CH 22

Jackie worked hard and cleared their camp of brush and trees. That also gave them firewood and building materials. The glass ax she made was good for chopping smaller diameter trees and brush. Making more glass plates, and one large on, the hut they made not only had rough windows, but also a sun roof. The hut was large enough they each had a private space for sleeping and a large common space. In the center of the cabin was a firepit, above it was a hole on the ceiling with the sharkskin over it to keep rain from coming in.

Set only a dozen yards from the stream, the cleared area between the hut and the stream was basically their yard where they spent most of their day. The pool in the stream was perfect for bathing. Jackie had made several glass bowls, the biggest one was used for water, though Jackie had to fill it and take it inside. The thing was heavy. Their food was coconuts, coconut crab and whatever Jackie found in the water to bring up. To help her fish, Jackie even made a glass spear. They each had a small glass plate and most of a coconut shell to drink from.

For being stranded here with nothing at all, they weren't doing that badly.

Randy couldn't help himself. Just inside the the brush cover, he looked down on the pool where Jackie and Wanda were in the pool naked, washing clothes. Wanda coming partially out to hang wet clothes on the drying rack, and he got a good look at her rack. He was thinking her perked up puffies were maybe a 'b' cup. Not very big but they were very nice looking on her thin frame. Jackie was much bigger, he was thinking 'D's at the least. Drooling material, both of them!

He loved to see Wanda laid out, floating on her back showing her gorgeous shape. He wished Jackie would do that too, but she didn't actually swim in the pool. Watching Wanda, he looked for Jackie again and didn't see her. He did enjoy the sight of Wanda.

"Nice looking, isn't she?" a voice asked from behind him. He froze and swallowed hard. It was Jackie.

"You do know it's not nice to hide here and watch us, don't you?" she asked.

"I ... I'm sorry," he squeaked out. He braced himself for the pounding that was sure to come.

She gripped his hand and said, "Come with me."

Randy flushed, embarrassed at being caught. "I... just happened to be here and ... I didn't mean..."

"You did too," Jackie replied. "This is the second time I saw you watching us."

He turned to see she was still naked as she led him into the yard. Eyeing him, she said, "Turn about is fair play. So, come down here, and get those clothes off so I can wash them."

Randy 's face flushed crimson. "But..."

"It's either that, or I start screaming and beat on you," Jackie said simply. "You really don't want that, do you?"

"No."

Pointing to the edge of the pool, Jackie said, "Then strip and give me your clothes."

Randy had seen what Jackie could to. He didn't think he'd survive her wailing on him. Reluctantly, he did as she asked. Jackie got in the water and took his clothes as he removed them. He got down to his underwear and flushed bright red again.

"What's fair is fair, let's have them," Jackie stated and held a hand out.

He was really embarrassed. Worse yet, Wanda was watching him.

"Jackie, what are you doing?" Wanda asked, sounding a little stressed.

Jackie turned to her and said, "He likes to see us washing and doing clothes, I thought he wanted to wash his clothes too."

"He was watching us!" Wanda cried indignantly. She glared at Randy.

"I think we need to watch him as well," Jackie stated. Turning back to Randy she noted he hadn't taken his underwear off yet. "Well?" she asked.

Randy slid his underwear down and off, beet red as Wanda and Jackie watched. He handed them to Jackie.

"A little shriveled, but not bad," Jackie noted as she eyed his crotch, then said, "Come on in. They're your clothes so you can help wash them."

Randy was glad to get in the water and cover up some.

Jackie had him scrub his clothes give them a good rinse and then get out to hang them up on the drying rack. Wanda stayed on the far side of the pool.

"So, Randy, it's a bit embarrassing to have others see you naked, isn't it?" Jackie asked.

"Yeah ... yeah, I'm sorry." he offered in a stuttering voice.

"Keep that in mind from now on," Jackie said firmly.

Duncan came into camp dragging an armload of vine. Seeing everyone in the water, he asked, "Can I get some help here? I know it's fun to play in the water, but we do have things to do." To Randy he said, "You can play with the girls later."

Randy has started out helping Duncan look for good vines to cut. Now, it made him feel even worse he'd abandoned his job.

.

Duncan didn't hold Randy's peeking on the girls against him. The kid was still a teenager and lust factor was high at that age. He was glad that Jackie had handled catching him peeking as well as she did. She didn't beat on him or scream at him. She made him undress in front of her and Wanda to show him what it felt like to have people watching you. That gave Randy a lesson in respecting the privacy of others.

