SWIMMING NIHPHODS, A Novel About Dolphins John Meyer Author

Description

Up for sale is a Novel about Dolphins titled Swimmiing Nilplods by Novelist John Meyer.
Condition: Brand New signed by Author Hardcover with Dust Jacket 392 pages... First 10 pages are pasted below
Swimming Nilplods is a novel about opposites and the meaning of life as seen through the eyes of dolphins trying to understand their relationship with mankind. The dolphins live life true to the great circle, always in harmony with the universe needing only themselves to survive, in contrast with their brother man who is like a star, always shooting out and dependent on tools. The story begins in Florida on the eve of the dolphins’ traditional swimabout, a time honored journey of self realization. As they travel around the oceans in a grand adventure, the dolphins encounter all sorts of situations where they are forced to interact with the complexity of mankind. During this spiritual journey they will explore their number one commandment: Is it wrong to kill a human? It is a question that may or may not hold true in the modern world.
This is a work of adult fiction that touches on the complex relationship between intelligent forms of life, one from land, one from the sea, so different yet so alike. The reader will discover that Dolphins are not simply cute cuddly mammals as they are often portrayed, but rather complex beings capable of a wide range of emotions. By examining ourselves through the eyes of another life form, the author gives fresh insight into what it means to be human
About the Author
John Meyer was born in Queens, New York in 1954 and spent his early childhood in Indonesia before moving to Wilton, Connecticut. In 1976 he graduated from the University of Oregon with a BA in history. After working several years in historic preservation as a carpenter, he became a full time antique dealer in the 1980's. In the 1990’s he began writing and to date has completed three novels. John now lives with his family on a farm in Western Massachusetts where his interests include Taoism, homesteading, and collecting Balinese woodcarving and Chinese Furniture.
DREAM OF THE DOLPHINS
Swimming Nihplods
“God it’s hot!” Sigmund shouted over the roar of the surf pounding the shoreline of
Miami Beach
, right before plunging his head under the water in an attempt to escape from the oppressive heat that had choked the life out of
South Florida
for the better half of a week.
“I wonder when it will end?” his friend Trevor sighed.  They were a hundred yards offshore, slowly swimming up the strip.  The moonlight reflected off their sleek heads as the two bobbing figures gazed at the lights beckoning from shore.
“It’s even crazier then the last time we were here!” Sigmund grumbled, only momentarily refreshed.  The stagnant air jumped back immediately.  There was no escape and he hated it.
“Look at that one in the pink suit.”  Trevor was now treading water next to him, both of them intently watching the shore, making fun of the tourists.  Their backs were to the
Atlantic
that grew out beyond them like a black night, infinite, deep and full of danger.
Two hundred yards away a large fin broke the surface getting caught in the moonlight.
“Yeah, don’t they know how stupid they look?  I can’t believe humans rule this earth.  Where did it all go wrong?”  Sigmund spoke in an exaggerated drawl, turning to his friend, both of them enjoying a chuckle, seemingly oblivious of the danger that had circled only a few feet away…  Again the white fin broke the surface, the motion causing a slight ripple.
The white shark now focused in on the easy prey.  One more circle would do it.  For the two friends, escape was already impossible.
A few seconds later the great white raced to the first of his victims, his open mouth revealing the glistening rows of razor-sharp teeth.
“Now!” Trevor shouted at the very last possible second as they leaped out of the water, twirling in reverse summersaults, butting the great white beast on both sides of its ugly head, right near the eyes.  The great white winced in pain as it impotently lashed out, unable to do much but stagger off into the deep abyss of the
Atlantic
.
“Hey dede hey dede hey dede hey.  When will those dumb-assed sharks learn?  We feel them every time!”  Sigmund treaded water on his tail, standing straight up like a seahorse neighing.
“That idiot, that big-tooth idiot didn’t know what hit him.  It will be awhile before he’ll try again.”  Trevor snickered, invigorated by the sudden rush.
“Oh, but he will try cause there is nothing more stupid then a shark.”  Just then they heard the drunken scream from shore as an oversize Cadillac ran into a streetlight.  “Well, almost nothing.”
“Nothing except a human!”  The friends broke up in laughter.  “Hey dede hey dede hey dede hey!”
About twenty miles offshore, the first of the dolphins had already begun to gather for the centuries-old Atlantic Bottlenose Dolphin Jamboree that took place every eight years out in the
Gulf Stream
off the coast of
Florida
.  Already over five hundred dolphins had arrived, with more coming every few minutes.  Opening ceremonies were set for tomorrow evening at the rise of the full moon.  By that time the gathering would total around ten thousand.
The clear blue ocean was a mass of bobbing heads strung out over the water like a loose pearl necklace.  There was very little chop and you could feel the energy in the water, sort of like a magnet.  Many animated conversations abounded, most of which focused on eating.  Some of the dolphins that had been to other jamborees were already telling the first-timers past fish stories of endless schools of tasty mackerels and squid that were abundant in the tepid waters.  One of the first groups to arrive was a herd of eight females.
