Emergence

artwork & book

by Jadia L Ward

Chapter One — A TEAR

A single tear dropped from her eye landing in the cold river below. The tear’s ripple effect upon the dark reflection of her face in the water, moved quietly and steadily outward from its center. Then as the watery circle grew, from within the growing circle an eye surfaced. Mirroring her image, the eye looked back up, straight into her eyes. Piercing her heart, sonic readings enveloped her whole body, as the eye lingered there for another brief moment. She felt profound sadness, for the eye carried the forgotten memories of a lost civilization waiting to reclaim its rightful place amongst men and women… the hour of The Emergence was swiftly moving upon them.

In the midnight mist, rotating lights flashed. The beacon was a warning to any sea traffic coming and going, upon the entrance of the great Columbia River between the two northwestern states of Oregon and Washington. The Columbia River bar, seventeen miles long, demanded full attention from the fifteen licensed pilots that cross it with heavy ocean vessels laden with cargo, day and night. But tonight, a movement made its way up the mighty river, undetected, as they moved swiftly below rapid currents, cloaked in the chilly dark waters. The Coasties were certainly on their usual guard and patrol too, but never in their wildest imaginations could they have conjured up the reality of what was about to happen on their shores, sixty miles up stream, after slipping right under their noses.

Bronze, as cold as the morning’s ice, could not keep the emotions from flooding out of this beautiful creature kneeling on the city’s waterfront. Her hand reached for the water below and was met by the nose of her wet confidant. He nuzzled her fingertips, then moved his snout into her palm. He continued in rhythmic motions to feel every essence of energy she offered him. This stimulated and heightened all of the dolphin’s senses, for which, he had longed for her touch, once again. He had waited years for her return to their realm. His clicking and soft echoing cries were emitted to help his lovely lady stand strong upon her new perch and resolve for them to be together again.

Tears rolled down her weathered face, as she knew her strength must be as steadfast as the bolts that had restrained her previously for so long. Her innermost spirit grew and swelled so it would face off with the binding restraints. Restraints imposed by her creator and other men were just as binding as the “greed of humankind”. Although she did not know that she was capable of understanding the slick wet creature’s language, as he spoke to her in chirps and clicks, it was as if his words spoke directly into her mind, planting each sentence as if it were seeds to her next thoughts. Her thoughts also allowed her to communicate directly and clearly with her newly found friend without uttering a sound into the night air. There were feelings of “oneness” she never remembered before.

As his clicking continued, she heard him say clearly: “Sounder is the name you bestowed upon me so long ago, my lady.” He then raised his nose further up from her palm, stroking the lady’s steely arm, to reassure the noble child-like woman that her memories would return in time. He also consoled her with his words: “Do not fear o’ great one, The Emergence has begun… they are now in procession and will arrive shortly.” Sounder continued to moved his nose up and down, softly stroking her arm, as he spoke to her mind: “I will keep your worries at bay, great loved one, for I will guard and protect you from your enemies!” Then Sounder slid back down her arm to her ringed finger. He spoke in quiet tones: “When I placed this ring on your finger many eons ago… I have always been with you… your memories will return, my lovely lady… you must keep faith in me and the others of The Emergence.”

The bronze woman felt so heavy, not so much of body as in her troubled heart. She really wanted to have hope and faith in Sounder’s words, just etched in her mind, for the warm sparkling traces gave her comfort. Although she wanted to flee, at this time, she could not turn and run, for she was much too large to hide and knew of no place to run to.

The year 2015 was upon them, but not much had changed since she rode up the river some thirty years before. The water spraying from the fireboat turrets and the lone bargeman, standing on the steel brace to starboard, were not as grand of a sight to behold as was her beauty to the bystanders lining the bridges and sea wall upon her arrival. Even the Burnside Bridge, a glorious relic, stood open as a welcoming gateway to the city of Portland. The tall figured woman’s arrival to her destination was enabled through the good graces of a community’s hard earned effort. No one could have felt more welcomed arriving in the watery city of Portland. Her bestowed name, made her even more aware of the responsibility to the community she would represent. In her stance, her grandeur was breathtaking, not in so much as her beauty, although her beauty was with out question, but more in the great strength she imposed upon her perceivers. She was to bring hope, enlightenment and the spirit of great commerce to a city faltering under growth and economic struggles.

