Trust Machines - Tails of Love - A Fishy Tail

It all started, as most of our misadventures did, with Harriet finding out about a party that we just had to attend.  She was the socialite of the three of us, and the prettiest with her long blonde hair.

The worst of it was Jamie’s fault.  When Harriet found out that all the other girls going to the party were hitting the Venn Machine to pretty themselves up for it, she told us we’d have to do it as well.  Jamie – being the dreamer and artist she is – had a vision of the three of us representing Wind, Earth and Water, and she wouldn’t be denied.  Truth be told, when she gets that way neither of us can stop her.  Plus, she was vastly better at coming up with cool designs in the Venn Machine than either Harriet or myself, so we were stuck with whatever she had in mind anyway.

Jamie spelled out her vision - a centaur on the ground, representing Earth.  Arched gracefully in the pool below was a mermaid all blue and silver, representing Water.  Perched atop the centaur with wings flared was a woman with wings in place of arms, representing Air.  Put that way, I couldn’t disagree.

“I call dibs on the harpy,” said Jamie once we agreed.

Harriet and I couldn’t agree on the other two forms, so we drew straws.  I got the one with a sketch of a mermaid rolled up inside, and Harriet got the centaur.  That didn’t stop the whining, though.  I was afraid of deep water, after an unfortunate incident at the beach a few years back.  And Harriet thought horses were big and smelly.  But neither of us were willing to trade, as Harriet hated water even more than I did.  To be fair, chlorine did terrible things to her hair.  And Harriet at least liked riding, if not the idea of having horse parts...

Jamie changed Harriet first.  When her altered form pranced out of the Venn Machine I let out a brief squeal. “Oh my goodness you’re so CUTE!”

She stood perhaps a foot taller than she had before, and her horse-body was barely the size of a pony’s.  It had a flowing blonde mane with a gorgeous chestnut coat underneath.  Harriet preened in front of the mirror with a huge smile on her face.  “Oh yeah, I could get used to this.”

At Jamie’s urging she tried walking back and forth.  She claimed that it wasn’t much worse than learning to walk on high heels, and soon was cantering through the mall at a breakneck pace.  She got back to us, panting heavily, just as Jamie and I made it to the front of the line again.

I was very surprised to emerge from the booth with wings instead of a tail.  And Jamie’s face, to boot.  “What the hell, Jamie?”

“Come on Megan, you know how we do this.  I change you, you twin me, and I’ll turn you into a mermaid.  Easy as pie.”

I took a bit of time to admire her work in the mirror, fanning my arm-wings to display them to their fullest.  “Man, you’re going to be pretty like this.  I love the blue and green plumage, especially the crest instead of your hair.”

Jamie grinned at the compliment.  “Robin’s sure to notice me now...”

I laughed and struck a pose with my wings.  “Is that what this is all about?  Not just your artistic vision?”

Jamie actually blushed.  “A bit of both.  Trust me on this, you’re going to like what I do with you too.  You’ll be the prettiest mermaid you or Eric ever saw.”

My eyes widened.  I’d had the hugest crush on Eric ever since he’d rescued me from drowning at the beach, but he barely ever noticed that I even existed.  “You really think so?”

Jamie giggled.  “A little birdie told me that aquaboy is a biiig fan of mermaids.”

“You... you rigged the straws!”

“Guilty as charged.  And the guy who’s holding the party is big into horses, so I’m hoping Harriet will hit it off, too.”

“Aww, that’s so sweet,” I said as we stepped into the Venn Machine for the third time.

I twinned Jamie’s image into becoming a copy of myself.  That was a pain and a half without hands, using only a feather to poke at the screen.  I tried using one of my clawed feet, but couldn’t spread my wings wide enough to keep balanced while doing so.  Still, I was done before she was.

“Ready?” she asked at last.

