Call of the Ocean
A rare dolphin transformation
Call of the Ocean
By born2beagator
Don loved the ocean, there was no two ways about it. Always a loner, he moved to the Bahamas the moment he was done with college and had the money. He now lived on Man-O-War Key in a house with beach access. He preferred the company of the sea creatures of the Bahamas to people, although he was quite social when invited to events on the main island.
Don especially loved the dolphins of the area, and one bottlenose in particular seemed to like him as well. He named her Starlight based on her shimmering, rubbery skin when she leaped out the water. This dolphin was a constant companion to him when he was on the beach. She loved to play with him in the surf, and whenever he went fishing, he shared his catch with her. Don enjoyed her company immensely.
One day when he was on the main island to restock his fridge, he stopped by the local movie rental redbox. Browsing the selection, he found one that piqued his interest: The Life of Dolphins. Obviously a documentary, he rented it anyways and returned home.Don
Popping it in he grabbed some popcorn and sat down to enjoy the movie.
Welcome to the life of a dolphin. In this movie you will learn what it means to be a dolphin. For this installment, we will be examining the bottlenose dolphin. Dolphins are some of the most intelligent creatures on this planet.
Suddenly he was broken from the movie by a familiar squealing. Pausing the movie, he went outside to see Starlight spraying water at him and squealing. Smiling, Don slipped into his wetsuit and made his way to the beach where Starlight waited. "What is it girl? Want to go for a swim?" He asked. Starlight gave a squeal and shook her head yes rapidly. Laughing, Don waded into the water and gently grabbed onto her dorsal fin. Starlight made her way into deeper water. "Where are we going girl?" He asked. With that Starlight turned into a cove he'd never found before and deposited him on the beach. Don stood in amazement, crystal clear water was churning with
about fifteen other bottlenose dolphins. Don spent the rest of the day playing with what he assumed was Starlight's pod. Finally when it was getting dark, Starlight brought him back to his house.
Don was walking on air. Being around the dolphins made him feel so happy. As he walked up the sand to his house, he noticed a patch of silvery gray skin on his arm. Stopping where he was, he examined it. It felt just like Starlight's skin. "There is no way. I'm imagining things. It's too good to be true." He thought. What he wouldn't give to join that pod...
Dolphins consumed Don's thoughts for the rest of the night. He immediately popped the movie back in. Except the dialogue was different this time. This time the narrator was speaking as if he was talking directly to Don.
You live in a pod of up to 30 members. Bottlenose dolphins mate for life. Once you find a mate, you'll be happier than any human could ever be. "Stop teasing me. If only it were true. I'm not a dolphin." Don said. You have an intimate relationship with your pod. It is your family. But you like one dolphin in particular. You've already found your mate, Starlight. Don sat up in surprise, not noticing the silver patch on his skin spread at the mention of Starlight. You want to be with her at all times. You love the swims you take with her to visit her pod. One day you hope to stay with her. "What I wouldn't give." Don said, stopping the movie. He looked at his arm again. His forearm was covered in that silvery skin. Feeling the patch of strange skin, it was rubbery, and almost painfully dry. He looked at the picture of the dolphin and back to his skin. There was no doubt about it his arm was covered in dolphin skin. Tears of joy began to stream down his face. He immediately went to his bathroom to run water over the gray skin. If felt so much better wet. He was really becoming a dolphin! He'd get to be with Starlight and her pod. When he went to bed that night he brought a bucket of seawater with him in which he rested his dolphin skin.
The next morning he got up and got ready to head to the beach when he noticed that his arm was normal. The treatment the doctor had forced him to get when his "mutation" was discovered had worked. No dolphin skin...pink human skin had replaced where the beautiful silver skin had been. He screamed. Don prepared to take his own life. It wasn't worth living without Starlight.....Don woke up with a scream. It was still dark outside and he could hear the ocean lapping lightly at the shore. He felt his arm in the bucket of water. Turning on his lamp and
raising his arm to where he could see it, he was relieved to find that not only was the rubbery skin still there, it had spread a bit. Sighing with relief, he lowered his dolphin skin back into the water and drifted off to sleep, hoping that he would wake up ready to join Starlight.