Randy in his moist clothes now held two ends of vine, Wanda had the other end, They held the ends and kept the vines from tangling up as Duncan braided the vines together. Duncan noted Wanda cast dirty looks at Randy now and then, but didn't say anything. Randy was wisely keeping quiet. Once Duncan got near the end, he had them let go and finished braiding the vine.

"What are these for?" Wanda asked.

"We don't have any rope, but by braiding vines, we can make something similar to rope," Duncan explained. "Jackie had a plan, and I think it's a good one, of making a boat to go find civilization. We haven't seen any sea of air traffic. That means a low chance at someone coming to find us. We have to get off this island ourselves. Our best bet is a sailing vessel, which will require rope."

"And sails," Randy finally said. "How do we make the sails?"

"Still working on that," Duncan told him. "I've been looking, but I haven't found anything suitable yet. We also may have to row the boat. I'm hoping we can find sails so we don't have to."

"Can we search the island ?" Wanda asked, "Maybe there is something we can use."

"Jackie's out doing that now," Duncan said. "I'm hoping she finds something."

.

Jackie jogged down the beach with her tail over her shoulder, scanning ahead of her. If anything ran into this island, or onto it, it would be by the beach or up on it. She looked for anything what wasn't sand, water or trees. She even slowed to pay attention to a dark spot in the water. It was only a rock. Darn. Noting the curve of the beach, Jackie tried to figure out just how large this island was. It wasn't the biggest, she'd gone about a mile and already she figured she was about a quarter of the way around it.

Coming around a curve she saw a long section of beach, she finally saw something on the beach. An old boat, it looked like a cabin cruiser was half up on the shore. From here, she also see a big hole in the side of the front. Right, in the waves right off the beach, she noted some foam from rocks in the water. That boat must have hit the rocks just before it landed. This boat hadn't just got here. the paint was peeking on it, and getting close, she noted it was wooden and rotting. The aft end still in the surf was rotted. She walked around it. For how badly deteriorated it was, she didn't dare climb on it. Touching it might be enough to make it fold in on itself.

She looked around, and didn't see any sign of habitation in the area. Walking on she came to another Sharp curve in the shoreline. There was also beach farther on. She'd found an inlet. It was only maybe thirty, forty yards wide. from the end of the beach here, she could see it went maybe a hundred yards before the forest met the shoreline. It did expand some near the inside end.

Jackie wasn't about to walk around the inlet to get to the other side. She sat down and put her tail on, then hand walked into the water to cross the mouth of the inlet. She just got in and under when she met another face right in front of her.

It was a mermaid that looked at her and backed off. Her eyes were a bit wider and her skin was lighter than the ones at home, but it was a real mermaid. Jackie waved to her. The mermaid took off into the inlet, swimming low and churning up mud. OK, that was unexpected. Jackie continued on her way, swimming to the other shore. She got back up on the beach and sat to take her tail off.

Five heads popped up from the water and watched her. Jackie waved again. One waved a webbed hand back. Another dark haired mer swam up on the surface, looking at her. He came partway out of the water and studied her, tipping his head slightly to the side.

"Ahoo," Jackie offered, which the mers she knew used for a greeting.

He hand walked closer. Jackie sat still as he studied her tail, then her hands, which she let him hold, then her torso and her head. He petted her hair and poked her in the boob. She'd worn her shirt, which he fingered and seemed intrigued by. Of course these mers didn't have clothes.

Another became curious enough to come closer. This one was a female. She too studied Jackie like she'd never seen anything like her before. That got others brave enough to come closer and eye her openly. The female came up and sat beside her. She petted Jackie's face and hair. The mers spoke in their whale like moans, but Jackie couldn't understand any of it. She did note that most of the mers here were women and children were coming up to look at her. One small boy came up and licked the bottom of her tail. She giggled at that. This was fun and exciting to see at least this pod of mers were thriving here. Still, she had to get going.

Jackie pointed to herself, then pointed behind her and made walking motions with her fingers. That got her a few tipped heads. She tried again, pointing to herself, then motioning further up the beach. A couple kids made chuckling sounds. The female waver her hand, and pointed to the water beside the beach and up the coast.