“Since forever.”  At her request, I changed her first.  Then suddenly I was falling out of the Venn Machine due to a tail that was not even remotely designed for balancing on.  Harriet was there to catch me, so I didn’t muss my pretty new silver-blue scales.  She carried me effortlessly to the mirror while I admired just how strong her arm muscles had become when she’d bulked up to become a centauress.

Then the vision in front of me blew me away.  “Oh, wow.  Jamie, I look amazing!”  My scales shimmered and threw rainbow patterns in the mall’s bright lights.  I was blue from the top of my breasts to the tip of my translucent fins, and every inch was made up of tiny, gorgeous scales.  Even my hair was short, a pixie cut in shimmering silver-blue instead of the usual mousy brown.  Peeking out from the hair were two silvery fin-like ears.  “I look like I’m made of sapphires and crystal.”

Jamie grinned.  “You’ll look even better in the pool.”

“Um... it might be a bit late to be bringing this up, but how am I going to get there?  I can’t do much more than inch along the ground.”

Jamie’s crest rose with her amusement, and she tilted her head at Harriet.  “You can ride her.  At least as far as your car.  I’m going to try flying.”

As soon as we got out of the mall, Jamie took off at a run, then vaulted into the air.  She came down with a resounding crash about ten feet later.

Jamie sighed.  “So much for flying.”

I laughed.  “Come on, did you sleep all the way through physics class?”

Jamie shook her head.  “But I did study Robin more than I studied the material...”

Robin was cute, but not my type.  Too thin, too fascinated by birds instead of people.  “You have nowhere enough wing area to actually fly like that.  You’d need to be the size of an eagle.”

“Oh.  Hm.  Maybe I’ll try that later.  D’you think I’ll be able to glide, though?”

“I wouldn’t go jumping off any roofs if I were you.  But if there’s a sloped lawn and a headwind...”

Jamie’s face dimpled with her grin.  “It’s a big estate.  I’m sure Robin will help me find somewhere that’ll work.”

Getting to the car was an exercise in frustration.  Harriet tried her best, but I slipped off her back twice along the way.  My scales were pretty, but they were also as slick as a wet marble floor.  Jamie claimed that it was deliberate, I’d cut through the water better or something.  All I knew was that it was a pain in the butt.  Literally, after the second fall.

Getting into the car was even harder.  To make things worse, I didn’t have feet, and Jamie didn’t have hands.  So Harriet had to drive, but her body was five feet from front to back and she was now six and a half feet tall.  There was no way to move the driver’s seat back far enough for her to sit on it.  She tried curling up with her feet on the passenger side, but then she was looking out the side window and had to strain to see out front.  Traffic on the right would have been impossible to see.

Eventually I figured out that if we leaned the driver’s seat all the way back, Harriet could perch on top of it.  Not comfortably, but enough to manage.  Jamie crammed into the remaining seat in the back, and my tail curled up in the passenger side footwell.  I was glad that it was less than an hour’s drive, as my tail was getting awfully cramped, and the stuff that it was crammed against made me cringe.  I resolved to clean out the passenger footwell of my car way more often.

Finally, though, we arrived at the Martingale estate, where the party was being held.  There was a huge expanse of grass between the parking and the pool where people were concentrating.  Harriet carried me, but there were another slip along the way.  It was not a dignified way to arrive, but at least the lawn was softer than the parking lot had been.

Jamie posed us by the side of the pool, grinning at the reaction to her designs.  All of the guys were looking at us, quite a few with appreciative eyes.  The girls looked jealous, which made her grin even more.

“Ooh, there’s Robin.  I’m going to see if I can’t get him to chase my tail...” Jamie said with a grin.  She gave her bum a waggle as she turned toward him, shaking her tail feathers out.  Harriet shied at the sudden flash of blue, and with a wail and a flail I slid off her back.  Again.

I was momentarily relieved to have landed in the water instead of on the hard stone surrounding the pool.  And then I realized to my horror that my tail was made of dense muscle, and much heavier than water.  It was dragging me under!  I struggled and thrashed, but sank like a stone to the bottom of the pool nonetheless.

