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My Kind of Town Don Chapman |
Dharma the Dolphin (2)
>> Likelike Highway
As they drove back to town, where the second Lama Jey Tsong Khapa would resume the very dangerous role of being himself in public, he continued telling the story of Dharma the Dolphin to 9-year-old Elizabeth Resurreccion, who moments ago had attained her Buddhahood on the accelerated path virtual reality program the lama and his brother Joe Kharma created.
The happy, content life of the dolphins was shattered one day when the terrible devil Mara came to the sea on a big boat Mal de Mer. He was a jealous, angry devil and hated to see any creature happy and content. On that first day, Dharma, his mother and his friend Tara were surfing on the boat's supreme wake when Mara fired a harpoon that was headed straight at Dharma until his mother leaped and it pierced her, wounding her mortally.
"His mother whispered, 'Dharma, swim away fast! I'm happy that he shot me, not you. Now go and tell others of the danger of following this devil!'
"They did, they swam away fast to tell the other dolphins.
"But Mara followed, and the devil boat was very fast. Then they heard another boom from the ship. This time the cannon shot a huge net -- so Mara could capture dolphins and take them back to hell with him.
"Suddenly a huge net was falling over Tara. The harder Tara tried to swim out of the net, the more entangled she became. Then the devil began to pull the net back to the boat. 'Save me, Dharma, save me!' Tara cried.
"But there was nothing Dharma could do, except swim away to warn the other dolphins.
"Again Mara chased after Dharma. His boat had two cannons, one to shoot harpoons, the other to shoot that huge net. He must have shot the harpoon 100 times and the big net 100 times, and every time Dharma leaped out of the way.
"That made Mara very angry, and he pushed the boat to go faster and faster.
"But Dharma always stayed just ahead of the devil, and every time Mara shot his cannon, Dharma would leap away at the last instant.
"'Ha ha, devil Mara, you cannot touch me,' he called out. 'I am Dharma. So why don't you quit shooting and we'll be friends.'
"'Friends?!" Mara bellowed. "Ha! I'll destroy you, Dharma!'
"Faster and faster the devil pushed his big boat, paying attention only to capturing Dharma and dragging him back to hell.
"He was so busy shooting at Dharma, he didn't notice that Dharma was leading him closer and closer to shore. He didn't notice until he heard a loud crunch, felt his boat suddenly stop and shudder, saw water rushing through a hole in the hull, felt it begin to sink.
"That's when Mara remembered he couldn't swim."
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Don Chapman is editor of MidWeek. His serialized novel runs daily in the Star-Bulletin. He can be e-mailed at dchapman@midweek.com