My Life on Dry Land

I'm Harriet, and you are going to hear my amazing, terrifying, wonderful, different, magical life. My life wasn't always described in these words. The year I turned eighteen my parents drown in a flash flood; leaving me to finish raising my sixteen year old brother, Sam. Times weren't easy, I'll admit. My friends went to college I found a job and a small apartment so my brother and I could survive, but we made do. My life then was boring, hard, sometimes sad, but normal enough. Without further ado here my tale starts...

"Sam hurry up you're going to be late for school!" I yelled shoving a poptart in my mouth, while balancing on one foot to put a shoe on.

"Harriet, I have been ready for fifteen minutes. You are the slow one. Get it together you need to go to work." He scolded me, pushing up his glasses. I finished putting on my shoes, and grabbed my bag. this kid sounds so entitled who does he think he is? "I have toiled away for years giving you my everything." I started speaking dramatically with the back of my hand to my forehead. "I gave you my money, my youth, my love." I continued. I gave a little smirk. Sam didn't seem amused. "Seriously?" he started "Mom and dad died a year and a half ago, you are barely an adult, and you have never had money we are broke." He spoke with a dead serious tone with no facial expression. "Sarcasm is lost on you brother." I said while opening the door. We walked to the bus stop, then sat next to each other in silence. "Ooh I know we can do something different." I perked up trying to take away that dull expression of his face.

"Oh dear sister. Don't bother trying to play games, or sing, or talk to strangers. We have the same routine every day. Mrs. Tabbeth gets on..." He held up his fingers counting down from three. The old woman got on the bus. "Then she will sit in the closest seat to the driver. Whom she will whistle at." I could hear the old woman's whistle. "Then she will say..." In unison both Mrs.Tabbeth and Sam said, "God blessed that man with a pretty face." I raised an eyebrow. "Next Mr...." I stopped him from continuing, by covering his mouth. "I get it, our life is boring, but in six months you graduate, and will get a scholarship and go to whatever college you want to, and be whatever you want to be, but in the meantime just enjoy time with your loving big sister. What do you want to be anyways?" I asked. I knew the answer, but getting this boy to have a simple conversation was like pulling teeth. He sighed in defeat. I knew he couldn't resist rubbing his bright future in my face. "I am going to be a marine biologist, as the smartest kid in school it won't be hard to get into a good college, and of course I will be the smartest one in college as well." he said. I began to mock , "Ooh having a brother work at Sea World will be so fun." He began to turn red "I have told you before; I will be a scientist not some idiot dancing with dolphins!" I got up, and walked off the bus. "This is my stop. Have fun at school baby brother!" I yelled and blew him a kiss. His face got even redder with both anger and embarrassment.

As soon as the bus pulled away I sprinted to the beach as fast as I could. Sam didn't need to know that I was rushed to work each day, just so I could spend extra time with him. I got to the lifeguard station and changed into my swimsuit, punched in my time card, grabbed a whistle, and ran back to the sandy family filled beach. Some people think being a lifeguard is such a luxurious rewarding job, where you save people and stay at the beach happily all day. Those people haven't worked as a lifeguard. For the most part it is dealing with angry people, yelling at people to follow beach rules, putting ice on jellyfish stings, and having to deal with creeps hitting on you with bad one liners. So I run up and down a beach in hot weather as essentially customer support in a bathing suit. I watched as several seagulls flapped and squaked around an old man in a full suit. I kept an eye on him, his presence didn't sit right with me. For whatever reason he didn't quite fit in (and not just because he was wearing a suit at the beach). Just then I was sprayed with several squirt guns, as I was ambushed by a child's birthday party. When I looked back, the man was gone.

My co worker, Tony gets everything rewarding. The families call him if someone is drowning, he saves the puppy in the hot car, and many girls in swimsuits reward him greatly and very intimately. I don't ask for anything flashy, but would it be so bad if I could be the one to save the half dead kid. I just need something that I can brag to my brother about... other than putting ice on children's jellyfish stings. I am not asking for anything else. I could have fun If I wanted, Tony level fun. I have long dark brown wavy hair, and am fit from doing my job, not to mention for eight hours a day all I wear is a swimsuit and a necklace with a whistle, that gives me a perfect tan. However since money is tight, and if I'm not at work, then I am at home with Sam.

