“Dolphin Moon”

It has been said that the moon and a dolphin brought speech to a once mute young boy. Tommy was only 8 years old when his grandfather passed away. At his young age, Tommy had spent more time out in the ocean than most of us do in a lifetime. You see, his grandfather was a fisherman and he would take him out to sea daily.

On July 12, a day after his 8^th birthday, his grandfather died from a severe heart attack. Too young to understand what had happened, and not being able to speak, he was unable to seek immediate help. He had just watched his grandfather pass before his eyes. Many thoughts raced through his mind. He screamed in silence as he shed tears for he knew his fishing buddy was gone. Emotionally paralyzed by the event, he noticed a dolphin circling the fishing boat.

Just before night fell, he watched the dolphin swim away for one last time. Hours passed and the moonlight softly illuminated the ocean. It was then that he remembered the flares that his grandfather once ignited. He reached for a flare gun and shot it into the sky, signaling for help. He sat next to his grandfather, placed a blanket over both of them and began to shed tears uncontrollably. Thinking of the dolphin he had seen earlier, his desire to scream for help became so great that in his attempt to do so, he fainted.

Unsure of how long they had been at sea, the coast guard finally came to their rescue. Back home all seemed normal, at least, that’s what his parents thought. His parents were amazed at how well Tommy was handling the loss of his grandfather. Tommy could not wait to go to bed every night and his parents, although happy of this, could not understand the sudden change. You see, Tommy always argued about going to bed early.

Only Tommy knew of his excitement for nightfall. Nightly, before going to bed he would look at the moon and think of the dolphin. His grandfather would speak to him in a dream every night. Promising him speech, he asked him to visit the ocean nightly always looking for the dolphin and the moon assuring him that the time will come when this combination will give him speech. Eight years to the day, he returned home one night from the ocean wearing a big smile on his face. At sixteen he unlocked the front door, walked into the kitchen where his parents were preparing supper. He smiled at his parents, gave them a hug as he always did and said, “I love you.”