by Xequina
All of a sudden I blurted, “Mermary, do you love me?”
But Mermary was already gone.
Chapter 27
Public Speaking
The day after we turned in our homework, Sister read and corrected them, then had us do yet another rewrite.
On Friday that week, she said, “I have been enjoying watching you develop and improve your essays. Now I think your classmates will like hearing what you did over the summer. Remember on the first day of school, I talked to you about public speaking. You should stand straight and project your voice. I’m going to have each one of you come up to the front and read your work to the rest of the class.”
My heart sank. In the lower grades everyone had to stand up and read aloud so the teacher could check our reading skills. I always hated it. During summer school I had gotten up in front of the class a lot for dance, but mostly I didn’t have to say anything. I couldn’t listen to the first kids who read because I was so scared. My turn came, and I stood up in front and held my essay in front of my face. I tried to read but nothing came out of my mouth.
“Camile,” Sister Marie said. “Hold the page down so we can see your face. Now take a deep breath, and try to relax.”
I did what she said, but I couldn’t relax, and I couldn’t read. I felt tears coming to my eyes, but I didn’t want to cry in front of the whole class. I looked out the window at the lake, and thought of Mermary, and how I used to read to her, no problem. It seemed like I got a little calmer. I took another breath and started reading. It wasn’t so bad. Thinking about Mermary had helped!
After I read, I was able to listen better to everyone else. One girl wrote about going on a road trip to Mexico to visit family and she was surprised that most of the people they met spoke English. Another girl went to Yellowstone Park and saw the geysers spout off. One boy wrote about going to the moon on a spaceship he and a scientist friend had built, and all there was to eat was green cheese and water.
“Michael felt he had a dull summer, so he developed this story from a dream he had,” Sister said. “It was a very imaginative way of completing this assignment.”
I was disappointed I hadn’t written about Mermary after all. Sister would just have said the same thing about my paper, since most people thought mermaids weren’t real.
Chapter 28
Mermaid in the Lake
I went to visit Mermary every school day in the morning, and again in the afternoon before I went home. I missed not being able to spend a lot of time with her like I did over the summer, and I pined for her on the weekends. But in another way, I liked it. It was kind of an adventure to visit her in a natural environment, and having a real mermaid as a friend.
Now that she was living in a lake, it seemed like Mermary was growing really fast. She was almost as long as my forearm, and she was filling out more. I had put her in the lake just in time. Also, her skin was changing. In the aquarium she was a shade of green, to match the seaweed plants in there. Now her top half was darker, turning into the color of the lake, which was a greeny-brown, so it made it harder to see her. Her stomach was her normal color, only maybe lighter. I wrote down these changes in my mermaid journal when I got home.
After school, Mermary and I met at a point where there was a tree because I wasn’t as visible there as at the landing by the colonnade. We started calling it Dragon Tree Point. It was actually a Tea Tree. I knew that because somewhere a sign said that was what they were, and they grew all around the lake. Tea trees didn’t grow straight up and down like most trees. Their length grew long, along the ground, and twisted back and curved around, and they had a thick, rough bark that made it look like a dragon. I would sit inside the trunk of the tree at Dragon Tree Point, and be sort of hidden. From there Mermary could see in both directions if someone was coming.
We agreed on hand signals. I had learned some sign language in kindergarten, so “follow me” is putting up your thumbs and motioning to the right. But I modified it to only one hand so it wouldn’t be so obvious. If I crossed my hands flat in front of me and scissored them, it meant not to come out. If I put two fingers and a thumb and “quacked” them, it meant duck, not the bird, but to go underwater. But I almost never had to use that one, it turned out Mermary had a good instinct about anyone coming near us. She would instantly duck if something unexpected happened, like a bird landing in the water, or someone passing behind me who I hadn’t noticed, like a runner did once. She barely even made a splash. I would be talking to her, and all of a sudden she’d be gone. All I would see was a quick, underwater flash of her iridescent tail.
Mermary was exploring more and more of the lake. She told me where the deepest parts were, and where the shallows were. She told me that the bird refuge was fed by fresh water from a pipe. She hated motorboats and stayed away from them, but thought it was fun to swim under row boats and gondolas—people could rent gondolas on Lake Meredith—and listen to what people talked about.
“A woman was mad at her husband because he had gone out with another lady,” Mermary told me. “He said, ‘I told you she was just a friend,’ and his wife said, ‘then why didn’t you tell her you had a wife?’ and he said, ‘I forgot.’ ‘Oh, like you forgot to put your wedding ring back on?’” Mermary was giggling and swimming crazily in squiggles as she told me, which was what she did when she thought something was funny. “Is that what humans do to make up with people? Take them on a boat ride?”
“I think he was probably trying to make it romantic,” I said.
“Make what romantic?”
“His apology,” I said. “Mermary, it scares me when you swim with boats. What if they notice you?”
“Oh, I swim far enough under the water so they can’t see me. I can still hear them perfectly well.”
Of course I had known that Mermary could hear me through the water and even the glass of the aquarium. I was glad to hear she didn’t get near the boats.
