by Jane Keehn
Emily’s forced smile was thick with disappointment.
- No, of course you’re not.
She thought of the other women who had given similar excuses to stay at a distance and not get to know her. Just one more time – she tried again.
- I could still help you find out about your pendant.
Kendra was amazed at Emily’s persistence and conscious that she needed to leave, soon.
- Yes, I’d still like to find out more about it; if you still want to help me?
Emily looked down at the floor.
- Sure. Why not? I'll give you my mobile number so we can get in touch
- I don’t have a phone.
- What about email?
Kendra shook her head.
- No, sorry. Like I said, I live very simply.
Emily stood watching her leave.
- I’m sorry about the kiss, Kendra. It won’t happen again, I promise.
Kendra stepped off the porch.
Clouds darkened the cliff face where the entrance to her home lay.
- Goodnight, Emily.
- Goodnight, Kendra. You know where to find me.
Kendra’s walking sticks dug into the sandy grass in Emily’s front yard.
The door closed behind her and she hoped that Emily wasn’t standing behind the door watching her through the window.
Part of her also hoped that maybe Emily might break that promise.
Kendra - Chapter 16
Her crutches caught on the grass roots as Kendra hurried toward the cliffs hoping to beat the rain. She needed to reach the coast before the drops of water penetrated her skin.
The cement path that lead to the dunes stretched out in front of her but the rain drops were gaining in strength and size.
Kendra tried to determine the distance between herself and the water’s edge. It was too late. The rain fell heavier; she would never make it to the shore before her skin began to transmutate.
Emily’s front veranda had an overhanging space beneath it that would protect her from the rain, so Kendra changed direction and turned back towards the house. The light inside had been turned off already.
Kendra made one last, speedy dash over the soggy grass and huddled under the planks of the veranda decking to wait out the storm.
Small drops of rain found their way through the cracks in the wood, but Kendra remained quiet and still, confident that her Frilly Lizzy t-shirt would protect her skin from the moisture.
Waves crashed onto the sand as a spike of lightning crackled down to the horizon. Kendra counted the seconds before the thunder boomed an answer. Its volume made her shudder and in an instant, Leo responded to the strike with his own loud barking.
Soft, quick shuffling of feet and the clink of a metal latch being released sounded behind Kendra.
Emily’s impatient voice followed him out the door.
- Leave it, Leo! It’s just the storm! Hurry up and do what you have to do then come inside.
But Leo was in no hurry to get back inside. He could smell something close by. Something familiar, yet foreign.
It confused him like the lightning and thunder so he needed to investigate.
His brown fur started to glisten with fine water droplets as he scurried around the corner of the veranda.
The rain had nearly reached the beachfront.
Leo found the intruder and crouched at Kendra’s side, barking and howling for his owner to come out and see what he’d found.
Emily’s footsteps came pounding out onto the deck.
- Leo! What’s the matter, boy?
Leo sat pointing his nose at Kendra, looking at his owner then looking at his “catch”.
- Kendra? Is that you? What’s up?
Kendra wriggled out of her hiding spot.
- I think I left my pendant. I came back for it. I thought I could make it before the rain, but …. I don’t want to get stuck in it.
- Come inside. Leo, you come back inside too.
Emily helped Kendra back up the stairs, inside to the lounge chair and placed the crutches in a corner behind the door, next to an old walking stick that belonged to Emily’s grandfather.
- Make yourself comfortable, Kendra; I’ll get a blanket and a sheet. You can sleep here and go in the morning when the rain eases up.
A lightning bolt struck the waves; Kendra counted one, two and a boom of thunder shook the house.
Kendra slumped back in the soft cushions, relieved that the storm hadn’t come sooner.
- Thanks, Emily, it feels like the storm is settled in for a while.
- No trouble at all. As long as you don’t mind Leo snoring from the other room, you can stay as long as you need to.
She laughed at a memory of the chocolate Lab lying on his back, his lips quivering with sound.
Emily came back from her room with the spare bedding and set up the lounge chair for sleep.
- Unless you’re not tired – we could stay up and have a drink?
- I don’t drink.
- No? We could play a game of checkers or listen to music?
Emily motioned to her stereo.
She did like the idea of hearing more music, but Kendra just felt like quietly listening to the storm and waiting for it to pass.
- I think I’ll just sleep now.
Making her way to her room, Emily turned out the lights.
- Well, you know where to find me – I’m just in here if you need anything.
A flash of lightning followed instantly by a clash of thunder told them that the storm was directly overhead.
Leo let out one final howl as he trotted out to his bedding at the edge of the back room.
- Goodnight, Emily.
Kendra called out before she snuggled up in the blanket and lay her cold head on the cushion.
Emily poked her head through her doorway.
- Goodnight, Kendra.
She took off her clothes and lay naked in her bed, listening to the rain pelting on the roof, drowning out Leo’s loud breathing from the other room.
Kendra was lulled to sleep by the storm’s rhythmic pounding; the drops of rain drumming on the glass of the veranda windows.
