My mermaid Marina

“Don’t come any closer” she said.

“Do you want me to help you down? I said, still averting my face.

“I am waiting for the tide to come in.”

“Isn’t it easier to get down when the tide is out?”

“No, I haven’t got legs like you.”

That was all I needed a disabled girl, abandoned on my beach with no clothes on.

“It’s alright I will help you down.”

“No you won’t human. I will wait for the tide. Now leave me alone.”

Human did she say?  Was she disabled and nutty too? I had to look at her.

I looked up and found a very beautiful but angry girl pouting at me with her tail dangling over the rock.

“What? Haven’t you seen a mermaid before?”

I shook my head and looked at her again. Her tail was smooth like a dolphin’s. Her coarse hair was like strands of seagrass. She blinked her eyes which I guessed were drying out and her breasts were just tiny mounds on her body.

“Finished looking?”

“Let me get you down, you are worried about drying out aren’t you?”

She looked at me differently and nodded. I reached up for her, she paused then put her arms round me while I held her bottom and lifted her down, carried her to a rock pool to sit in.

She immediately sighed with relief and splashed the water.

“Can you breathe both in and out the water?”

“Questions, questions?” she responded

“Why are you so angry with me?”

“I am not angry with you, I am pleased with you. I am angry with myself for making risky mistakes.”

“You’re not going back to sea straight away are you?”

She shook her head, “The sharks out are still out there.”

“How can you tell?”

“The sea is for those that can interpret other languages. That is why I can speak to you, crabs, birds and shellfish too. So there are sharks out there now OK?”

“What is your name? And how do you know that expression jungle telegraph?”

“Boy, do you need thelp. I can read your mind that’s why. Under the sea we don’t ask questions all the time, there is no need. That is why I know you are safe to be with, your wife is dead, you think I am beautiful and have small breasts.”

I laughed and nodded in agreement. “All what you said is true, but how about my name?”

“Not sure. I am going to call you Shark because I was frightened of you at first.”

“That’s close, it’s Mark. Then I will call you Marina unless you have another name?”

“I do, but you humans couldn’t pronounce it, so Marina is fine.“I’m off now, the sharks have gone". 

With that she swam off. I do hope I'll see her again.



Image found at www.pinterest.com

Her sweet song

O sing a song of the sea
That's good enough for me
I have so many tales to tell
Even more than that seashell

Hold it up close to your ear
It will tell what you most fear
Will Kraken finally wake?
I hope not for all our sakes

Orcas here, cephalopods there
Giant squids hug like a bear
Stingrays are just baby stuff
Beasts in oceans depths are tough

O sing that sea song indeed
Down there you are just their feed
Unless you're a mermaids friend
Love and kisses 'til your end

Her sweet song will entice you
You'll do what she wants you to
You'll paint her nails and eat fish
Go ahead if that's your wish!

Image found at https://2ser.com/mermaid-tempest-and-friends-life-as-a-mermaid/

Wavelet

Hiding in the rocks
They're hauling in the mermaid
I've seen her before
Her name is Wavelet
Why do they want to catch her?
She and I were friends
Met her long ago
How she laughed when she saw me
Paddling in the surf

She taught me to swim
Then hugged me when I did
With a salty kiss
Wavelet did no harm
Told me what her life was like
Hiding from the sharks
Swimming with dolphins
Playing snap with the shellfish
How we laughed at that

Her necklet was shells
They're pretty I said
But useful she told me
The men are shouting now
She has broken through the net
Wavelet has escaped
Hiding in the rocks
The men have now lost their catch
I'll find her again

Image found at https://au.pinterest.com

The coming gale

There was a grey mist over the waves
The sea slowly awoke from her sleep
I thought I heard a mermaid laughing
She sang a song from the briny deep

The tide kicked the spume over the beach
With squabbling Herring Gull's normal affray
A vagrant Albatross now soared aloft
Glanced down on us then was on her way

The mermaid waved shaking her long hair
Then dived in the sea with a flip of her tail
I wish she'd stay for a yarn or two
But she'd warned me of a coming gale

I hauled my boat above high tide mark
And wondered whether I'd see her again
My sleep is oft filled with dreams of her
I listen for her sweet song, but in vain

