Mall Mermaid

The mermaid world was a sparking place of vast waters with buildings made of pearls. Coretta and her pet catfish loved to swim the depths of the ocean finding little gems and shiny trinkets to add to their collections. They created jewelry and hair pieces from them. While Coretta was creating her wearable works of art, she sat on a little island and looked over upon the happenings of the human world. From her post, she was always excited to see inside the see-through mall bustling with people as they purchased new garments to wear every day. Coretta wished she could change the colors of her scales just the same. All she had was the art made of shells and pearls to express her style. "My dear kittyfish Cleo, if I could at least get my hands on the swimwear that is so beautiful," she told her cat while formulating a plan on how to shop at the mall.

"The humans use a type of currency that you don't have to be able to walk out with the items," Cleo meowed, "Paper money would just dissolve in water."

"I heard they now have money on plastic and that would be waterproof," she mentioned as she swam around, picking up the plastic that was drifting to the shore. "If only to find what exact plastic that would be out of all of these."

"I don't think that would usually be dropped here. The humans would want to keep that on their person. Not anything like the cups they toss to the water," Cleo meowed off the kitten's thoughts on the matter.

"I will search every day on the shore until I can find that magical piece of plastic," she was determined, "Then I will find a way to roll to the shore and get to that mall!" She searched day after day for plastic while investigating their uses like cups, food canisters, utensils, buckets, etc. It all felt hopeless until she came across some pieces of plastic that was thin and slick. She believed she had come across the currency finally and set her sights forward. She rolled across the sand until she came across a cart on wheels and began pushing herself away from the beach from inside the wagon.

When she was getting closer to the mall she started to get strange stares, but she ignored them in the midst of her determination. She was flinging through the stores of the mall and picking out a swim shirt that had beautiful floral patterns. She went up to the register and excitedly slapped down what she believed was the currency. "Ma'am, are you expecting to pay for this with waterproof playing cards?" the man at the register asked.

"That is not the right kind of currency for you?" Coretta asked while the man behind her stepped forward and handed the man a plastic card with numbers on the back.

"I'll get the shirt, for the sake of seeing that amazing mermaid costume today. Plus a catfish that looks like a real cat with some fur, amazing!" The number card was tapped onto a machine and the shirt placed in a bag. The man handed her the bag and introduced himself. "My name is Clement, what's yours?"

"It's Coretta," she replied, "Thank you so much for purchasing this for me with your fancy plastic card."

"Of course," he laughed, "I am sure it was a long day having to haul yourself around the mall for everyone to see that great costume. Would you like me to pull you back out to the parking lot to you car?"

"I would like to be pulled back to the beach please," she responded.

"Of course, that is where a mermaid needs to be isn't it!" He picked up the cart's handle and started pulling her back towards the sand, "So where do you actually live?"

"An the beach," she replied.

"Oh," he slowed down awkwardly, "You are homeless."

"Not exactly," she replied.

"Well you do live somewhere, just only in a tent or something right?" he asked. She did not know how to respond and remained silent. "I feel bad just leaving you out here, so I am going to take you back to my place then." He started turning around and Coretta wanted to panic like a fish out of water.

"Wait, that is okay!" she pleaded.

"No really, I don't see any harm in you staying there. It should be fine," he kept pulling her away from the beach and Coretta knew she didn't really have the means to stop him from rolling her into his home. He rolled her up to his car and helped her into the seat. The motor started and Coretta squirmed a bit at the strange new ride.

When he rolled her into his house there was another woman sitting on the couch. "This is my sister, Whitney," he explained while the blonde girl made a confused face at the mermaid girl sitting within the wagon.

"Can you get her some clothes to change into?" he asked while he headed to the kitchen and popped a small metal container while taking large swigs.

"What interesting chivalry my brother partakes in, carting a girl around in a wagon because she wants to play mermaid," Whitney rolled Coretta into her bathroom and handed her a t-shirt and pair of sweatpants. Coretta sat not knowing what to do for a while until she looked down and started to see that her scales were fading into human legs and Cleo began morphing into a land cat.

"We have been fish out of water for too long!" Cleo exclaimed.

"Glad we can blend in for now then," Coretta walked out and told Clement and Whitney that she would like to find a way to gain access to the plastic purchasing card.

"You will have to get a job that makes money in order to have an account connected to the card," Clement explained as he opened up his iPad to show job listings. Coretta was excited and decided to apply for a cashier job.

When she arrived for the job, the people were rude to her all day and it was not as fun as being able to just shop at the mall. She had to follow rules and it seemed like she didn't really collect enough for the plastic card in order to purchase what she would like to have. This felt especially annoying considering the constant purchasing of food instead of eating the fish already surrounding her in the water. She started to miss the sea and how simple the life was there. The world of the plastic card seemed so alluring and exciting, but it was too complicated for its own good after all.

She one day decided to return to the water and regrow her tail. She spent her last day with Clement and Whitney knowing their time was up with one another. She would come by and check on them after becoming a mermaid again. Clement would sometimes search the beach in hopes of seeing a beautiful homeless girl, but little did he know she was back deep underwater, finding spots of light to shine her scales so they would change colors just the same as the changing clothing of the mall.