Knowing they didn't quite understand, Jackie decided to take her tail off. She unzipped it and moved a piece to the side and the female let out a yelp and quickly snapped her hand down on her tail and shook her head. The female berated her as the others eyes got bigger and their mouths dropped open.

"It's all right," Jackie said gently. She cooed to the woman and petted her hair. Her tail was open enough, she wiggled out of it to wide-eyed stares. Getting her legs out as they gaped at her, she stood up and put her tail over her shoulder. She pointed down the beach again and made walking motions. She then waved and said, "Bye," then continued her jog down the beach.

All the mers watcher her run from sight. A few got back in the water and followed her off shore.

For the next half hour, all Jackie saw was beach. She did catch a head off shore pop up and watch her run by. She waved, the mer waved back. A little while later, another popped up.

Jackie made it around to where they originally had made the beach and saw a mer burst out of the surf to hand walk up on the beach and look back at the water. A shark came shallow then turned to go back out. Another shark. They were filling! Jackie ran to the shore by the mer, put her tail on and quickly hand walked out into the surf. The mer called to her but she got in the water and looked for the shark.

Seeing it ahead and moving to come around she saw it was a six footer. Jackie swam hard into it. This time she had her plasma canon out and right behind the eye, she shot it. Water erupted as did shark. The pink mass blew out and up. Jackie quickly headed for shore with the now limp shark that was trailing blood. Sharks in the water and blood, this was NOT a good place to be.

She met the mer in a few feet of water she pointed to the shore. The male mer grabbed a shark fin and helped her drive for the surf. They made the surf and Jackie got up onto the shore as fast as she could, dragging the shark. Once clear of the water, the merman stared at her. She ginned, slapped the dead shark then made eating motions. The mer looked out at the water, she did also. Two more dorsal fins had come to cruise the area.

Right, he couldn't get back in the water. He was worried.

Jackie got out of her tail and pulled the shark's tail up higher. She then went over to kneel in front of the mer and sapped her back. He eyed her, confused. She reached out and lifted his arms then knelt down and backed up against him and pulled his arms around her. He let her pull him up and put his arms around her neck. It was awkward, but she got up with the mer on her back. She grabbed the shark by the base of the tail and walked down the beach dragging it and carrying him.

The mer spoke in his language. He sounded confused.

Up ahead by the stream, Duncan and Randy had a log on the beach, Duncan was stripping the bark off with the glass ax. Randy was holding the log down for him.

"Hey guys! light the pit! I got dinner for a couple days and a dinner guest!" Jackie called.

Duncan stood up, so did Randy. "What's that on you?" Randy cried.

"A mer, a shark tried to eat him, but we're heating the shark!" Jackie beamed.

Duncan walked over. "want me to take something?" he asked.

"The shark, if you would."

Duncan took hold of the shark and dragged it up to the fire pit. Randy stared at the mer. "That's a real mermaid," he whispered.

"Merman, the male of the species," Jackie corrected with a grin. "Back up, I'm going to put him down by the water."

Randy did. Jackie walked over to the stream and knelt down. The mer got the hint and got off. He had a dazed look about him. To Randy, she said, "Give him some space, he's never seen humans before."

"Hi," Randy said and waved. The mer waved back. The mer then tapped Jackie on the shoulder. He asked something and pointed to the shark.

Jackie pointed to the shark and made eating motions. "You too?" she asked, then pointed to him, the shark and made eating motions.

The mer let out a string of kinda words got up on his knees to hug her, then slid down the stream and into the water.

The mer swam back to their nests in the quiet water. Clan members were coming back with fish. He sat up on the hidden shore and his mate cried happily and moved over to hug him. She thought he'd been eaten. He explained he saw the predator and make up on land, but the odd, bright one they saw got into the water, found the predator and killed it. She carried him on land to a safe place to get into the water. Her and her clan were going to eat the predator, and she invited them to come eat with them.

They all wanted to see this bright one who could kill the predators that did occasionally eat one of their young.

.

With the shark on the cooking rack, Jackie cut fins, tail and head off, then gutted the shark and got the skin off before they lit the fire. It was easier this way. This skin was larger than the last one. It was up and cooking at the beach fire pit. Wanda washed out the coconut shells on the pool there and noticed mers coming up out to the surf. "Guys? We got company!" she called.