Image found at www.pinterest.com

A siren of the sea

I thought it was a seal
But oh, was I so wrong
A mermaid before me
A siren of the sea
Who scared now tried to flee
Glancing now up at me
Doubtful look on her face
Feebly trying to escape
But had injured her arm
So I climbed down to her
Leaping the rocky shore
She bared her teeth at me
As I sat beside her
So I tore off my shirt
And made a sling for her
This made her laugh and smile
As she leaned against me
Knowing I would not cheat
Lucky that we had met
Calmer now she did preen
Then glance out to the sea
Then back at me pleading
To take her to the surf
That single sad look of mine
Made her laugh with such glee
Gave me a salty kiss
As you sow so you reap
She then whispered to me
"Come back when moon is full
You'll have more than kisses
So it was, that's the truth

Image found at www.abstract.desktopnexus.com

Mermaids breath

                           

     
I've no feet of clay 
Just sand between my toes
What simple pleasures

Others have all gone
The moon is my companion
And a pair of gulls

I can relax now
Far from the lies of the world
Away from my cares

I rest on the shore
Night's cover eases my mind
Worries are all fixed

Asleep on the beach
Woken by a mermaids breath
Angels singing songs

Dare I snatch a kiss?
No, they will just box my ears
Laughing swim away

Image found at www.pinterest.com

This poem was published back in 2013 and may be new for most

We met by the sea

Yes she holds it still
A small fragment of my heart
O how I loved her

We met by the sea
I loved her salty kisses
He seaweed garland

How was I to know
That she was Neptune's daughter
A siren to lure me

My eyes are swollen
Salty tears for her alone
Wreckage on the shore

Come again my love
Let us splash in the shallows
And bask on the rocks

Yes she holds it still
A small fragment of my heart
O how I loved her

Image found at www.fineartamerica.com

This mermaid loves me

Seagulls piercing calls  
Wild surf rolls in once again
Crabs scuttle away

The waves beckon me
"Welcome back son of mine
You are home again"

The beach deserted
Salty spume in the air
Wind in my sad eyes

Look, there's a dolphin
And bladder-wrack at my feet
Shellfish blow kisses

This mermaid loves me
She's from the sea whence I came
So beckons me home

I can not resist
Her tempting sad sirens call
"You belong with me"

Fleshy tones of love
Deep, deep as the oceans sigh
Clean my sins away

I weep salty tears
Rock me in those arms again
With your sweet solace

"How deep the ocean?"
If only I could fathom that
Who knows the answer

Still waters run deep
With sweet tidings of our lives
On your bosom lie

Image found at www.imgarcade.com

Night on the beach

I’ve no feet of clay

Just sand between my toes

What simple pleasures

 

Others have all gone

The moon is my companion

And a pair of gulls

 

I can relax now

Far from the lies of the world

Away from my cares

 

I rest on the shore

Night's cover eases my old mind

Worries are all fixed

 

Asleep on the beach

Woken by a mermaids breath         

Angels singing songs

 

Dare I snatch a kiss?

No! they will just box my ears

And laughing swim away

Coral's Story

(Mark and Marina the mermaid part 12 (conclusion). Click on Mermaid in the labels bar for previous episodes.)

Some time ago my Mum suggested I write down things that happen in my life, something like a journal that I can look back on when I am older. I wasn’t too fussed back then and I must admit but I did.  It was a bit piecemeal with long gaps where I appear to do and think nothing, which is far from the truth, but am I glad I did because there are some things I wrote down which were precious moments for me and hopefully I can pass them on to my children if I ever have any.

Soon after my Granddad died everything changed. My life turned around, I met a very special person and it wasn’t a boy but another girl…well woman really who had two young children and I loved her from the start. You won’t believe this but she was my Granddad’s girlfriend.

But let me take you back a year or two. I know now that I was not a poilite person to know and get on with in my teens. It is all about oestrogen and testosterone and coming of age, well not age, maturity in body, even if not common sense or understanding. That all changed when my Granddad died and Mum found out that he had had an affair with another woman after my Nan died. That’s OK though, as everyone wants and needs a little comfort and caring in their lives, young people, adults and even oldies. But in his case he had rescued a mermaid in distress and although he didn’t sweep her off her feet as she didn’t have any, he returned her to the sea where she belonged. After they each told the other their stories they fell in love.

When my Mum found out that she existed, she took me to try to find her and to let her know about Granddad’s death. Marina had given birth to two mer children by him and I was totally speechless when I saw her for the first time. She was so beautiful that even I fell in love with her.

