CH 45
The light Joan got to use in the lake was a small Maglight. Off towards Allison's house, the water was deeper. Closing on the area, Joan swam in the surface to get loaded up with oxygen. Hearing a motorboat, she saw Allison's Dad approaching with another guy in the boat. The guy was watching her. Daniel slowed the boat down as they got close.
"Hey, Joan!" he called.
"Hi Grampa! Fishing?"
"We're gonna try a bit."
Raising up some, Joan pointed to the right side bank. "Bout a hundred fifty yards or so down, I saw some decent sized walleyes, they were about thirty yards of so off the shore. Catfish were near the bottom, straight out, I'd say fifteen or twenty of them. They did scatter when I went by."
"Thanks, Allison said she was coming out. Going to see her?" Daniel asked.
Joan held up her flashlight. "I was going to the deep part back here, I wanted to see what was down there, first."
"Be careful, don't go getting stuck down there or anything."
"I will, good luck!" Joan said in a wave and turned over to dive down.
"Damn," the man with Daniel said. "That's your granddaughter?"
"One of them. Allison and Joan are best friends even since they were little."
"They ain't little no more," the man said as Joan faded into the depths.
"No, they grow up too fast," Daniel agreed, and headed for the area Joan told him about.
.
Joan went easy, just an even pump of her tail as she got down into the cooler, darker blue water. Turning on the flashlight, she had decent beam penetrating the water. The bottom was still far below. Logs and parts of trees filled the bottom here. Between all the limbs and trunks and the cloudiness of the water, it was hard to tell where the bottom was. An eye reflected her light. Beside a log, a BIG toothy fish was hovering. The thing had to be six feet long! She stayed clear of the monster fish, not wanting to get in a fish-fight that might damage her tail.
She found other things down here. Was it a requirement for tires to be on lake bottoms? Looking down on a straight limb looking thing, she found it had a reel on the end. So much for that fishing pole. A couple normal sized fish swam away from her. Up ahead, she saw the bottom was rising up, but a large hole was in the bank, like five feel across. She shone the light on the hole. eyes looked back at her and something turned and fled deeper into the hole. It was about the same size as her and had a flat tail, not a vertical one.
What?
Fish and amphibians had vertical tails. Only mammals had horizontal tails. Was there an otter or something living in there? She hadn't seen enough of it to see what it was. Upon seeing her it fled fast. Up above, she saw Allison coming down. She rose up to meet her. They waved, Allison pointed up. They went up to the surface.
"What were you doing way down there?" Allison asked.
"Seeing what was there. So far, a whole bunch of dead tree stuff. There is something living in a cave down there," Joan told her. "I didn't get a good look at it, but it had a flat tail like ours."
"Think it was a real mermaid?" Allison asked with a grin.
Joan frowned. "No, I thought it was like an otter, maybe a seal. I thought they needed to breathe though."
"Maybe there's an air chamber down there."
"Yeah, OK, seventy, eighty feet down?" Joan asked. "Water pressure would push the air out."
Allison grinned and asked, "I was going to see if you were hanging out with Bob. Want to go see if you're there?"
Joan laughed and held up a finger. "If I am there, I got some explaining to do! Sure, let's go."
They headed off for Bob's house. Knowing Allie's Dad was fishing, they stayed clear of that area. Bob was also out in his boat, heading back for shore. Joan took a peek above the surface to be sure Bob was alone, then raced up beside the boat and jumped up in. Allison jumped in on the other side in the front seat.
"Hi Bob!"
Bob smiled. "Hey Joan, Allie. My day just got better."
"Catch anything?" Joan asked and peeked into the fish well. "Ohhh, you got three!"
"Yeah, dinner. For us, not alligators!" Bob stressed.
"Want help cleaning them?" Joan asked.
"OK."
Bob docked his boat and pulled the cage in the live well out, leaving the water behind. Joan and Allison left their tails on the dock. and walked to the house with Bob.
"Bob, have you seen any mammals around?" Joan asked.
"You mean like seals, things like that?"
"Yeah, I saw one, but not very good. It was down by Allie's place, deep inside a cave," Joan explained. "I only got a quick look at it."