This noble woman’s hand reached out to those, through her creator’s modeling, to uplift anything that approached her. Her trident made it evident that she was a peacemaker as well as a warrior, if called upon. She would kneel to those around her, humbling herself to bid her welcoming ado. The graceful woman felt satisfaction as she envisioned the beautiful river-city as her permanent home. She could not have been more pleased, even if she had picked the city personally.

Years before, when the industrious team placed her upon her permanent pedestal, and the crew began tightening the bolts; this noble woman knew that there had been a horrible mistake made. She could only wonder at why her creator had neglected to tell her. Twisted bolts and fate restrained her in the most inappropriate place for her mission of welcoming people to the beautiful city of Portland. How could her creator have been so blind to her situation, to allow her to stand daily and serve a city with so few citizens to see her? The sidewalk trees planted, grew and obscured the magnificent woman. Although she could not speak up to object to the indignity, her spirit roared inside at the cruelty she would have to endure, to be mounted in a place that offered her no avenue to serve her city and her people. Her anguish ran deep as any underground spring as her thoughts raced and echoed in her brain, reverberating: “ How could my creator have committed such an injustice to me… what did I do to deserve this punishment… does he know how much he has betrayed me?” Her tears flowed like soft rain on the dolphin and dark waters.

Sounder, though getting colder and weaker with each passing moment, pushed his nose further up her hand, past her wrist to pull her out of worrisome thoughts. His sensitive sonar received her mental words and try as he might to relieve her pain, he could only offer insignificant condolences to her until The Emergence arrived. “My sweet lady, they were wrong to have treated you so poorly… but that is behind us now, for we have come to help you” replied Sounder. He knew that it was futile for a lone dolphin to capture the attention of his grieving lady, over the tragedy that had befallen her for so many years. Sounder wriggle his body once more, trying to do his best to distract her until the precise moment of The Emergence’s arrival.

She, once again, felt the dolphin slide up her forearm and flip his tail before he splashed down through the gray mist, back into the icy water. The Japanese current weather pattern of the city, usually kept Portland’s temperatures above freezing, but on this 9^th day of January, it was exceptionally cold from a blizzard that had left the city precariously standing on it’s feet under six inches of snow. Although she could not explain why, she sensed that Sounder was under great stress and wondered how he could survive out of his element and in the fresh, slowly freezing, cold water of the Columbia River. She knew he had traveled the distance up the river from the salty ocean of the Pacific, for which it made her grow concerned over Sounder’s safety. But being too weary from breaking her bolted restrains, she had no strength left to dwell on thoughts of a dolphin’s molecular structure and survivability.

The huge, weathered, bronze hand very carefully stroked the face and nose of the gentle creature below her, but then they were abruptly interrupted. Sirens broke the late night silence as flashing wigwags danced in the crystallized mist. The sirens and flashing blue lights were not uncommon to her, but to this fragile creature stroking a dolphin, the fact that she was on the same ground level, verses seeing things unfold beneath her many feet below, it struck her with awe. She had longed to be on the waterfront reaching towards her watery world to bring knowledge to humankind about her Ocean Planet. But to actually be on ground near water was quite unnerving to her.
As she continued precariously leaning over the bank, touching and caressing her water-baby friend, gasps and cries from people broke through the mist, almost as warnings for her to not lose her balance and fall in the chilly river. The lady wanted to leap up and run, but Sounder uttered: “Be still, my lady… stand your ground, my lovely child, The Emergence is almost here… for now I hear their soundings in the distance.”
She held fast and silent as the first three officers arrived talking at each other and into their squawking CP200 walkie-talkies. Although she could not actually see the officer, talking with the most authority directly behind her, she listened intently to the conversation while Sounder slipped further into the water, so not to be noticed by the men gathering. The officer’s voice was authoritative but seemed to express an underlying fear.

“Sergeant, I have never in all my years on the beat ever seen anything like this – over,” exclaimed the first police officer. A few moments went by. The crackling of the walkie-talkie was interrupted by crisp words of: “Well are you going to explain or do I need more practice on my E.S.P., Officer Blake?” The stunned officer replied “I can’t explain it, sir… but you are not going to believe what my eyes are viewing!” The radio silence broke the misty cold air with: “Try me Eric… and why are you wasting my time?”
As Officer Blake stood in shock of what he saw before him, his reply broke the silence once again: “She has been removed and is now at the river’s edge by the Alexandria Hotel in the grassy amphitheatre… looking like she is about to take a plunge in the Willamette!”

