The Dolphin Rescue Team

• Hetal Bhana, Grade 4
• Short Story
• 2020

“Hooray!” cheered the crowd. 13 year old Nisha beamed proudly. She was at the docks about to set sail around Australia. Nisha had been training for months now and had learnt all about the dangerous things that she would have to face. She had food, water, a life jacket, spare clothes and was definitely ready. Nisha had painted her boat, Tinker, bright red and she looked fabulous. Half an hour later, she fare welled the crowd and began to set sail.
Soon, the waves began to get choppy and the wind was blowing in all directions. Nisha knew that this meant a storm was coming. Quickly she dived into her cabin to stay warm and safe. Nisha went to lie down on the cushioned seat at the back of the cabin. Slowly she began to fall asleep.
Nisha opened her eyes suddenly when she felt a wave rock her boat. It was morning now and the storm had passed. She went outside onto the deck, to suddenly realise that she didn’t know where she was. “The wind must have blown the boat further out to sea” she thought. Nisha was getting worried. She didn’t know if she would be able to get back home. Nisha searched all over Tinker for her compass., but then realized the terrible truth. She had left it out on the deck, so it must have fallen into the water during the storm.
Just then she saw a pod of dolphins that looked very familiar. Then she remembered that when she was training a few weeks ago, she had helped a dolphin calf out of a horrid fishing net, before it lost its breath. The dolphin family was very grateful and promised to help her if in trouble.
Nisha already trusted the dolphins, so when they were near enough, Nisha called out “Dolphins! Please help me!”
They seemed to know that Nisha was calling them and swam nearer. Their leader began jumping out of the shimmering sea as if to say “We will help you!”
So Nisha skipped back into the cabin to fetch a long secure rope. Then she tied one end of the rope tightly around a steel pole at the front of her boat. Next she told the dolphins to line up alongside Tinker, so she could tie the rope around their bodies. You see, Nisha’s plan was that the dolphins could use their special senses to find the dock where she had first started. Nisha explained her idea to the dolphins and they happily agreed. In the next few hours the strong dolphins pulled the boat back to shore.
Nisha contacted her family to let them know she was coming back home in a few hours, because if the storm hadn’t blown Tinker away, then she wouldn’t have come back home for at least a few weeks. Soon enough, Nisha was back at the docks. Even though she hadn’t sailed around the whole of Australia, she had found her way home after a very big storm. Nisha gave the dolphins a big thank you, anchored her boat and ran off to greet her family.