smelling, hearing. There was no steep cliff behind this cove, but a series of white 98 rolling dunes, shadowed by pale beach grasses and the dark green of sea grapes. Above me sea gulls were whirling and mewling against the blue. The wind moved in the grasses and echoed the sound of waves moving gently into shore. I could see Adam swimming out, but there was no dark body leaping joyfully on the horizon, such as I had seen the day before with Leo. Adam had said it-Basil-might not come. Did I want it to? I walked slowly toward the water's edge. Adam's shorts and shirt and sneakers lay in a little clump on the sand. I moved past them and splashed through the shallow waves. It was one thing to toss fish to Una and Nini, smiling at me from their pen--and I hadn't been exactly comfortable about that-and another to meet a dolphin face to face in the open sea. I dove through an approaching wave and started to swim. I had managed to pick up a fish from the bucket in my bare hands and toss it to a dolphin. I could manage to look at a dolphin in the ocean just as well as I could look at Una and Nini in the pen, couldn't I? Adam had said to stay several yards behind him. I needn't get close. I swam. As I neared Adam I could hear him making funny blowing sounds, something like air going slowly out of a balloon, and it was something like the sound I'd heard from Una and Nini. He was treading water, and I began to tread water, too, staying well behind him. He kept on making balloon sounds, and then he began a strange whistle. There was something magnetic about it. His face had its illuminated look, and I was so busy paying attention to him that I was taken completely by surprise when a great grey body rose in a swift arc just a few yards behind him, 99 showing the pale pink of its belly, and disappeared into the sea. Then it surfaced, and there was a dolphin half out of the water, beaming at Adam, who swam swiftly toward it. The creature exuded friendliness. But I stayed where I was, a good distance away, treading water, while my heart thumped with excitement and fear. What would I do if that great animal stopped smiling and came at me? Basil, I reassured myself. Adam said his name was Basil, and just the fact that he had a name made him less frightening. He was swimming around Adam in swift circles, and the long, sleek body seemed to be quivering with delight, much as Mr. Rochester's entire bulk trembles with joy when we come home after leaving him alone for an hour or so. My heart was still banging, but I was less afraid. Adam put his arm around Basil with the same affectionate fearlessness with which Rob put his arm around the big Great Dane, and Basil rubbed close against Adam. I would like to have somebody, animal or human, feel about me like that. Not in the least subservient, but total. For a few moments Adam and Basil swam together. Then the dolphin leapt above the surface, throwing spume in every direction so that I got showered, dove down and surfaced again, not far from me. I trod water furiously. I had not expected Basil to come so close. I had thought that I would be an observer only. "He's curious about you," Adam said in a calm, quiet voice. "Don't be afraid of him, Vicky. He won't hurt you." -How do you know? I wanted to ask. -He's still a wild creature. Suppose I frighten him?Suppose I don't have the right smell? "Don't be afraid," Adam said again. "Touch him. 100 Genlly but firmly. Dolphins have extremely delicate skin, but once he realizes you won't hurt him, he'll make friends." I wasn't going to say so to Adam, but I wasn't about to make the first move. Basil nosed tentatively toward me, smiling benignly. Do dolphins ever frown? Very gently, he butted against me. And suddenly I was not afraid. As clearly as though the dolphin had spoken to me, I understood that he wanted me to pet him. And I was, as clearly as I can express something that is really unexpressible, out on the other side of fear. I reached out and touched
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