Bob shrugged. "With the alligators around, maybe it's nocturnal?"
"Could be."
"I can see that," Allison said. "Whatever's down there doesn't want to be gator food."
Carol came out to see Bob's three fish laid out. "Hey, Mrs. Tanner," Allison called.
"Hi girls, everyone behaving themselves?" Carol asked. "You have a good catch Bobby," she said, eyeing the fish.
"Just Bob, please Mom," he grumbled.
Joan poked him in the shoulder. "Bobby! Be nice to your mother!"
Bob eyed her. "OK, Joannie."
"Mrs. Tanner, have you ever heard of any mammals being in this lake? Like seals?" Joan asked.
"Well, there's a rumor going around that mermaids have been seen here," she said eyeing the girls.
"Yeah, but that's us."
Carol shrugged. "Supposedly a man was night fishing about ten yeas ago up here, and saw a mermaid."
"Really?" Allison asked.
"It's just a rumor. When Sonya went to the big lake and now you girls are swimming here, that rumor got restarted." Carol explained. "One couple from some newsrag, the Sun I think, has gotten a couple pictures of you out on the water. They take photos from the woods by the shore. Heard one got bit by a snake. They haven't come back."
"Serve them right, taking sneaky pictures of us," Joan said.
Once the fish were cleaned, the sun was getting lower in the sky. Bob walked Joan and Allison back to the dock got them in their tails and got his kisses, then they each headed back home.
.
Allison swam along as usual. She saw her Dad and his friend Gary of to the side, still fishing. Getting closer to the house in a dive under, she noticed motion below. Someone else was watching her from deeper water. She turned to watch them. they swam away, diving down. She noticed a few things. Unlike the tails they got, this one was a dark gray and covered the whole body. The flipper on the back was smaller and looked like a dolphin tail. Whoever it was was smaller too, child sized. She thought about following them, but it was getting late. She headed back, but kept a closer eye on what was below her now.
The bottom came up, signalling she was getting close to shore. Coming up to her own dock, she put on speed and launched herself up and on. Right after she got her tail off, she ran in the house to call Joan. This was big news!
.
"I know what I saw," Allison hissed quietly.
In an unusual event, Allison and Joan were huddled in a seat together, Jackie in front of them.
"There are many styles of tails out there," Joan said. "And who said you can't put a small oxygen tank in a suit?"
"I still think it was a real mermaid," Allison insisted. "It was near where you saw that other one. We already determined they are nocturnal."
"In theory," Joan stressed. "Look even if they are real, don't go telling anyone! They could be an endangered species. We don't want crowds around here hunting for them."
"I didn't say I was! But don't you think we should investigate?"
"No, I think we should leave them alone," Joan said firmly.
"But, this is big!"
"Allie, if anything, we need to protect them."
Allison let out a sigh and nodded. "You're right, Joan. Not a word to anyone about them."
Although their intent was good, they also became curious. After school, they conspired on the way home. Joan knew where the cave was. Allie had confirmed there was a mermaid-like creature living in the lake. It was Friday now, so after homework, Joan, Jackie and Allison decided to go looking around in the lake to see if they could find any swimming around.
On their way to pick up Allison, Joan dove deeper in the deep area, swimming slower and looking around. Above her, Jackie clapped her hands. Joan looked up, Jackie pointed behind her.
Below and behind Joan, another form was swimming. Joan turned and swam above what looked like a gray man about her height. His eyes were larger and dark, as was his hair. They began circling each other slowly, watching each other.
Joan waved. The merman made what looked like a wave. She heard Jackie clap again and looked up. Jackie pointed to the surface. Joan also pointed to the surface and went up. The merman followed at a distance.
Joan broke the surface to see Allison coming. "They're here. Looks like they are curious about us as well."
"Let's go meet them!" Allison replied. They all went back under.
There wasn't just one. Besides the merman, a smaller version was down lower, looking up. So was another one who was sporting small breasts. The larger male held out a webbed hand. Joan swam down near him. This close she could see he did have nostrils, and more or less a human type build. His tail was real and showed flexing muscles when he swam. The child came closer and not far below, swam on his back, watching her. Between her, Jackie and Allison, four mer people had joined the group. Hearing a motor, Joan looked up. Two pontoons. She moved upright and looked. Yup, there went a fishing lure off to the side. She made a 'stop' motion then swam up.