After I knew where to find her; that is if she wanted to be found by me, we would talk and eat some the food I would take down and she would allow me to swim and play with Ocean and Serena her children. Then when I was tired out because they were such better swimmers than me I would go and lay on the beach with Marina and we would talk. I took a coarse toothed comb for her hair and would comb it for her and check her back for scratches and for freeloading sea creatures that would hide away on her back out of reach. Marina would sing to me with her children playing in the shallows and the words of her songs told me of the way of the sea and their love of it.

Sometimes she would be happy for Ocean and Serena to drag me out to sea and play their mer games of hide and seek where you closed your eyes and had to try and guess where they were, much like blind man’s bluff but there was no sound under water. Their chasey game was adapted so they were only allowed to swim with one arm but I was still hopeless as they used theirs tails so effectively and always caught me; but I loved it.

One day Marina said to me, “Coral, Don’t love us so much.” Then she looked into my eyes and continued, “Save that love for a man. You have become a woman and have helped my children know that humans can be kind. However I have decided that we must make a long journey to find other mer people. Ocean is growing up fast and I noticed he did something with you that showed me he is maturing.

“What did he do? I noticed nothing.” I asked.

“You probably thought it was quite innocent. But we were all swimming together when he caught a little fish in his mouth then came up to you and kissed you and transferred the fish to your mouth. Did you not notice?”

“Yes” I answered, “but I thought he as just playing a trick on me.”

Marina shook her head, smiling. “No, no. this is a typical mating ritual of a merman bragging that he can provide for his mate. He likes you so much he wants to look after you, even though he doesn’t realize that yet himself.” She paused then continued, “All those years ago when Mark your grandfather first met me he would bring me fresh fish to eat just like a merman. That is when I really began to love him as he showed he wanted to look after me.”

I began to cry and said, “I don’t want to lose you.” 

Marina hugged me and kissed away my tears. “You are not losing me or the children but Ocean and Serena must learn more of life away from you and hopefully find other mer people to interact with. I will make a promise the same one I made your grandfather. Once a year I will return to this beach. This time perhaps it would be better if we met at the start of spring so the water is not so icy for you.”

So we discussed at length exactly when this would be with the high tides and the full moon coinciding. Then she called the children in sat them down and she then explained to them what was going to happen. Serena was plaiting my hair at the time and Ocean was counting my fingers as Marina spoke to them. They looked at me and then at Marina in disbelief. Serena cried and Ocean shook his head crossly and hugged me not wanting to let me go. We all cried as we said our farewells.

That was the last I saw of them. I still go to our meeting place each year, just in case, but they have never returned. I think now that Marina was stronger than all of us and had decided it must be the way and they had to go it alone. Each year I return and pray that one of them might appear but as the years pass even that little hope is fading and I must return to my normal life heartbroken, but I will never give up. Would you?

Postscript on Marina the mermaid

(Mark and Marina the mermaid part 11. Click on Mermaid in the labels bar for previous episodes.)
Hello my name is Rosalind and I am Mark’s daughter. Let me say what a surprise it was for me to learn about my father. I had no idea whatsoever that he had this adventure, nor did my brother. Sadly my father died just a few weeks ago suddenly and it wasn’t until my husband and I were sorting out his things on a rather dismal day a few weeks later that I found out what he had really been doing over the last few years since mum died. When I read his account of meeting the mermaid Marina as he called her and of my half brother and sister that live in the sea off our shores I was completely amazed that he had kept it secret even from me for so many years as we were always so close. He left my brother and I a letter; to tell us about the mermaid he had helped…and from the information he provided I finally worked out exactly where they used to meet at their secret beach after that first beach was turned into a bauxite loading port a few years ago where he first met Marina. In fact I remembered something he had told me when I was a teenager so many years ago about the secret places that still exist for those still adventurous to find that few know about.

I couldn’t think how I could contact Marina until I read his story a few times and ignoring the red herrings and waffle that he planted I worked out exactly where they had agreed to meet in that conservation park. I was going to go with my brother but instead I took my daughter who was just a teenager at the time and at that age of growing up and becoming more difficult and snappy every day. I slowly told her about her grandfather. She didn’t believe me of course but reluctantly she did come with me and after a few attempts we found the deserted cove where they used to meet. There were a few signs of my father being there and I discovered the secret cache for food now completely depleted and we stayed overnight just 
as he did by leaving my car out of the park, as well as out of sight.  We settled down for the night on that balmy summer’s evening and dozed in and out of sleep.