Waking up the next morning he lifted his arm out of the water, hoping to see a flipper. Instead he groaned with frustration when he saw that the gray patch had actually shrunk! He certainly wasn't asleep, he was really losing his dolphin skin. He thought frantically. If he could accelerate the change he would. But he didn't even know how it started. Don had to figure that out first. Suddenly he remembered a local hermit that fancied himself a "shaman" from the ancient tribes of the Bahamas. Maybe he'd know something about this and how to push it along. He didn't believe in magic...but then again, how else was there a patch of dolphin skin on his arm? He felt an itching and saw the patch of gray shrink to a speck. That was it, he was going to see the shaman now!
Don ran to the hermit's hut. He didn't know his name. "Shaman, where are you! I need to speak with you! What is your name?" He called. Out came a Jamaican looking man. "There are some who call me....Tim." He said with a serious face. "Oh nevermind, I just always wanted to say dat." He laughed with a heavy accent. Just call me Jolly Mon. "What cin dis crazay hermit do for you?" Well at least he called himself crazy, Don thought, because that's what this was going to sound. He decided to get to the point. "I'm in love with a dolphin and I want to join her." He said. "Well jus go for a swim wit her!" Jolly Mon said. "No you don't understand. I want to BE a dolphin." Don Said. "Well dat is impossible. No one cin simply be an animal. You ar human mon!" Jolly Mon said with a laugh. Desperately, Don cried "No you don't understand. I know it sounds crazy, but you claim to know magic so I came to you. Feel this spot on my arm!" Don lifted up his sleeve revealing the spec of gray rubbery skin. Jolly Mon felt it. "I was jus checking to see if you were serious mon. I cin help you. But you will have to work for it too. Do you remember how it started?" He asked. "I just remember watching a movie called The Life of Dolphins, swimming with Starlight to her pod, playing with them, and noticing the patch of dolphin skin on my arm when I walked back to the house." Don replied. "Well dats it mon. You have heard the call of the ocean. This only happens to those with a sea creature trapped inside of dem. It's time for you to go where you belong. Act like ona
dolphin whenever you can. Your body will follow eventually. I think you will find dat you cin understand Starlight now." Jolly Mon said. Don laughed with relief. "Thank you so much." He said as he ran off.
Don finally had his purpose. He'd start by watching that video again. He went for popcorn, then thought "Dolphins don't eat popcorn. I want fish." He was a terrible fisher. But luckily, Starlight was at the beach. "Girl, I want to show you something." Don said, showing her the patch of dolphin skin. "I want to join you, but I need your help. I need to act like you whenever possible, and to do that I need to eat like you. But I'm a terrible fisher." Starlight immediately flipped and swam off, returning shortly with mouthfuls of fish. "Thanks girl! I hope I'll be able to come home with you tomorrow and stay this time!" He said grabbing the fish and walking back to the house. Don didn't bother cooking them. He was a dolphin, and dolphins ate their fish raw. As he flipped on the video, he bit into a fish. It was nasty but he suffered it. As fare would have it, the movie was about dolphin feeding habits. You work with your pod to catch food. The movie said. Dolphins eat fish completely raw, using their sharp teeth to tear into them and swallow large chunks. Dolphins eat large amounts of fish at once. Don thought for a moment. This movie...it was telling him how to be a dolphin. He had an entire pale of fish from Starlight. Might as well get started. One by one he started chowing down on the fish. By the end of the meal he noticed that it was easier to eat them. Gasping with excitement he ran to the mirror and opened his mouth. His teeth had been replaced with the teeth of a dolphin. "Yes!" He cried. Checking the spot on his arm, he realized that the gray patch of skin had covered his forearm.
