started to sketch a seagull that had landed on the fence near me, eying me hopefully.
“Sorry guy, I don’t have any food for you,” I told him. He cocked his ear to listen and flew away as though he had understood me perfectly.
As the morning wore on the fog slowly peeled back, grudgingly allowing the sun take its place in the sky. I gazed out across the water and could just make out some surfers in the distance. I slipped off my jacket, stuffing it into my bag as I moved to the left side of the ship.
With my binoculars I could see the surfers clearly. There were several figures in the water and a small group of girls sitting on the beach with towels and a cooler.
The girls all wore tiny bikinis, and were anointing their bodies with oil that made them glisten in the bright sun. They were talking and laughing, their long hair blowing in the sea breeze. They looked so natural, so comfortable in their own tanned skins. I felt a pang of regret, and a longing that surprised me. I knew I’d never fit in with a group like that, and I felt like a complete outsider, as strange as if I were visiting a foreign land.
I focused my attention on the surfers. They had on black wetsuits on that made their bodies look shiny, like the sea lions. Paddling out past the breaking waves, they turned to face the shore and wait for a wave to ride in. I knew that waves came in sets, but I couldn’t discern any visible pattern.
One surfer stood up on a huge wave and clung to its side masterfully, cutting back and forth across the wall of water. I adjusted the binoculars and saw with a start that it was Ethan. Of course he would be good, I thought. He had none of the wobbly awkwardness of some of the other surfers. He sprang to his feet, lithe as a panther, and flew across the waves, twisting and swirling like a breeze. He made it look like a lot of fun, and I had a sudden impulse to try it, which was more than a little weird given my pronounced lack of swimming skills.
I kept the binoculars focused on Ethan, propping my elbows up on the wooden rail. I couldn’t stop looking at him as he skimmed across the water, defying gravity. Mesmerized, I must have leaned against the fence for at least an hour. I watched him get out of the water and spotted a tall blonde heading towards him with a towel. I recognized her as the nasty girl who had insulted me and Cruz on my first night here. Figures, I thought, as I remembered the look she had flashed me.
The bikini clad girls all sucked in their stomachs and posed alluringly when Ethan walked by. I laughed out loud as I turned back to the bench. Now you are a full-fledged voyeur, I admitted to myself with embarrassment.
The throaty barks of sea lions caught my attention, and I went over to the fence to check them out. Their shiny black heads popped out of the water a few yards from the end of the ship. I raised my binoculars and adjusted the focus, my eyes caught by a glimpse of coppery blonde hair. She was there! The girl was swimming among the sea lions! This time she didn’t see me and I watched as she moved closer with the pack of jostling creatures. She reached out to stroke one of their heads as though she were petting a dog.
Her skin was luminously pale, and I could see what looked like a fine mesh of webbing between her fingers. The sunlight reflected from her long flowing hair, gleaming in shades of red and gold. She came closer to the broken chunks of concrete and with a swift motion jumped up out of the water and perched on the shipwreck.
But she had no legs! From the waist down she was sheathed in gleaming scales that reflected all the colors of the sea. Where her feet should have been was a large feathery fin! She was a mermaid– far more majestic and breathtaking than any artist’s rendition I’d ever seen. My knees weakened and buckled and I fell to the deck.
The sudden movement startled her and in a flash she slipped back down into the water. Her face was the only thing visible as she looked up