It was about four in the morning that I heard the call for “Mark” repeated a few times and I dared to call “Marina” back to her.  There was silence after that but just as dawn broke I could see that she was watching us just at the edge of the sea.

“Marina,” I called again, “I am Mark’s daughter. I came to talk to you.”

She kept very still, then quietly said “He has died hasn’t he?”

“Yes,” I whispered. By this time my daughter had woken up and was listening to us speak. Luckily she said nothing but sat there open mouthed in amazement.

“I have my daughter here with me, Marina. It is just the two of us Have you got your children with you?”

With that she came out of the water and her two merchildren came with her and rested half in and half out of the water staring at us.  So I sat down on the beach not too close to them and talked to her about my family and of my father and how much we loved him and were happy that he had found her to care for after my mother had died. She nodded sadly and cried herself and spoke to her children and pointed to us sitting there. I cannot tell you any more because I am crying so much myself as I write this. Even I thought how beautiful she was, luscious almost and I can see how he fell in love with her. Curiously from that day on my daughter became a really loving person and became the most beautiful young woman you could imagine. Having the opportunity to meet and interact with with someone completely outside her little world changed her. She had realized that love and caring was what life was all about. Her eyes had been opened wide.

Years later I found out from her (and curiously we had named our daughter Coral so many years ago)  that later she visited Marina too by herself and had swum with her and had seen Ocean and Selena grow up. It was then I realized there was hope for humankind after all. 

“I am going down to see Auntie Marina and her kids.” Coral would say if anyone else was in earshot. This was our secret. I am so proud of her she is just like her grandad. Mind you I just hope she doesn’t find a merman to be her boyfriend, on the other hand…she certainly seems to know a lot about the sea now and tends to eat a lot of sushi when she is out! 

Note : Final Episode No 12 , Coral's Story, next week

The Tail End

(Mark and Marina the mermaid part 10. Click on Mermaid in the labels bar for previous episodes.)

I expect you want to know whether I ever saw Marina and our merchild Ocean again. Doing what is right is never the easiest course. In this case I had no say I was given just the one option of being able to see both Marina and our son Ocean again just once a year in mid winter on a beach not easy to walk on even in the holiday season when the access was merely difficult let alone the winter when it was quite hazardous as in the cold and wet there was the danger of high seas and punishing winds. So it was that I made my way in the pre-dawn on that shortest day of the year to the beach where we had first made love.

The wind blew coldly, the full moon was reluctant to be seen, and there was rain or sea spray in the air that had swirled inland from the turbulent waters. Curiously I wasn’t worrying for myself but for a year old baby swimming with his mother coming ashore to see his father. I wished I had a blanket to wrap him up in; I certainly needed one. The pale wintry dawn was thinking about if not actually promising its arrival as I sat down in as sheltered position as I could find. If any seagulls had been given the task of calling out “Maaark” to alert me of Marina’s imminent arrival they had reneged and found somewhere else to shelter instead.

“She will come, she promised,” I kept saying to myself. I assumed she would check for all possible threats and hazards before arriving, so waited patiently. Just after dawn I saw her beach herself and I ran excitedly down to her side on the vacant shore.

With my arms wrapped around her I cried out “Where is he? Where is Ocean?”

“In the water at my feet.” She said calmly, “He will not surface until I give him the signal.” Then with no apparent signal from her at all he came up alongside her and she placed an arm around him. I had been parted from them too long; clearly she had used telepathy to signal the all clear.

Still holding on to her with one hand I reached out and touched his hand with mine. Even at that young age he glanced up at her, received a nod of approval (and hopefully a telepathic message as well) put his lips against my hand and sucked at it. I had such an overwhelming feeling of love for them both that Marina smiled at me and said “I wasn’t sure that I would still love you the same way now I have him to care for, but I do. You have made the impossible, possible. He is healthy and learns easily and when I look and touch him I am reminded of you every day.”

“Is it difficult surviving in the sea and having the responsibility of caring for Ocean too?”