“Look at those two hunks.”  Delia rolled her snout in a large circle, looking back at the rest of her herd.  They were
Texas
oil girls who made their home around the oil rigs that dotted the Gulf.
“Hey, you two!” her friend Shelly shouted to Sigmund and Trevor.  Both of the males swam into the herd, flexing their muscles, sending out sonar vibrations, parading a little for the benefit of the ladies.
“Hey, hey-de hey de-hey, girls.  Beautiful day, isn’t it?” Sigmund whistled out.  “I’m Sigmund. This is my partner Trevor.”  The ladies all giggled, trying to make themselves attractive to the two males, sending out small circle vibrations, their faces all smiles, showing their nice teeth.
“Are you guys going to be racing?” one of the girls inquired, cocking her head to the side.
“Yes, ladies,” Trevor answered, right before he did a full front flip with huge air, showing off his prowess, landing it perfectly, much to the delight of the ladies.  Sigmund followed suit, matching his friend.  The two dolphins reveled at being the center of attention, both of them feeling important, both glowing in the praise from the girls, both enjoying the female attraction, the vibration flirting, oblivious of anything else until it was too late!
Without warning both were struck with a huge slap of seawater across their faces. Neither of them had seen the large twirling twisting figure that came out of nowhere, flying in triple summersaults, crashing inches in front of their faces. Their panic vibration was picked up by all the females.
Still frozen, Sigmund and Trevor were unable to get out of the way of the second figure as it sent a spray that splashed with the force of a mini-tornado, dousing both of them with another few gallons of seawater.  When they realized the cause of the confusion, their faces turned angry.  It was another pod of males, ones they knew all too well.
“HEY HEY DEDE HEY DEDE HEY."  The two other male dolphins swaggered for the ladies with their splashy macho entrance.  “What kind of stories have these two wet-faced flounders been telling you?” Stan questioned in a commanding voice.  He flexed his muscles, causing a powerful ripple to blast through the water.  Stan was large for a dolphin, an attribute that was not lost on the ladies.
“They are going to be racing!” Delia stated in awe.  It was her first trip to a jamboree.  She had been born seven years ago. She knew of the gatherings only from stories and nothing about male dolphins.
“Oh, are they?  Well, they better be more alert, not let creatures sneak up on them so easily.  It’s dangerous out there, especially when traveling around the orcas.  That is if they make the cut,” Stan said, turning to his friend Lester with a snicker, both basking in their coup with the females.
“How would you know about the orcas?  You’ve never been on a swimabout before. You might be the ones who don’t make the cut.”  Sigmund spoke in a condescending whistle.  He was glad when he detected the embarrassment vibration come out of Stan, no matter how much he tried to hide it.  All four of them had grown up in the same juvenile pod. There was no love between the pairs of almost-brothers. Being fierce competitors, both pods were now furious they had both been one-upped with the girls.
“I guess we will all have to wait for the race to find out,” Stan smirked back, his rostrum twisted in a lewd smile.  “Won’t we, ladies?”  Then, with a sudden start both Stan and Lester somersaulted in the air, taking off like a shot.
Sigmund and Trevor did the same flip as the other two, but with more air, making sure they landed in the same place with a bigger splash.  “Hey dede hey dede hey dede hey!  See you girls at the round up,” the pair sang in unison.  Both of them caught eye-contact with Delia, who could feel their presence, their sound waves sending trembles up her young body.
From the sky it must have looked like a giant circle or an inner iris of a gray blue pupil in the never ending blue that surrounded it.  The circle was flawless with a pulse of its own, in and out, expand and contract.  From sea level it was a mass of heads and hot dolphin breath. Thousands of bodies were massed together, so tight that their skins all touched. Those in the very center had a hard time breathing. Ten thousand souls were all gathered in the mother water, mixing like yin and yang.  It was hard to feel where one dolphin began or one ended.
In the very center of the dolphin mass was the dolphin elder.  His name was Merlin. At eighty-eight years old, he was the oldest dolphin of the clan.  This was his tenth jamboree; the third as the spiritual priest of the dolphins. He was head keeper of the ancient sacred truth, on which all dolphin philosophy was formed.
The moon had just risen signaling the official start of the jamboree. Slowly the circle moved into a star, five perfect points.  More vibrations, then the mass moved back into a circle.  Then back into a star, in and out, circle and star, a rhythm of vibrations.  Merlin began to speak in tiny pulse vibrations that entered each dolphin through the other, no end, no beginning.  It was quite something to be in the tight group, heads bobbing, crowding around the elder.  They all swayed to the circle, to the star.  All of them in a trance, most of them with their eyes closed...
