by Jordan, G R
"You mean the little houses. The old summer ones for the peat cuttings. No I didn't."
"Okay, will need to think on that. I have some sleeping bags and blankets and that for tonight. I don't know if Tommy will get here. I'll go and get what's needed for here first before I think about getting the other two."
"If something does happen, at least she can flee now. She has a chance."
"Good. I hope so. There's too much violence going on at the moment. It's like a mermaid madness. Where's it going to end? Anyway, we can't change that at the moment, only keep Tink safe." Donald kissed Hayley's cheek in a friendly manner. It was obvious she didn't want to be on her own but there was no choice at the moment.
"Stay safe. And stay hidden if anyone comes. I'll be back soon." Hayley nodded.
She sat in the small cave watching the rain increase and pour down onto the loch in front of her, creating little circles of life, like a thousand fish grabbing food from the surface. Out of sight, she wondered if Tink was swimming about at all or just resting peacefully under the surface. As she began to feel cold, Hayley wrapped her arms closer to her chest and huddled her knees up to her chin. I hope Donald isn't long, she thought. Watching the loch closely from her distant position, she occasionally saw the flick of a tail. After an hour, Tink popped her head up and spotted Hayley in the cave. Hayley waved at her, and Tink dived back under. This action was repeated and Hayley realised Tink was just making sure her friend hadn't left her.
There was an urge in Hayley to leap into the water and make sure Tink was okay. She wanted to look up close and examine the way she was moving her midriff, her tail, if she used her arms in the swimming action. How do they give birth? wondered Hayley? Mammal or fish? Eggs or live, and if live, where and when? And how do they do it when all is said and done? So much to learn about them, so much to interact with. And already we're at war. Such madness when there's so much wonder to be seen.
Hayley couldn't suppress her curiosity and began to strip off. Stuff it, there's no one out here and Donald should be a while. Leaving all her clothing in the cave, Hayley strode into the freezing loch water and began to swim out. Looking around for any significant ripple, any sign of Tink, she was in full abandonment to her work.
There was a blink of silver beneath her, and she was able to fix onto Tink's curling beneath her. Hayley's eyes lit up and there was several minutes of sheer wonder before she was able to focus herself on a proper appreciation of the mermaid's movement. The constant background hum of the steady rain was broken with occasional splashes as Tink's tail broke the surface. Hayley was in a state of grace but was also concerned. Although this was her first mermaid, there was something forced about the swimming motion.
Tink came up close to Hayley, and the vet caught her in her arms. The mermaid didn't struggle as Hayley examined her skin from tail to head. As a creature, she was beautiful, graceful, lithe, yet with a fullness of figure. As Hayley ran her hands across Tink's shoulders, the creature reciprocated and Hayley found herself staring deep into Tink's eyes looking for comprehension. Just like a gorilla, I wonder how much of you is aware of this closeness, or do you just copy me?
Hayley was so caught up in Tink, that the coldness of the water took her unaware. She stepped back to the shore feeling the water drop down to her waist and the chill air race across her chest. Blimey, that's cold. Then she heard the cough.
Hayley nearly shouted out but then caught Donald in the corner of her eye. He was turned away with a towel extended. Racing up to him, she grabbed the towel and ran into the shelter of the cave.
"Sorry, Donald, I thought you would be a while yet."
"Hayley, I was two hours."
"Seriously? Oh, sorry. That was good of you not to look. Thank you."
"You really should be more careful. You can't just run around in the water with boobs exposed."
"Sorry, Donald, alright. I know you have a thing with Kiera, and I put you in an awkward situation, but hey, you didn't see anything, you acted like a gentleman, what's the big deal?"
"You can't do things like that!"
"Hey, don't freak out at me. I'm just a naked woman. Even if you caught a flash, what's the harm?"
"Hayley, don't you get it? It's not about me and if I saw anything. I'm a bloke, I can deal with nude women, I have the programming. It's the mermaids. You looked like one. Alyssa looked like one. You could get yourself killed."
