Mermaids

Or Robin's adventure

Running along the ally way trying to catch my grandson Sam, I could see and hear the traffic passing along the road in front of me ,I put out my hand to grab him, and all I caught was a smooth grey fin of a dolphin,” hang on Mere” he said the orca’s are out hunting, and with a swish of his tail we swam at lightning speed along the ocean floor, surfacing now and then for air until we approached a rocky cliff., with one swift move we dived underneath only to emerge in a large underground cavern. Hi grey fin “who have you rescued today” said a large man with long black hair, This is “mere” found her stranded out on the sand bar near coral point on her own, must have drifted down from Silvers group up north near “Hawthorn Manor” I heard there was a huge sea two days ago. The cuts and grazes on her head and tail will need attention. The tall dark man swam over to me told me his name was Rob introduced me to all his family, “ How do you know my name and where I come from ?,I asked, they laughed and touched my hair and tail, looking down ,long silver hair a mass of curls ,reached almost to my where my knees should have been, but instead there was a beautiful blue and silver tail. His children crowded round, asking questions while they rubbed strange smelling liquid onto my head and scales,” soon be better” they said.” Are you hungry” they asked’ yes’ I answered, follow us, diving under the water to the rocks below they showed me how to pull the small shell fish of the rocks and scoop eggs from crevices using large shells, then to carry everything back to the cavern, where we shared it all out, the food was tasty and filling different from what I usually ate. Before we went to sleep we oiled our scales with a mixture of seaweed oil and sand to clean off any parasites which had clung to us during the days swim.

Early the next morning there was a meeting, Grey Fin arrived with many other sea creatures, octopi, turtles, squid, swordfish, a shark, and even a whale, it was crowded and noisy. I sat on the rocks with all the other maids and boys Before the meeting started Rob introduced me to everyone, I whispered to Roxy, Robs eldest daughter how did the know my name, it’s written on your shoulder in sea language,’ silly me’ the bump on my head had made me forget lots about myself. The discussions were loud and noisy, water slapping, roars, snorts, and even a water spout now and then, at least the dripping water keep our scales from drying out. AT high tide all the young people dived to gather various types of fish, to feed every one, this task took us many trips to the deep, dark lower regions of the sea .From the discussions, we discovered humans had put nets across every inlet and all the bays up and down the coast, Boats carrying humans, went out to view whales and dolphins, playing in the water. Bob and Grey Fins plan was for the crabs, cuttle fish, and sword fish to cut a large enough hole for us to swim through, the first distraction was for dozens of dolphins swimming crazily about herding sprats in to the shore dragging sea weed with them , churning up the water, confusing the people on the boats, to signal the end of the game Grey Fin would turn on his back and wave his tail in the air, the next distraction were for all the whales and pups to dive and then rise high in the air, making big waves, hoping the boats would turn for a safe harbour ,or better make all the people in board sick. While this was happening we all swam along the ocean floor, the tide had changed, rips and currants made it hard to swim. We followed Grey Fins low whistles to the gap in the mesh, through I went thanking them and turned to wave goodbye only to find my arms being held and a voice shouting” keep still woman keep still will you ” ‘you’re not drowning!’ I looked up at an ambulance man holding a wet cloth on my head, “what happened?” I asked, while they loaded my trolley into the ambulance, with my daughter and grandson with me, you ran into a pain of glass being carried along the pavement by two men.

The End.