Between the Land and the Sea - By Derrolyn Anderson Page 0,21
me that I was going to die before I could tell anyone. I felt a hand take hold of my arm. A smooth scaly tail brushed up against me and I knew instantly that it was her. Swallowing water, I felt my body thrust upwards until my head broke the surface alongside hers. My terror filled eyes looked into her calm steady ones. I started to black out.
The next thing I knew another pair of arms had a hold of me and I opened my eyes to see Ethan dragging me out of the surf like a rag doll. He pulled me up onto the dry sand and brushed the wet hair off of my face.
“Marina! Marina!” I could hear him calling from what seemed like very far away. I closed my eyes and turned my head to vomit salty water.
When I stopped coughing I looked up to see the group of surfers standing around looking down at me. I sat up and turned away from them.
“I’m fine, I’m fine,” I choked, “Just go away please.”
I heard Ethan tell them to leave and that he’d catch up with them. I could hear the girls laugh as they walked away, chattering about how stupid I was. My face burned with the awful shame of humiliation as I struggled to catch my breath. Ethan returned, knelt down and wrapped a towel around me.
“Are you gonna be alright?” he asked, his eyes searching mine. I had a crazy urge to tell him everything I’d seen right at that moment, but couldn’t imagine how to even begin to put it.
“Once I get used to the idea,” I replied, trying to brush the sand off my wet hands, thinking that I had actually physically touched a mermaid. He looked at me strangely, and again I felt acutely out of place, like an alien.
“It’s a good thing I looked up and saw you get hit. That was a huge sleeper!” he said with awe, looking back out towards the sea.
“Sleeper?” I said, clearing my throat, “Isn’t that an old Woody Allen movie?”
“It’s not funny,” he said, his face serious.
I started to laugh, because it was funny. Probably the funniest, weirdest, most inexplicable thing that had ever happened to me. This brought on another fit of coughing that made it hard for me to catch my breath.
He looked worried, and then exasperated as he contemplated me.
His voice was stern and commanding, “Don’t you know that you always have to keep an eye on the surf?”
I drew a ragged breath. “Obviously, I do not,” I said, with as much sarcasm as I could muster.
His tone softened, “A big wave can come up out of nowhere– you have to be careful.”
“I’ll take that into consideration,” I replied.
“I’m serious,” he said.
“So was what I just saw,” I squeezed my eyes shut with a grimace. This could not be happening to me.
He chuckled, exhaling with a sigh, “Marina, you’re an unusual girl.”
“Oh, you don’t know the half of it,” I said, looking up at him and thinking about the mermaid. I shuddered involuntarily.
“We’d better get you home,” he said.
I stood up shakily, trying in vain to wipe some more sand off my hands, noticing that my wet blouse was totally transparent. Embarrassed, I gripped the towel in front of me like a shield.
“I can make it home on my own. I’m okay.” I seemed to be having to lie about that a lot today.
“I don’t think Abby would forgive me if I didn’t walk you home,” he added, “Besides, you really don’t want to see Abby angry.”
We both laughed at the thought of sweet Abby angry, making me choke back a cough.
“Ready to climb those stairs?” he asked with a skeptical look at me.
I struggled to catch a clear breath, “How do you know about them? I thought they were the neighborhood secret.”
“Oh, you don’t know the half of it,” he teased.
“Touché’,” I started to wobble unsteadily, “Wait! My bag... my keys.” I turned to look back towards the sea. Ethan jogged down to the waterline and returned with my sketchbook.
“This is all I could find,” he said, opening it, “Is it yours?” I reached out for it and he snatched it back. “These are really good,” he said as he peeled back the wet pages. He looked at me appraisingly.
“You’re an artist,” he said, “That explains a lot.”
I doubled over in a hoarse coughing fit. Suddenly determined, he grabbed me around the waist and propelled me across the sand. My