“The sea is always unpredictable but we expect that, most of the living things in it are that way too. Understanding the ways of the sea and of sharks and other predators is a defence but it is not foolproof. But we cannot survive on land; you may love me and protect me but how many other men would want to kill me just because I am different. How many large and magnificent fish are caught by you not to eat but merely for pride? The turtle population is dying out because some of your people are eating or selling turtle eggs. Do you know how few of their hatchlings survive? You humans are always upsetting the balance of nature.” Here Marina stopped and smiled sheepishly “No, not you Mark, you are redressing the balance. There will be one more merman thanks to you.” She lifted her head to receive any messages and sounds from around her, then continued. “Come into the water Mark and this time we will try for a little mermaid.”

“I didn’t think you would want me again, Marina. But we cannot if Ocean is swimming around by us.”  I didn’t mention how cold the water was which would surely dampen my ardour.

“Ocean is a baby; as long as he knows I am near he will not worry so long as he can sense I am happy.” She paused here then whispered shyly “How else will he learn?”

So tentatively I removed my clothes and entered shivering into the cold waters alongside them. She pulled me out to the deeper water and enfolded me in her arms and we made love in the occasional light of the moon. Every now and then I would feel a flick of Oceans tail as he swam around us just happy and reassured to be close to his mother. By now however I had got very cold and was breathing heavily; gasping in fact.

“I must get out of the water, it is too cold for me,” I told her. She pushed me up on to the shore pulling Ocean along with her.

“He knows you are to be trusted now. He has received signals of happiness when I am with you. But we must go now.”

I reached out for Ocean and he came to me. I held him in my arms and hugged him and his fingers touched my nose and my mouth and he poked me in the eye. Then I kissed him and let him get back in the water. I looked back at Marina and she was laughing with happiness at the pair of us.

“We will see you next year,’ she said taking my hand and placing it on her rosy tummy. I expect she was hoping that she would have another little merchild; well I certainly hoped we were and I kept my mind focused on that coming true too.

However I never saw her on that beach again. Just a few months after our winter meeting and after suffering a heavy bout of the flu I read that the little bay where we had met and fallen in love was to be developed as a port for shipping bauxite or some other ore being mined some 100 kilometres inland from the sea. A huge construction of a jetty, gantries and conveyor belts was well under way by the following winter and Marina would have never dared to land there now with her children.

Reading this story you may have guessed that our love always conquered every setback. So I visited the same secluded site on the south coast many months later where Ocean was born and discovered I was father to a baby mermaid, Selena; but that’s another story. I must stop talking to you now or else one day you will work out where to find us and I just cannot trust you…you are human aren’t you?

Real Love

(Mark and Marina the mermaid part 9. Click on Mermaid in the labels bar for previous episodes.)

After about the fifth month we stopped making love but she was happy for me just to hold her and talk to the little one inside her as I lay my head on her tummy. Slowly her breasts enlarged and softened and just as she was leaving after my visit in the ninth month she didn’t reply when I said I would see her again after another moons cycle. It had got quite wintry and finding my way through the bush and leaving as little evidence as possible of my tracks was becoming more and more difficult.

I had exercised a measure of discipline on myself which meant not seeing Marina as often as I wanted but strictly once a month and even then contact was uncertain and for very short periods only. In the summer and autumn months it was fine but as winter approached she was always worried about finding her way back to her safe haven, wherever that was, without being molested by the bullies in the ocean. In my mind the baby should arrive very soon but its non appearance became more a worry to me than to Marina. She couldn’t tell me exactly how many weeks it was normal to carry her calf but she was just relaxed enough to wait it out whatever the period. A dolphin carries for about 10 months so I guessed it would be less than that but perhaps more than the humans nine months as that time was already here.

Whenever the park rangers saw me and asked how I was getting on I always came up with some new bit of idle chat for them about sightings of the rare birds that did occasional cross my path. I saw a glossy black cockatoo one day and got quite excited that it should be in the park. I asked if ever one was seen in the park and they started to get enthused that there might be one and asked where I had seen it. So I merely said I must have been mistaken as I didn’t even manage to get a photograph and that it was close to the car park which didn’t seem right.

Marina knew about my store of food hidden away and often I would notice that it had been raided, almost certainly by her as she would sometimes leave a seashell to say that she had been and that was her thankyou note.

