Saviors From The Water

Billy could always do more flips than Johnny. Being his older brother, Billy would show off constantly, emerging from the water, sleek and with perfect form. One, two, three he would rotate head over fin, landing perfectly nose first back into the ocean. Whether he did it to feel self-important, or to teach his younger brother, who looked up to him as a father, only Billy truly knew. But perhaps it was a bit of both. Johnny would always follow his brother's patented "tripler" as Billy called it, sometimes splashing hard upon his side, other times landing flat on his dorsal fin, but no matter how many times he failed in his attempts to emulate his heroic brother, he was never discouraged. It was this unbreakable determination that stood out to the other dolphins in their pod.

While not competing in their acrobatics, Billy and Johnny did everything together. They would team up to hunt herring and mackerel. Billy would herd the prey from one side, flipping his tail rapidly, while Johnny would intercept the fish, always eating his fill before Billy. Having lost their father to a fight with a great white, Billy filled the role of patriarch, never eating until his younger brother was well fed. They would speak of their father often, how he faced down the massive shark to protect them, and how he ultimately laid down his life so that they could escape. During that dark day, Billy was smart enough to make a swim for it, but Johnny stayed to join the fight, ramming the beast from all angles as it victimized his poor father. If not for Billy retrieving his brother and forcing him to open waters, Johnny would have joined their father in the afterlife.

One of the brothers' favorite past times was swimming alongside ships, jumping as high as they could to greet sailors from various nations. Dolphins were rarely, if ever hunted in their corner of the Atlantic, so ships were always a welcome sight. If they impressed the sailors enough, they would get food thrown overboard as a reward, which gave them all the more reason to display their athletic abilities. The more the dolphin brothers interacted with humans, the more they came to feel a connection to them. They were smart enough to understand that humans ruled the seas, but also keen enough to feel their kindness when it was extended.

It was on a quiet spring evening that the brothers laid eyes upon the grandest human ship they had ever seen. the moment they spotted it, Johnny shot like a torpedo straight towards it. Billy, having the lion's share of sense between the two of them, reeled in his brother,

"Hold up there John boy! We've never seen one like this before." With a frown Johnny protested,

"But, but, imagine how much food they must have! Remember the steaks we got from that British battle ship! Those sailors loved us! If you can do a tripler a few times, I'll do some half twists and gainers in sequence. They're sure to feed us!" Billy took pause to ponder the possibility,

"Yeah, you're probably right little brother, but let's approach underwater and make sure there aren't any harpoons on the deck before we put on the show." Johnny reluctantly agreed.

The brothers slowly swam the perimeter of the great vessel, peaking their noses above water just enough to reconnoiter the ship's deck. No harpoons or fishing equipment were seen. Only people in various states of merriment. Some were dancing and drinking, others laughing and engaging in amusing conversations. These were like no people the brothers had seen before. They clearly weren't sailors, as they didn't have matching uniforms. The clothing these people wore was colorful and unique to each person. And music played to which the people danced in pairs. Through windows hundreds of other people could be seen, also expressing enjoyment through laughter and dancing. The brothers were absolutely mystified. All fear had dissipated and been replaced by wonderment. The difficult part would be how to get the attention of these jolly sea fairers, as none seemed to care what lay outside of their massive floating party. Johnny addressed his wiser brother, "Billy, imagine the food they must have! But how can we possibly get their attention?" Billy pondered this, and then elected to show Johnny the answer to his question rather than verbalize it. He first swam quickly downwards about 20 feet, then shot through the water's threshold at top speed straight up, expressing as loudly as he could vocally a dolphin's call of friendship. Johnny immediately repeated his brother's display. One after another, the siblings caught several feet of air, calling to the jolly humans. The crowds on the ship began gathering at the deck's edge, fascinated by the dolphins' calls. Pointing and smiling, it was only a matter of minutes before pieces of grilled fish, marinated steak and smoked sausage were tossed overboard, rewarding the dolphins' performances. After feasting until they had swollen bellies, the brothers thanked the people above with squeaks and calls, resting in the waters at a steady pace alongside the ship. After a few minutes had passed, the excitement on the ship due to the dolphin performers had died down. By now the brothers were near the front of the ship port side. A panicked voice could be heard from the vessel’s lookout tower above,

“What binos?!” Another voice answered

“The bloody binos! Bi-no-cu-lars! They were supposed to be up here! You’re saying you’ve gone the whole shift using only the vision the good Lord gave you? Blast it all Lee! Go find the bloody binos! Now!”