A call, similar to a whale call sounded from below. Joan looked down to see the female swimming up at her, it looked like she was trying to wave Joan down. Joan again tried a stop motion and rose to the surface. She saw Mark and Sonya on the boat.
"Hey guys! Don't fish here,OK?" Joan called.
Mark was headed right for her. He turned the boat. "Got a party going on?" he asked.
"Ahhh, yeah! An underwater party. We're kinda all over the place here."
Sonya laughed. "No Bob, right?"
"Not this time."
Jackie popped up followed by Allison. Joan felt hands on her hips, she quickly took a breath and was pulled under. The female was then in front of her, waving her hands. She grabbed Joan's hand and dove straight down. Joan let her take her down. She patted the female's hand and pointed up. The female shook her head and pointed down.
Joan got it, they were scared of humans. Something had happened and now, they didn't want any humans to see them.
Joan tried smiling and coaxing the female to come up. She wasn't having it. There was a large splash above. Sonya was coming, swimming fast and she was red eyed with a knife in her hand. Joan got loose from the female and turned to be above her and waver her hands frantically. Sonya turned and swam towards where Jackie was being pulled down. Again, Jackie got between the male and Sonya, waving her hands.
Sonya looked. Allison was on top, Joan and Jackie were near her. She pointed to the boat. Joan looked for the mer people. They were gone.
Shit.
.
Sonya and Mark got all three girls up on the boat, then Sonya got up and on.
"Tell me what I just saw," Sonya said.
"There are real mer people in the lake!" Allison stated. "The other day, Joan saw one. I saw one too! They had come to check us out."
"They were afraid of the boat," Joan said. "They live in the deep part of the lake, probably to keep from being discovered. They were curious about us."
"And that's why they pulled you under?" Sonya asked.
"Yes, they were trying to get us away. They thought we were all in danger."
"They didn't like the boat at all," Jackie added.
"Real mer people?" Mark asked.
"They are," Joan said. We were checking each other out, you know, we were curious about each other. They saw us up here near the boat and spazed out. They were doing what they could to get us out of what they thought was danger."
"Wow," Mark said.
"There's one," Jackie said, pointing.
A hundred or so yards in front, a head was poking out of the water.
"Let me go try to communicate," Joan asked.
Sonya frowned. "Go, if you're not back up in ten minuets, I'll coming after you."
Joan nodded then dove off the front gate. She swam fast to get close. It was the female. She dropped back down under as Joan approached. Joan pointed to the boat and nodded, offering a smile. She offered the female her hand. The female clasped her hand.
Joan started swimming back towards the boat. Yards away, Joan surfaced and pointed to the boat. The female surfaced behind her, peeking around Joan. Everyone on the boat waved, Joan waved back.
"See? friendly," Joan said.
The female let out a sound Joan couldn't quite place. It was like a moan, but not sad or anxious sounding. The smaller one then came up behind the female, peeking around her. Slowly, the female and the child came closer with Joan.
"See, it's OK," Joan offered.
The female clasped Joan's shoulders. She made what sounded like a four toned moan.
"I wish I understood," Joan offered.
The female smiled and nodded, then hugged her. Joan hugged her back. The universal form of acceptance.
.
"We're serious!" Joan cried as she looked at her parents. "Ask Sonya," she said, pointing to Sonya and Mark.
John, Cameron and Delilah were sitting on the porch enjoying the afternoon then the girls came running up from the dock, telling about real mermaids in the lake. Sonya and Mark followed them at a slower pace.
"Moms, Dad, Joan is right! Allie was there too!" Jackie said. "We all kinda swam together, looking at each other."
"And they really didn't like us getting near the boat either," Joan stated.
"Mom, that was really cool!" Jackie stressed.
"Where are these mermaids?" John asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Down by Allie's end of the lake," Joan explained. "There's deep spot down there, about eighty feet or so. In the wall of that deep area there's a cave. I think they live there."
