Fish Out of Water

"Hey Marcus!" I hollered to my brother who was hanging around at the top of the lighthouse. He was probably napping so I decided to yell even louder. "Today's the day Marcus! Hello? Marcus, wake up!"

"What do you want Margo?" His voice was faint as he slowly popped his head over the railing.

"Today is the day!" I couldn't contain my excitement.

"Saturday?"

"No, you big sleepyhead! Today is the day I jump off the dock!" I squealed with glee.

"If that's it, I’m going back to sleep." his head disappeared.

"I am serious Marcus! I’m going to walk to the end of the dock and jump in and swim with FinnTastic!" When I was done, I stuck my tongue out. It didn't matter that he wasn't looking at me.

"You know if Mom catches you jumping off the dock, she will yank you back onto the dock before your toe even touches the water." His voice rolled down from the top of the lighthouse, but I couldn't see him. "One more thing." His head quickly reappeared with a mischievous smirk. "FinnTastic is a stupid name." He disappeared from view.

"Hey you big jerk! Why don't you come down here and say that to my face?" I yelled to him with my fists ready to punch. After a moment without a response, I took a deep breath, dropped my fists, and turned around. As I was walking away, I shouted, "I’m going to tell Mom you’re napping when you’re supposed to be doing chores!"

I walked to the end of our dock. At the edge I got on my knees and leaned over, looking down into the water... "FINNTASTIC! COME HERE FINNTASTIC!"

The ocean was still for a moment before a grey snout popped out of the water. “Good morning FinnTastic!” I exclaimed.

“Morning Margo!” FinnTastic said.

“Today is the day, FinnTastic!” I rejoiced.

Right about now I bet you are wondering how a young girl is talking to a bull shark. Believe it or not, I am actually a mermaid. "But you don't have a tail." is what you're thinking right? However, tail or no tail, I am a mermaid.

Let me explain. I was born in Briny. Briny is a city at the bottom of the ocean. Think Atlantis but way cooler. I was born to my sea parents Queen Cordelia and her husband Bob. My sea mother leads Briny, and my sea father is on her council.

Now to the whole no tail thing. I was born without a tail due to a rare birth defect. I bet right now you are wondering "How can a mermaid be born without a tail?" That is an excellent question reader, and the answer is pretty simple.

When Merpeople tell how the world came to be, they talk about how a goddess fell from the heavens to the earth. She became what you know as Mother Nature. Mother Nature eventually made four daughters. The eldest took to the skies to be closer to the heavens. She became the mother of birds.

The second and third daughters stayed on land to be close to Mother Nature. The second became the mother of humans and the third became the mother of animals. The fourth was pretty rebellious so she took to the ocean and became the mother of the sea. Both my moms say I take after her.

I bet you are saying "What's the point?". Don't worry, I am getting there. Because everyone and every animal is a descendant of Mother Nature it is possible, although not likely, to be born with one of the features of another creature. So that is how I was born a mermaid with no tail.

I wasn’t able to swim or float without a tail so my parents were concerned I couldn’t survive in Briny. They decided to see if I could survive in the human world, so they swam me up to the surface, despite the intense waves. When they spotted a revolving light, they decided to follow it. Once they were close enough, they saw a house with the light radiating from a tower. They also spotted a long dock nearby. My parents placed me on the end of the dock. They waited to make sure I could survive but then they saw the lighthouse keeper, a man named Arlo. They grabbed me and swam away. Arlo had spotted them and sprinted to the edge of the dock and dove in. The lighthouse keeper’s wife, Claire, ran to the edge of the dock after him carrying a young child.

She cried out to Arlo but there was no answer as the waves viciously hit the dock.

Moments later my parents resurfaced, my mother carrying me and my father carrying Arlo. Claire fell to her knees in despair. Her wails echoed over the sea. My mother placed me on the dock before Claire. Their eyes met for a moment and then my parents swam away.

AND THAT is how Claire became my land mom and her son, Marcus, became my land brother. My land mom named me Margo to compliment my brother's name and honor my land dad.

Now before you get too emotional, just know that we are okay. Blended together we make for a pretty awesome family on both land and sea.

In case you stopped paying attention, my family consists of my sea parents, Queen Cordelia and Bob, my land mom, Claire, and my land brother, Marcus… Oh and my best friend FinnTastic.

My parents come up to visit me almost every day… and so does FinnTastic. But I never get to swim. My parents and my mom are concerned about what will happen to me if I am in the water for too long. My mom is super scared, some might even say hysterically so, she won’t even let me take a bath without her supervision. I can understand her fears, however, I do not have to like it.

