Chapter #3A Mermaid's Tale by: BeeJay   My name is Maya Kristen, and this is my story.
I'm the daughter of Patrick and Pam Kristen, and we lived on Hannah Island, off the coast of Massachusetts. Dad runs a fishing boat. Most of the year, he feeds the island with his catch; during the summer, he takes the summer dinks (our term for mainlanders who spend the summer on our island) out on the boat for sport fishing. Like every other business on the island, it's the money he makes in the summer that keeps the lights on all year.
Another popular business on the island, albeit one whose customers don't get nearly as drunk once they get on the water, is McKechnie's scuba diving service. People love going below the surface of the ocean and seeing the wonders of the deep; not just the summer dinks, but islanders, too. I should know: I learned to dive from them.
It was through scuba diving that I met Jocelyn.
Jocelyn was Mr. McKechnie's stepdaughter. She and her mom started as summer dinks; when they met Mr. McKechnie, though, they really hit it off. When the ferry started taking the summer dinks back to the mainland, Jocelyn and her mom stayed behind. Before the year was over, they got married.
Jocelyn and I hit it off, too. We swam together, and we hung out together. Other folks on the island joked that we spent more time together than if we were sisters. They weren't far off: We even call each other's parents Mom and Dad.
I wore my dark brown hair in a pixie cut, which got some of the summer dinks wondering if I was a lesbian (although they put it in cruder terms). If they'd just ask me, or Jocelyn, or just about anyone on the island, we could have just told them yes. Jocelyn and I shared our first kiss when we were 12; at 13, we felt each other's breasts for the first time; and, at 14, we made love for the first time. It wasn't a question of us coming out: we just never thought of our feelings for each other as something to hide. Folks on the island were sure that we would get married just as soon as we came of age.
And then, things changed.
******************************
I had just turned 16. Also, it was the week before the 4th of July, and the start of the summer season. While the beaches were clean and the water was clear, I went to the McKechnies' for a dive. Jocelyn was more than happy to join me.
As we got ready, Jocelyn asked me, "Can I ask you something?"
"Ask away, girlfriend," I replied.
"How long do Mom and I have to live here before folks start calling me an islander?"
"It's never going to happen," I answered. "I was born on the island, so I'm an islander. You were born on the mainland, so you're a mainlander. It's just the way things are."
Once we were in our gear, Mr. McKechnie took us out, and we dove into the water.
It was beautiful. I really wish I was a poet, so I could describe the undersea world to you. It's amazing to watch a school of fish swim by.
Something caught Jocelyn's eye, and she dove for it. Within moments, she had grabbed it, and brought it up to where I was. It was a necklace, with a round stone hanging from it that was as blue as the ocean.
After we gave ourselves a chance to adjust to the pressure differential (the bends are no fun at all), we climbed back on board, and went back to port.
Once Mr. McKechnie left the bridge, Jocelyn showed him her find. "Do you think somebody lost it?" she asked.
He looked it over. "If they did, nobody ever reported it lost. And the summer dinks would have insisted I go out and help them look for it." He handed it back to Jocelyn. "I suppose, by the law of the sea, that makes it yours."
"Actually, I'm giving it to Maya." Walking over to me, she put it around my neck, and gave me a kiss that left me feeling weak in the knees. At least, that's what I thought was going on, when I fell to the pier.
Looking down the length of my body, however, I saw the most amazing thing. My feet transformed into reddish-gold fins.
To my astonishment, my legs started growing together, with reddish-gold scales spreading over the flesh. Then, my tail (there was no sense calling it anything else) started getting longer, stretching to one and a half times the original length of the lower half of my body. My hair grew longer, and turned strawberry blonde. My bra snapped audibly as my breasts grew two cup sizes.
"Maya," Jocelyn said, "you... you've turned into a mermaid!"
I couldn't argue with that.
"It must be that necklace!"
And she reached for it, to take it off of me.   indicates the next chapter needs to be written. |
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