The worst part was that it wasn’t even the deep end of the pool.  I just couldn’t get my tail under me to support my body and stand, it was too slippery.  The irony of drowning as a mermaid warred with blind panic.

Then there were arms under me, lifting me up to the surface.  I spat out a mouthful of water and squirmed to face my rescuer.

“Eric!”  I cried, half in relief, half in utter mortification.

He gave me a curious look. “Do I know you?  Oh... wait, Megan wasn’t it?  The girl I rescued two summers ago?”

I blushed.  He knew my name!  He knew my name and remembered rescuing me... and had just done it again.  “Uh... yeah.  We have to stop meeting this way.”

Eric laughed, a warm friendly sound.  “I’m not going to complain.  It’s not every day one gets to play lifeguard to a mermaid, and especially not one so beautiful as you.”

I ducked my head and almost got a mouthful of water.  I sputtered out a thanks for the rescue and the compliment.

“You’re welcome.  But can I ask one little question?”

I nodded, not entirely trusting my voice.

“How is it that a mermaid was drowning in the first place?”

I explained that I’d only been a mermaid for an hour, so I wasn’t exactly used to it yet.  I wiggled my muscular tail when demonstrating how heavy it was, and saw how his eyes couldn’t help but trace its length.  Feeling bold, I flirtatiously asked if he would help me learn to swim as a mermaid.

I grinned so wide when he agreed that it felt like my head might split in two.  I’d been wanting to get his attention forever, and all it took was turning into a mermaid!

His strong hands supported me in the water as I got used to my new center of balance, and figured out how to move my tail to generate thrust.  I might have held on a little longer than I strictly needed to before finally testing my new tail in open water.  The muscles of that tail could rocket me through the water like a torpedo, and I nearly gave myself a concussion on the far side of the pool.  I discovered that I had a little bit of translucent webbing between my fingers, just to the first knuckle.  Spreading my fingers out turned my hands into excellent steering fins, I didn’t need them for thrust with that tail behind me.  Before long I was zipping around the pool like I belonged there, and giggling like mad as I created a swirling vortex around Eric.

He got dizzy trying to watch me, and eventually swam back to the marble steps leading out of the pool.  I swam up to them, grounding myself on their smooth lip.

“Aww, do you have to go?  That was fun!” I said.

Eric pointed over toward where Harriet was deep in discussion with an extraordinarily well dressed man about our age.  “I should go give my regards to my cousin, it is his estate after all.”

I waved and smiled as best I could.  I watched his toned backside as he grabbed a towel and dried off.  He caught me staring and winked at me, which made my heart flutter.

After a while, I got tired of waiting for him and swam over to the edge of the pool nearest to Jamie.  Her wings were draped around Robin’s shoulders, and they were dancing.  Well, sort of dancing.  Her giant taloned feet were tripping Robin up from time to time, but he seemed to find it hilarious.

I waved to her, and mouthed ‘thank you’.  She grinned, and brought Robin over closer so that we could chat.

Robin asked what it was like being a mermaid.  I hung on to the side of the pool, and for Jamie’s benefit started by listing off the good things.  My tail was made for swimming, and scooting around in the water that fast was great fun.  I showed off my finger-webbings too, as when they were still wet they shone iridescently in the sun.  Jamie pointed out how my hair looked perfect even after an extended swim in the pool.  She’d done something to waterproof it and my makeup, and I had to admit that was handy, too.

Then I got into grousing about how getting around on land was nearly impossible, and how my head was stuck at everyone else’s foot level.  I’d been getting a good look at everyone else’s shoes.

Jamie giggled at that.  “None of the three of us are wearing shoes.”  She held up one scaly talon, and flexed it in the air.  Robin’s eyes tracked it with rapt fascination.  “Walking on the grass barefoot has been fun.”

I snorted.  “Must be nice.  I really do think it’s the worst part of being a mermaid so far.  I get to see all these pretty shoes, but I can’t wear them.”

