Cracked Window

Many years ago I worked at Florida Today, the daily newspaper in Brevard County. That’s the county Tropical Storm Fay drowned this week in twenty-five inches of rain.

For a while I worked a late-night shift. During a periodic commitment to not hit the bars with the gang after work, I’d run along the Indian River about 2 a.m. Not a sound except my plodding feet and panting breaths. Then one night I heard another sound — rhythmic breathing. Soon I figured out the source, a dolphin just offshore swimming in sync with me. We stayed together for at least a mile.

Tonight I wonder if the dolphin swims above the street where I ran, finding no other beating heart to connect with in the flooded dark.