Just as he thought he might pass out, the strong current suddenly eased, and he found himself floating gently along with a soft current. His body bobbed gently in the water, unable to muster the strength to pull himself towards the surface, and he realized through the fog that was slowly swimming across his eyes that he was surrounded by a school of yellow and black fish that were staring at him with unblinking eyes.

Unblinking, he thought dumbly. That meant they didn’t close. He would like to close his eyes – they were getting so heavy and they practically closed themselves without any conscious effort.

Sleep was suddenly very appealing, he realized happily as his body warmed and he drifted towards a dream. He might dream about his family, and for a brief minute forget that he was alone and afraid, and remember what they looked like and sounded like and felt like when they hugged him. A dream would be nice.

Something large and smooth bumped against his chest, and he brushed at it irritably. It was getting in the way of his dream. He wanted to see that dream and feel the love of his family again. Something bumped at him again, and he frowned in irritation. Whatever it was had better leave him the hell alone.

With another bump at his chest, he reluctantly opened his eyes to find something large and grey with a long, smooth nose staring him in the face. He gasped in shock, realizing immediately after doing so that it was probably an extremely bad idea, as lungs filled with water wouldn’t help him breathe very well. The expected choking and coughing and immediate unconscious contractions of his body never emerged, however, and he found to his surprise that he could breathe just fine.

Don took another breath, and then another, calming his racing heart and waiting as the spots cleared from in front of his eyes and his head cleared. A dolphin. That was the grey thing that had stared at him. He hadn’t seen a dolphin this close before, he realized: the closest he had been had been the splash row at Sea World. This was significantly closer than that, and he didn’t need to worry about the animals getting him wet, since he was already soaked.

The boy and the dolphin floated in the water, staring at each other peacefully. After a moment of this communion, Don reached out a tentative hand to stroke the creature on the nose. He had expected that it would feel slimy, but instead it felt soft and smooth, and almost like what he imagined very thick human skin might feel like.

He smiled, charmed, and the dolphin started to swim around him in cheerful circles, bobbing its head up and down and chattering excitedly. Don laughed in delight and found to his amazement that he could laugh too! He wondered briefly how it was possible for him to be breathing with his head surrounded so by water. He reached up to ensure that some form of clear diving helmet hadn’t suddenly appeared around his head, but his questing hands only found cheeks, ears, and hair.

Maybe there was some kind weird air bubble that was bubbling up to surround him. He glanced down to the ocean (he had already surmised that he had made it to the ocean – a quick taste of the salty water made that abundantly clear) floor to see if he could see anything that might be creating such a bubble, but could only see a bunch of murky silt that had been stirred up by the entering river.

He thrashed his legs, trying to swim deeper to see if he could find any sort of reason for his strange new ability, but something strong and thin brushed past his open hand. Don glanced up to the dolphin to find that it had stopped swimming and was instead waiting with its dorsal fin against his open hand. The hand closed almost automatically, and Don suddenly found himself being pulled through the still water by an impossibly strong body.

The dolphin dragged him through the water in what eventually seemed to be some kind of grand ocean tour. First they dove towards the ocean floor, travelling through the silt and mud that was raised where the river met the ocean. Don blinked as some of the silt caught in his left eye, which teared painfully, and he decided to close his eyes to protect them until they were through. It wasn’t as though he could see anything through the murk anyway.

When he felt the dolphin starting to swim towards the surface again, he opened his eyes and allowed the now clear water to wash them clean. The stinging pain eased significantly as they were cleaned, and he was not able to see perfectly and without pain. The water was amazingly clear – he suspected that if he could see it from above he would find it a stunning tropical blue, and he could see easily all the way to the sandy bottom. As they swam forwards, a thick greyish expanse of rock arose before them. At first, Don thought that it was a bunch of boulders but he realized as they grew closer, that it was actually a carefully interconnected series of sharp porous crystalline strands.

A coral reef. He had only seen one once before when his family had gone snorkelling in Mexico. He looked around carefully for the myriad of sea life that he knew lived in such a home, and eventually saw school of brightly coloured fish, greens and blues, and yellows, and even a few reds. They flitted around the reef uncaringly, apparently certain that either there was not a predator anywhere nearby, or that they could successfully hide inside the coral with a moments notice,

He glanced deeper into the reef and saw more creatures, mostly less brightly coloured, hiding inside the smaller crevices of the coral. Further down, he could see bottom dwellers, molluscs and lobsters and crabs and flat fish that shifted slightly as they swam overhead, disturbing the sand before settling back into a comfortable location to await their next meal.

They swam over the large reef, his dolphin guide dodging and weaving in order to give him the best view of the creatures below. As they swam overtop, some of the bright small fish swam up to join them, swimming above, below, and alongside Don and his guide, flitting back and forth teasingly and joyfully, apparently intent on playing some kind of game that Don didn’t seem to know the rules to.

The fish got bored after only a few minutes and returned to their coral home, and Don and the dolphin swam alone again through the waters. It was suddenly quiet and peaceful – they had journeyed past the reef and were now in the calm open ocean. The water grew steadily deeper and darker and colder beneath them and Don gripped the dolphin’s fin more tightly to avoid being lost. Alone in a deep dark ocean was not a place he wanted to be alone – he had already experienced that once and was completely certain that it wasn’t anything he needed to experience again.

All at once they weren’t alone. Several other dolphins had surrounded them and were swimming with them, diving and jumping nearby. A few brushed against the one pulling him and he chattered again, apparently telling some strange kind of a story. The others chattered back and withdrew into the strange formation/honour guard. A few of the dolphins had smaller dolphins swimming close by them, and he realized that they were children.

The babies seemed a lot more playful than the adults, swimming more freely and playfully, immune to the need to be mature and reserved like the adults. They seemed to be a lot more curious, as well; apparently unwilling to accept his guide’s story, they swam closest to Don, staring at him curiously and chattering at each other in short, high-pitched noises. He wondered absently what they were saying about him. He hoped it was something flattering.

One of the littlest ones swam past his free hand, clearly trying to emulate the larger one currently pulling this strange interloper, and he grinned and wrapped his hand gently around the small dorsal fin. The little dolphin seemed happy with this new development, weaving gently in the water as it “pulled” Don through the water, and chattered loudly at his friends.

This strange dual towing continued on for several minutes, the larger dolphin clearly doing all the actual work, and the smaller one not seeming to mind that it wasn’t actually contributing. Eventually the little one seemed to get tired of this new game and swam away from Don, electing instead to swim closely behind the tail of Don’s guide. After several moments of wondering why, Don finally realized that the little one must be his guide’s baby. It was awfully cute. He wondered if it was a boy or a girl.