign of unease... and I couldn't resist slipping my finger in a little further, exploring this interesting creature who almost seemed to crave being touched...
...it not only kept its skinny fin-part -- finger_, it calls it a_ finger_, I sensed -- inside my female spot, it began to reach deeper, exploring me, making me quiver as the finger bumped the hardness of my pleasure-nub..._
...her vagina was smooth and deep, I couldn't feel the end of it. And on the upper end of the slit, there was a harder nub which made her shiver again when I brushed it. So dolphins have a clitoris, too...
...I saw that something had grown hard on the landwalker, too, down at the bottom of its midsection, and I suddenly understood... this is a male_!! These creatures had males and females, just like us!.._
...I suddenly realized I had a raging hard-on, from our intimate contact, and it was bumping against her smooth, cool skin, as she bobbed in front of me. That mildly embarrassed me, for no particular reason...
...I was being touched and aroused by a male landwalker, and the touching had aroused him, too! But there was no revulsion, as I might have thought, there was only what felt like a growing connection with this creature. He found this relaxing and fulfilling, as did I, I could sense it...
...for the sake of comfort, I moved closer to her, and positioned myself so that my hard shaft was laying against her, rather than teasing the sensitive head...
...I didn't even mind as he rested his male hardness against my flank, its hot firmness caressing me also...
...we stayed like that for just a few more minutes, before I eased my finger out and returned to stroking her belly. A minute or so later, she smoothly rolled over, squawked goodbye, and left...
...after a short time of this strange, new experience, he pulled his finger from me, and resumed lightly stroking my underside. The tingling slowly faded, and what it left behind was a strange feeling that I had somehow bonded with this land-creature, that we might become more than playmates. I was not sure about these thoughts, and so with an effort, I rolled over, told him goodbye, and swam off...
...the experience had left me a touch unsettled, as I shook my head and climbed back up to the beach. It had also left me feeling more lonely than ever, knowing that Sarah and I would never again be sharing our easy intimacy... an intimacy I had just experienced with a completely different species. Dolphins were said to be capable of many things, maybe even higher thinking. But one of them choosing to cuddIe with me, out of sympathy? I found myself once again feeling strangely honored -- but almost guilty, as if I had somehow cheated on Sarah...
...had I been unfaithful to the memory of my mate? This seemed an odd thing to consider, but I pondered it for a long time, wondering what he would have thought of this new friend of mine...
...once completed, that last thought made me laugh, breaking the spell, and I went back inside to dry off and resume work. That time, in what would become a frequent thing for me, I did not get dressed again. What was the point? I was expecting no company, and it was comfortable that way. Naked and unconcerned about it, I dug back into the endless unpacking.