“Ah,” came a warm, familiar voice from behind me.  “But your tail is prettier by far than any shoe I could imagine.”

I spun around and saw Eric an arm-length away in the pool.  He was smiling, and I couldn’t help but smile back.  I flipped my tail out of the water, narrowly missing soaking Eric in the process.  I waved it in front of him, letting my sinuous lower body curl and twist.  He watched it move as if mesmerized.

“I suppose,” I mused, “It is quite pretty at that.  So tell me, Eric, why do you prefer fins to feet?”

Eric shrugged and looked away.  “I don’t know.  I just do.”  His eyes returned to my slowly swaying tailfins, and his hand made a hesitant move toward them.

“Go ahead and touch.  After the beating they took getting here, I’m sure you won’t hurt them.”

His touch was curious, gentle.  He ran his fingertips along the rays of my tailfins, and I had to try hard not to twitch away from him.  I hadn’t realized my tail would be ticklish, though I suppose it made sense.  My feet were ticklish, too.

“Your tail is remarkable.  It’s not like any fish I’ve ever seen.”

“Thanks.  Jamie designed it.  All I know is that it’s pretty, and lets me go fast.  It has taken some getting used to, it doesn’t bend like mermaids tails do in the movies.  Hey Jamie, why is that?”

Jamie shrugged.  “Because those are tail-suits.  The actresses’ knees are still there.  You don’t have knees any more.”

“Oh.  Why not?”

“No legs.  Have you ever seen fish with knees?”

I laughed, and had to admit she had a point.  Still, it drove home just how different I’d become, and despite Eric’s obvious attraction to my tail, it made me pine for legs even more.  While I was staring morosely at the same tail that Eric was marvelling at, Jamie broke the silence by asking Robin if there was anywhere around here that she could try gliding.  Robin led her off to the west lawn, which was terraced to improve the view of the sunset or some such thing.

I let my tail droop into the water, pulling it out of Eric’s hands.  “So what’s a lifeguard doing at a party like this, anyway?”

“Rescuing guests who fall into the pool,” he replied, deadpan.  “It’s not really my scene, but they’re family.  Plus, my great-uncle’s chef is amazing, it’s worth coming here just for the food.”

At that comment, my stomach started to grumble.  Lunch had been some time ago, and with all the exercise in the pool I had worked up a substantial appetite.  I made my way over to the stairs, sculling lazily beside Eric so as not to leave him in my wake.  That’s when the problems started.  Grounding myself on the steps was easy enough, and a flip of the tail got me up onto land.  But then I was stuck, unless I wanted to inch or roll my way across the grass.

Eric looked down at me, sympathy in his eyes.  “I could... carry you?”

“You look big and strong, I’m sure you could.”  He wasn’t the most muscular guy around, he had more of a lean, swimmer’s build.  All the time at the beach had given him a nice tan, too.  He tried his best, the dear, but even encouraged by my effusive flattery there was only so much he could do.

Eric staggered as far as he could manage, then set me down on a pool lounge, my anchor of a tail draping far off the end of it.  He promised to bring me a plate from the buffet, a little bit of everything.  So I sat, and waited, and tried to look pretty in the sun.  My finny ears proved good at picking up gossip nearby, and I overheard more than one snide remark.  I could tell that they were jealous not just of how pretty my scales were, but of the amount of attention I was getting from Eric.  I almost laughed when one of them pointed out that I was effectively naked, wearing nothing other than the scales.  Eavesdropping tided me over until Eric came back with two plates of food.

The food was as delicious as Eric had claimed, each bite was better than the last.  As we were finishing I heard children laughing in the distance.  We turned to watch Harriet charging across the lawn with Jamie perched on her back, and a gaggle of teens and younger running along behind them.  Harriet bucked, sending Jamie flying into the air.  Her wings caught the breeze, and she arced far higher into the air than I expected, or thought was wise.  She seemed to know what she was doing, though, and swooped through the air with a shout of glee.  Her wing-clattering landing wasn’t the most elegant, but thanks to talons digging into the lawn she kept from going face-first.  Then she ran back to Harriet to do it all over again.  Robin was standing at the crest of the hill, watching it all with a besotted look on his face.