The thought stopped Hayley in her tracks. In all her naivety, she never thought of the risk, the darkness surrounding the mermaids. How could they? How could she have been so dumb? A coldness overtook her. Clutching her towel, she curled herself into Donald's chest. At first he was a little bemused but on hearing her tears, he held her tight.
"I know Hayley, it's all wrong. I know. Dammit, I know."
20
The Town Meeting
"Are there any more chairs anywhere, Tommy?"
The sports hall had its full quota of racked seating being utilised, pulled out from the recess in the wall like the side of a pyramid. Other seats had been placed facing the structure, and a small lectern formed a focal point. The council leader, police chief, and other noted office bearers were sat on these chairs, some shuffling quite nervously. Unusually for the police chief, he was in full uniform with radio clipped onto his lapel. Every minute or two he would talk briskly into the microphone, shaking his head.
The noise in the place was deafening as people passed the latest to each other, a gathering of nearly a thousand people, all with anxious thoughts. Shopkeepers, clergy, fishermen, school teachers and council employees had all gathered on the Sabbath. Only a few of the strictest observers had stayed away and such was the concern, no one even made mention of this breach of the traditional day of rest.
"No, the rest will have to stand, Kiera. I'm done, they need to get this thing started."
Kiera had stayed behind after tidying up to give Tommy a hand. A few people came up to her, telling how well she had done with that model girl, who had no right behaving like that on our beaches. Others commented on how shocked they were. The mood was certainly black if mermaids were mentioned. Kiera, however, was bemused at the populace's failure to notice the tinge of fish in the air. It was seemingly being dismissed due to the greater items to be attended to. Fortunate, thought Kiera, but then reminded herself that the greater items were what brought the people here.
"Have you heard anything? Hayley's not texted me," said Tommy.
"If they are keeping low, it's probably somewhere without a signal."
"Hope she's alright. She took the pictures on the telly real bad. She seems pretty sensitive, Kiera."
"Price of a kind heart, Tommy. She invests, Tommy, in what she believes." She saw Tommy's head drop. "Tommy, it's hard, but you know what? She's invested in you. I ain't seen her like that with a guy before."
Tommy nodded, smiled briefly and then went to the front of the hall to speak to the Council leader.
After sound checking, in a brutal fashion, of the microphones placed in front of the assembled leaders, the council leader stepped forward to speak. He waited patiently while the hubbub slowly faded and there was a silence, permeated only by the occasional cough.
"Good evening everyone, and thank you for coming out on this strangest of days. As you probably know, my name is Alan McAllister, and I am the current leader of the island council. With me, I have our chief constable, the head of the fisherman's union and other council heads of department. My thanks to the staff here at the leisure centre for making this facility available at such short notice. Also I would like to …"
"Get on with it!" The shout was loud and sounded like a teacher addressing a tardy child.
"Yes, yes, I think a little patience…"
"Now, dammit. Say something of use for once in your life or sit down. In fact, just sit down McAllister, and let the real people speak." This produced some murmuring and a few cackles of laughter but didn't deter the leader.
"Now i
s a time for calm and thought. These new creatures to our land and waters are largely unknown to us, and we need time to assess and adapt to them."
"Assess!" a voice boomed out, "McCreddie's dead, assess that!"
Murmurs of agreement ran through the assembly.
"Yes he is, my friend. He is. And clearly these mermaids or mer-men, well, mer-people are dangerous. But so is a whale or a shark, so we must assess them." A faint ripple of applause died a quick death. "I'm going to hand over to our Chief Constable to explain the current situation and what people should do at this time. Chief Constable."
Chief Constable Jim MacIntyre was a thick set man in his late fifties, who was bemused at how his Sunday had suddenly exploded into a mythological riot, and which had stretched his small force to its limits. Actually, it was beyond their limits, but best not to let that one out. After the initial riot in town, minor incidents of public law-breaking had continued and various shop windows were now broken. Clashes had occurred between animal rights protesters and angry local fishermen. None of this was going to be mentioned by the Chief Constable. This was a public calming exercise, showing a firm but reasonable controlling hand.
