Escaping The Net (A Short Story)

Deep beneath the surface of the water, all was peaceful. A haven beneath the rippling ocean tide. Amid the stillness of nature, a pod of dolphins rested from a long journey.

Beside a wearied mother, a young calf ventured from the pod. No one saw him go.

He wandered idly along, his tail brushing against the coral formations that towered to the sky while colourful school of fish swam by.

The calf paid no attention to the wonders of the sea, for an oddly shaped creature had caught his eye. curiosity had him hooked, and without any consideration of any danger, he went over to inspect it. However, on closer inspection, it appeared to be an unusual sort of seaweed. It was long and hung down like a transparent curtain with colourful balls attached to the bottom.

Curiously, he nosed it with his snout. It had the sharp tangy smell of tuna, reminding him of the big shoals of tuna that they sometimes chased when migrating with the pod. The memories of flying through the water and skimming over the crashing waves. Exuberance in every motion. Rapture in every heartbeat. He wiggled his tail and spun exultingly, and suddenly found himself tangled up inside the net.

A whistle of fear escaped his heart, and his eyes rolled back. The calf thrashed wildly about, desperately trying to escape the clutches of the nylon as it cut into his flesh. And then a gloomy shadow loomed closer……

It was a shark, with glinting white teeth and a white underbelly. It had spotted the dolphin as easy prey and came forward menacingly with steady swish of its tail. It came on, fear was foreign to this great creature.

A desperate struggle ensued as the two creatures, one big, the other small, battled for two different causes. One for life, the other for death. The snap of a heavy jaw, the smack of a dolphin’s snout. As the dolphin spun this way and that, he gradually got more and more tangled up in the net. There was another problem, too. The calf was nearly out of air. He struggled more furiously but found his energy ebbing away. It was over. The sharks jaws loomed over him…

There was a terrific snap! The hovering jaws disappeared suddenly, and the dolphin felt his body fly upwards! He came with out of the water with a pop and felt his body breath. He was alive! Life had never seemed so good! The calf whistled with joy and gave a huge leap out of the water. He jumped the white-crested waves and dived down and then up again.

Then he found the pod. They still lay resting, unawares of the great battle that had been fought, and won. He swam into the group and settled beside his mother. No one knew that he had come.

Later still, when he recounted his adventures, he remembered the great joy at having found life again. And he determined, in his heart, that he would keep his life and that joy with it.ng here…