"Where did they come from?" Cameron wondered.
"Best guess, they've always been here," Delilah said. "If they normally live deeper, and people stay on top, no one would run into each other."
"Until our girls started swimming deeper," John said in a musing tone.
JJ and Peggy came out with some pork to feed the alligator. "Have a good swim?" JJ asked.
"We saw real mermaids!" Jackie chimed happily.
JJ opened his eyes wide. "Wow, there's mirrors down there?"
"No Dummy! Real as in biologically real mermaids," Joan told him.
"Flesh tails, not silicone like ours are," Jackie added.
"I don't think this news should go beyond the family," John stated.
"Oh no! Dad, you're right. We don't want people coming to harass them," Joan agreed.
"You know, these kids like to dig up new things," Mark told the group as he and Sonya approached. "They told you what they found?"
"Couple times," Cameron said.
"Joan, we're going down to feed your alligators," JJ told her.
Joan moved to join them. "She's not my alligator."
A chorus of "Right," sounded.
.
Saturday they had a boat party. The deck was full of mermaid tails. Out on the eastern side of the lake, Daniel and Clair's house just visible, Daniel and his family came out to tie up to the pontoon boat to join them. Sarah and Martin sat on the back of the deck sipping beer and watching the girls who were getting ready to go do a game of tag. Cameron, Delilah and Sonya got their tails on also.
"No chasing each other all over the lake," John told them as he got the grill going. Peggy came, staying near the middle of the boat with JJ.
"And no touch backs!" Jackie called.
"So, who's it to start?" Allison asked.
Cameron announced, "By random generator ... Louise!"
"Me?" Louise squeaked.
"Yes, you."
"Ah-ah!" Jackie cried and dove out the side gate where Daniel's boat wasn't.
Joan giggled and dove off the front, followed by Allison.
"Oh!" Louise complained and quickly followed.
Cameron told John, "I'm going to see what I can find down there."
"Me too," Delilah said.
"Have fun," John told them and kissed them before the jumped in.
"I'm going to swim around a little too, see if I can find a good fish," Sonya told Mark. She gave him a big lip lock, then dove in.
.
The bottom here was only about 40 feet down. Above, the girls were racing around, chasing each other. Cameron swam close to the bottom, seeing what was here, Delilah was on one side, Sonya off on the other. There was no doubt this lake had a good fish population, they were everywhere. Cameron saw a large turtle on the bottom, waiting. The three foot diameter shell belonged to an alligator snapper. A smaller fish went by and it shot it's head out to grab it. It munched down that fish and waited for another one to come close by.
Ahead, a large alligator she judged was a good ten, if not 12 feet long, was slowly cruising near the bottom. It tipped to the side and grabbed something. Coming back up with a smaller turtle in it's mouth, it swallowed and kept on it's patrol. It turned towards Cameron. Cameron angled away. It followed. She also saw Sonya following the alligator. Delilah had also noticed this and rose to watch from above.
The alligator swam a little faster. Cameron did too. She was thinking she looked tasty to it. She lured it higher while Sonya closed from behind. The alligator was slowly getting closer and Sonya was behind and almost underneath it.
Cameron put on a burst of speed and turned in a loop. Sonya came up fast behind the alligator from underneath and grabbed it's mouth, holding it shut. The alligator flailed. Delilah hit it from above in the mid section, wrapped her arms around it a squeezed. Bubbles came out of it's snout. Cameron got on the snout to help Sonya.
The alligator thrashed, trying to break free. It tried heading for the surface, but with three terminators on it, it was sinking, and it's flailing was weakening. More bubbles came out of it's snout. Slowly, the thrashes and flailing died down, giving a short frantic explosion of motion, then weakened more. Finally it was reduced to twitching. Once it was still, Cameron pointed to the deep end of the lake. She grabbed one paw, Delilah got another and Sonya held the mouth. They towed the alligator along with them.
Sonya saw it first, a humanoid form partially concealed in a down slope of the bottom cover of dead brush. She waved it up and pointed to the alligator. The merman had a sharp stick. Slowly he emerged to watch them. Sonya nodded to Cameron and Delilah, they let the alligator go and swam back to the boat.