"Damn," Randy whispered. The first thing he noticed was all the girls were naked as they hand walked up out of the surf. There had to be thirty of them, and here and there, boobs were swaying as they dragged themselves up onto the beach. Jackie saw them coming and stopped turning a fin inside out to wave to them and beckon them on. Many came up the stream.

"This is the pod of mers I found," Jackie explained. "They live in a lagoon about halfway around the island. Remember, they have never seen humans before, they are curious about us."

"wow," Wanda said. She backed out of the small pool as a couple mers, a female and a small girl came up and into it.

Randy had come closer to a few females who sported nice pokies. They reached up and motioned him closer. He sat down by them and the explorations began.

"Randy!" Duncan said firmly. "No having sex with the mermaids!"

He snapped his head to Duncan. At first he was going to ask, why would I? He then noticed they were petting him and exploring. Despite these being sea creatures, he did get a stiffy, especially when they pulled his hand to them. He didn't mind exploring them at all. "OK, I won't." he called back. Although not quite human looking, their faces did hold a certain charm, and they didn't seem to mind him petting them in return. Not even when he fondled a nice looking and soft breast. Yeah, OK, there was temptation here. He remembered hearing about 'fable' of mermaids calling to sailors to make them crash their ships on the rocks. Now, he could easily see that happening.

With all the mers, some brought fish, and a few crabs with them. Duncan and Jackie got these on to cook also. Even cooking had the mer's attention.

It was a big beach party.

.

Fred has enjoyed some celebrity status as the 'lone' survivor of that plane crash. He talked to the Safety board and told them how 'somehow', he got to the surface and found that empty raft. He was cleared from the hospital, that the airlines paid for, and even had a free ticket to get home. His last night in San Jose was in a nice hotel. He called his business and told them he'd be back late tomorrow.

There was a knock at his door. He answered it with, "Can I help you?"

A thin woman held up a badge. "Cameron Connor, NSA. We need to talk to you."

"Ah sure, come in," he said. She did, so did the woman behind her. He stared. It was that blonde bitch from the island. How did she get here? "What has she told you?" he asked a little harder.

Both women eyed him. Cameron asked, "What has who told me?" she asked.

"Her!" he said, pointing at Delilah.

Delilah shut the door for him. "Have a seat," she said blankly.

He went over to Cameron. "I saw her drown!" he stated. "I thought she was dead! She went under and never came back up, I swear!"

Blank faced, Cameron asked, "Why are you lying to me?"

"Lying to federal agents gets you put in jail," Delilah stated. She held up her badge. "I'm Delilah Connor, NSA. Who did you think I was?"

He gaped at her. She could be the Jackie's sister. Maybe she was.

"Let's start by you telling us the truth," Cameron stated.

"How far did you go to get to that island?" Delilah asked.

"I wasn't on any island," he said defensively.

"You are lying," Cameron stated. "There was sand found in your hair and in your clothes. It is best of you do not lie again."

"Am I under suspicion for something?" he asked.

"You are," Delilah said flatly. "You lied to the Safety board. We will hear the truth from you, no matter how long it takes."

"You left survivors on some island and attempted to cover it up. The sooner you tell us the truth, the sooner we let you go," Cameron stated.

"You left them to die. That makes you a murderer." Delilah told him.

"Tell us the truth." Cameron said.

"I want my lawyer," Fred stated. He pulled his phone out.

Delilah shot up, snapped up his phone from him and crushed it in her head, then dropped it in the garbage. Her eyes turned red as she said, "You know where my daughter is. You get no lawyer, you get no peace until you tell us the truth!"

He backed up, Cameron turned him and sat him on the bed. "We know when you're lying."

"What are you!" he cried, staring at Delilah's red eyes.

"The truth, or else," Delilah stated.

"HELP!" he cried. Cameron grabbed his arm and twisted it as she turned him to face plant on the bed. Placing a knee on his shoulder blade, she said, "The truth, or you will be in pain."

Delilah grabbed his other arm and held it out straight. "Yell again and I'll break it. Where. is. My. Daughter?"

SHIT! He had two psycho women on him now. He knew if he didn't tell them what they wanted to know, there was a good chance he wouldn't live until morning. "OK, OK!" he said quickly.

He tried to tell them a light version of what happened, they found a raft and went to an island. He went to find help. He was accused of lying again and both arms twisted farther. Bit by bit, it took until after midnight, but they got the whole truth out of him. Including he'd left to strand them there on that island. He didn't want anyone to find them, so he claimed he was the only survivor.