By the end of the tenth month I was visiting more often than I should but would often walk into the park as unobtrusively as possible. There was no sign at the cove that she had been for visiting but one night as I made an uncomfortable nest for myself to sleep in overnight I thought I heard the familiar “Maaark” cry that signalled that she was around. As it was too late for most birds to be flying around I felt sure it was her and dared to call back “Maaareena” just once in an as unhuman voice as I could.

There was no further call and gradually I settled back down again to wait out the night and must have fallen asleep as the next thing I knew it was about five in the morning and still pitch dark. She was lying next to me with her little baby tucked in with her between the two of us.

“Marina” I whispered.

“Shush,” she said, “he is still asleep, “You go back to sleep too.” With that she reached over and put her hand over and patted me just as though I was a baby too.

We stayed like that for another hour; me scarcely breathing, waiting for it to get light, and 
desperate to see the two of them properly. As the pale dawn finally broke she removed her hand from me and decided to check on the baby who had no hair and was attached to one of her breasts, sucking lazily and snuffling quietly to himself.

Knowing how sensitive she might be about him I asked “May I touch him?”

She nodded, but just as I was about to, she touched my hand to check that it was not too warm, which would give him a fright or that the fingernails were not too long and might scratch him. When she was satisfied, she nodded and I slowly touched and caressed his cool back and arms and marvelled at his little tail which wiggled slightly at I stroked it. I then reached over and touched Marina on the neck and the face; then I stroked her arm that was wrapped around the baby. “You are so clever.” I said.

She smiled and hummed in satisfaction as she reached over and touched my face as well. “What will you name him “I asked.

“Ocean” she said simply and sadly, still touching me and stroking me softly.

I had a nagging feeling about her, “You are leaving me, aren’t you?”

“How did you guess?”

“You will be busy bringing Ocean up and teaching him your ways. You might tell him about me and the humans on the land. But for now you have made sure there is at least one mer creature to keep all your hopes for the future alive, so even the man that loves you is less important than ensuring our Ocean survives and is not seduced by the way of the land. I know myself that if scientists knew that you existed, you would be caught and exploited and put into a sanctuary and studied and looked upon as oddities and you would lose more by being safe and protected than being free.” Marina nodded as she gripped hold of my hand.

I went on “I love you so much, but in loving you this way, I too want to protect you to make you safe, keep you for myself and not let you go free to make your own decisions. However you must raise Ocean so he will know the ways of the sea and survive independent of man. If I was always on hand, he would want to ride in a car or even a plane, he would want to learn to read and use a computer, wiggle to music and wear clothes. But for everything he would learn he would forget something important or even laugh at the lessons of the sea.”

“You should have been a merman Mark.” She paused then said, “No, I don’t mean that. A merman would have left me by now. But you don’t want to leave me do you?”

The gift of telepathy has just about been lost to man but as the three of us held onto each other in love, I tried desperately to tell Ocean how much I loved him. As I did so, kissing him and nuzzling into him, Marina stroked me tenderly nodding her approval and tracing her fingers over my face crying all the time.

“I have changed my mind.” She said still crying after being quiet for some time. “I agree to see you once a year but it will be always on the shortest day and it will be by the rock on the beach we first met. I will always be there at sunrise when no other humans are likely to be there.

“The tide won’t always suit, but I will find a way if I am to see you both again.” I replied.

“I know you will. I never knew about true love until I met you.”

Ocean had stopped feeding and had closed his eyes. “Hold him and bring him to me in the water,” she said.

I took my son in my arms and Marina watched and nodded as I carefully walked at a slow pace over the shingle not wanting to part from her and then I waited for her to follow me. She entered the water and as I was about to place Ocean back in her arms she shook her head, “No he can swim Mark” and then said proudly; “He is a merchild.”

So I placed him gently in the water and he turned and swam easily to her and they both disappeared into the surf swimming alongside each other and were soon lost from view.

Marina Appears

(Mark and Marina the mermaid part 8.  Mark has carefully planned a rendevous with Marina the mermaid (now pregnant), at a remote cove to meet her secretly close to where she will give birth)  
                                                                                                                                  
The day that she should have appeared in the little secluded cove came and went. My eyes strained to find any clues to her being in the water observing me or just swimming on the surface and diving similar to the sea lions that might show themselves once in a while. I moved from the beach and clambered up the rocky cliffs to get a better view but if she was there in the sea she wasn’t letting on. So I made my way down to the cove area again and as the sun sank in the sky pulled my sleeping bag out to prepare for the night.

