Mermaid in my Bunk: An adventure & love story

coincidental.

Chapter 1

I spotted her floating face down in the water. From that distance she looked naked, but as I tacked towards her she appeared to be wearing some sort of wetsuit. It was almost flesh-colored with a faint greenish tinge.

I used the boathook to pull her, gashing her back as I did so. She didn’t respond to my clumsiness, so I towed her alongside and grabbed her long brown hair roughly in my haste to get her out of the water and into the Naiad.

Her face was quite striking and her body spectacular. Lying on her back on my sun-bleached teak deck, the suit no longer appeared greenish but now turned brown. I didn’t notice this immediately because as a doctor I was more concerned in checking her vital signs.

I couldn’t feel a pulse, nor was there any sign that she was breathing, but I started mouth-to-mouth to re-inflate her lungs and palpated her chest wishing I had some of the equipment I’d left behind in the trauma unit.

I concluded that I was too late to save her; a great pity because she was the sort of woman I’d dreamed about since adolescence. Suddenly she took a breath and sat up.

Whither be I? she said uncertainly. She pronounced the I as Oi.

"You’re on my yacht, the Naiad. I’m Doctor Alan Brand." I made this last remark in case she wondered why I’d removed the upper half of her wet-suit.

Her eyes fascinated me. They were the largest and most beautiful I’d ever seen.

Didst thou pluck me from the briny?

Yes. What ship were you on when you fell overboard? Are you a Quaker?

I understand of what you speak. This vessel be passing strange; so be thy mode of speech.

"Actually, it’s your mode of speech that’s kind of weird. What’s your name?"

I be called Esmeralda. I be the thirtieth entitled to that name, she answered with an air of pride.

Very well, Esmeralda, what ship were you on? I have a radio. Perhaps I could call them and let them know you’re safe?

I wast never on a ship ere now. A mighty wave near crushed my steed and I, and rent us twain.

The tsunami had struck the day before and I was extremely lucky to have missed it. The tidal wave had followed soon after volcanic disturbances, and warnings on the radio had alerted all shipping in the area.

Your steed? You were riding on horseback when the wave struck you? What island were you on?

What means horseback, good sire?

Call me Alan. You know: a steed’s a horse. You said that your horse and you were torn apart by the wave.

Indeed no, Alan! A steed be a water sprite sometime named a flesh-fish. Methought thou hast said that thy name be Doctor?

Doctor’s my title, not my name. So you were riding this water sprite in the sea?

Thou hast a title? Then ‘tis not fitting I should use thy given name. I needs must address thee as Mine Lord.

No, never! I’m not a Lord. Doctor is my profession. I’m a healer!

A healer? We call our healers Sorcer and pay them great respect. Art thou then a Sorcer?

Perhaps that’s your word for doctor but please call me Alan. Let’s get back to riding this water sprite. Did you ride it in the sea?

Indeed, a water sprite cannot walk upon earth as we albeit that it breathes the same air as we.

I got an inkling of the creature she was referring to.

Ah! You mean a dolphin? I made a dolphin-like sound. I’d often heard them on this voyage.

That be our steed! Mine be called ###. She made a sound much closer to a dolphin’s call than I could ever imitate.

Come, Esmeralda, let’s go below. I’m beginning to understand that your people are not like other people on earth. Would you like something to eat or drink?

I would be most beholden, Alan. She followed me below without bothering to replace the top half of her wet-suit. I saw she wore a belt with what appeared to be a long knife attached to it.

I found her semi-nudity most disconcerting and felt obliged to keep my eyes on hers although they flicked downwards to admire her magnificent breasts whenever she looked with wonderment at the many different objects in my cabin.

I sat her down at the table and started making tea because I thought this would warm her after her long immersion in the water.

What do your people call themselves, Esmeralda?

We be Merfolk, Alan. I hath heard tell of these things. What is this object? She thumped the table.

It’s a table and what you’re sitting on is a chair, I told her gravely.

From what substance be it fashioned?

Timber comes from trees, I said laconically.

I hath heard of trees. I was told they be beauteous to the eye. I hath longed to see such a thing.

You’ve never seen a tree? I was amazed.

They grow not on the briny floor.

Have you never been on land, Esmeralda? I handed her a cup of tea into which I had put milk and sugar since I supposed she had never drunk tea before.

She sipped at the tea and gave a little cry of surprise, dropping the cup which shattered on the table.