Mermary had a new pastime too. She rooted around in the mud at the bottom of the lake and found things, like old bottles that were beautiful colors once they were cleaned up, old coins, and an object that was rusted shut, which she asked me about. It looked like an old pocket watch, but when I pried the cover open I saw it was a waterlogged compass.
I still brought her food. I always saved some of my tuna sandwiches because that was her favorite, but she was mostly eating fish that she caught now, and greenery that she gathered from the lake. She also ate eggs that she took from the nests of birds that had built their nests on the ground. Mermary had discovered she could wriggle up on the islands where the birds lived. She told me she went up on the lake side of the tiny islands so people couldn’t see her from the shore. Maybe it was her new diet that was making her grow so fast.
Something else Mermary told me was that she liked eating food that people threw into the lake. When she described it, I knew it was mostly junk food: French fries, the remainder of hamburgers, onion rings, hot dogs. Once she even found a milkshake floating in the water.
“It was pink and it was really yummy!” she told me. “But I ate too much and threw up.”
I never knew mermaids could throw up, but of course, if she was related to humans as I suspected, she probably did all the normal things that humans do, like vomiting. Something else to put into my notebook, which was now up to forty pages.
I couldn’t spend a lot of time with Mermary anymore. I could only visit for ten minutes in the morning, and fifteen minutes or so after school. Once or twice I had been late getting to the library when my mother came to pick me up, and she wondered where I was. She didn’t like that I was hanging around at the lake, she thought it might be dangerous. Of course I kept going to the lake after that, but I had to be very careful on the days she came to pick me up, and cut my time with Mermary even shorter.
Mermary was becoming very independent and didn’t seem to mind. Still, she thought of me, because she always had stories to tell me, and sometimes gifts. Once she gave me an o
ld silver ID bracelet with someone’s name engraved on it. She always blew kisses to me when I showed up, and again when I left. We called them wind kisses.
Chapter 29
Costume
In September I told my mother I wanted to be a mermaid for Halloween. I had requested a book from the library on making mermaid costumes, so we read it together. There were about five different styles to choose from, and I picked out the one I wanted. The tail was form-fitting, and it had a fin that flared out sideways at the bottom and would hide my feet. The top was a bib and it had straps. My mom took my measurements and we wrote down how much fabric and other items we would need.
That Saturday we went downtown to buy them. At the fabric store we found some stretchy, shimmery blue-green fabric and a stiffer, plain green fabric for the fins and bib. We also got dark green hem tape for the veins on the fins, some elastic and green buttons. Then we went to a craft store, where I found a bag of shells that had holes drilled in them and a bag of pink iridescent sequins. My mother also took me to get green ballet-type shoes that I could wear under the fin, a green hair band, and a long-sleeved, light pink leotard to wear under the bib.
“You’ll need to wear something underneath the costume because it’ll be cold in late October. And it’s better to wear pink instead of green, so the bib will stand out.”
At home we spread out the fabric on the kitchen table, and following the guide in the book, my mother measured and then drew the outline of the fish body on the inside of the fabric, then cut it out. Next she cut out the fins and with a piece of chalk on the right side of the material, drew the veins. She helped me cut pieces of the hem tape to match the sizes of the ones my mother drew, then we pinned them in place. The hem tape had gluey stuff on the other side so they could be ironed in place, which she let me do. Then she ran the sewing machine down the middle of each one, even though the book didn’t say to do it.
“The hem tape could become loose, especially after you walk around in it,” my mom told me. “This will keep the veins on.”
The seam made the veins look more realistic. My mother had learned sewing when she was young so she had ideas to add to the costume, like she scalloped the bottom of the fin, which made it really special.
I did whatever she told me to do to help, mostly ironing seams and hand-sewing. Before she sewed the bib part, she made a diamond pattern across the fabric with the sewing machine, then told me to sew sequins at each juncture. I also sewed sequins and shells to the waistband. Then I glued shells and glitter to the head band. It was so much fun to make, and it looked really pretty when we were all done. I put it on it and walked funny because it was narrow over the legs, but I didn’t mind because it was like a mermaid swimming.
I put my costume on to show my father when he came home the following week.
“Whoa,” he said when he saw me. “For a minute I thought my daughter had turned into a mermaid! Where did you get that?”
“Me and Mom made it for my Halloween costume.”
“It was easy,” my mother told him. “Cammie did the hard part, all the hand-sewing.”
Of course, it was still ages before Halloween. I couldn’t wait to show it to Mermary. I hadn’t told her I was going to be a mermaid for Halloween, although I had told her about the holiday and what it was about. I wanted to surprise her.
Chapter 30
Knives
When Halloween was still a couple of weeks away, my mother and I went to a block sale near our neighborhood. That’s when lots of people on the same block put out stuff they want to sell in their yard or driveway. It was a sunny day, but there was a cool breeze blowing and lots of leaves were falling from the trees and you could tell autumn was in full fall. My mother looked at books and old clothes, and sometimes kitchen tools. I looked at the books and toys.
