Cyborg
Chapter 8 – first performance.
…
William hadn't seen Nora in days. First he thought he'd better leave her alone, because she might still be angry at him and sad that her children were gone.
But after more than a week he got worried, and finally he left the shipwreck he lived in and swam towards the stone of Nora's home. He found the mother dolphin close to the surface of the water.
"Nora," he said. "I haven't seen you in a long time. Are you alright?"
Nora turned around and William was shocked at how old and weak she suddenly looked. Her eyes were reddened and there were suddenly wrinkles around her nose that William hadn't seen on her before. She looked as if she was very tired.
"I'm going, William," Nora said.
"Where?" William just asked.
"I don't know," was the answer. "But I will find my children."
She turned around to swim away, but William stopped her.
"Dear Nora," he said. "Please don't be so foolish. The open seas are a big place. It would be senseless to go search for two young dolphins in the entire world. They could be anywhere."
"And what do you suggest, then?" Nora asked angrily. "Just sit here and wait while God knows what has happened to my babies? No, sir. I will not be a weakling, like you."
"Nora…" William began, hoping to talk some sense into the mother dolphin.
"No!" Nora screamed at him. "I will not listen to you any longer. I've had it with you and your so-called good advice. I'm leaving to find my kids and nobody is going to stop me!"
With those words she turned around and swam away. And William did not try to stop her.
…
All those humans…
Francis tried to swallow a lump in his throat.
This was the day of his and Doris' first performance. It seemed like all tickets had been sold, because there were no places left for any more humans to sit. Francis had never seen so many humans in one place.
While Manuel performed his tricks, Francis and Doris silently watched.
"Are you nervous?" Doris asked her brother.
"A little," Francis said in a small voice. "You?"
Doris swallowed. "Very." She said.
Francis took her flipper in his.
"You're going to be alright," he said even though he wasn't sure he could believe himself. "you're the best dolphin in all of Coney Island."
Doris smiled at him. "Thank you, Francis." She said.
The looked up when they heard the human with the microphone in front of the audience say: "and now Coney Island's new stars: Flippy and Dotty the Dolphins!"
"That's our cue," Doris said.
Quickly, the two dolphins swam forwards, still holding each other's flippers. Manuel swam past them, and whispered: "good luck" before swimming to his trainer to get his reward for the performance.
It was first Francis' turn. By the gestures his trainer made he could see what was expected of him.
He swam around, jumped through the hoop, made backflips and did all the other tricks that he had learned in the past few weeks. He tried to ignore the noise of the crowd as much as he could in order to concentrate.
Before he knew it, it was over and he swam towards his trainer to get his reward: a fish.
Then it was Doris' turn.
She was a natural. Francis didn't need to look at her for long to see that she was much better than he was. And no wonder, she had had more training.
The crowd agreed with him: this dolphin was the best. They cheered louder than before, and eventually Francis held his flippers over his ears because the noise was just too loud.
Then it was over. When Francis looked on the clock in de wall behind him, he saw that it was five O' clock already. The time had gone fast.
Doris got her reward, and finally the dolphins could go back to their own habitats.
It didn't last long until the sky became darker and the last humans finally left Coney Island. The humans with the buckets of food came, and everyone ate.
When they were alone, Debora leaned over the wall of het own habitat.
"Francis, Doris!" she said.
The two young dolphins swam to the edge of their pool to talk to her.
"Hello, Debora." Doris said.
"Well done, you two," Debora said, smiling. "You'll soon become Coney Island's new stars, I'm sure of it."
Francis growled softly. "Puh," he said. "New stars, new stars…. All I want is to get out of here."
Debora rolled her eyes. "Don't start again, Francis," she said. "You know that there's no way out."
"That's what you believe." Francis said.
"Francis…." Debora started, but suddenly Doris interrupted them.
"Don't start fighting, you two," she said. "listen, Francis is right. There is a way out."
"What?!" Debora said, startled.
"I am?" Francis asked.
"When I jumped through the high hoop during our performance, I saw something." Doris said. "the ocean is right behind the public's seats."
"Really?" Francis said with a bit of hope in his voice.
"I could have told you that, Doris." Debora said.
"Well we can jump right over the crowd on our next performance," Doris said, excited.
"Oh, Doris," Debora said shaking her head. "That's a foolish plan. You'll never reach it."
"Maybe you can't," Doris said. "But we're dolphins. We can jump much further than you. We could make it…"
"Please put it out of your head," Debora said. "Accidents are bound to happen. You'll be sorry."
"I think it's a great plan." Francis said, smiling at his sister. Doris smiled back.
"When is our next performance?"
"The day after tomorrow," Debora said. "But please, don't be stupid."
At that moment, there was a cry of pain to be heard in Coney Island.
Francis and Doris looked up when they heard it.
"What was that?" Doris asked.
"Manuel," Debora said sadly. "The humans have killed him."