A little later, the party’s host rode up on a fine looking horse, and took Harriet’s hand.  She smiled at him, and they rode off toward the back of the estate, side by side.

Having lost one mythic companion the kids seemed somewhat disappointed, so Jamie pointed them at the pool.  I could imagine what she was saying, and waved back.  A gaggle of the kids wandered over toward us.

Eric grinned at their approach.  “The nieces and nephews.  The Martingales always invite the entire family over for these shindigs, and make sure there’s things for the younger ones to do.”  His eyes latched on a distant memory.  “Honestly, I think they have more fun than the adults.”

A girl who couldn’t have been more than ten was the bravest, approaching me first.  “Are you really a mermaid, just like Ariel?”

I smiled at her, and levered myself up so she could see my body and my tail better.  “What do you think?  This isn’t a costume.”

The girl practically danced with glee, and Eric introduced her to me as Charlotte.  Apparently she was a huge fan of The Little Mermaid, and before I knew it she and Eric had talked me into singing one of the songs from the show, then another.  The kids sung along, as did Eric.  Then one of the older girls started into “Kiss the Girl,” making me blush.  The others picked it up, singing as loud as they could, and making me bury my face in my hands.  At the end, Eric lifted my chin up and actually kissed me!  I was so happy I felt I could burst.

As a distraction and to cool things down a bit, I asked who wanted to go swimming with a mermaid.  Well, all those little hands went up in the air, as did Eric’s, and I swear his was the biggest grin of them all.  While the little ones were getting their swimsuits on, Eric wheeled the lounger over to the pool.  I rolled off of it, splashing into the pool unceremoniously.

“Graceful,” noted Eric with a grin.

I splashed him with my tail, sending a tidal wave over him that completely drenched him.  Luckily, he was still wearing his bathing trunks.  He just laughed, and dove in beside me.  Soon the nieces and nephews joined in a spirited game of aquatic tag.  I stayed out of the splashing games, though, as after the first tail-thrashing splash it was determined that I had an unfair advantage.

I didn’t even notice it getting dark, until the floodlights over the pool came on.  Worried, I asked Eric what the time was, then scrambled out of the pool when he told me.  I was just in time, a minute later my tail disappeared and I was plain old Megan again.

The way that the light went out of Eric’s eyes brought tears to my own.  “Not quite midnight,” I joked, “But Cinderalla’s ball is over nonetheless.”

“Will I see her again?”

“Her?  Oh, the mermaid?”  I thought about that for a bit.  “Do you want to?”

Eric nodded eagerly.  “I’m at the beach tomorrow, but I get off at four...  If a certain pretty mermaid wanted to swim by about then, I’d be delighted to take her out for dinner.”

I smiled. “I’ll see you then.”

Harriet and Jamie came draggling up about then, looking the worse for wear, but human. Jamie was grinning, as was Harriet, who crowed, “Told you it would be an awesome party.”

* * *

The next day, I faced a dilemma.  Jamie was only available until about two in the afternoon, and Harriet wasn’t returning my calls.  If I got Jamie to change me into a mermaid, how would I get to the beach?  I called a couple of taxi companies, but they just laughed at me when I asked if they transported mermaids.  One suggested calling an escort company, which just seemed weird.  Still, out of curiosity I called the number they gave me... and the price they quoted was awfully high just to get to a first date.

In the end I had Jamie give me the same webbed hands, hair and ears as before, and scales down to my legs.  The scales looked like an awesome one-piece bathing suit, but I could tell that my legs really seemed out of place.  I was pleased that I would get to wear my new pair of cute blue shoes that matched my scales.

I drove to the beach well before four, and set up to sun myself on the beach where I could see Eric, but far enough away he wasn’t likely to notice me.  I stayed out of the water.  Despite my experiences at the party, I didn’t have confidence in my swimming ability.  Especially without the tail.