That drink burns as lamp-fire! she complained.

I’m sorry. I thought the drink would warm you after your long time in the water.

Such burning can never be consumed! A mouth wast ne’er designed to sustain such, she stated firmly.

Do you not cook your food?

What means cook?

To cook is to make food hot until all germs are killed. We believe it also improves the taste of the food.

Such treatment would surely ruin fish-flesh. What means that word germs?

It’s a word referring to very very small creatures that live everywhere. They can make you sick if they’re in your food.

I have partaken of food throughout my life and it hath ne’r sickened me.

Perhaps the environment you’ve lived in has protected you? Do your sorcers never have to treat your people for sickness?

We do not encounter our sorcers frequently. They stay aloof from the people unless one of us hath been injured.

Ah, so they’re surgeons rather than doctors!

What means surgeons?

Surgeons repair injuries to the body rather than treat sicknesses.

That be what our sorcers do. We have little sickness amongst us.

Why do your sorcers stay aloof from the people, Esmeralda?

They ponder the mysteries of the briny and doth not tolerate disturbance from people. Sorcers hath created eel sword, color-changing garments, lamp-fire and the breath-giving device.

I have seen the color-changing garment you’re wearing. What’s it made from?

Thou speaketh strangely, Alan. Only Sorcers know such things. Mine father sayeth that Sorcers fashioned the garment after the eight-armed creature they dubbed the octomain. It hideth on the briny floor by matching its surroundings.

Ah! We call that an octopus. I said. It also blackens the water so that it might escape.

We too use water blackening but sorcers doth not create it. We collect it from the octomains we capture.

You must tell me more about your people, Esmeralda and also what else your Sorcers have created, but first let us find your home. In which direction is it?

I know not, Alan. The great wave hath pushed me far from my home and for much of the time I hath been in mind-suspension.

Mind-suspension? What’s that?

Thou be a Sorcer of thy people surely thou knowst it! Or mayhap thy folk use a different word: it be when thou sloweth down thy heartbeat so as to remain under the briny for much longer than the time thou canst retain thy breath.

Good heavens! How long can you hold your breath?

I canst not count that many heartbeats, Alan, but I do ken I can outlast my steed.

Longer than a dolphin? I can’t believe that, I said sarcastically and then immediately regretted my words.

Esmeralda looked hurt at my cynicism.

"Is it only you who can outlast your steed, or is it common among your people?" I asked hastily to cover my mistake.

It be common among Merfolk, but Mermen, from much practice, can oft outlast Mermaids.

Surely your people must live on an island? Islands have trees, so how is it you’ve never seen a tree?

"We doth not live upon an island; we live under small islets. Nothing groweth on such islets. They be shifting sands from the bottom of the briny."

What do you mean by living under small islets.

There are large caverns under islets. Mine father told me that many years agone there hath been a volcanic eruption that left small peaks and valleys amongst the so islets formed. The caverns beneath doth not permit ingress to the briny. Over the hundreds of years that Merfolk hath lived there, Sorcers have caused to be builded up-funnels to the islets to draw sweet air into our dwellings.

If you live in caverns in the sea, you must live in total darkness, I pointed out.

"Not so, from earliest days many lanthorns hath been salvaged from the wreck of the Esmeralda. Mariners hath been accustomed to living ‘tween decks and found the caverns comfortable."

Surely, the lanterns ran out of oil?

At first, Merfolk used fish oil for lanthorns, but the Sorcers made lamp-fire which cometh from deep within the earth’s bowels and hath given us light since any be able to remember.

How do you know all these things? If you’ve carried the name Esmeralda through thirty generations the Merfolk must have been living for at least seven hundred years.

"Aye, they hath so done. Esmeralda hath sailed from England in 1400, the year after Henry of Lancaster hath become king."

"Where was the Esmeralda bound?"

"Owner and Master Captain Robert Howard ventured forth in company with his goodwife Esmeralda and their daughter Clarissa bound for the Orient. The first mate John Mason also hath his paramour, Marie de Fleury beside him and twenty mariners under his charge. Five dockside whores were secreted aboard. The Captain followed the shore past the Pillars of Hercules into strange climes where folk have dark skins and hair like wool. They reached Bharat after many moons and much trading was done but the mariners lusted after the goods amassed by Master Howard. One of their number Arthur Fisher led a revolt against the Master, seized the ship and journeyed toward the rising sun. John Mason supported his captain and together the twain freed themselves and wrested the vessel back from the mariners slaying Arthur Fisher and four of his henchmen. However, the mariners sailed little kenning whither they ventured; the Esmeralda became lost and lo, a great storm arose and the sun and stars were obscured for many days, thus e’en the Master and first mate hath been unable to reckon their whereabouts."