The dolphins below were well acquainted with the waters the ship was heading into. There were miles of dangerous icebergs ahead, and without binoculars, the poor humans were nearly blind to that danger. The dolphins’ growing fondness for humans gave rise to their subsequent actions. Billy took the lead. He immediately bolted through the water as fast as his fins would propel him until he was well in front of the ship. Spotting the first iceberg in its’ path, Billy surfaced in front of it and jumped, splashed and squeaked with all his might. The man on post in the lookout tower, Frederick Fleet, heard Billy’s warnings and noticed the iceberg. He called below, warning the bridge. The ship took a sharp left and scraped the mountain of ice, but caused no damage to the ship. Johnny quickly followed his brother’s example, covering the port side while Billy covered the starboard. Fleet quickly caught on to what the brothers we’re doing and each time sent the appropriate warnings to the ship’s bridge. Disaster after disaster was avoided, but there was more danger ahead. A few more icebergs were closely missed, but then, directly in the ship’s path was an iceberg that simply could not be circumvented. Billy knew exactly what to do. Nothing. Johnny made a break for the mass of ice.

“Johnny stop!” Yelled Billy.

“We need to warm them!” Johnny continued on his path. Billy tried again to stop his brother’s fatal mistake,

“Johnny! They don’t have time to get around it! They’ll have to go straight through it!” Johnny paused for a split second, instantly deciding that his brother’s advisement made no sense. He swam to the base of the iceberg and gave Lee the warning signal. Lee belted with every ounce of breath in his lungs,

“Iceberg ahead!!” The bridge turned the ship sharply left, but it was too late. Instead of splitting the iceberg down the middle with the ship’s thick point as Billy had hoped, the vulnerable starboard side slammed into the ice, ripping the hull wide open. Water poured into the ship’s bottom decks. The crew on the bridge was well aware of the catastrophe that had just been unleashed. Orders were shouted in panic. Sailors scrambled to emergency stations, but all in vain. The dolphin brothers looked on helplessly as their beloved humans ran about the ship in fear. Unable to stop the ship from sinking, Billy wisely thought ahead,

“This water is far too cold for humans to survive in. We’ll have to help them get above water onto lifeboats or floating debris.” With his head hung low, Johnny nodded in agreement. Billy saw his brother’s shame all too clearly, “Hey buddy. It’s not your fault. Without us they would have hit 10 icebergs and been smashed to pieces. You did what you thought was right. Now let’s just save as many as we can.” Johnny couldn’t look his brother in the eye,

“Ok Billy. I’m sorry.” Billy nudged his brother with a fin,

“Hey, you did good kid.”

As the freezing water swalllowed the great ship, the humans scrambled to cram into the limited number of lifeboats. Billy knew the time was near,

“Get ready little bro. A lot of them will be left floating in the water.”

“I’m ready.” Answered Johnny.

As the ship split in half and eventually completely submerged, it took a number of victims with it. In the aftermath the brothers could hear the chorus of cries for help. As they approached the crowd of drowning seafarers, further panic struck the freezing people at seeing the brothers’ dorsal fins. Shouts of “Shark!” could be heard as people thrashed about. The brothers exposed their faces and called to their humans that they were there to help. One at a time, the dolphins swam next to a drowning person and offered their bodies as life preservers. Once a person would grab a dorsal fin, they would find themselves quickly spirited to the nearest lifeboat or piece of floating debris. The dolphins worked their bodies to exhaustion, rescuing every last human that they were able. Although they couldn’t save them all, dozens would live the rest of their lives thanks to the heroic brothers.

After 4 grueling hours of saving the lives of their beloved humans, Billy spotted a ship approaching in the distance.

“Whew!” Cried Billy. “More humans! Thank God! I can’t swim another foot.” Johnny was too exhausted to even celebrate. He just floated next to his brother, hyperventilating.

Many tales were told that day on the rescuing ship of two dolphin angels, but few believed them. Most chalked it up to delusion resulting from hypothermia. But those who were rescued that night will never forget.

From that day on, any ship traveling through the cold Atlantic waters where Billy and Johnny swam, could be sure to see the brothers watching over its’ passengers. They would also get a spectacular show.