The first thing I learned was warmth; it was around me and inside me. My consciousness wished to explore the warmth. I moved experimentally; there seemed to be some sort of confines about me. I found it a challenge. It seemed that there were proportions beyond my intelligence; perhaps some sort of casing or a rudimentary body. I suppose one might note that realization of my 'self' as the second thing I learned. It was all a mystery, but the warmth was my constant. I rested in its embrace.
I floated there for a time...oh yes, I learned all about time. That was later, but it wasn't the third thing. The third thing was the sense of a Benevolent Being. I discovered the confines about my body consisted of the actual form of the Benevolent Being and this Being supplied for me through a tether that connected us. The tether was a comfort to me; a direct link to the goodwill of the Being.
Over time I gained strength and was better able to explore the regions of my quarters. There was so much warmth. My body existed in the ideal location for its physical wants and needs, but I soon discovered the walls were closing upon me.
It became more difficult to move. The warmth felt stuffy and the comforting tether felt inadequate. The fourth thing I learned was a desire to stretch my body, to move freely under my own powers. The confines of my warm dwelling were inadequate; I longed to be free.
I was a fool. I wanted more: a vast, open arena. There was something in my body; it wanted to take something in—something I had never experienced. I wanted to move through the open vista and break free to the next dimension. I wanted to draw the substance into my body, without the help of the smothering walls and the helpful tether.
At last, the day came. The confines of the enclosure pushed me. I could feel the tether pulling, tighter and tighter. My body was squeezed with unbearable pressure. The Benevolent Being suffered; I suffered. We strained together until at last the tether had broken and I had emerged, a free creature.
It wasn't as I had pictured it; strange objects floated hither and yon. But there! Up ahead! The place—the dimension where the unnamed substance lived! I felt my body ease into instinctual movements. I swam toward the light. And then, I learned the fifth thing: plastic.
My movements had propelled me into the plastic bag; it wrapped about my upper being and tangled in a cold grip about my form. I was inextricably tangled. Nevertheless, my body strained—I must have the substance—it was there—right there! If I could only break the surface...
And then I learned the sixth thing: the construct of time. It takes much longer for a dolphin to smother to death than one might suppose.