This mission was accomplished. Show their good will to the mer people by giving them some food.
.
After their vigorous games, the girls sat on the deck and ate hot dogs, relish and mustard. Their mothers and Sonya returned to partake in some snacks.
"Have fun?" Mark asked Sonya as he gave her a dog piled with relish.
"We did. We killed an alligator and gave it to a merman. Hopefully he took it back home to feed his family," she said with a smile.
"A big gator?"
"Twelve footer. He really put up a fight!"
Hearing them, Joan asked, "Sonya! You killed an alligator?"
"Food for the mers," Sonya told her.
"Are they going to be able to process that?" John asked.
Cameron shrugged. "Hope so."
.
After the colorful ones left, the mer man watched the large predator. It only floated, unmoving. He poked it. He poked it again. It was dead. They had never killed anything this big before. This was a whole bunch of meat. Someone had to know how to cut it up. He gripped it by the snout as the large colorful one did. The thing didn't move. It was very heavy. Trying to swim fast, he did manage to get it moving. Not fast, but he was making progress. Twice he had to surface for air so he could go on. near the cave mouth another came to see what he was doing. Through motion and sounds, he relayed the colorful ones had come and given this to him.
The one with him signaled what they were to do with it. He motioned eating. The other motioned, how?
They took it to the clan. Someone had to know.
Down through the cave and up into the cavern, they huffed and pulled the dead alligator up into the pool. Seeing it, the little ones fled the water to jump up on the flat rocks around the pool. They got stares from everyone. After a conversation with sounds and motions, they realized no one had any idea what to do with this thing.
A consensus was to get it up out of the water and skin it. Being fast, streamline creatures, even getting the head up out of the water was a community task. Trying the other end, they did get the tail out. Taking their best stone knives, they managed to get the tail off. That was being skinned as another group worked at hauling the back end up and out.
In their learning experience, they found the tail meat tough, but good. The tail alone fed everyone. They got the legs off, and stripped, then took meat from the back to let it dry for later. The head and the rest of the body was taken back out for something else to finish off.
They had a group discussion. These colorful tailed people liked the surface and be near it, they also seemed to be friendly, unlike the split tails who did nothing but ride in boats and try to chase them. The colorful tails had brought them a feast. They also had to be very powerful to kill such a big muscular creature.
Where did they live?
.
Allison got a sleepover night. In the morning they were going to go see Bob for the day. It was getting cool out, so they decided to wear their tails for some warmth when they went. Remembering Louise doing the 'injured mermaid' for her Halloween costume, Joan and Allison spent the night making crunches for themselves. They also got plastic zip lock bags to put light sweaters in. Currently, the water was warmer than the air.
In the morning, Joan and Allison went down to the dock wearing their sweaters, tails, and hobbling on their home made crutches. Peggy went with the with the alligator food. The crutches were nailed together 2x2's they found in the shed. Crude, but they worked. They laughed at each other on their way down.
"That looks very silly," Peggy told them.
"Yeah, but it's fun," Allison said with a grin.
"What fun is it to act normal?" Joan asked. She thought she was hobbling along just fine.
With three of them, it didn't take long to feed momma, then all the little alligators what were now the length of a hand. The little buggers were growing quick. Once the alligators were fed, Joan took her sweater off and packed it into her bag and zipped it shut.
"Joan, look," Allison said.
Joan looked the way Allison was. A dark head was poking above the water maybe fifty yards out. Joan waved. A webbed hand waved back. Packing their bagged sweaters in the belly wraps they had, they dove in, crutches in hand. A few little alligators scattered as they swam away.
The mer that met them was a girl who eyed their crutches. The three swam along across the lake. Joan kept an eye out for alligators as they approached Bob's dock. Getting out was slower. First they put the crutches up on the dock with the mermaid watching, they hoisted themselves up and on. Seeing the mermaid watching them, Joan offered her a hand. The mermaid shrank back.
"OK then," Joan said. She got her sweater on. Now being wet, she needed it. She stood up and hobbled her way up the dock with Allison.
Bob opened the back door. "What are you two doing?" he asked.