Returning to the movie, Don continued, determined to be a dolphin as soon as possible. Dolphins sleep by floating on top of the water. You need to sleep like this. Don blinked in surprise. It seemed the movie wanted him to be a dolphin too! He'd sleep in the ocean tonight. Tossing another fish into his mouth he made his way to the water. Noticing how late it was, he went in a shallow cove near his house and laid down in the water. He was about to fall asleep when he heard a splash. Suddenly there was a dolphin beside him. "Starlight!" he said. He grinned showing off his dolphin teeth and raised his arm to show her the expanded patch of silvery skin. "Don! You really do want to join me!" She squealed. Don gasped in delight. He could understand her! "I am, and it can't
happen fast enough." Don told her excitedly. "I need to act like a dolphin to advance these changes, so I am sleeping in the ocean from now on." Starlight nuzzled him. "Then I am going to sleep with you." She said. With that they both drifted off into a happy sleep.
Don awoke feeling a breeze on his head. Feeling his head...he felt no hair. It was gone. "Starlight! Look at my head!" He cried. "All that ugly hair is gone. The top of your head has skin like mine, and you mouth has pushed out a bit." She told him happily. Don sighed. "What's wrong? I thought you wanted this?" Starlight asked. "I do. It's not happening fast enough! I'm leaving the human world for good. I want to live with your pod right now! I'm not going to wait any longer" Don cried. Starlight offered him a flipper. "No, I'm swimming there on my own. Swimming like you. Maybe that will coax another change out of me. J just stay with me in case I need help." Don said. "Of course my love." Said Starlight.
It was a difficult swim. Don tried to dolphin kick as best he could but it was slow going. "I'm sorry I'm slowing you down." Don said apologetically. "It's okay, think of yourself as a calf. You are simply learning how to be a dolphin." Starlight said helpfully. Encouraged, Don redoubled his efforts and they eventually reached the pod's cover. Collapsing in the shallow water, Don felt like he was going to faint. "Don...look at your arms." Starlight said in awe. Don looked down and gave a squeal of happiness. Both arms were covered in rubbery gray skin and his hands were shriveled. Don felt his wetsuit slipping oddly...yanking it off as fast as he could he discovered that his whole body was covered in dolphin skin. Don fainted from his trip.
Starlight spent the night speaking to her pod about the new arrival. "This is Don. He has felt the call of the ocean and he has embraced it. He is one of us. Treat him as such." The other dolphins examined the strange gray human and gave clicks of acknowledgement. Starlight returned to her charge and slept against him.
Don awoke feeling better than ever. He was home. Truly home. Starlight was sleeping close to his side. As he got up he noticed his vision was strange. Clicking excitedly, he felt his face with his shriveled hands. A bottlenose!!! Then he realized that he had been clicking like Starlight. He felt his forehead. It was extended. His melon had formed overnight. Don clicked in happiness, waking Starlight. "Don! You are almost there!" She cried.
I think abandoning the human world was the catalyst you really needed. I know what should get some more dolphin out. LET'S PLAY!"
Don spent the entire day playing with the pod without a care in the work. As he played he noticed swimming was easier. He even caught a few fish. Returning to shore tired out, he rose to his feet...and fell snout first into the water. "I don't think you will be able to go on land anymore Don." Laughed Starlight. Don looked back and gave a sigh of contentment. His lower body was that of a dolphin. Kicking with his new tail, he backed into deeper water. "One more test Don. I have met those such as you. You've felt the call of the ocean. You seem to have accepted it. But I have seen others that have abandoned this call when they realized they were leaving land behind. We are going to spend tonight in the cove near your house. If you make it through the night without leaving the water to return to your house, well...in the morning you might as well have been born a dolphin because you will be identical to any of us."
Don was nervous. What if he wanted his old life more than he thought? He'd lose Starlight. But if this is what needed to happen, he would make it happen. Finally they reached his house. Don didn't care about it, he wanted to play in the cover. Starlight and Don spent the afternoon chasing each other. As night fell Don told Starlight "If I try to leave the water, stop me." "I can't do that." Starlight said. "For the call of the ocean to be real, it has to be accepted. If you really love the ocean, love your pod, you won't have a problem. Now sleep." As they slept together Don dreamt of the life he'd have with the pod and Starlight. Before he knew it morning had arrived...and he was still in the water! "Starlight!" He squealed. "Welcome to the pod Don. Let's go home." Starlight said with love.
A missing persons report was filed, but Don was never found. The all the investigators found was two dolphins that watched their every move, occasionally squealing at them in wheat sounded like a laugh.