"Eight O'clock finally." I groaned. I stretched lifting my arms above my head. As I went back to punch out; I saw Tony was already punching out at the time slot. "So Harriet, my fellow lifesaver... We don't have work tomorrow. How about you..." I put my hand up. "Tony I won't pretend to like you, so I don't feel sorry when I say 'No' to whatever you were about to ask. Instead of trying to hit on me, go deal with the blondie who is waiting for you in your car." I pointed at a young woman waving out the car window.. He jumped and ran to his car, he had obviously forgot about tonight's scheduled fling. "I will strangle Sam if he ever turns out to be like that." After that I couldn't hold my laughter in. Just trying to imagine Sam simply talking to a girl made me laugh. I could see Tony glaring at me from the parking lot. He was probably thinking I was laughing at his expense. I punched out, changed clothes and went to the bus stop.

After arriving home I shouted into the Apartment "Sammy guess who is going to the beach tomorrow?!" He looked up from a book. "My guess would be an annoyingly happy lifeguard." He said in a monotone voice. "Sam you make it really hard to love you sometimes." I said in a dull voice. But I perked up again "You were half right though. An adorably happy lifeguard and her little fish obsessed robotic brother, are the ones whom will be at the beach." He closed his book and sat up to speak to me. "I will go with you on one condition. We leave early in the morning." I put my hand to my face "I hate low tide smell do we have to go early?" I moaned. "I want to observe the temporary micro-environments that are found in the tide pools. If we don't go at low tide, there will be no tide pools." he stared down his nose at me as he spoke. "I know I know. You fail to realize just how much time I spend at the beach. We won't go to my workplace though." That piqued his interest. "You found a new place?" he tilted his head. "I did! It's a bit out of the way, but it has a cove. So You can look at and examine all sorts of aquatic mumbo jumbo even after low tide. While you are being boring, I can swim. I don't even have to deal with any tourists."

The next morning we headed out. Sam packed a bag with his old Polaroid camera, a notebook, and some culture disks. I had two beach chairs, a few towels, sunscreen, and a cooler full of sandwiches. It took two bus rides, and a mile long walk, but we got there. Sam was wheezing despite having very little to carry. "Wow you really have let yourself go little brother."

"wheez...You run and wheeze... swim everyday." Whew, he finally caught his breath. I will work in a lab, and study behind a microscope. Then I will retire at a young age after a breathtaking discovery. I don't need to be fit. Yeah well I am carrying your lunch, your chair, your towel, the baby sunscreen for your sensitive skin. Multiply that by two, then add two gallons of ice. That is what I am carrying now, and I'm not wheezing, and this is way more than I carry at work. You might be scrawny, but that doesn't mean you should be weak. Be a man do a push-up. I can't beat up bullies for you in college." I mocked him though with some real concern. After I set up our chairs I plopped down to take in everything. I could see Sam going from tide pool to tide pool lingering and taking pictures of each one. Then stepping back to put a picture in a page of his journal, then labeling them. He never looked happier, than when he was 'examining' any kind of marine life. I looked at the coast and saw the same old man from the beach the day before. This wasn't private property, so I didn't have any right to make him leave, so rather I watched him. I am sure he will leave soon, I told myself. I heard the screeching of seagulls flying above. I watched them fly near the old man. Looking closer I noticed more of his features: his hair was silver, with a few black hairs left. His suit was different from the one the day before, but it was just as crisp and neat. He turned his head to shew away the the gulls. I saw he had a neatly trimmed beard, white from age. but his eyes... his eyes were amazing. They were deep and grey like the sea before a storm. He didn't seem to notice Sam or I. All that those eyes could see was the ocean itself, and a few pesky gulls. Fully clothed he started to walk into the water. He's weird I thought. I watched the water, waiting for his head to resurface. I waited for two minutes before I had to give up and use my lifeguard training. I sprinted to the water and dove in. I opened my eyes and searched where the old man should be. I swam deeper until I saw what I initially thought were two fish swimming upright. When my eyes focused was when I realized that these were no fish. The top half of these fish were human. I looked at each one's faces. One of them looked just like the strange man from the beach. The reality hit me like a brick, they were the same person, or tiny merman version of him. My head started to spin and soon, everything faded to black.

"Hey Dad! She is waking up!" I heard. "What...what happened?" I said. As I started to open my eyes I met the eyes of a handsome man. He was much younger than the old man, about my age. He had the same eyes, but at the same time completely they were different. His eyes were were still that of a stormy sea, but his eyes looked like the sea after the storm, not before. They were mesmerizing and calming. There was a handsome smile on his face. "Hi I'm Zepher Slade, the other guy is my dad Milo Slade. I lifted my head from the ground. That was the weirdest dream I have ever had. I don't know... I sat up and saw that my memory was no dream. The happy young man who had been talking to me, and the old man from before were both half fish. Each of them had long silver scaled tails and gills at each side of their neck. That is when the obvious hit me. If I am laying down, and they are swimming that must mean... I looked up and could see the sun, but under a veil of water. I tried to talk "Heh... buh... Ahu Sne" but I was in shock and could only utter some random sounds. How am I breathing?!?