I want to embrace being a mermaid and swim with my best friend and my parents. One day I even hope to visit Briny, but until that day I will settle for jumping in the water. I want to run on the dock, jump high into the air, do a cannonball, and make the biggest splash ever… And then swim around with FinnTastic.

“I am telling you FinnTastic, today is the day. I am going to swim, and no parent, land or sea, will stop me!” I prattled on like I was giving an inspirational speech. “It’s time for the daughter of Queen Cordelia to take her rightful place… in the ocean!”

“You know what your parents say, Margo.” FinnTastic noted. “It could be dangerous for you.”

“Yes FinnTastic, I know what they say: it COULD be dangerous. But I personally, prefer to listen to the wise words of John Gokongwei, businessman, investor, and philanthropist. Now since you don’t learn about people that much in fish school I will elaborate. I am CHOOSING to live my life by following his immortal words ‘Everything involves a risk. No risk, no reward.’” I paused for dramatic effect as FinnTastic looked at me with his puzzled bull shark face. I decided to take a few steps back. “This means that no matter what... I am jumping in!” I began to run towards the end of the dock.

“MARGO!!! STOP RIGHT WHERE YOU ARE AND DON’T YOU DARE TAKE ANOTHER STEP!!” My mom was typically a mild woman, but when it came to stopping me from jumping into the ocean, she was not afraid to yell so loud my parents could hear her in Briny.

I stopped right in my tracks. “Dang it! I was so close.” I said in disappointment to myself.

“I am going to leave before Queen Cordelia gets here. But honestly, your land mom kind of scares me more!” FinnTastic said just before he submerged and swam away.

“YOU ARE NOT VERY GOOD MORAL SUPPORT YOU KNOW!” I shouted out after him. But he was gone. For a bull shark he was not very brave in the face of parents.

“Turn around and look at me!” My mom was no longer screaming as she walked towards me. I watch the water just below the end of the dock start to bubble. I knew that I had only a moment to calm my mom down before my parents arrived. Because nothing is worse than three overprotective and over emotional parents. Calm one down, and you can calm them all.

I quickly turned around and began to plead my case. “Now before you scold me, I just want to say I am fully aware that jumping in the water is irresponsible and dangerous. I also acknowledge that this is not my first indiscretion. Or my second.”

“Or your hundredth.” She rebuked.

“This is true, mom. And for that I am very sorry. Although I wish I could say that it will never happen again, we both know that would be a lie. That is why I implore you, my dearest mommy, that we, the whole family, have the talk.”

“We agree.” I heard my father’s deep voice from behind me.

“But first we might need to address the whole “My dearest mommy” thing.” My mother joked.

I flipped around so fast. “Mother! Father!” I took a few steps to the end of the dock and gave them a big hug. It’s true I just saw them yesterday, but I really didn’t want to get in trouble.

“Alright my little minnow.” My mother said as she released the hug. “It is time we have the talk.”

I was surprised. “But why now… I didn’t think my plan would actually work.”

“Well after almost one hundred escape attempts, we decided we either needed to up security… or let you free.” My father said. “And we all agreed,” He looked at my mom. “It is time for you to experience the ocean and sink or swim on your own.”

“But preferably, swim.” My mom interjected.

“However, we have some ocean rules.” My mother continued. “One, your father or I must be present. Two, you are only allowed to swim on days when the ocean is calm. Three, you cannot swim out past the buoy. And four, if you are going deep underwater, you have to hold our hands.” She paused. “Do we have a deal?”

I took a moment to think about it (mostly for dramatic effect). Before turning around and walking to my mom. “Are you sure you are okay with me swimming?”

She got down on her knees so she could look me in my eyes. “As long as you follow the rules, I will be okay!” She smiled. “And I know how much you like to break the rules, but we promise, once we know more about how you are in the ocean, we will modify them.”

“Thanks Mom!” I said with the biggest smile as I gave her a huge hug.

“So do we have a deal?” My mother asked again.

I let go of my mom and turned back to my parents. “On one condition… FinnTastic has to swim with us.” My parents just smiled and nodded. I cheered before screaming at the top of my lungs. “I TOLD YOU MARCUS!! TODAY IS THE DAY!!”

“MARCUS, ARE YOU NAPPING WHEN YOU ARE SUPPOSED TO BE DOING CHORES?!?!” My mom yelled as she ran back towards the lighthouse.

I chuckled because at least she wasn’t yelling at me this time.

I took a couple steps to the end of the dock. I got on my knees and leaned over, looking down into the water. "FINNTASTIC! COME HERE FINNTASTIC!" I quickly got up and took quite a few steps back.

“Yes Margo?” He said as he resurfaced.

“I told you,” I began sprinting towards the end of the dock “TODAY IS THE DAY!”