We were to write descriptions of three people we actually know (changing the names, of course, to protect the innocent), then create a composite character, using characteristics from the three real-life folks. Finally, we were to put our new character in a small boat in the middle of the ocean and have him/her have a conversation with a dolphin!
I'm not putting the descriptions of the original real people up here - at least one would probably be offended or get her/his/its feelings hurt. I have included the description of Leigh, my composite character.
Leigh is tall, weighs a bit more than she should, but hides it with well-selected clothes. She is deeply spiritual and likes to explore religion and spirituality, but hasn't yet decided exactly what she believes. If someone starts preaching at her, she shuts down and refuses to even consider their point of view, but thoroughly enjoys rational, intelligent inquiries into these matters.
Her intelligence is well above average, and she is enormously creative - thinks 'out of the box'. One of these days, she'll acknowledge that and there will be no holding her back. Her cubicle at work looks as if she hired an expensive decorator to personalize it for her; actually, it only took about $15, a lunch hour of shopping at K-Mart, and a half hour of her time! The painting of the floral arrangement she did herself and it's beautiful.
She has some deep-seated problems, in spite of an excellent life-long relationship with her mother and her siblings. She is emotionally insecure, with a crummy self-image, and she knows that and wants to fix it. Anything she has, her friends have as their very own, if they need it. She is loyal, unusually honest and forthright, and blessedly forgiving, until reality forces her to accept certain unpleasant truths; then she will change her phone number to keep from ever speaking to you again!
Leigh is a listener, a learner, hungry for new knowledge and new information. She likes and respects people of her parents' generation, believing that they have important knowledge that can help her in her continuing personal evolution.
She was totally pissed off! with Rob, and most certainly with herself. She had known from the git-go that the cruise was a terrible idea. Her idea of a great vacation was an undisturbed week of preferably gray and rainy weather; a dim room; a large, comfortable chair; and 3 or 4 really excellent books. Leigh hated being out in the sun, hated hotels, especially hated water that wasn't for bathing, cooking, or drinking. But for no reason other than to please Rob (damn him anyway!), she had agreed to the short cruise to the Bahamas. And now here she was... alone in a life raft somewhere between Miami and Freeport... probably being carried by some evil ocean current to places rescuers would never think to look. "Only a total idiot, probably a seriously brain-damaged one, would think that being on a teensy ship in the middle of a humongous body of water could be fun! Even when it goes the way it's supposed to! Stupid, stupid, stupid!"
She drifted off into the part of herself that she kept hidden from the world, and began to visualize how she would like to repay Rob if she lived through this. No POW camp interrogator was ever more creative and just plain evil than Leigh was in the tortures she subjected Rob to in her mind's eye.
"The ONLY good thing about this," she told herself, "is that I might get to see mom again a lot sooner than I ever thought I would!" Hunger, thirst, and the possible outcome of her situation hit her and she cried.
She was devastated when her mother died, and missed her intensely. She spoke to her now: "Mom, I know you're watching this. I can feel you here with me, sweetie. I miss you so much, but I'd rather wait a while to see you again. Please, can you help me out of this mess from there? Could you maybe get God to help me make it home alive? I promise I'll listen to my head next time and not do something I know I'll hate, just to please somebody I don't even really care about. Mommy, I'm so scared and so sad."
The cool water splashed her just as she finished the plea to her mother, and she let out a small, startled... squeak... then turned to see the source of her mini-shower. The dolphin scared the absolute hell out of her, but only for a moment. He looked so friendly, almost as if he was smiling. There was something about the way he looked at her... It made her think of her beloved dogs waiting at the kennel, and she felt the tears again. "I miss my girls so much," she told him. "Who'll take care of them if somebody doesn't find me soon?"
He tilted his head slightly to one side, evidently not comprehending. "I know... I don't imagine you've ever owned a dog... so maybe you don't understand..."
He was watching her so intently that she almost felt that he did understand her. "Look at you, not afraid of me at all! And so beautiful." He moved closer. "Do you understand what I'm saying? Are all those dolphin stories true?" She thought he nodded slightly.
"Hey, guy, I think I'm starting to hallucinate! It figgers!!" She reached out a tentative hand, expecting him to dive at the movement, but he stayed where he was and allowed her to caress his head and back.
"Did my mom send you to keep me company?" She talked to him as if he were a small child or one of her girls. "She would absolutely adore you! I wish you could talk; I wish you could help me. Do you have any idea how scared I am right now?"
To her amazement, he nodded his head in affirmation. She looked at him suspiciously: "Okay, now I'm not just losing it; it's totally gone! Let's try this just one more time... Do.. you.. really.. know.. how.. scared.. I.. am?" This time, he pushed himself out of the water long enough to nuzzle her briefly with his snout, then - back in the water - he nodded again.
"Oh, thank you, thank you so much! Just not being alone..."
She almost fell out of the raft, trying to lean over and hug him, but he didn't let her fall. She grabbed the snack bar from the emergency kit she had found and held out a corner of it to him. She meant to limit herself to a small bite or two when the hunger pangs became intolerable. But she had no other way to thank him. He shook his head in polite refusal, as though he understood that she might need it later. He suddenly dived under the water, resurfaced on the other side of the raft, and splashed her once again - another gentle, cooling shower. He smiled (it seemed to Leigh) and nodded one last time, then darted off to the northwest. She could not hold back the sobs as she watched him speed away.
"Oh, please don't go... please..."
The captain of the fishing boat told her that they normally didn't work these waters, but that damned lunatic dolphin kept making mad dashes at the side of the boat, leaping and diving as if he was trying to get their attention, then swimming off to the southeast at breakneck speed! Through telescope and binoculars, they watched him stop and look back at them, still on their original course, then turn, swim back, and repeat the performance. Sailors do not entirely discount the sea lore about dolphins, so after the 5th repetition of what he thought might be the aquatic version of an S.O.S. (or his very first sighting of a dolphin on speed), the captain turned the boat and followed. Hell, it was late and they weren't biting very well anyhow.
"And that's how we found you, miss. It was that crazy damned fish!"
"No fish," she said. "No fish at all! Just one more blessing from the world's - well, maybe heaven's - best-ever mom." And, with her eyes to the sky: "Thanks, sweetie. I love you so much. And... I owe ya' a big one!"
Copyright 2001 Sunny Carney