"Chill chill...It's okay pretty lady." said Zephyr, trying to sooth me. "Zephyr It is not the time for flirting!" I looked past Zephyr to see the old man once again. He was swimming back and forth, it seemed as though he was pacing. He seemed very nervous and was mumbling to himself. I felt something touching my neck. I continued to watch the old man as I instinctively rubbed whatever was on my neck. Then I felt it. I had three slits on the side of my neck. My eyes started to widen and my face was obviously showing my terror. "Okay pretty lady, remember take it easy." Zephyr chimed in. "Those are just your new gills that's all. That's how you can breathe and talk down here. I was still in shock. If I have gills like them... I looked at my lap and saw a purple tail. As I saw it I screamed. It immediately turned red. I tried to get up to run, but I quickly found myself drifting back down to the ocean floor. "Kinda hard to run without feet right?" Zephyr said with a grin. "R...right" I said as if any of this made sense. Then as I laid there, a crab the size of a golden retriever walked past us. That was as much as my brain could take, and once again everything went black.

When I woke up I was alone in a blue room on some sort of pink cushion everything inside was silent. I looked down at my tail. for a brief moment it was purple, but as I started to panic again it turned red. I took a few deep breaths and my tail turned into a deeper red Why is it changing colors. Those other two both had solid silver tails. They didn't change. As my train of thought wondered, my tale turned into a purple shade once again. I felt my neck again rubbing my fingers over my gills, I could feel every breath. I examined my thin tail fin. It was nearly translusent, but it kept the same hue as the other scales on my tail. Oddly enough I didn't even notice that I was wearing a new shirt. It looked to be a green tube top. Okay Harriet you can do this. I sat up from the cushion and attempted to swim, and once again I found myself on the ground. Swimming with a tail is a bit different than with legs. Just then Zephyr swam in through the doorway. My tail flashed red when he came in, then back to purple when I realized who it was. "He had a big grin on his face. He swam and laid down next to me on the ground his hand holding up his head. "Hey pretty lady, having some trouble swimming?" He mocked. "Too soon for sarcasm I turned into a mermaid in a world with giant crabs, charming half aquatic guys, and humanoid gills. "Oh so you think I am charming?" He mocked again, with a crooked grin. "Don't think too highly of yourself, you are the only person I have met, for all I know everybody looks like you." He covered his heart with his hands, oh you hurt me so miss...?" He asked. "Harriet...Harriet Rivers, but I don't hate pretty lady." I said giving him a joking glance. "Well" he said "I don't mind charming either." he replied matching my tone. "How about I give you some swimming lessons? So you don't have to stay on the floor." My scales turned yellow this time "You are definitely special." He said smiling. He lifted me up and began instructing me "Okay keep your tail fin horizontal; match it to your shoulder movements. The synchronization of your shoulders and your tail fin is crucial. That way your body stays balanced. Your brain will be telling you to move each leg individually, it will take a bit before it adjusts to only having a tail. When you are swimming use, where your hips would be, to keep straight, and move your tail where your knees used to be. Human knees only move bend in one direction, whereas your tail moves both ways. We will work on swimming vertically when you can figure out how to do the basic movement.

Several failed attempts to swim later I managed to learn the basics. I was a bit wobbly, but Zephyr told me I would get used to it. Next he instructed and taught me how to swim vertically. "Usually we only swim like this when we are talking or eating." Zephyr explained. Soon I could swim without his help. At some point my tail had turned purple again. "Now Harriet your adventure takes a not so fun turn." Zephyr groaned. I cocked my head to the side not knowing what was coming. Zephyr led me out the door and into another more open room. looking around I could see odd furniture throughout the room. It resembled a living room. I sat down on a cushion similar to the one in the room. There was another woman in the room. she had long dark hair tied into a thick braid with beads strewn into it. She swam over to me and grabbed both of my hands. "Hello..." She looked at Zephyr. "Harriet" Zephyr said under his breath. She looked back to me "Hello Harriet, I am Mei. I am Zephyr's mom. "Oh it is nice to meet you Mrs...." I looked at Zephyr and he chuckled "Slade." I started again, "Hello Mrs.Slade it is great to meet you. your son has been very kind, teaching me how to swim." She shot another glance at Zephyr this time this one looked as though she was about to scold him. "I promise I was a gentleman, I only touched her arms and shoulders." He held his hands up. She looked back at me happily "I dressed you after you came here. I hope you don't mind." I shook my head quickly, "No, thank you very much, but what was wrong with my other shirt, other than the bottoms." I looked back down to my tail. Oh umm... your body has changed a bit more than you think it has. Before my husband comes we should brief you on some important things.

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