You recited that very well, Esmeralda. Did they teach you that at school?

We hath no scrolls, nor the means to scribe anything. All such hath been lost when the Esmeralda foundered. Since the beginning our children hath been taught to memorize the Esmeralda’s voyage.

While she had been relating her story I had put a pot of fish-stew back on the gas hob and it was now bubbling away merrily. I switched off the heat and spooned the stew into two bowls, buttered slices of the bread I’d baked the previous day and put them on the table after cleaning away the shattered tea cup and its spilled contents.

She watched me while I ate my portion. I thought she was allowing her food to cool down so I said nothing until after a while she said.

What is this food thou art eating? What be the tool which thou useth?

The food’s a fish stew. It’s made with carrots, onions and potato. I would like you to try it. The tool is a spoon. You can place the food in your mouth and also blow on it if the food’s too hot.

She raised the spoon carefully and sniffed at the contents.

The smell is passing strange but somehow pleasing. Will it burn my tongue as yon drink did?

As I said, Esmeralda, blow on what’s in the spoon if it’s too hot for you.

She followed my instructions carefully, and gingerly placed the lukewarm food in her mouth. She chewed cautiously watching me anxiously as she did.

I saw her swallow the mouthful and then look at me in amazement.

’Tis passing good! I hath never tasted the like. She hungrily finished off the bowl and then sat back and let out a loud belch. I hath not eaten these past days.

I frowned, as much for the unladylike belch, as for her last words.

Not eaten? Why not? You’re surrounded by food when you’re in the sea.

I could not pause to catch a meal, for mine journey was to be a long one. I was in much haste.

Where were you going on this long journey, all alone and far from your people?

I sought the Mason clan of Merfolk who do live towards the rising sun.

Had you made the journey before?

No, none in our caverns hath e’er done so.

How did you hope to find them?

Large ships hath invaded our fish flocks in betimes. Many of our flocks hath been destroyed by the large nets the yellow people use. The Mason clan hath taken their flocks away to avoid the large ships. I would follow the fish flocks until I came upon one of their tenders.

Why would you leave the security of your home to go looking for the Mason clan? Surely one of your men could make the journey?

I sought the Mason clan, not to bring them back. I desire to join them.

Why? What do the Mason clan have that the main body of Merfolk don’t have? As I said this my heart gave a lurch because it occurred to me that she might be chasing after a particular Merman.

I hath hoped that one of that clan might find me more appealing than mine own clan.

Find you more appealing? You’re stunningly beautiful!

Think thou so? she asked with sudden interest. The Mermen prefer their womenfolk to be far more robust than I. They deem me too thin for their taste. They say I be as slender as a young lass. No Merman would breed with one so young: such be against our laws.

In my world, you’re the pinnacle of beauty and would be an object of great desire. Men would fight to breed with you.

That pleaseth me. Wouldst thou wish to breed with me?

I swallowed a couple of times before I replied. In my world, two people first get to know one another over months and even years before they decide to breed together. I’ve known you for less than a day but I’m sure that once I get to know you better I would still wish most earnestly to breed with you.

Her face broke out into a most radiant smile lighting her classical beauty and tugging fiercely at my heart. I must admit I’ve had very little experience with women. In High school I was always studying, or else sailing, and scuba-diving with my father. I studied and worked part time to pay my tuition fees and in what little free time I did have, I sailed and scuba-dived. Once qualified, I worked sixteen hour days in the Trauma ward. I’d never been on a date.

I like thee well. Tell me of thy world.

My world’s very different from yours. We have mighty nations of people now with cities of many millions of people, and we fight many wars with terrible weapons. England’s no longer one of the strongest nations on earth. My country, the United States of America is probably the most powerful nation, but it’s not the largest by any means.

What means that word ‘millions’? she asked curiously.

It is a hundred times ten thousand.

That be an uncountable number! she said in astonishment.

Not at all, there are over six billion people on earth not counting the Merfolk, I joked.

What means that word ‘billion’?

It’s a thousand million.

She put her hands over her ears.

