How far would you go to get the life you always wanted…


"Veridia, please, I'm sorry," Rita begged, one hand raised to the red welts on her cheek, the mermaids back was against the cool stones that circled the Moonpool of Mako Island as she pleaded, "You have to understand please, I love hi-"

Veridia's only response was to glide forward and hit Rita again. "How dare you," The Pod Leader of Mako thundered. "You've shown yourself to a land person, you've pledged your love to one! You used our magic to gain legs!" Slapping Rita once again Veridia screamed, "You have broken every law we hold sacred! I cast you out! The pod casts you out! MAKO casts you out!" Ignoring Rita's horrified look Veridia's voice dropped to a hoarse whisper, "Go Rita, or as pod leader I'll have no choice but to kill you."

"Veridia, please, we're best frien-"

"GO!" Veridia's voice was low, anguished. Not looking at Rita, she pointed imperiously toward the Moonpool exit. "I said GO and never come back!"

With a sob, Rita fled, her tail propelling her smoothly out the tunnel of the Moonpool and into the open sea.


Puffing a cigarette the man, clad in plaid Bermuda shorts and a matching short sleeve shirt, leaned casually against a huge 1949 Ford Prefect, the green paint of the car made it look nearly black in the darkness as the man blew smoke into the air. Glancing around at the deserted and dark stretch of Mermaid Beach, he took another puff of the cigarette, tossed it down and ground it into the sand beneath his loafers. With a sigh he reached into the car, pulled out a pair of binoculars and scanned the ocean beyond the beach, the waves luminous in the sliver of moon and the starlight overhead.

"Harry is that you?" A voice cried out gaining the man's attention.

Swinging the binoculars around the man caught sight of a dark lump in the surf, and then lowered the binoculars with a shout of, "Rita?"

"Yes," A voice came in answer.

Tossing the binoculars on the front seat of the car the man sprinted down to the surf, his form tall and athletic, his movements, despite his leather loafers and knee length socks, was confident and assured. "How'd it go?" He asked reaching the woman laying half in and half out of the water on the beach; the woman's tail was barely visible in the darkness as he grasped her arms and heave backwards, pulling her out of the surf and onto dry sand.

"I've been cast out," The mermaid sobbed as she allowed the man to pull her clear of the water. "Veridia banished me! We were best friends Harry, Veridia and I have known each other all our lives, and she banished me! I tried to explain it- what am I going to do?"

Clear of the wet sand, the man released the sobbing mermaid and sat down next to her. "So I guess it didn't go well?" He asked his voice, in contrast to the Australian accent of the mermaid on the beach was very distinct and very educated British. Sighing he shrugged, "I suppose it wouldn't have gone any other way."

"No Harry it didn't," The mermaid wept burying her head in her arms, her next words muffled, "I've been banished, cast out, I'm…I'm going to die! A mermaid with no pod always dies!"

"Oh Rita," Harry soothed reaching over to massage the mermaids shoulders. "You still have me old mum, and you most certainly are NOT going to die."

Lifting her head, Rita looked up, Harry's form an outline in the dark. "What do we do? I don't have a home anymore, and nowhere to go, I can't go back to Mako." She dropped her head back into her arms muttering, "It wasn't supposed to happen like this."

Harry sat silent for a few moments looking out at the luminescent waves crashing onto the sandy beach. "Ever been to Nepal? Or England?" He asked finally, digging into his pockets to produce a cigarette and a lighter, "Or New York?"

"Of course not," Rita answered, turning slightly she thrust one arm behind her, almost instantly steam beginning to rise from her tail. "This is the farthest I've ever been in my life, Veridia insisted we stay close and guard the island."

"Well then," Harry answered taking a drag on his cigarette as he watched the mermaid's body shrink and reform in the darkness of the beach. He stood slowly matching his movement to Rita who was also rising, her body clad in a fashionably short dress, her feet bare. "We go to Nepal."

"Where," Rita questioned. "I've never heard of that place, how far is it, is it near Brisbane?"

"Oh, old mum," Harry laughed hooking one of Rita's arms in his as he led her in the direction of the car. "I'm going to show you the world Rita, a world that will make you the envy of all your fishy friends and you'll never want to go back." Taking a drag off the cigarette he blew a wreath of smoke. "Well after we go to England and you meet my mum, and I somehow get you an identity."

"I have an identity," Rita said firmly. "My name is Rita and-"

"You are a mermaid," Harry finished with a puff on the cigarette. "You might as well be the Man from Mars or one of those Faeries from Cottingley."

"There are people on Mars?" Rita looked up eyes scanning the sky and then frowning at Harry asked, "Where is Cottingley? And what's a 'faerie'?"

Harry laughed. "Well, nobody lives on Mars, not as far as I know, and as for Faeries at Cottingley…talk to my Aunt Agatha about that, she's the one that always sees them, and sometimes talks to them…I have no idea how she tolerates the Sidhe," Turning serious he said, "But Rita luv, you are a mermaid, and for all purposes don't exist. We might be able to get away with this in Romania or somewhere, but we're in Australia and that means paperwork and steamers."

Silent in the darkness Rita only stared as they strode toward the parked car.

"Steamships my love, we have to take a ship to England, I don't think even you could swim all the way there," Harry explained and then took a puff of his cigarette with a pause; "I suppose I could pass you off as my Bulgarian mistress when we board the ship, that would raise a few eyebrows of course but nothing a few bribes can't fix."

"Your what," Rita's answer was less question and more of a statement of anger as she stopped, forcing Harry to stop with her.

"Oh luv, I didn't mean it that way," Harry said with mirth. "I'll have to make up some kind of reason at the dock why you don't have a passport or any documentation." He paused, blowing smoke into the air. "Unless you want me to hide you in a trunk so I could smuggle you onto the ship like a gypsy."

"No thank you," Rita sighed. "I guess I can be Bulgarian…whatever that is." Tilting her head she regarded Harry for a moment, and then asked, "What is a Bulgarian?"

"It's a person from a country in Europe, Bulgaria, we could go there you know, take the Orient Express from Paris," Harry laughed as the two of them continued toward the dark bulk of the car parked beside the beach. "But first we go to England, and after that we go to Nepal, you will love it, huge mountains, and Buddhist monasteries….yetis in the snow…"

"That sounds…incredible, whatever those things are," Rita said, and staunchly stopped again, forcing her companion to stop with her, arms interlinked. "But these-" She reached up to pluck the cigarette from Harry's mouth and toss it onto the sand before he could protest. "Have got to go, the smell of them makes my stomach turn and I'm not going to spend my life wanting to vomit."

Wordless for a few moments Harry gazed at the half smoked cigarette on the beach, the cherry red tip fading as it went out. "Fine, you win," He sighed finally with a shrug, as he and the mermaid continued their stroll toward the car. "I'll give those up…eventually. Mum doesn't like them either."

"I'd like to meet your mother," Even though her smile was hidden the in the dark, it was evident in her voice. "She sounds interesting."

"She is interesting indeed my dear," Harry laughed. "As is my aunt, the Lady Agatha. But first, let me tell you about Nepal..."


End of Part 1