I watched Eric as he dutifully scanned the waves.  I could tell he was looking out for a mermaid, too.  My sundress and hat covered up most of my changes, so he didn’t spot me.

As he was climbing down from the guard station with a disappointed look on his face, I approached.  I pulled my hat off to show my blue hair and finned ears as I approached, and his face broke out into a grin.

“You made it!” he cried excitedly.  But then his expression fell as he looked toward my feet.  “But...”

“I’m sorry.  I only changed half-way... I couldn’t figure out how to get here with a tail.”  I pulled down the front of the sundress to show the scales underneath.  That got a half-smile from him.

“Well, I guess it’s better than no scales at all,” he said.  “Shall we go find dinner, or would you like to swim a bit, first?”

I looked at him, at the water, back...  “I’m... really not a very good swimmer, as you might remember.”

“I also remember you were a pretty quick student yesterday.  Come on, with a lifeguard beside you you’ll be safe.”

It didn’t take much persuading to get my sundress off so I could show off my pretty scale-swimsuit.  I wasn’t keen on the water, but with Eric at my side I couldn’t very well say no.  He was very patient with me, and let me dip my toes in a bit a time, then slowly work out further.  Once we were deep enough that the water came to my hips, with waves surging up over my breasts, Eric playfully dove under me, tickling at my feet.  When I pulled them up, I ended up swimming despite myself.

There may have been some screeching and a curse or two involved.  When Eric took me out past the drop-off, I wailed and clung to him.  He claimed that I nearly drowned him in the process, but I protested that lifeguards couldn’t drown.  Once we were safely back on land he pointed out that sometimes they do, if they panic, or forget their training.  Or if they push too far past their limits.

On that pleasant note, we showered off and tried to make ourselves presentable.  With a towel and a sundress there was only so much I could do.  Thankfully Jamie had repeated her waterproof mermaid hair and makeup trick from the previous day, so I cleaned up really nicely.  Eric was impressed.

“So that’s why your hair is so short.  You had much longer hair after you changed back,” he added.

“I suppose I could ask Jamie for longer hair next time.  It might come out of the water looking perfect, though.  What about the colour?”

He grinned, and shrugged.  Typical guy, doesn’t care about anything but how long your hair is.  I wondered how well purple would go with my scales, and made a mental note to ask Jamie next time.

We went to a little hole-in-the-wall type restaurant just up the beach from where Eric worked.  He claimed it was his favourite restaurant.  Looking around, I couldn’t really see why.  It looked like they encouraged the guests to sign the walls or tables just about wherever they wanted, the place was covered with little notes.  I let Eric order, and found myself distracted reading some of the notes.  Some were really sweet, there was one series where a couple had added the date they’d first met.  A little below it was another signature by the same couple, except she had his last name.  It included the date of their marriage.

The food was amazing.

We talked after we finished eating.  Eric was curious why I hated the water so much, and I told him about my litany of bad experiences with it – falling off rafts, canoes and so on, culminating with his dramatic rescue two summers ago.

He found all of that odd, especially given how I took to being a mermaid the previous day.  I agreed, being a mermaid in the water had been fun.  It was like my body just knew how to swim once I let it, and the limits of the pool had been frustrating.  Which was odd, I usually liked pools for the fact that they had well marked shallow ends where I could stand.  I shot Eric a dark look at that point, and he laughed.

“So why didn’t you bring that pretty tail to the beach, then?  You would have had fun out there, no walls to run in to.”

I sighed.  I’d noticed a few wistful looks at my legs, and I was getting another one now.  “I thought about it, but I couldn’t figure out how to get to the beach with a tail.  It’s nice in the water, but getting around on land with a tail really sucks.”

“You managed yesterday.”

“Yeah, but that was with my friends’ help.  Jamie has a date with Robin now, so I had to get her to change me earlier.  And Harriet’s not answering my calls.”

