A Merman's Tail

Chapter 5

The following morning I gulped my cereal down and grabbed my board and swimming gear.  I made a couple of sandwiches and threw them and an apple in the bag with my gear. 

I yelled "Bye Mom!"

Then I strapped everything to my bike and carried my board in one arm while I pedalled as fast as I could to the cove with the wreck.  I didn't know what time Mitch was going to get there. But I wanted to be ready as soon as he came so we could spend as much time together as possible.  I chained my bike to a sign post at the top of the hill overlooking the bay and then grabbed my gear and followed the path down to the beach.  It wasn't one of the more popular beaches because the path down was quite long and hard to carry picnic gear down.  Most local people went to the one I was at yesterday so this one was definitely more private.

I stripped down to my boardies and slathered sunscreen all over the parts that I could reach before paddling out to the wreck.  It was low tide and there was quite a bit of the wreck exposed above the water line.  Because of the list in the water there was only one surface where someone could sit or stand up with any degree of confidence, and I set my board against it and slid over to rest my back against the side of the barnacle studded cabin.  I sat there admiring first the clear water beneath me and then the view of the horizon, thinking about what I wanted to ask Mitch about his life and what he did, where he lived and stuff. 

Admittedly I was falling asleep, lulled by the sound of the water against the wreck and the lazily circling seabirds overhead.  All of a sudden I was woken by the sounds of a definite splash next to me and I opened my eyes to see a grinning Mitch sitting next to me on my board.

"Mitch!" I yelled and hugged him tightly.

"Oooof, easy there Scotty!"  He said, laughing as I released him and started asking a million questions.

"What job don't you want to do?  Where do you really live?  What do you want the sea weed for? What are you sisters and brothers names?  What do you eat?" I asked.

"Woah, slow down.  OK let's leave the job stuff for another day, that's boring.  Um, I live in a hollow reef further out to sea.  It's on the land side of the big shipping lane so we don't get picked up by Military vessel sonar.  Most fishing boats don't have the equipment to pick us up, we're too fast.  But our Community is thinking about moving from here.  We don't come close to shore very often anymore because of the pollution and because there are more large boats on the water now."

"Yeah, we're not real good at keeping the oceans clean." I said frowning.

"My sisters Kym and Hero have a hard time keeping up with all the ocean animals that need assistance from man-made rubbish." Mitch said sadly. 

nIs it really bad where you live?" I asked.  I didn't want to lose Mitch now that I'd found him again.  He wasn't my only friend, but I definitely wanted to know more about him that I already did.

"Not at the moment.  It was worse when the fishing fleet went out on a regular basis, but ever since they stopped fishing with lots of small boats it's been easier to stay hidden.  I wasn't supposed to be that close to you when I rescued you.  My Dad was really mad when I got home." He said.

"I'm sorry for getting you in trouble," I assured him, "But I'm not sorry that you found me and saved me." I side hugged him as he grinned and scooted closer on the board.

We sat in companionable silence for a while, admiring the water and the view, then I asked again, "So what do you need the seaweed for?"

"Mom uses it for medicine and also for a special stew.  It's for my birthday." He told me with a quirky smile.

"Wow!  How old are you going to be?" I asked.

"Well, I'm going to be 15." Mitch said.

"That's how old I am!" I said with a huge grin and hugged him tightly.

"Wow Scotty!  We're the same!" Mitch shrieked and we both fell off the board and into the water.  Mitch came up next to me and grinned, blowing bubbles in my face, I grinned back and tried to blow lots of bubbles back, but then I ran out of air and had to go back up to the surface for another breath. 

When I popped up to the surface and threw my head back to clear my hair out of my eyes, I was startled to see Mitch really close.  He'd swum so quickly up to see me.  He tilted his head to the side and asked, "What's it like to walk?"