The Whale

I find myself plunged suddenly awake into a cold and choppy sea. I splash about confused then hearing men shout I remember the chase and their intention to kill. I begin to swim out to sea but a black and white killer whale bears down upon me, its great jaws gaping open: I stare into the black void feeling sure I have come to my end.

But s/he turns and presents me with a back like a raft and I realise s/he is my friend and wants only to save me! I straddle the great back and grab hold of the rubbery fin, which flexes under my grasp. A spasm of fear grips my thighs, the whale responds and OFF we go!

I can barely breathe as we rush through the water and soon land no longer even exists. We dive down and then surface, dive and then surface - from the dark depths of the ocean to the slate grey mirror of the sky. Together we embark on a dive that is deeper than I have ever experienced before and at that moment I begin to feel fear:

all that I am is rushing darkness and void and a deep intuition telling me which way is up.

I grip tight onto the fin, re-establish the connection of my thighs and wonder ‘should I have trusted so implicitly?’ But down there in the darkness sensing the vastness of the form I know without question that s/he is my friend and I am safe.