Eric chuckled.  “From what I heard she’s pretty taken with T-three, and it seems mutual.”

“Tee three?”

“My cousin, Terence Martingale the Third.  He’s very proud of the full name.  Most of the rest of us think it’s silly.”

“Huh.  Harriet’s hanging out with your cousin.  Well, he’s her type.”

Eric looked curious. “What’s her type?”

“Rich.”

Eric snorted.  “Yeah, that’s T-three alright.  I hope that’s not what you’re after.”

I shook my head.  “No.  My list is equally short, though.”

“Oh?”

“I want to be with the guy who rescued me from drowning.  Twice, even.”

“Ah.  Wait, have you been obsessed with me for the past two years?”

I nodded mutely at the accusation in his voice.

“Did you get turned into a mermaid just because you knew I liked them?”

What could I do?  I nodded again, then weakly volunteered, “It was Jamie’s idea.  I didn’t find out you were keen on mermaids until after I’d agreed to be one.  The way you looked at me yesterday...  I’d do anything to have that again.”

Eric took another look at my all-too-human legs, and sighed.  “And yet for our first date you couldn’t be bothered to.  Did you hate being a mermaid that much?  You seemed to be having fun yesterday.”

“I did have fun.  I just couldn’t figure out how to get to the beach as a mermaid without spending a bunch of money.”

“You couldn’t get someone to drive you?”

“My friends were busy, my parents were working...  I called taxi companies, but they just laughed.”

“You should have tried a limousine.  They’re usually flexible about interesting requests.”

I digested that for a moment.  “I’ve never been in a limo before.  I guess it didn’t occur to me.  Plus, that’s kind of pricy for ‘hey, I get off at four’ kind of date, isn’t it?”

“So it is about the money with you.”

“No!  I’m not poor, and I know you aren’t.  We both went to Bayview, after all.  My parents had to scrimp and save to pay the tuition.  And you work as a lifeguard, so I’m guessing you’re not in the same league as T-three.”

Eric winced.  “Please don’t use that name near him.  He really hates it.  You’re right, though.  Despite being cousins, we’re not in the same league.”

Eric looked at my legs again, sighed, and got up.  He put enough cash on the table to pay the bill twice over.  “This wasn’t a good idea.  Sorry.”

“Wait!  That’s it?  I don’t have a tail, so you’re walking?”

“Something like that.”

“Look at this place!”  I shouted.  “There’s not even a wheelchair ramp.  How would I have gotten here?”

“I could have carried you down the four steps into the restaurant,” Eric said sadly.  “I would have, gladly.”

He turned, and left.  I cried at the table for a while.

Eventually, I drove home.  I made a face as I pulled up in front of it.  I’d never even brought my friends here, and I couldn’t imagine my horror if Eric saw it.  My father owned what he considered the best scrap-yard in the city.  He was proud of it, and truth be told a little of that had rubbed off on me.  Even so, I knew the sort of reaction I’d get.  Jamie’s father was a swimming-pool installer, and she got enough grief about it.

Up in my room, I had a view out over the junkyard.  Others might not think much of it, but to me it was a magical place, where I’d spent many hours playing as a kid.  Those piles weren’t neatly stacked cars, they were castles, or distant misty mountains with secrets to explore...

My gaze lingered on a magical chariot, then I realized what it was I was looking at, what I was thinking.  I ran out into the yard to find my prize.  After some searching, I found it.  A discarded wheelchair that looked in pretty good condition.

I brought it back to Dad’s workshop and started cleaning it up.  It ran OK, and when I tried folding it up I was able to fit it in my practical four-door sedan easily.  Sure, my car wasn’t as cute as Harriet’s little sports car or Jamie’s scooter, but it got all three of us to the party, after all.

I drove off to a neighbourhood park where I’d played as a kid, and tried the wheelchair out in the sand.  Not good, the narrow wheels sunk in.  So I went back home and dug around in the scrapyard for a while.  Eventually I turned up a pair of dirt-bike wheels that looked about the right size.  It took half a day’s work to get them installed, but once I had the wheelchair worked fine on sand.

