Dolphin Island - Arthur C. Clarke [9]
Now at last the dolphins seemed a little hesitant, and Johnny got the impression that they were reluctant to go into the shallow water. They pushed the raft slowly past the anchored boats, then backed off as if to say, "It's up to you now."
Johnny felt an overwhelming impulse to say some words of thanks, but his mouth was too dry for speech. So he stepped quietly off the raft, found himself in water only waist deep, and waded ashore.
There were people running along the beach toward him, but they could wait. He turned toward the lovely, powerful creatures who had brought him on this incredible journey, and waved them a grateful farewell. Already they were turning back toward their home, in the deep water of the open sea.
Then something seemed to happen to his legs, and as the sand came up to hit him, dolphins, island, and everything else vanished from his consciousness.
Chapter 5
When Johnny awoke, he was lying on a low bed inside a very clean, white-walled room.
A fan was spinning above his head, and light filtered in through a curtain-covered window. A cane chair, a small table, a chest of drawers, and a washbasin completed the furniture. Even without the faint smell of disinfectant, he would have known that he was in a hospital.
He sat up in bed, and immediately yelped with pain. From head to foot, he seemed to be on fire. When he looked down at his body, it was an angry red, and patches of skin were peeling off in large flakes. He had already received some medical attention, for the worst places had been liberally covered with white ointment.
Johnny gave up the idea of moving, at least for the time being, and collapsed back into bed with another involuntary cry. At that moment the door opened, and an enormous woman came into the room. Her arms were like bolsters, and the rest of her was built on the same scale. She must have weighed at least two hundred and fifty pounds, yet she was not unhealthily fat—she was simply huge.
"Well, young man," she said. "What's all the noise? I never heard such a fuss about a little sunburn."
A broad smile spread across her flat, chocolate-brown face, just in time to check Johnny's indignant answer. He managed a feeble grin in reply, and submitted while she took his pulse and temperature.
"Now," she said, as she put away the thermometer, "I'm going to send you to sleep, and when you wake up, all the pain will be gone. But before I do that, you'd better give me your address so we can telephone your family."
Johnny stiffened, despite his burns. After going through all this, he was determined not to be sent home by the next boat.
"I haven't any family," he said. "There's no one I want to send a message to."
The nurse's eyebrows rose a fraction of an inch.
"H'mm," she said, in a skeptical tone of voice. "Well, in that case, we'll give you your nightcap right away."
"Just a minute," pleaded Johnny. "Please tell me where I am. Is this Australia?"
The nurse took her time in answering as she slowly poured a colorless fluid into a measuring glass.
"Yes and no," she said. "This is Australian territory, though it's a hundred miles from the mainland. You're on an island in the Great Barrier Reef, and very lucky to have reached it. Here, swallow this—it doesn't taste too bad."
Johnny made a face, but the nurse was speaking the truth. As the medicine went down, he asked one more question.
"What's this place called?"
The huge nurse gave a chuckle that sounded like a small thunderstorm going by.
" You should know," she said. The drug must have been very quick acting because Johnny barely caught her next words before he was unconscious again.
"We call it Dolphin Island."
The next time he woke up he felt a slight stiffness, but all the burning had gone. So had half his skin, and for the next few days he was molting like a snake.
Nurse, who had informed him that her name was Tessie and that she came from the island