"We're invalids," Allison said.
"Yeah, so open the door for us!"
Bob frowned at them. He let them come inside then told them, "Wait here, I'll get you towels."
Carol came back with Bob. he put a hand to her mouth, then asked, "SO, why are you dressed like that?"
"The water is warmer than the air, so we just kept out tails on and brought sweaters with us when we're out of the water," Joan explained.
Carol shook her head with a sigh. "Get undressed and dried off. I'll get you robes. Bob, come with me."
.
The mermaid hurried back home to tell, well try to explain how the colorful tails moved about on land. She tried to bend her flipper like the colorful tails had, and found it hurt to do so. There was no way she could stand upright. Some adults thought she was acting silly. No one could to that! Still, what she told of and how she had tried to be upright out of the water made them know she had seen something strange. One boy sprained his tail from trying to do that. She wanted to show them, so her elders went with her.
Swimming back to where the colorful tails had started, she showed them the dock they had started at. She then took them across the lake to the dock they stood back up on. From a distance, they poked above the water , and she told how they got up, and wanted her to come, but she was too scared.
From the structure beyond the dock a Split tail came out carrying the lighter haired Colorful tail. She had her arms around him. With her he had the sticks she used to walk on land. He carried her down to the end of the dock, stood her up and took the white cover off her. He gave her the sticks then kissed her. She waved to him and dove in. The Split tail went back up to the structure.
That was odd.
The Split tail came out again, carrying the other colorful tail and her sticks. He stood her up they kissed, arms around each other then he took the long covering off her and gave her her sticks. She dove in and swam towards them. The Split take seen them and waved, then went back to the structure.
They lowered down to watch the colorful tail go by. Seeing them she put both sticks in one hand and waved. They waved back. As the colorful tail swam on, the girl followed her. The elders followed the girl.
.
Joan swam up to the dock and put her crutches on the dock then jumped/pushed herself up do sit and swing her tail up and on. Getting on her knees to take her sweater out of the bag, a pair of webbed hands clasped the edge of the dock. The girl smiled at her. Joan returned he smile, then saw the alligator coming at her.
Her face shifting to terror, Joan grabbed the girl by the underarms and pulled her up and out, she got the girl out before the alligator snapped, and being off balance, Joan fell back with squirming girl on top of her. Joan struggled free to find the girl on the dock with her. The alligator tried to get up, she kicked it, slapping the side of it's head with her fin. It fell back in the water. "KNOCK IT OFF!" she barked as she regained her knees.
A mewing sound came from behind. Joan turned to see the girl on the dock, looking scared. Joan clasped one of her hands, "Are you OK?" she asked and looked for any ripped skin. She didn't see any damage, so she coaxed the girl to sit up. The girl did. Joan hugged her and petted her back. he also noticed a short ways away, two heads were looking at her.
The alligator was hanging by the dock, Apparently it didn't like this girl being here. She had to get this girl back in the water. This was gonna be tough.
The girl saw the alligator too and clung to Joan.
"It's OK, I'll get you back in," she told the girl. Figuring out a plan, she got the girl's attention and made motions as she said, "I" pointing to herself. Then pointed to her and made a throwing motion, "Will throw you back in. Swim fast away," she ended, pointing away quickly.
Thankfully, the girl wasn't very heavy. Joan picked her up and moved her around so the girl's back was to her. Holding the girl's underarms and standing up wasn't easy. The girl was panting like she was scared.
"It will be OK," Joan fold her softly. Bending her knees as low as she dared, Joan shot uptight and pushed to throw the girl out over the water.
Arms out to the sides, the girl let out a scream as she flew out over the water, a little higher than Joan had intended. She landed in a belly flop and a big splash.
Joan winced. That had to hurt.
Both heads disappeared as the girl kicked frantically, splashing as she went under and away.
Joan looked for the alligator. It was still by the dock and not chasing her. Good. It was getting cooler out. Joan at down to take her tail off so she could run to the house.
.
Getting back to their cavern the elders told how a colorful tail had saved the girl from an animal like they'd been given to eat, then made sure she got back in the water safely. Even though her belly was a little red.