The bellowing sergeant’s voice came through loud and clear at Officer Blake’s reply of sharing very little information, while just having come on his nightly watch to the harbor front.

The lady and Sounder could not help but listen to a fretful Officer Blake retort: “Sarge, this one you need to see for yourself… I will wait for arrival - over.” The policeman’s nervous reply caused the reactive sergeant to begin cursing. The sergeant then stopped in mid curse, hoping that his man on duty had had the good sense to unclick the mike of his walkie-talkie, so as not to cause any further embarrassment to his force. The agitated sergeant hesitated and gained composure, for his high blood pressure had been diagnosed, and did not need further rising. Counting curses under his breath, he clicked he radio and called back to Officer Blake again: “ I’ll be there in ten minutes… is that a problem, over?” Officer Blake’s response filled the night air with apprehension: “It will have to do… and I think she is certainly not going anywhere in that amount of time -over.” The walkie-talkie behind her squawked its final words: “She better not or it’s your badge, boy - over!”

The child-like woman could not understand why humankind spoke so brusque to one another, while as if their speech, displayed in this intimidating behavior, really gave one the upper hand while acting out the position of authority. She noticed a genetic flaw of humankind, to verbally intimidate so as to treat each other inhumanely, was felt was far more of their own choosing and perpetuation than what she assumed was imposed by any kind creator or from Mother Nature’s miscalculation. She has witnessed many flaws in humankind through out her years on earth, of which clearly two were demonstrated upon Officer Blake tonight by his sergeant. The first flaw was lack of self-control and the second flaw was that this sergeant showed no empathy for his officer and his situation.

The essences in these quirks of human nature, made the grand lady feel pangs of hurt from and resentment towards the sergeant inflicting emotional pain on Officer Blake. In pity, she recognized strange and unfamiliar human feelings, one especially, that had a strong defensive sensation rising in her gut. She could not quite understand why she seemed thrilled and wanting to stay to see the sergeant’s face when he arrived. She could only wish that his vision of her standing on the waterfront would bring him to his proper position, well beneath her. But under the circumstances, she felt at this time, to remain frozen in her current stance was the best course of action. The action of standing would pick its own time and most certainly would reinforce the effect she hoped to achieve when she rose before the sergeant to her own feet. The bronze woman’s eyes twinkled with the thought of how the sergeant’s face would look then. Sounder felt her every thought transmitting through his body and he splashed his flukes on the water’s surface to distract her, as they waited for the sergeant’s arrival at the harbor side.
The ice-cold hand reached down further into the water hoping to feel the sleek dolphin’s body against her metallic flesh. So much time had passed since she had felt any living creature against her body; the last was time on the day she was bolted to her perch many years before, with the exception of her creator’s finishing touch upon her lips. He had given her a farewell kiss as a token of his love. Of course in her heart, she now knew that kiss had been for a love of his own handy work rather than his professed love of her. Another tear ran down her cheek as she thought of her creator that sent her into the world as a missionary, only to be obscured from the masses she hope enlighten.
Sounder jerked the lady from her thoughts, back into reality, as the most shrilling noise sang out from him: “eeeeeeeaaaaaaaaa”. His squeal pierced the silence like a whistle from a train, resonating off her body, echoing back to the other side of the river, reverberating back to them only to travel out once again. Officer Blake and the two waiting officers broke from their conversations and ran quickly to the water’s edge to look for the originator of such a cry. The officers confirmed with each other that although they each heard the sound and thought they knew what might make the noise, they all agreed that the sergeant would think that they were all still on the juice from the previous night’s party. The officers began discussing and swearing, professing their loyalty to one another and to not acknowledge or divulge anything about the dolphin sounds they just heard, or the party they attended to their sergeant. The officers knew their jobs would be threatened and they needed their livelihoods like they needed the immediate local park’s toilet to relieve themselves from the cold night air.

The puffs from Sounder’s air vent and the large tears frozen to the statue’s face showed traces of ice crystals as the night’s temperatures fell another five degrees. Although the dolphin needed only one half of his conscious brain to actively remind himself to breathe, the metal woman witnessed Sounder’s breathing, and watched in concern over his laboring breaths, while he swam in place, waiting for The Emergence… he needed them desperately, to rescue her from the turn of events that he had no power to control. He just had to hang on and keep up a distraction for her sake. He sounded to her: “My precious Erythrae!” Her thoughts melded with his, reaching back eons… she touched lost memories. Sounder felt the presence… The Emergence arrived.