After Emily stopped moving about in the other room, there was a silence, interrupted only by the splashing rain and the thunderous wind.
Kendra slept but her marine instincts remained alert.
Kendra - Chapter 17
Emily felt a movement over her feet.
She thought it was Leo sneaking some sleep on the end of the bed.
- Leo! Get down!
But when Emily's hand brushed over the bedspread, it was Kendra's shoulder she touched.
Kendra was silent. She didn't look up at Emily.
She curled up with her blanket over where Emily's feet had rested.
Emily whispered to see if she was awake.
- Kendra. Is everything alright?
Kendra didn’t hear, or chose not to hear, because she lay at Emily’s feet deeply asleep.
Her small, limp feet poked under the edge of the blanket and quivered in spasms of movement as though she was dreaming of running without the crutches.
Emily propped up on her elbow and watched her.
Kendra’s R.E.M. seemed to affect her whole body. Her eyelids blinked while her limbs twitched.
Emily lay back, beginning to drift into sleep when she felt Kendra’s head resting on her ankle, as though it was a pillow.
Emily liked the feeling of Kendra's closeness.
A soft, gentle whimper came from Kendra’s mouth.
An almost dog-like sound. A Leo-like sound.
Emily smiled; she was curious to know what Kendra had been dreaming about.
She would ask her over breakfast in the morning.
Emily - Chapter 18
There was to be no breakfast with Kendra.
Leo came scratching over the floor to Emily's bed and began licking her ankles - his way of demanding food.
- Leo, leave me alon
e.
The blanket was no longer at the foot of the bed so Emily stumbled sleepily out to the lounge.
- Kendra? Are you awake?
Silence.
She checked the other rooms and the veranda; no sign that Kendra had been there.
- Kendra!
But Kendra was not inside the house.
The rain had subsided during the morning but now it drizzled down, greying the morning air.
- Leo, did you scare her away?
Emily patted the thick brown curls down the centre of Leo's back.
She went to the laptop.
The scrimshaw pendant was gone.
- I scared her away.
Kendra - Chapter 19
Kendra had awoken to the sound of a quiet breeze. No rain, just Emily's deep breathing.
The storm had blown off to sea for the moment, but Kendra could tell by the sound and structure of the rain that it might set in for days.
She couldn’t remember making her way onto the end of Emily’s bed but she remembered dreaming of the "Fee Jee Mermaid" – of finding the hideous relic floating in the safety cave and removing it, releasing it far out to sea.
Kendra quietly slipped out of Emily’s room, laced up her shoes, grabbed her crutches and tip-toed out the front door.
The Sun was starting to lighten the air but the moon was still visible through the morning mist.
Taking a more direct path, Kendra cut across the dune grass directly to where the water lapped at a broken, forlorn private jetty.
Her night vision, large pupils adjusted to the dim morning light before Kendra waded under the wooden beams.
No one was awake yet to witness her change.
She gripped onto the crutches, pulling them throught the water as her flukes propelled her safely and swiftly back to her family's cove at Catacomb Caves.
Emily - Chapter 20
The bleak clouds set in over the ocean and bled together forming a grey blanket over the sky.
As much as the sun tried to penetrate, it could only give off a strange dirty yellow light and could not compete with the pounding drops of rain.
Emily checked her diving watch again.
She went to check her mobile phone but stopped in her tracks, remembering that Kendra didn't own a phone or computer. "Living simply".
Under normal circumstances Emily would have left a funny, endearing text message to lure Kendra back for more contact; she had a well-oiled routine that was guaranteed to win a second meeting, if not a heart.
Her eyes darkened. Why would she even have a chance? With Kendra? Or anyone?
Emily knew that most of the women she fell for were not like her.
But this was new, with Kendra, there was no way to even act on impulse.
The rain rattled on her balcony and whipped around the shells wind chime her grandmother had hung over a plant hook.
She’d love for Kendra to be here listening to the whistling sounds together. She’d love to tell Kendra how much she admired her craftwork. She’d love for anyone to be here with her huddled inside from the rain.
Emily grabbed her phone and began to dial Melanie’s number then she quickly hung up and dropped the mobile onto the kitchen bench.
Max wouldn’t be out fishing in this weather – no need to call Melanie to find that out.
The rain has set in. It was not going to subside until Tuesday, according to the newspaper weather report.
Emily stood in the kitchen watching the windows fogging.
Watery tears flowed down the glass pane blurring her view through to the ocean. Kendra must live nearby if she was going to walk home.
Did she live simply in a fisherman’s cabin?
Did she give any clues?
Kendra had been there to see Leo pull her from the Catacomb Caves.
If she leaned over her viewing platform, Emily could feel the lightness of the drizzle on the back of her neck. She could almost imagine that the rain had stopped and if she stood up straight and looked out over the beach as far as her eyes could see, to the dirt tracks leading to the Green Wood scrub, she could almost imagine a figure like Kendra shuffling towards her house on a walking stick.
But there was no one walking towards her.
No woman heading her way. No visitor in the rain.