"Earlier today," announced CC MacIntyre flicking his moustache as he spoke, "a boat sailed into the harbour with two incapacitated men and a younger man who was in a frightened disposition. Also on board was the body of a creature as yet not identified by our forensic team."
"Tell them it's a bloody mermaid!" came the cry.
"Mer-man, actually," came the reply from that pedantic clever clogs all crowds contain within them.
"Excuse me," continued CC MacIntyre, "but until the existence or not of those mythical creatures is established by scientists, I shall refer to these animals merely as creatures. To continue, the injured men were taken to the island hospital where one unfortunately succumbed to his injuries. The younger man is helping with our enquiries and has indicated that they were attacked by a creature of the sea which is approximately the size of a man but with the tail of a fish."
"So it's a piggin' mermaid!"
"Mer-man!"
The policeman rolled his eyes, shook his head slowly, and wiped his moustache with a thumb and forefinger. "At this time, we are advising all fishermen to assess if their trips are necessary and to take extra precaution when fishing. We believe the men may have interfered with the creatures in a deliberate fashion causing this incident, but, nonetheless, all those who sail on the sea should be aware of the risk these creatures pose."
"We need a cull! Damn bloody things. How we meant to fish? It's our livelihood."
"No one is to take undue action. I stress again," MacIntyre's eyes scanned the crowd, "no one is to take undue action, that is, to go on the offensive. Defend yourselves by all means but do not seek out these creatures." He paused, assessing if his words had taken effect. "There was also an incident at the harbour this afternoon were a crowd took it upon themselves to riot and procure the body of the dead creature from our incident tent. I know some of you are here, and I say this to you: You are holding back the investigation of this matter by the relevant authorities. I request the body be returned and my force be allowed to deal with this situation in the manner it should be dealt with. This is a general call, but if necessary, the full resources of the law will be used to pursue those who are taking matters into their own hands."
"Have you got any Necromancers?" asked a black haired teenager.
"I'm sorry."
"Have you got a Necromancer?"
"Necromancer? What are you on about, son?"
"Well, they took it up Pike's hill and after kicking the shit out of it, they burnt it to dust. Bloody stank too." The crowd erupted in a mixture of disgust and howls of delight. Vengeance and despair at humanity sat side by side in blue plastic chairs.
"Settle! Calm down! And mind the language," shouted the Chief Constable, his voice elevated to an almost indistinguishable white noise with the closeness of the microphone. But the gathering continued with its debate and soon voices were becoming wilder and threats were being passed. Despite there being no animal rights activists in the room, a measure dictated by MacIntyre, the respective rights of animal and man were causing a community to implode in its own leisure centre.
Local arguments became extremely heated as it became apparent that the farmed fishing nets had been broken into, allegedly by mer-people. The main core of the debates expanded to include territorial disputes, the effect of incomers to the island and how the police were an oppressive force anyway.
The first metaphorical punch was thrown by a fisherman of about sixty years old who clocked a teenager across the cheek with an open handed slap. He never saw the fist of the young man's father as it knocked two front teeth out. A policeman stepped in drawing his nightstick, much to MacIntyre's horror, before hitting the father across the back of the legs. That was the trigger for a free-for-all, and soon blue plastic chair bases left their fixed positions to fly across the sports hall as high as the shuttle cocks that get smacked back across the courts on an average Saturday.
Police constables waded into the situation as Tommy and the few other centre staff tried to shield and escort older attendees out of the fire exits and any other available passages. An elderly lady was knocked to the ground in front of Kiera, and she reached down for the woman, pulling her back up before supporting her out of the nearest door. This took them into the café area and Kiera guided the woman to a chair before surveying her for any damage. Blood was pouring out from a large split in the front of the woman's tights.
