Death of the Author

by Nnedi Okorafor

But my focus was only on them. The dolphins. They darted around me in quick circles, bubbles rippling behind their tail fins. Underwater, I could hear them chirping and whistling to one another. I like to imagine that they were surprised, too. Delighted, even. “What is this human doing?” “Can he swim?” “Let’s bite him!” One of them did bite me, not hard, just a curious nip at my ankle. I went up for a breath and then dipped back under the water just as one was passing by me. I looked it right in the eye, and it was the eeriest moment. The sun was almost gone, but some orange rays were still shining into the water, and one of those rays caught the dolphin’s eye at just the right moment. I’ll never forget those eyes. They were large and black, with subtle wrinkles around them. Eyes full of wisdom and cunning. The moment was brief, but it was all I needed to understand that I was in that water with People.