The Last Nymph

Beneath the Waves

Maera sat for a long time before she decided to speak. It was obvious to Doc something serious had happened while he was away on the mainland that day.

"Did I make a mistake playing with the diver, Doc? You know how I wanted to be with him."

Doc's heart was beginning to race as he waited for more information about her activities. Why did he care so much? And would it be painful for him—or satisfying to hear that she followed her heart into a more involved situation with a man?

She spoke haltingly. "I watched him as he swam . . . so strongly beneath the waves. And when I finally wanted him to see me, I came near him in one of my beautiful dresses. He flashed a great light at me which lit up the colors of sea floor and the fish around me."

Doc was intrigued by the obvious fact that Maera did not really know what a 'photographer' was. Photos, logically were unknown to her. He remembered how fascinated she was by the simple sketches she had seen from Bullfinch's Mythology the night of her stories. What would she think, he wondered, if Maera were to see a full color photograph of herself? Obviously, Alexandros had been shooting pictures of her with the powerful flash she described.

"Did you only meet underwater with Alexandros?" he asked, now hoping that it might only be the extent of their dalliance together.

"Yes . . . at first."

Doc slumped down in his chair, preparing to hear a worse scenario.

"He followed me with his flashes and enjoyed seeing me swim, so I danced for him under the waves," she said. A hopeful expression now played upon her face.

Doc could not help but think of how the photographer must have looked upon her there in the blue-green depths. He only hoped she left on her dress, having seen her himself without it on two occasions. Once on the deck of a ship with the nude British tourists—and the last time, writhing before him in the firelight during the storm.

How alluring she could be, he thought. There was no doubt Maera understood the disruption she could cause in men when her Nymph nature ruled the day—or night. How confident she must have grown after centuries of luring males to jump off their ships to be with her. Yet how innocent could she really be? Was it possible she truly had avoided more intimate interactions with men, contrary to the antics of her many sisters?

"He seemed very happy to see me with his lights," she said, but sadly. "And when I went out of the water, onto the rocks . . . he followed me. I didn't trust myself with him, Doc . . . So I ran! Into a cave where sometimes hide."

Doc nodded, intrigued--half hoping she would not continue the narrative any further.

"The diver took off his black suit and followed me there. He playfully caught me, when I showed I wanted to get away . . . but I didn't want to get away, Doc."

He was silent now. Almost certain about what would next be uttered from her beautiful mouth. That they had become lovers during this wild, cavernous meeting.

"We laughed in the dark . . . and I let him kiss me on the lips. It was the greatest kiss I ever had, Doc! And when he wanted more, I let him take off my dress . . . and he was naked too . . ."

At this point, doc got up from the table, nervously. He interrupted her confession by stepping to his shelf and taking down a newly stocked bottle of wine, and a glass. The latter he began to wipe clean furiously with a dishtowel. The diversion was enough to stop Maera in the midst of what was sure to become a lurid and eventual "R" if not "X" rated tale.

"And then . . .?" Doc finally and reluctantly asked.

"I told him I was not ready for what we wanted to do. . . what I watched my sister Amatheia do with her men."

"Oh? . . . And?"

"But he didn't stop . . . and I really didn't want him to stop, Doc. My body was like the storm. Full of lightning . . . and I could see and feel so was his."

"So . . . then did you . . . let him . . ."

"NO! I became frightened. Frightened about what our father had always told us about men. About you humans! That it could never work or last. That our only reason for being was to tease them and play with their hearts . . . to ruin their lives forever once they had been with us."

It was a poignant message which could have included Doc's own heart at that moment. He had not poured the wine, just held the bottle suspended in the air, hovering over his glass while his mind froze, confused for the moment. The moment Maera had apparently refused the diver's naked and impassioned advances.

"I know he'll never come back, "she said, now sobbing again. "He knew I teased him too much. And I did, Doc. I did! I couldn't help myself. It was all I knew how to do with a man."

Doc was now totally speechless.

"Even though I wanted him to keep kissing me and touching me . . . to feel him start to be inside me . . . I ran! I ran out of the cave and dived back into my world. And went deep, down! Where he could not find me . . . even with his powerful light."

Doc was surprised and relieved at this unexpected conclusion to the tale she was telling.

"This is why I am here, Doc . . . on this quiet side of the island. Why I have always chosen to be alone. Why I have rejected all those dangers of men's ways and love for so many years."

He looked admiringly into her young and distressed face.

"And I see now . . . it will never change," she added. "Because a Nymph will never be . . . like your kind, Doc. We will never be so foolish to love."

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