Just as the light was just failing I heard her call out. She mimicked the bird call “Maaark, Maaark,” Just the once. So I risked calling back “Marina” just the once myself then repeated it after a few seconds so she could check the direction that my call came from. Then I got up and walked down to the water’s edge careful not to be too close in case a bigger wave pulled me off my feet.
I waited what seemed like ages thinking that her call was in fact a bird’s after all, and then with a whoosh she came up with the next breaker and lay there at my feet. I was so relieved I could say nothing but bent down and held her in my arms and hugged her. This was a mistake as the next wave came in and washed over me soaking me and I risked being pulled into the turgid sea and being toppled over.
Marina held on tight and with a couple of flips of her tail pushed the both of us up the shingle bank. Every part of her within kissable distance I was kissing and licking and hugging as the sea continued to wash over my feet and her tail that still dangled in the water.

“Let’s get up the beach a bit I said.”

She laughed, “I was going to say let’s get back in the water.”

In the end she agreed that I should pick her up and carry her up to my sleeping bag, whispering to me “Is there anybody close by?”
“No, we are far from any habitation and the park rangers that look after the area will have gone home by now.”
She nodded in satisfaction and took my hand and placed it on her tummy, “He’s there,” she said simply. I bent down and kissed her cold tummy and progressed up to her neck and chin and then kissed her gently on the lips. “You are a clever girl.”
She nodded contentedly and I wrapped her in my arms and placed one leg over her flipper to make sure I had all of her close to me and whispered “I missed you.”
She nodded in reply but was alert as ever wanting to check the surroundings in the poor light before the moon rose. “There is an old sea lion smell, and this thing we are lying on, who has been on this …it is not only your scent is it? I bent down to sniff at it. It just smelled of sleeping bag, not really of me or anyone else…or did it?
From my silence she knew it was my wife’s scent she could smell. “That’s all right then.” She said quietly, but still pushed it away and lay on the pebbles instead. So I changed the subject and said. “Have you found somewhere safe to be?”
She nodded cautiously, “Wives do not tell husbands everything, Mark. My only concern is to bear this child…our child.  You have done your job, but I know you want to be involved and care for me and the calf very much. I love that you feel that way but it is not natural for mer people to think this way. You think like a woman and are too soft. You love too intensely and I cannot risk your feelings putting the little one at risk.”
She then continued, “One day if you cannot find me you will want to get a boat and look for me. You must not do that. Already you have suggested in your thoughts that I should be checked to see if the baby is safe inside me. He will stay inside me until he or she comes out. That is my decision not yours. You do not know the way of the sea. If I lose the little one you must realise I will turn away from you and look for one of my own kind to try again. I will do this until there is no hope left and you are no longer in my mind such as you are now. The sea is cruel and those that survive here appear so too. We do not love as you do but with determination and an instinct for survival. Our paths have crossed; I love you but will turn away from you unless my species can continue.”
She sensed my bitter disappointment that it was not me but her kind that was uppermost in her mind. “I love you Mark for little things as well as big. I notice how you check my tail and back for scratches which might become infected, I love that you look at me and lavish me with such gentleness, no mermaid ever expects that!”  She ran her fingers over my chest. “Even in our differences you see me so much more worthy than yourself. I do not deserve that.”

“I do not understand.”

“I am built to manoeuvre on beaches and shingle, yet you pick me up. You touch every part of me and consider it beautiful. When you talk to me you do not say how much better it is to walk on two legs or be constructive and built boats and those planes that fly in the sky, or catch fish in their thousands rather one or two in your hand because that is all you really need. You do not consider me to be abnormal.”
“Shush Marina, I do understand. The most important thing is the baby. I will go away later like a merman, but like a human I will return every month to check if you are well. I will worry alone and then rejoice when we are together again. Though please say if you need me to bring something for you, anything at all.”

“Just come and check on me once a month, Mark. That is all.”

“When will the baby come?”

“I know, but I cannot say. It will be a dangerous time for the two of us and there is no one to help me.” She paused and then said, “We are very protective at that time, and would not want mermen there either let alone land creatures.” She said with a little smile.

“But wouldn’t the dolphins help if there are no mermaids to help?”

“How did you know about that?” Marina said surprised.

“Well they quite like and trust us, don’t they?” I replied.

