As he slides under my palm my fingers brush against his cool skin, which feels as soft as the finest mulberry silk. I'm weightless, suspended, my feet can't touch the ground. I tread water to keep afloat. As I awkwardly bob, the wild dolphin dives, surfaces, and floats effortlessly before me. He is spraying me with his sonar, perhaps to ensure that I'm not some erratic mechanical marine object - I am flesh and blood - a mammal-like him. The soundwaves from his echolocation permeate through me, I feel as if my insides are jingling and jangling. It's the strangest feeling. Foreign. This whole experience is weird yet so unbelievably wonderful. I think to myself, 'Shouldn't I be scared? This is a completely wild creature and I'm in his world ... not mine.' I answer myself immediately: 'He won't hurt you Mel, he wants to understand what you are. Trust him'.
I allow myself to surrender and become immersed in the moment. The dolphin has moved away, eyeing me inquisitively. I reach out and a grossly disfigured dorsal fin slices through the water towards me. The dolphin pushes his snout into my hand. I run my fingers over it. It's rough like sandpaper. I'm shocked by the contrast. My hand traces his mouth. It feels lumpy, scarred. My heart aches, I feel compassion wash over me. What has this dolphin been through? Does he have emotional scars as well as physical ones? He gently nudges me. I felt completely accepted. The feeling is foreign yet liberating.
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