We had agreed to meet at high tide sharp in the shelter of Kieran's hole if the wind would be no more than moderate. Of course, again, I was way too early, as in Ireland time is a generous commodity.
Finally I saw incoming white water and still got startled by the steamboat breath behind me.
I turned sharply, but at once melted before her eternal smile.
'Geez, Dusty, do you really have to creep up on me from behind?'
'So sorry, force of habit, I hear that a lot. It just won't do if I ask my supper politely if it minds to be eaten.'
'I thought you had far more sophisticated methods to this end, like stunning your prey with sound, so they're ready for take-away.'
'Sure, but I like a good food fight as it heightens my appetite. Tell me now, are we only doing small talk? Or do you have any real questions?'
'Sure do. You are supposed to be a sonic being, can you tell me what a picture in sound looks like?'
'No can do. That's like comparing apples and pears, sound don't look like anything, really.'
'But it's perceptible, though for me only roughly from where and from how far away.'
'All right, I'll explain it in a way in which you understand your capability for seeing. My ears are hard to find, as they're mere tiny holes, but I can hear with my entire jaws. Like the back of the eyeball contains cells that are sensitive to light, the eardrums pass sonic nerve impulses to the brain where an image is formed, much like a picture, albeit in sound.'
'But how should I imagine a picture in sound?'
'Like you said you can roughly sense a sound from where and how far away. But also you can hear in stereo, particularly when a sound is travelling. Now my ears are not only apart like yours, they're also distributed along the length of my head. Therefore there is a difference in time between a sound reaching the front and arriving at the back of my teeth.'
'We do that too, when we prick up our ears we slightly turn our head. I always thought that this was to be closer to the source of the sound, but now I understand it is actually the difference in time of arrival that helps to estimate the distance.'
'Quite so. And then there is the dimension of volume. The bigger your ears, not only the better, but also the farther away you can hear. So my passive hearing is better than yours in distance and in volume.'
'Okay, this means you have excellent hearing, but that may give a profile of, but not necessarily a picture in sound.'
'True, true, but actually this is where the comparison between sound and sight cripples. I can see as well as you do, so I can compare. Seeing is a rather passive activity. You can look by directing your field of vision and by focusing, and that's it. In sound terms it is like listening. But I can activate my listening by emitting sound and listening to my echo.'
'Is this the famous sonar you're talking about?'
'That's right, and not only that, I can emit different sounds that bounce off different substances.'
'So it is like touching with your fingertips, each finger specialized in its own detection.'
'You’re getting the picture now, but instead of ten fingertips I have hundreds, being the frequencies I can attain plus the sliding I can do among them.'
'So that's how you can locate separate densities.'
'Quite so, and I can emit frequencies that don't stop at the outside. For instance, I can tell you ate Asian spiced lamb kebab in mint sauce with a side order of chips and ketchup and washed it away with coca cola and a lot of ice (menu item courtesy 'The Old Bakehouse', Miltown Malbay).'
'Excellent!'
'All in a day’s work'.
'No, I mean the food! But how can you tell the nature of your observations?'
'I guess that is a matter of experience, like you learn how to tell a boat from a fish.'
'Just how fine can you tune your observations? What is the limit of your sensitivity? Can you, for instance, read people’s minds?'
'You know yourself this is easily deducted from for instance my choice of direction in overtaking you swimming. You used to think I knew in advance which way you would turn around so I would overtake you at your other side. But recently you have made some very sudden turns while I was still swimming behind you. Indeed I watch every move you make, inside your body too. But to anticipate your movements would require insight in what you are thinking.'
'And that you can't.'
'Not in sudden changes of behavioural patterns, but on the anthropological, the sociological and the psychological level I'm still learning. I study you like you study me.'
'And how about the telepathic abilities some people ascribe to you?'
'You humans tend to approach mystery by wishful thinking. I do have some very sophisticated tools, but I have my fantasies too. Perhaps that's where we meet!'