“No, they are using you; playing with you perhaps.” She smiled and then she went on “But, yes, they will help to protect me and the baby...I hope…if they haven’t anything better to do.”
 

The Long Wait for a Mermaid

(Mark and Marina the mermaid part 7  With a chance that Mark has got Marina the mermaid pregnant he plans to meet her at a secret location close to where she will give birth)

As we parted that last day on the beach close to where I had rented my holiday shack I looked at her not wanting to let her go. She glowed with health and I loved that her body of necessity was well covered with a soft layer of subsurface fat to keep her insulated against the cold water.

We had talked again of many things; none of importance and as the tide returned up the beach again and started to hide the rock pools she edged nearer the water and pulled me with her. We both swam out into the sea. The waves broke over us and although I could still touch bottom the strength of the waves kept pushing me further into shore. She then let go of my hand and without saying another word disappeared under the surface. I watched where I thought she would be headed but braver than me she did not look back but was gone from my sight.

I felt terrible. I had another two or three days left at the shack and spent each day returning to the beach hoping that she had changed her mind and wanted to see me again. That did not happen. So on the last day I packed up and, loaded my stuff in the car which had not been driven once all the time I had been there and returned home.

I had noted in my diary what day I should start visiting the cove where she had planned to be and had that anxious thought that she didn’t have a diary so how would she work out when to look out for me? Isn’t it curious, that every advancement that man achieves; he loses more than he gains? It was only when I slowly worked out that she could calculate the time and the passage of days by the moon quarters and by the tides and of course by the sun that I relaxed a little. There were probably a lot more clues too that humans had long forgotten or had never worked out for themselves. I will tell you a secret though, I pretended to be her and collected a pile of 30 cockle shells and each day when I woke up I would move one from the pile to a new one. So I knew that when the first pile was emptied it was the day we should meet hoping she was doing the same.

So I opened up my house again, spent a whole day cleaning it up from a few days of neglect and I watered the garden, pruned the roses and returned to being a wasteful human again. Then I spoke to the kids on the phone and settled back into a normal life as seen by them but an anxious one for me as I relived those few days with her. I did think that perhaps I had been manipulated by her but even if she had, I didn’t mind, it had been worth it.

I checked with the Parks and Wildlife office about doing a study of the interaction of land and marine life in the conservation park where I knew she would be and they were enthusiastic and encouraged me to talk to the rangers on site, so I harvested a few leaflets and took them home.

I took a trip down there and spent some time talking to the rangers about birdlife and vegetation and the possibility of seeing other animals in the park and on the shore. So they knew I would be a frequent visitor and hopefully I would be just as a common sight as the honeyeaters, lizards and crabs that were already there.

And so it was; me with my backpack and binoculars, walking boots and sunglasses and I now barely received a nod from the staff if ever they saw me.

The cove that Marina had told me about was not easy to access. The larger more frequented beach was bad enough with warning signs and discouragement to enter the water and of not approaching any sea lions or fur seals that were resting on the beach. Her little cove however was quite a battle to access only by leaving the footpaths and making a precarious descent down to the tiny beach through thick scrub and clambering over rocks.

Having descended to the coarse sand and shingle I looked to see where the high tide mark might be then I ventured out as far as I could without entering the water to see if there were any signs of her being there. There weren’t which was both good and bad. One, she was being careful; but two, she may not have got here yet. The main thing was that I was sure that her choice of such a secluded place was well thought out indeed. This was especially so when I made my way back to my car and got lost over and over again and was lucky to get out the park before closing time.

I began to take photos of the things I was supposed to be interested in so if anyone asked how I was doing I would produce the camera and find evidence of the little bird or lizard to prove that I really did know what I was doing.

Then I experimented with leaving the car outside the park so if in future I stayed after closing time they wouldn’t set up a search party looking for me, thinking I was still in the park. This was just in case I couldn’t leave Marina if I found her.

Next I set up a cache of food and water hidden close to the cove including long life milk and dried food in plastic zip lock containers. My diary and shells told me that I had less than a week to wait so I spent a few days at home and then returned to the cove with just one day to go.  I regularly walked into the park with binoculars round my neck and talked to no-one. Unnoticed and as fluid as the movement of the tides I made my way to the cove and back day by day.

However my longing for her was overwhelming, if she didn’t appear I would be devastated.