Emily held onto the scaffolding railing tightly and balanced her weight onto the balls of her feet. Was Kendra embarrassed?
Was that why she didn’t stay?
Emily remembered the red track marks, the scars on Kendra’s limbs.
A scuffling noise reached her from below.
Leo paced about on the grass, his tail hitting the ladder rung. He emitted a small whimpering sound, not unlike the one Kendra made when she was dreaming at the foot of Emily’s bed.
- Good boy, Leo, I’ll be down soon.
Wait there and we’ll go for a walk, okay?
The Labrador made a high pitched grumble that made Emily smile.
She gripped the ladder and made her way to the ground.
Kendra had said she would walk home. On her crutches.
A slow walk home.
Emily paced through the kitchen to her desk and grabbed her mud-map notebook from the shelf above the laptop. Her body ached through to the bone with the grey cold in the air from the rain and the longing for someone like Kendra to warm it.
She flattened the notes on the desk and honed in on the no-go area of “Bullanockup”.
Her finger traced the outline of the underground cave where Kendra found her – given her a most-strange kiss of life.
Fishermen used the rocky cliffs to spot currents and rumours of hermits living in wrecked shipping containers had floated around like sea weed when her parents were still alive.
Something might be there.
An old fishing shack long abandoned?
A hermit's cave?
Could Kendra live in the twisted bush growth of “Green Wood”?
Could anyone live there?
- Leo! Come on. Let’s go for a swim!
Emily ran into the garage, grabbed her lifejacket and raised the sliding door.
Leo followed after her as she slid the kayak out of the garage into the laneway, Emily looked to the wet heavens.
- Stop raining!
The adrenaline pumping around her body made quick work of dragging the kayak through the sand to the shore.
- Leo! Let’s go!
Emily paddled far out beyond the rocks, trying to remember landmarks that Kendra may have mentioned.
Her arms ached in the chilly fog.
Her eyes stung with rain pounding into them. Leo dodged the waves while Emily thrust the boat through them until she was in deeper water.
The kayak cut through the waves, while Emily focussed on the greying horizon.
She thought of finding Kendra, alone.
Kendra - Chapter 21
Her opal eyes misted over as Kendra watched the rain drizzle down her bedroom window.
Trapped. Again.
Beyond her control, Kendra would have to wait out the weather before leaving the cabin.
The drizzle made her skin prickle and often claimed her moods and physicality. The rain forced her to remain inside to keep dry or remain in the water and stay wet.
Kendra wondered what it might be like to run through the drops. To feel the rain against her face without her body giving itself away to her Giluri-self.
She wondered what Emily might be doing now.
She remembered Emily kayaking over the waves, spraying salt water through her clothes and splashing her face to cool down. She remembered Emily’s wet lips, pressing into hers and the liquid pumping through her body in response.
Sitting against the opposite wall on a stool was the Mandalay Mermaid figurehead. She looked over at Kendra without judgement. Kendra stared back at her only connection with her lost mothers, resenting the body she was born with; yearning for simplicity in her life; a life shared with another, as her Mothers had d
one.
This wooden mermaid was the one that Emily truly wanted to find, not some half- woman half- animal mutant.
Kendra folded her arms and shuddered at the thought of her transmutation and her bodily secrets.
She locked eyes with the wooden figurehead as she leapt toward it. Kendra stretched her arms around the Mandalay Mermaid’s shoulders and felt the weight of the hundred-year old statue.
The weight of the old mermaid figure dropped quickly to the floor spraying up a layer of dust.
Kendra had no room for her sticks as she stumbled down the corridor dragging the Mandalay figurehead after her. Once she was as far as the kitchen table she let the old girl quiver into a crooked standing position near Kendra’s chair.
Kendra reached across the table to the chequer board dragging it towards her. A few stray playing pieces fell from the board to the table. She scooped them up and flung them down into one corner of the board as though waiting for the Mandalay Mermaid to set them up and start her turn.
Kendra lowered her head into her hands eyeing the continual rain outside. She moved a red chequer onto a black square then a black chequer onto a white square.
The Mandalay Mermaid teetered at a strange angle staring up at the table’s edge. Her ancient face cracked along the timber’s grain giving the wooden Mermaid deep frown marks on her cheeks.
Kendra joined her finger and thumb together flicking a wooden disc over the table and onto the floor alongside the figurehead. They both sat opposite each other for a time listening to the sheets of rain falling on the roof.
When time had passed and the rain’s drumming faded to a distant tapping, Kendra took a quick breath and clenched her hands.
Her chair scraped behind her as she rose.
She pounded her fists onto the wooden surface sending more chequers scuttling to the floor.
- Come on Mermaid – we’re going for a swim.
Kendra linked arms with the figurehead’s elbow and dragged her to the door.
Emily - Chapter 22
The waves gushed to shore where Emily had nearly drowned in the underwater cave and had first met Kendra.
Emily back-paddled as the front of her kayak scraped against the shore. She dragged the boat out of the water and dropped the paddle alongside in the short ground cover.