Delilah bent down and said in his ear, "You will suffer for what you've done."

"Please, don't hurt me!" he whimpered.

They both left.

Fred panted and flexed his arms to be sure they both worked. He immediately though 'police brutality lawsuit'. Then again, they were NSA. Those fuckers would make your life hell if you raised a voice against them. Besides, they hadn't permanently hurt him and it was his word against theirs. He grinned at the thought that the island was going to be very hard to find.

Fred did get back to work the next afternoon. As usual, there were emergencies. One, he wasn't expecting. His Accountant was waiting for him. The man with the glasses said, "We have a bad situation here."

"What's the problem?" he asked.

The accountant handed him a copied ledger sheet and said, "You spent ninety five thousand of company money on your vacation, and bought a one point three million dollar yacht that drained company funds. We can't even make payroll."

"That's absurd!" Fred cried. "I never did no such thing!"

"The checks have cleared. This is a copy so you can take it to your lawyer. Another copy was supplied by request to the DA. Company money by law, is not to be used for personal items. You may wish to contact your lawyer soon as possible. As of end of work today, I resign. It is not proper to be employed by the defense in cases like this."

He turned to walk away. Fred yelled, "Hey! this is a lie!"

The accountant turned back to him and said, "It's not me you need to convince of that."

.

This time the whole shark as well as the food the mers brought was all eaten. Many mers stayed the night on the beach. A couple got the message across that they wanted to see the nest that these strange people had. One of the mer girls Randy was petting also wanted to see where his nest was. He'd spend much time on her breasts and brushing her nips to harden them up. While Duncan and Jackie carried mers up to show them their hut, The mermaid Randy held, pointed to the pond and wanted him to go in with her.

Occupied with their own visitors, Duncan and Jackie left back for the beach as Randy was in the pond with the mermaid. Up beside a rock, she held his head as he nursed on her lovely breasts. He was hard, she stroked him and guided him into her folds. They held each other close as he made love to her in the water standing up against the rock.

Even after they were done, they stayed hugging and kissing in the water. Then they did it one more time. It was very late by the time they got up onto land and held each other to drift off to sleep.

Tonight, Randy really enjoyed being stuck on this island.

.

Randy woke up being tapped on the head. He looked to see Duncan over him, not looking happy. "Huh?" he asked sleepily.

"You have no idea what you've done, and frankly, neither to I," Duncan stated. "If she's pregnant, that could be big trouble, you know that?"

Randy felt his mermaid snuggled up, her head in the cook of his neck. They were still loosely holding each other.

"oh," he said vacantly.

"Whatever happens, you're responsible for it," Duncan stated in a heavy tone, then walked away.

Randy almost said 'sorry', but he wasn't. Last night was fantastic, and he didn't want it to end. He petted her hair and back enjoying the feel of her against him.

Going down to the shore, Duncan found Jackie had made her left arm into a saw and was cutting flats into a log.

"Boat building?" he asked.

"I am. Did you see lover boy and his mer-girl?" she asked.

"I did," he said with a sigh. "I have to wonder if they are compatible."

Jackie chuckled and said, "Apparently they fit together. From what I know, yes, mer DNA is very, very close to human DNA. He can get her pregnant. I found out Ellen, the mer Bob screwed had his son. Joan and Allison went ballistic after finding that out, but they do begrudgingly accept Ellen and the boy into their family. I also found out that since Ellen had a baby with Bob, now he's considered her mate by the other mers. At least in the Driftwood mer society, once you ride the hobby horse, you've got your mate."

Duncan rubbed his forehead. "So what's she going to do when we leave?"

Jackie shrugged. "She lives alone for the rest of her life, or comes with us. The again, Randy can stay here with her."

"None those are good options," Duncan said.

"Didn't say they were. That's the bed they made though."

"Bob and Ellen's child, is he healthy?" Duncan asked.

Jackie nodded. "He is. He's mostly mer, but has a split tail up to his knees, from what Joan said." she giggled and added, "He can't walk unless he uses crutches. I guess he still swims good, and spends time in the lake as well as up in the hotel." She paused cutting and looked at Duncan. "He does have plenty of support. If Randy's mer has a child, he won't have near as much support."

"This could be bad then."

"Not good, however you look at it," Jackie agreed.

Duncan thought of something else just then. "Jackie, you know I can't have children. It's been fun being with you, but, I can't be a father."