At one house I found a really nice toy dagger in a sheath that was attached to a belt. It was gold and black, with a curved blade and a fancy handle with a scrolled end and red, green, and blue gems. A girl came over. She had short, curly, reddish hair and freckles. I recognized her from summer school.
“That’s for a pirate costume. I was a pirate for Halloween last year,” she said. “I’m going to be a ninja this year. What about you? Wait—don’t tell me. You’re going to be a mermaid, right?”
I smiled and nodded. She grinned.
“I remember you from summer school,” she said. “You drew the mermaid pictures.” Her name was Regina, although everyone called her Reggie. She was a tomboy. She usually sat at the back of class with two guys, Zander and Elmo, unless they were talking too much and the teacher separated them. “I liked your drawings, especially the way you drew them with three fingers, like in comic books.”
I didn’t know comic book characters only had three fingers because I never read them. She got a comic book from a pile she was selling.
“See?”
She showed me drawings of Donald Duck. I had seen him on TV but never noticed he only had three fingers and a thumb.
“Not all the comic book artists do that. Like Wonder Woman or Batman, those are drawn realistic style, so they have all five fingers.”
Reggie talked a lot, but I didn’t mind since I didn’t say anything.
“Why don’t you try on the dagger?”
I put it on. There was a mirror leaning up against the house, so I went over to look at myself. It was really nice, like something a queen would wear.
“Hey, why don’t you wear that knife with your costume?” Reggie asked. “Mermaids should have knives, but they never do.”
I was surprised. “They should?”
“How else are they supposed to get abalone off of rocks?” Reggie said. “What if she gets caught in a net? How are mermaids supposed to defend themselves?”
She was right. I remembered Mermary scrabbling at the plastic bag, trying to get out.
“What about sharks . . . or what if a scissor fish came after her?” All of a sudden Reggie grabbed some of my hair and pretended to cut it with her fingers, saying, “snip, snip, snip,” making me giggle. Scissor fish were called that because their tail looks like an open pair of scissor, but I didn’t mind being teased. No one except my parents had ever done that.
“If the mermaid had a knife, that scissor fish would be her next meal,” Reggie said.
“How much?” I asked.
“Four dollars, and you can have all the comic books too.”
I paid for it with my allowance money without asking my mother. I wasn’t sure she’d let me buy it because she was against violence, and might think a knife was violent. Reggie gave me a paper bag with handles to put it all into. I thanked her and started to walk away, but then I came back. I stood there, staring at Reggie. She looked at me curiously.
“What?” she asked. “Change your mind?”
I shook my head. “T-trick-or-treating. Want to go with me?”
“I always go with Zander and Elmo,” she said.
“Oh.” I was disappointed. I started to leave.
“Wait, why don’t you come with us? It’ll be fun.”
She got a pen and wrote down my phone number, and then wrote hers on my bag. I was so glad I had been able to ask, even though it had been really hard.
I caught up to my mother at the next house. I was thinking about Mermary. I didn’t know if there was anything she needed to defend herself from in the lake, but I thought there might be mussels or clams, or plants she might need to cut. Down the street I found a tiny jackknife I thought would be the right size for Mermary. It was only fifty cents so I bought that too.
At home I put on my mermaid costume with the dagger. It looked really good. I couldn’t wait for Halloween.
Chapter 31
Topic
Sister gave us an assignment to make another presentation to the class. I had hoped that last one would be it for the year, but no such luck. She passed out a list of topics and told us to either choose one, or come up with our own. Then we were suppos
ed to write our ideas about it.
“Once you have a topic, I’ll teach you how to write an outline, which you’ll need for your presentation,” she said.
One of the topics on the sheet was “The ocean, or anything related to the sea.” I wrote down,
Mermaids live in the ocean.
There are lots of stories about mermaids.
Are mermaids real?
Mermaids are beautiful and magical.
Other cultures believe in mermaids.
I wasn’t sure if I had done it right. I looked around and saw that some of my classmates hardly had anything written down, but others were still writing. After a while, Sister said that if we had all written something, then to put our names on the paper and turn them in.
“But I only wrote one sentence,” a boy named James said.
“That’s all right,” Sister said. “You’ll be developing this idea. I can give you some ideas too.”
When I got my topic back the next day, Sister had put a plus sign on it, which meant it was approved. At the bottom she wrote, “This can be a very interesting topic. Think about combining some of these ideas.”
I read Mermary my list when I saw her that afternoon.
“I’m glad she approved my topic. I was afraid she was going to say it wasn’t scientific.”
“Can’t mermaids be scientific?”
I laughed because that made me think of mermaids wearing white coats and looking through microscopes on the ocean floor. I knew Mermary meant the topic of mermaids could be scientific.
“Yes, but I can’t talk about that, because then everyone would wonder how I knew all those facts about mermaids.”
“Can’t you say you read it in a book? Or online?”
“Well, the reason I’ve been reading all those books on mermaids was because I was trying to find factual information on them, but all I found were stories. Besides, if I said I read it someplace, people might want to read the same book, and they would find out I was lying. Or, at least, they would think I was.”