Page 34 of A Scottish Island Summer

What was that?

A glossy, dark grey sheen was thrashing around in the shallows, about thirty feet away.

I pushed away some stray hair that had been blown into my eyes and tightened my top knot, which was secured with a scrunchie. Something seemed to be struggling in the water.

A couple more high-pitched squeaks shot up into the air, which made me jump, even though I’d already concluded it wasn’t a person as I moved further down the beach towards it.

As I drew closer, I got a flash of what looked like a dorsal fin protruding from the navy, slapping water.

For a moment, my crazy imagination pulled up images of great white sharks.

Yeah! In the Scottish Highlands?

I’d seen on the news a couple of times that huge basking sharks had been spotted cruising through the waters in this area over the years, but from what I could make out, this was too small to be one of those.

The pleading, desperate noises increased but I hesitated before moving a little closer. The water was lapping at the toe of my walking boots.

There was a flip of distressed tail, and I caught a glimpse of a long, snub nose.

It was a dolphin.

It looked like it’d got itself stuck between two rocks right at the shoreline. It proceeded to struggle and wriggle as the water lapped at it, in a desperate attempt to free itself. It made even more desperate blips and whirrs when it noticed me hovering nearby.

Bugger! Now what?

I spun around on the shore, but the beach remained empty. Of course it would be, at this time of the morning.

I stared up at Logan’s tent again, perched next to mine on the windswept hill but there was still no sign of him.

I whirled my attention back to the struggling creature.

Oh God! What should I do? What could I do?

I scrambled about in my fleece pocket for my phone and pulled up Logan’s mobile number in my contacts.

Great. It went straight through to his voicemail.

Probably too busy tearing up trees with his bare hands.

I gawped around myself with increasing worry. I mentally willed someone else to appear.

Nope. I was the only person standing there. But who was I hoping to see striding along towards me at this hour? The Scottish Military Pipe Band?

The morning light was beginning to seep across the top of the water, revealing little, tantalising glimpse of the aqua and orange that was to come.

The dolphin continued to wriggle and thrash, trying to free itself. Its attention kept drifting to me, as though appealing for help.

I rubbed a desperate hand against my forehead. The animal (sorry, mammal) was making even more noise and becoming even more agitated.

I recalled reading about dolphins becoming so distressed in this sort of situation, it could prove fatal for them.

It didn’t feel like time was on our side.

What was it with me, creatures and this island?

I gave the North Atlantic a glower.

Water was great for drinking and showering in, but as for getting into it… Why couldn’t I have come across a bird stranded on a nice, dry rock on the shore, instead? I could swim a few strokes, but I wasn’t confident.