"I know. Adoption is possible if we want one, isn't it?" she asked.

"It is," he agreed. "I just didn't want you to be disappointed."

She sawed for a moment, then said, "You know, I haven't ever thought seriously about having a child. For how much shit we seem to keep getting in, I don't think I want to try and be a mother. I'd be too scared for the child."

Duncan laughed. "Good point." He then cast her a softer look and said, "I do hope life gets easier for you."

"I hope life gets easier for both of us," she said with a grin. "But, we get what we get. Gotta take the bad and the horrible with the good times we can have."

"So true." Duncan agreed. They kissed.

"Send lover boy to me when you can. I need to talk to him about the love of his life."

"Will do," Duncan said. "I'll tell him to come see you on my way up get more vines to make more rope."

They kissed again and Duncan went back up the path. Jackie kept sawing her way down the log.

.

Wanda had come out to see Randy wrapped up with his fish when she came out for the morning. He disgusted her. How could he possibly do that with someone who wasn't even human? Even the thought made her shudder. Knowing they were trying to make a boat, she went down to see what help Jackie needed. Meeting Duncan on the path coming up, she said, "Duncan, what can I do today to help?"

"Hey Wanda. I was going to get more vine for rope. Jackie is cutting logs for the boat, we're still working out what the sail's gonna be, but we're going to need rope. If you want, you can help me untangle vine to get more free for longer ropes."

"OK, lead on."

Duncan led her back up to the camp where Randy was finally getting up. His girlfriend had gone back into the pool to swim around, exploring the bottom. He called, "Randy, Jackie wants to see you on the beach. You should probably take your girlfriend with you."

"OK, right after she comes up," Randy agreed.

"Don't be too long, she knows things about mers she needs to tell you," Duncan said firmly. He kept going in the woods where he was finding lots of vine.

Avoiding looking at Randy, Wanda kept quiet until they were well into the woods. Once she was sure they were alone she asked, "Doesn't that disgust you?"

"What's that?" Duncan asked as he searched the trees for good vines.

"Randy was ... fucking a fish! I mean, how hard up can you be?" she cried.

Duncan eyed her. "I take it you don't approve?"

"No! I hear you warn him not to, but he did anyway."

Duncan shrugged. "He did, now he's going to have to face the consequences. He's not the first." He headed for a vine hanging off and wrapped partly around a tree.

"But that's gross! she's not even human," Wanda complained.

"She's closer to human than you think she is. Did you know we and mers have the same DNA? Not close, but the same. The differences are very minimal." He pointed to the hanging portion of the vine. "I'm going up that tree, see if you can find the other end."

Wanda did. She followed the vine to the base of another tee. "I found the root!" she called.

Shimmying up the tree Duncan asked, "Can you pull it?"

Wanda grabbed the root and pulled. She strained but did get some movement. She yanked and pulled and finally got it to come out. "I got it!"

"Great! Untangle that end."

Duncan climbed and pulled vine free until he came to a split. carefully, he used his glass knife to cut the vine then drop it and climbed back down.

Duncan rolled the vine up in a loose coil.

"At least he can't father a child with her. THAT would be gross," Wanda said in a huff.

Duncan eyed her. "Yes, he can. Back home we have a guy who has a half mer child. If you want to know about him, talk to Jackie."

Wanda stared at him. "You're kidding," she breathed.

Duncan shrugged. "How do you think new species emerge? We didn't come from apes, Wanda. Mers are our direct ancestors. Some scientists are looking for when, where and why we came back up out of the water."

"Really?"

"Yes, really. Jackie's family are experts on the subject," he said and pointed to another tree. "That one looks good."

.

Randy held his mermaid in a bride's carry down to the beach, her arms around his neck. They did stop a couple times to kiss. He walked her to the surf and set her down, then went over by Jackie who finished cutting one side of the log and rolled it over. "Hey, Jackie, you want some help?"

Jackie looked to see him walking towards her. The mermaid got wet, then hand walked towards them. She pointed and said, "Bring her over here too. Don't make her do it by herself."

Randy turned back. upon seeing him approach, the mermaid got up on her knees and held her arms out.

Jackie got her log positioned while she waited for them. Randy brought her over and asked, "Want me to hold the log still?"

"That will help," Jackie agreed. "What I need to talk you you about is her. There are things you need to know, and things you need to find out."

.