"Hang on, dear. I'll be right back." Kiera raced to the office and grabbed a green first aid box from the wall. On her return, she had to circumvent two middle aged men trying to plant flailing hooks on each other. The woman was still in the chair but was bent double and her broken, choked sobbing was audible even over the chaos next door.
"Oh love, it's you. I thought you'd gone. Oh dear, thank you."
"Leg up Missus, we need to get this patched up. Are you feeling any other pain?" A trembling no was the answer. With a practised ease, Kiera swiftly cleaned and bandaged the wound. As she looked up into the lady's face, she could see a queue of people sat beside them.
"Kiera," shouted Tommy, pointing at the seated injured, "can you?"
Kiera nodded. She worked hard amidst the fighting going on around her, and several men formed a ring, preventing anyone coming into the circle who was looking for trouble. Over time the situation simmered down, people drifted away or were taken by van to be kept at Her Majesty's pleasure. Ambulances came and went, concerned relatives arrived until at last the centre was cleaned up to a fashion and Tommy thanked his staff before making sure they had a safe ride home.
"Someday, Kiera." Tommy had switched all the lights off except for one lonely lamp in the café. Standing in front of the table where Kiera was sat, he offered her a cup of tea from the machine.
"Thanks Tommy. Is that it then? All done, all cleaned up?"
"Yes, and thanks Kiera. You did really well with all those injuries. Regular trooper, you." Kiera smiled. Then she started to weep. Gently, holding back the flood, but still little rivers of water fell from her cheeks onto her jeans.
"You okay?" asked Tommy. "What's wrong? It's all done now, Kiera, all over."
"As if Tommy, as if." The vehemence in her voice surprised her, and she saw him turn his head away. "Tommy," she whispered in a softer tone, "sorry, that wasn't meant for you. That was for… well, for all this crap. How is it when something beautiful arrives that we manage to end up like this? How?"
Tommy shrugged. He had seen neighbours pitched against neighbours, locals against incomers, police versus the ordinary citizen, and youth taking on the old, all this without any animal rights activists in the building. Closed tomorrow, thought Tommy. He reckoned this was a wise move, and he could pop in and assess the damage to the building. Equipment had been tampered with, and he couldn't be sure what was fit for purpose without a thorough inspect
ion. The boss would be delighted.
"Did you hear what they said, Kiera? Some of those friends of McCreedie. Going hunting for mermaids. Tink's not safe."
"Tink? Never mind Tink, Donald and Hayley aren't either. You saw what this thing has done to people, it's like popcorn at the moment. One going off here, then one there, then all the bits going at once. Soon the lids going to blow off this. Alyssa might be just the first of many incidents."
"Has he texted or phoned?"
"Not yet."
"What do you want to do?"
"Honestly, Tommy? I want to say piss off to the whole place and grab Donald, take him to somewhere happy and gorgeous and just try to love each other without all this nonsense."
"Would be nice, Kiera, would be nice." His eyes drifted upward, an image of Hayley forming on a deserted beach. Yeah, Tommy thought, would be nice.
"I had a friend here, Christine, she would have been horrified at all this. But she wouldn't have been surprised. People are like sheep, she told me once. They need something to follow, to show them where to go. But a few are rams and lord it over the others. Some are sheepdogs, rounding people up and pointing them in a direction. Very few are the farmer directing the sheepdog. They like their wool to have a colour on it, to belong. To be directed. To let someone else make the call, make the moral judgement. All the time, showing a large fleece with the colour on it. But sometimes they get sheared, she said to me. Only then do you see the real sheep. Only then are we truly exposed. That's what the mermaids are doing Tommy. Shearing us. Exposing us. I don't like what I see."
"There's nothing here to do, Kiera, least not until tomorrow. Do you want to go find them? I know it's near midnight and they could be anywhere but….. It's better than just not trying. They might not need us, but I don't know that."
"I couldn't care if he needs me or not, I need him. Come on stud, let’s go."
"Does she call me stud? Wow!"
"Actually, she doesn't, just thought you needed the lift."