The next two parts were harder.  First, I needed a sling to hold up six feet of mermaid tail.  Something that I could latch on to the chair, but that would fold with it.  I ended up with a square of canvas and some adjustable straps to attach it to the frame.   If I kept them from getting tangled up, the chair still folded OK.

When my drive-by-wire kit came in, Dad intervened.  I was able to install the throttle and brake controls on my steering column easily enough, but he insisted that I get the wiring done by a professional.  He called in a favour from a local mechanic – pretty much all of them owed him favours, he was really good at finding just the right part.  Before I knew it, I was driving home without using my feet.  I couldn’t help but grin.

I grinned even wider when I found a bow attached to my wheelchair.  Dad had done some work on it while I was out getting my car altered.  He’d detailed the frame in a sparkly blue paint, and even airbrushed a mermaid’s tail on the back.  I gave him a huge hug.

He smiled at me, “You’re really going to do this.  Is he worth it?”

I nodded happily.  “Oh, Daddy, he’s just the sweetest guy... well, when I’m a mermaid, anyway.  And now I can go see him properly!”

I met Jamie at the mall later that afternoon.  We talked for a bit about how Harriet had just vanished.  She’d sent us a text to say she was going off with Terence for a while, and that had been it.  We figured she was too happy with her new beau to give us the time of day.

When we got to the Venn Machine we only set the time for a day.  I had every intention of letting Eric increase the time later, if he wanted.  Since I might be stuck for a while, I talked Jamie into making a few minor changes.  Mostly the hair, I wanted it longer than my normal shoulder-length hair, and with more body.  When I asked her to make it purple, Jamie grinned, and agreed it would look nice.  She did my eyes, too.

Getting into my wheelchair with my new tail proved a bit more of a struggle than I anticipated.  I insisted on doing it without Jamie’s help, as I needed to prove to myself that I could live this way without anyone’s assistance.  I managed, and I knew it would get easier with more practice.  Jamie giggled a little at how the sling forced my tail up into an s-curve, but it was better that than dragging my pretty tail fins on the floor.

Once I got to my car I faced new problems.  Wriggling from my chair into the car wasn’t so bad.  I could drape my tail from the driver’s seat into the passenger’s seat and on into the footwell.  I was glad I’d thought to clean it out before coming to the mall.

The problem was that there was no way in hell I could get the chair into the car from the driver’s seat.  So I flopped out of the car, wrestled with the chair to fold it up, then used it as a wobbly prop to rise up and get the rear door open.  I ended up lying on the pavement after getting the chair inside, with more than a few scrapes and sprains.  But it was in!  I closed the passenger door, then dragged myself back into the driver’s seat.  Success!

Reversing the operation at the beach wasn’t as bad, as I had the foresight to open both doors before getting out.  And the look on Eric’s face when a long-haired mermaid in a wheelchair came rolling over the sand to his lifeguard station made it all worth while.

Eric stared at me, amazed at what he saw.  “I like what you’ve done to your hair.”  I dimpled at the compliment.

Then he stared at my tail.  “Oh, Megan... what have you done to your pretty fins?”

I looked down at my tail fins.  They were very much the worse for wear after their many encounters with the pavement, ratty at the edges and torn in two spots.  I sighed.  “It’s not easy getting around on my tail.  I’ll get Jamie to make it a solid fluke like a dolphin’s next time, I guess. Or stronger somehow.  We can make it work if we keep at it.”

Eric’s eyes shone.  “But I know how you feel about it, I don’t want to force you...”

“You’re not forcing me to do anything.  I did this all for you, because I love you and I will do whatever it takes to be with you.  I’ve seen how it makes you happy when I’m a mermaid.  Learning how to get around in a wheelchair is a small price to pay.  I’m actually getting pretty good at it, I just need to figure out how to get in and out of the car.”

He hugged me, then carried me down to the sea.