The Calls of a Dolphin    Tall conifers swayed gently in the evening breeze, tilting toward the  Pacific coast, as if craning their long necks toward the water’s edge. Children  laughed gleefully as they sprinted across the smooth sand, wrapping up a day of  adventure and excitement, all but one, who sat huddled in a jet-black jacket  leaning against a rocky cliff. She heard her parents calling for her, but she paid  no notice, instead staring blankly up at the sunset, painted lavender and a rosy  pink. The waves lapped softly at the shoreline, several hundreds of feet from the  young girl, who, through it all, remained perfectly hidden.   Her parents became desperate, shouting louder and louder for their child  to return. She stood, but not intending to return home. Not yet. As she had  done for years now, she sprinted past the spires of rock that were positioned  jaggedly along the ocean, some halfway submerged by salty seawater. The voices  of her parents became drowned out with the harmonious wind and waves,  blending together into a sort of song.  “Come!” the child beckoned sweetly, finally sitting down where the beach  grew thin and the ocean became immeasurable. The water spun upward into a  spiral, causing the child to leap backward suddenly. A smile formed on her face  when a sleek creature emerged. It was who she’d been waiting for. Her dolphin.   The one she had met four years ago on that stormy winter night. The one  that had visited her each time she came back to the beach. The one that greeted  her with compassion and exhilaration.   The dolphin chortled cheerily, keeping most of itself in the sea. It whistled  seven times, repeatedly, speaking in a language most humans couldn’t make out.  At first, the girl struggled to understand as always, then, pulling a chip of a shell  from her pocket, she whispered, “I see. Your pod is running out of food? The  fish and squids have disappeared?”   The dolphin whistled once, as if to agree. “Don’t worry,” the child replied  hopefully, somehow still understanding with the shell she had found so many  years ago. The creature swam away, calling out its goodbye, leaving the girl, still  remaining on the sand in the exact spot, in shock as she always was after a  welcome from her friend.