In the beginning Waso our forebear came from the sea to the land with his two sons, Dolphis and Humous.  Dolphis was content but Humous wanted more.  Dolphis knew the circle but Humous only knew the star.  One in.  One out.  After some time the world turned cold. On land many things suffered, especially Waso, who had no thick fur to keep him warm.  Eventually the cold overtook Waso and he died, leaving his two sons alone in the harsh world.  They were almost about to die when a huge bolt of lightening came from the sky, bringing fire to the forest and with it heat to warm their frozen bones.  Both were saved, but when the fire was almost out, Humous put more wood on the fire to build it back to life.
“Why do you put wood on the fire, Humous? We are already warm,” Dolphis asked of his brother.
“To stay warm all the time.  Now we have a way to stay warm all the time by putting wood on the fire.”
“But we have enough warmth already.  The real cold danger has past.  We don’t need it.”
“Oh, but don’t you want to be warm all the time?  It is so easy just to put more wood on the fire.  Now it doesn’t matter what kind of a year it is.  We will have warmth even if we don’t need it.”  It did not matter that much to Dolphis, so he let Humous use the wood.
Soon they had to go further from the fire to get wood.  “Brother,” Dolphis said.  “We go so far for wood, spend all our time getting wood.  Before we had fire we did not need wood.”
“We need it to keep warm.  We are used to the fire, so without it we are cold.  Besides, there are lots of trees!”  It was true.  Without the fire they were cold.
“But before we needed nothing to keep warm and we were happy,” Dolphis complained.  But he continued to do nothing, wanting only to please Humous.  A few years passed. By then the trees were pushed back many hundreds of yards from the fire, but that was not a bad thing.  With the clearing of the trees there were now many more animals around without cover. The hunting was easy.  Humous began killing more than they could possible eat.
“Why do you kill more animals than you eat?” Dolphis asked, uneasy with all the waste.  He remembered his father’s words to take no more than you need, keep to the circle but not the star.  Before too long, all the animals were killed. There was no more food. What animals were still about were the smart ones and hard to catch.
“Humous, now there are no animals that we can catch,” Dolphis said hungrily.  “You have killed them all.”
“Don’t worry, Dolphis.  I have figured a way.  If we use this stick or this rock then we will be able to get more food,” Humus exclaimed excitedly as he picked up a rock and hurled it at a small, fast squirrel, killing it instantly.  “Come eat with me, Dolphis.  The rock works. We can kill more food very quickly.”
“We used to use our hands, nothing else.”  But Dolphis knew that with the animals all gone they were going to need more rocks. That would lead to more things. Soon they would be too far away from the circle to get back.
Just then another animal, this time a rabbit, darted by, Humous threw another rock killing it.  Dolphis got mad at Humous while remembering the words of his father.  “Our father said to use what is not within us is to be dependent on those things forever.  It is a trap that keeps you.  You will never be able to be free of the star.”
“I’ve thought about that, too.  We can dry the food on this stick in the sun for later.”  Humous’s mind was racing ahead, not hearing Dolphis’s words, too busy thinking about all sorts of things that they could use to make their life easy.
A few weeks later they were both walking.  Soon the two brothers came to the sea. In the reflection of the water they saw their father’s face.  By the way the current was moving it appeared that Waso was speaking to them in the ripples.
“Follow the circle but not the stars, look close to look far, arrive from where you came but take no more than with what you came.”  It touched Dolphis, who had been thinking a lot about their old life in the sea, the sea that provided everything, so warm and supporting, somewhere where it was easy to follow the circle.
“You see our father is telling us what I believe.  We have become too dependent on things outside ourselves, on the star.”
“But our father died because of the cold.  He needed the fire that has saved us,” Humous countered.  “The land is different than the sea.  The circle might be good for the water, but on land things are harder. We need the star to survive.”
“Well, if that is the case I will go back to the sea,” Dolphis said, looking into his brother’s eyes.  He was surprised with what he saw.  Besides the hurt that he had expected he saw the rage.  He watched his bother’s face turn into a cruel smile.
“You will stay, Dolphis, and live with me.  I will make you.”  With that Humous picked up a rock.  Dolphis started walking back into the water with his back turned to his brother.
“Dolphis, Dolphis come back here and listen to me!” Humous shouted. His anger was now fully erupted.  When Dolphis kept walking, Humous took the rock, hurling it at his brother, striking him in the back.  Both of them were startled by the action.
“Humous, I am going back to the sea,” Dolphis said, hurt from the rock but mostly hurt by the violence.  He felt the trust of his brother disappear. Now he was sure that he had to follow the circle, not the star that had taken his brother away.
“Please, please,” pleaded Humous.  “Please stay!  I am sorry.  Please stay!”
But Dolphis had made up his mind, knowing that he could never trust his brother again.  As he walked into the sea, he saw Waso’s face.
“Son, come back to the sea for me, but forgive your brother for both you and me.” Dolphis turned back to the shore. Humous was standing there, vulnerable and alone.  Dolphis knew that he had to protect him, his brother’s star, no matter what.  With tears in his eyes Dolphis turned. He called out to his brother one last time.
“I will always watch over you, Humous.” Then he added, “Even if you are not always good to me.”