Having grown up in the coastal town of Skerries, I’d been on the water every day since my birth. My grandmother used to say that the sea ran in our family's veins instead of blood; which was why hardly anyone moved away. Instead of learning new trades for wealth or glory, our clan spent our time fishing.
“It’s honest work,” my father liked to say. “We feed ourselves and others with the fish we bring in.”
But before he passed my great uncle said it was for a different reason.
“There’s treasure in the depths, lad,” he’d whisper to me as we sat on the porch repairing nets. His eyes were dim, but his hands deft and skilled, weathered as they were from a life under the harsh glare of the sun.
“Treasure?” I’d ask, with the excitement of a child who still liked to play at being a pirate with the other boys in the village. “What kind of treasure?”
He’d look around with his dull eyes, to be sure no one else was near to hear. Most likely it was to avoid a tongue lashing for filling my head with foolish tales.
“When ye’re old enough to go out on the water with your father, keep an eye downward. If ye’re lucky ye’ll see something glinting in the water.”
“Like gold? Or rubies? Or jewelry covered in diamonds?” I’d completely stopped working with the net, too engrossed in the story to pay attention to my chores.
He smiled then and shook his head. His eyes turned towards the sound of the waves crashing on the shore as he reminisced.
“They shine like gold and rubies, true, and ye’d think they’d be adorned with sparkling jewels. But their beauty is their own, and the reason our forefathers stayed here in Skerries. Mermaids, boy. As lovely as a sunset, and rarer than a kind king.”
The old fisherman turned my head for weeks with tales of lovely faces and a tail that shone like gold coins. At least until my mother heard me talking about it. They must have spoken with him because my great uncle never mentioned his mermaids again.
I grew, though I never forgot his tales, and became a man myself. I would remember his stories fondly after his death. The family always said he’d spent too much time in the sun and it cooked his brains. They were lovely stories for a bored young lad, but I believed them. Until the day I fell overboard.
It was a warm summer day, and so far we’d not caught anything. Our nets sat still in the water, no matter where we tossed them. Hoping for better luck later in the day, my cousin and I began hauling in the nets once more. As I was leaning over with my arms reaching into the cool water, I saw something glinting from down below.
Curious, I leaned over farther, hoping to see what was down there better. My cousin yelled as a large wave rocked the boat, and I found myself slipping under the surface. I swim well enough, but I was pulled under the bottom of the boat. I’d seen men that were caught like this before and had no wish to flay my back or face against the hull of my boat. With a heave, I kicked off the wood and went deeper into the sea, hoping to get a little distance so I could surface next to my boat instead.
But something swam past me, and the glint of gold caught my eye again. I turned, and nearly swallowed a great gulp of saltwater in shock. There, swimming next to me with wide eyes, was the mermaid from my great uncle's tales. It was true! Her tail flashed as she moved around me in a circle, catching the light from above and casting glints of gold all around. Her long hair was woven with seagrass and shells and floated around her kind face as we stared at one another. She seemed as surprised to see me as I was to see her.
I thought to reach out and touch her, but the burning in my chest forced me to swim back to the air. I gasped and coughed as I regained my breath. My cousin shouted in relief and steered the boat closer to me, shouting about some sort of danger in the water. I ducked back under a moment, but the mermaid was gone.
I let my cousin help me back in the boat and reassured him that I was fine and that I hadn’t run into any dangerous creatures that delayed my return. It was true, I doubt she was any danger to me at all.
We returned home with a story to tell that night. But I kept the best part for myself. I doubt anyone would believe me, just like no one believed my great uncle. But I’ll be on the lookout for beauty and a tail that shines like jewels for the rest of my days. My great uncle was right about our family. We’re too fond of treasure to ever leave this life.
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