Stop such prattle! Thou makest mine head spin! Such numbers be beyond understanding.

Tell me Esmeralda, what schooling do the Merfolk give their children?

We teach them the alphabet and numbers from one to a hundred. This be extremely taxing for their heads. Only the Captain, of all the original company, hath known how to read and scribe. At our beginning, he hath spread his great knowledge to the company to help the passage of time.

I understand. Time must have passed slowly for the company trapped in dark caverns when most couldn’t yet swim, I said sympathetically.

Oh no, she said innocently. They passed the time by breeding.

Chapter 2

It was time that I had to check our position so I went up on deck leaving Esmeralda to look around the cabin.

The first thing I saw was her color-changing top lying on the deck where I’d left it. I picked it up and noticed for the first time that there was a small apparatus attached to what appeared to be the garment’s collar.

It was one largeish conch shell. There were two flexible tubes running from it made of something closely resembling plastic although I could see that it was much softer and almost transparent. These tubes ended in what looked like earplugs, but were two smaller conch shells. As a modern man I immediately decided this was some kind of music player. I resolved to ask Esmeralda about it when I went below.

I checked our heading and then on an impulse I swung the wheel to head due east. I was most intrigued and curious about the Merfolk and was going to do my utmost to meet them.

Esmeralda came on deck and took her color-changing top from me.

What’s that gadget attached to your tunic?

What means gadget? she responded promptly.

I reached over and touched it. This thing here: what’s it?

That be the breath-giving device, she stated flatly and obviously didn’t plan on saying any more.

What does it do, Esmeralda?

It gives breath deep under the briny.

How do you use it? I persisted.

Thou put the stoppers into the nose holes and suck the good air inward.

Where’s the air tank, then?

What means tank?

It would be a container for all the good air, I said hoping to keep things as simple as possible.

There be no tank for this gadget, she responded merrily, proud of herself for remembering the word.

Where does the good air come from?

She shrugged causing my eyes to wander back to her breasts just when I was getting used to seeing them uncovered.

Thou must needs enquire from Sorcer Henry for such be his labor, she said sweetly.

The wind was beginning to freshen and the Naiad heeled over and began to run before it.

Without thinking too deeply I hurried to unlash the wheel and called to Esmeralda. Drop the spinnaker. We’re not in that much of a hurry.

Naturally she stared at me blankly until I realized that I wasn’t speaking to a crew-member but a mermaid who had never been on a boat before.

Come here, Esmeralda. Do you think you could hold this wheel steady while I take in some sail?

Certes, Alan, an thou wish. She hurried to comply.

She was thrilled to take the wheel and although the Naiad was bucking through the swells she held the right heading as I dropped the spinnaker and stowed it away.

She was reluctant to leave the wheel as Naiad slowed her pace.

’Tis a lovely feeling to control this great ship by turning yon wheel.

I laughed. This isn’t a great ship Esmeralda. This is just a boat.

Forsooth Alan ‘tis as great as a whale-fish. There be nothing in the briny greater than such.

On earth, we have flying machines which are bigger. I assured her.

What means machines?

Her question stymied me for a moment, and then with a flash of brilliance I said: A machine is a gadget.

Ah! A gadget? Thou hast a gadget larger than a whale-fish? Obviously her mind equated a gadget with something the size of her hand.

Not only larger than a whale, but it also flies in the air.

Her mouth fell open in wonder, then she giggled.

Ah, thou jest. Thou canst not be a Sorcer! Sorcers are ever grave and wise. They never jest.

I promise you, I’m not jesting. I have a picture in one of my books of a flying machine. I’ll show it to you.

A picture? Thou hast a picture? I hath heard of such ere now, but hath ne’er seen one.

I led her below and rummaged through my bookshelves until I found a magazine showing a plane in full flight across the skies.

She looked at it for a moment before remarking. This be tiny. Methought thou sayth it be larger than a whale-fish.

This is a photograph taken far away from the plane, but you may see from the clouds that it’s flying in the sky.

What means a photograph ?

It’s a way of capturing the image of anything and putting it on paper. I struggled to explain. For example if I took a photograph of you, it wouldn’t be a big as you are, but would be small enough to fit into this photograph of the plane.

I could see by her bewilderment that she really had no idea what I meant .

I scratched about in my locker and unearthed my digital camera.

See here: I’ll now take a photograph of you and show it to you.

I took