DOLPHIN COMMUNICATION, DO YOU HEAR US, MAN?

"Oooo, Uh, Well, yes. Do you think they might?" I wonder if she is more worried about the publicity angle than the possible death of the dolphins.

"Of course they will die. They are dying now. Life is fatal. I think if I were dying in a cement hole filled with artificial sea water, far from the ocean, I would want to be free again. I would want to die in the sea, not in a God forsaken cow pasture."

Estelle absorbs this, bobbing her head in agreement. "Nancy and Angela and Claire are very very interested in helping out. Nancy really wants to meet you. She's a delightful lady who lives north of Sydney in Whale Beach and is in contact with a spirit named Anna who once told Nancy and Angela to go to the Taronga Park Zoo to see a dolphin being held captive there so they went along as directed but when they arrived they could not find the dolphin and Nancy contacted Anna, her spirit guide, again, right there with all the screaming parrots and kids, and asked where the dolphin was and the spirit told Nancy to think of the dolphin, to think of it free, not captive so they did and saw a vision of a dolphin soaring into the sky where it merged with a full rainbow, her spirit freed by the energy of the girls who were close by and when they returned home they called the Zoo to discover the dolphin had died, unattended, at about the time of their experience."

Every Rainbow Lady statement is fleshed out with a little story, delivered at high speed in one long sentence. I smile and say, "Well, Estelle, I'm sure your group will be able to do something worthwhile for the dolphins."

Estelle takes a deep breath and says, "Richard and Mary Burns are also very much involved and they loved your book manuscript and Richard can really help out with the publication because he is, you know, a book publisher and a very successful one, too who is just about ready to come out with a new book for Quantas with 250,000 copies. Richard thinks money is energy."

I look impressed while she continues.

"And Wade Doke who is a dolphin expert in New Zealand is going to be coming over here soon to do some consultant work with David and Peter on their new dolphin movie and Wade has just sent his new book, which is simply the most fantastic wonderful book on dolphins I have ever read, to Hodder and Stoddart publishers and he can also help with the scientific end of the freeing of the dolphins because he will surely be interested in it and you must meet Dr. Sydney Holt who is one of the founders of the Jonah Foundation. They have an office here in Sydney on Pitt Street, the same offices as Greenpeace, who just HAPPENS to be visiting Australia and I found out there is another scientist named Duff who has had a really fantastic experience with a dolphin in England and who made a movie about the dolphin and he's coming here in June and wants me to make all the arrangements for his tour."

"You have been busy." I say and she goes nattering on. When she leaves, Rainbow Lady talks all the way up the stairs. I can hear her even after she is out of sight.

After dinner, Walter Starck, Mike (Gonzo), Terry Hannigan and his girlfriend Liz stop by. Walter is visiting Sydney for a few days. It's good to see him again and talk over what's happening. It's also great to see Terry. He has not changed at all since our mind games with the dolphins in the Solomon Islands. His advertising business here in Sydney is doing very well. Terry writes the music and sings for the agency's TV adds. We've watched a few of them and they are good.

As I tell them of my experiences, I mention Estelle. Terry screams, leaps up, knocking over his chair and backs away to the far corner of the Bateau Chateau holding his fingers in front of his face like a Christian cross defending him against a vampire. "OHHHHHH Noooooo!" he cries, "Saints protect me. He's said the evil name out loud!"

Gonzo, Walter and I stare at Terry who crouches defensively in the corner of the room, quivering with fear. Walter says, "I get the idea Terry knows your Stellar Rainbow."

"So it would seem," chuckles Gonzo. "Come, Terry, tell us about her."

Terry gets up from the floor and, hunched over dramatically, glancing nervously at the dark windows, comes back and picks up his chair. "That evil thing with her brown rice sandwich gang cost me $58,000 bucks. She put herself in charge of the Australian Day Festival. Our agency was supposed to make all the arrangements for the music groups. She screwed up the schedules something awful and we got shafted. Lots of people got shafted. That's why she no longer has a job. Her screw-up was sensational."

The door to the boat house flies opens and Terry leaps to his feet, knocking over his chair again. But it isn't Estelle in Bat costume, it's the Polish Ambassador and his wife as well as David and Ursrula Hooker. I introduce everyone and Ursrula says the Ambassador would simply love to see one of my kaleidoscopes.

For the next half hour I do my Moirascope number, passing around the brass tubes and trapping minds for a few moments of pleasure.

After the Ambassador and the Hookers leave, Gonzo says his brother in California is reviving the ancient Mayan Church, the Quasiquahotal Church. "It's doing OK. After all it's an old and established religion. I think I'm going to join as the devil's advocate."

"I'll be the Heretic," Walter grins.

"Tell him I want to be the Pope," Terry chimes in. "Maybe Rick can be the prophet."

Listening to all this I decide they are having me on - a mixture of the dolphin crusade and my normal Moirascope sermon. The Quasiquahotal Church!

"For some reason, I'm reminded of a cartoon I saw lately," says Gonzo. "It shows a guy standing there wearing a hat with a cocky tilt and down from the clouds comes this giant hand of God - just behind him - with its fingers like this..." He holds his thumb and fingers like he was about to flick off the hat from behind.

Gonzo's cartoon reminds me of the I Ching. It told me the Dolphin book would fail, in the end, because of ulterior motives and because I would start a war. I decide to let the Rainbow Lady do her thing with the dolphins and stay on the sidelines or, better yet, out of it altogether.

Starlight Starbright