Halvor and Mr. Jorgenson appeared around the bend. The island was much smaller than Boom had realized. “Nothing,” Halvor said. “Just a lot of seagull droppings, for sure.”
“Did you see any conch shells?” Boom asked. The two men shook their heads. Soon after, Captain Igor made his way back down the hill to report that there was no sign from that vantage either.
Where could the merfolk be? Had all this been a terrible mistake? Boom kicked an empty clamshell. What in the name of Thor was he supposed to do now?
Back on the beach, the baby splashed at the tide line while the others gathered around Mertyle. “Night is coming,” Mr. Broom said, draping his coat over his daughter. Halvor went back to the boat and got some more bread and marmalade and the canned salmon, which the baby devoured. Boom didn’t feel hungry — his stomach had clenched in a knot.
In the middle of the meal, Mr. Jorgenson said what Boom had been thinking ever since they had set foot on the island. “Maybe they’re not here. Maybe we read the map wrong.”
Captain Igor shook his head. “There’s no doubt in me mind. That drawing be an exact replica of Whale Fin Island. No doubt.”
Mr. Broom unrolled the map and glanced over at the hill. “It’s quite exact. A very skilled artist rendered this.”
“This has to be the right place,” Boom said, mostly to make himself feel better. “Why else would the baby have a map drawn on its scales? It’s got to be there on purpose — like a dog’s identification tag.” That sounded right. That made perfect sense. Hope was renewed. “The drawing is the baby’s address, confirmed by the map on the conch shell. This has to be the right place. It just has to be.”
Everyone nodded and passed around a jug of water.
“If we build a fire, we might get the merfolk’s attention,” Boom suggested.
“That’s a great idea,” Mr. Broom said. “Let’s collect driftwood.”
Boom stood, relieved to be doing something. Anything was better than sitting around, watching helplessly as the curse suffocated Mertyle. If he had been home the morning the twister arrived, he wouldn’t have sat around helpless. He would have held on to his mother. He was strong; he could have saved her. Here was his opportunity to save Mertyle, yet it was going all wrong. Building a fire was something. Maybe the right thing.
The baby lay at the water’s edge as Boom began to search for driftwood. He picked up a soggy piece, and was wondering if it would burn, when a bird’s screech pierced the air. Boom turned to see a massive albatross snatch the baby by her tail. It lifted her from the beach and rose very slowly into the air, the weight almost too much of a burden. No way! Just like a twister, the albatross was trying to carry her into the sky. Boom screamed at the bird. “Stop! Drop that!” It continued to rise slowly on widespread wings. Halvor and Mr. Jorgenson started throwing rocks. Boom threw one as well, but the bird had flown out of reach.
Boom’s brain raced. What could he do? The baby opened her mouth in a silent scream, too terrified to make sound. A few droplets of green blood appeared at the tip of the bird’s beak, from which the baby hung. Halvor, Mr. Jorgenson, Mr. Broom, and Captain Igor ran circles beneath the bird, holding out their arms in case the baby fell. The bird began to pump its wings toward the hill. Boom grabbed another rock, but even before he threw it, he knew it would do no good. He screamed again in frustration, kicking at the sand helplessly. Kicking at everything in his path until he came to an empty marmalade jar.
It wasn’t over yet. He still had an advantage. He picked up the jar and tossed it gently into the air. As it began its descent, he flexed his kicking foot. He knew that it was going to hurt. Kicking heavy glass wasn’t like kicking a red rubber ball. He took a deep breath and kicked the bottom of the jar where the glass was thickest. It didn’t shatter. It flew straight through the air and hit the albatross in the belly. The bird screeched, dropping its treasure. Boom ran with outstretched arms as the baby tumbled down. He ran like the wind, leaping over Mertyle, snaking around Mr. Jorgenson, flying past Halvor, and jumping over a snoring sea lion. Just in the nick of time, he caught the falling merbaby. Green slime sprayed all over his face upon impact, and he fell over backward.
Everyone rushed to see if Boom was okay. “I’m fine,” he mumbled as they helped him sit up. The baby seemed fine as well, for she started growling at the men.
“That be a glorious kick,” Captain Igor said. “You could go professional, lad.”
The albatross circled, calling out what Boom suspected were bird obscenities. Then it flew back to the hill.
“I’m so proud of you, Boom.” Mr. Broom smiled but it was fleeting, for his face clouded again with worry. “We’d better make that fire.”
“Erik the Red was a magnificent kicker,” Halvor boasted as he gathered odd bits of driftwood. “Did I ever tell you the story of how Erik the Red invented Kick the Ball Against the Wall?” Boom shook his head, in no mood for one of Halvor’s long stories. Fortunately, Mr. Jorgenson found a large, dry log and asked Halvor to help move it.
Still catching his breath, Boom wiped slime off his face. The baby settled in his lap. “Just to let you know, in case you’ve lost count, this is the third time I’ve saved your life.” He gave her a long, hard look. “If you want to thank me, then find your mother. We need her to lift the curse.” The baby blinked and nodded. She understood. But would she do anything? Could she do anything?
On the horizon, a crescent moon rose, casting its glow over a calm sea. The baby rested her head on Boom’s shoulder and began to sing her sad song. Boom hated that song because it made him want to cry. He fought back his tears, fought back the fear that they had come all this way for nothing — that the baby’s mother could be looking in another corner of the world for her child.
Smoke drifted past as the fire crackled. Mertyle lay against her father’s chest, the magnifying glass at her side. Mr. Broom hung his head, and the others wiped tears from their cheeks as the baby’s song wound its way among them, fanning the flames with notes of sadness. As the merbaby continued her song, a green tear rolled down her cheek. Though they came from different lands, though their skin was fed by different kinds of blood and their tears were different colors, Boom realized that at that very moment they shared the same feeling — the fear of losing someone you love. It had feelings too. She had feelings too.
“There’s nothing to worry about,” Boom lied, trying to comfort the little creature. He took off his coat and covered the baby’s shoulders. Even though she wasn’t cold, it just seemed like a nice thing to do. “They will come for you. I know they will.” The baby pulled a bit of seaweed from Boom’s hair and ate it. “I know you didn’t mean to make Mertyle sick.” The baby kept looking at him, like she was taking a picture of his face. Like she was trying to memorize it. She touched Boom’s nose with a little green finger.
Boom suddenly felt really sleepy. He lay back on the sand and looked up at Polaris, the North Star. His eyelids grew heavy as the blanket of night fell over the beach. “I don’t blame you for not granting my wishes,” he mumbled. “My wishes were stupid. I don’t need new shoes or a Kick the Ball Against the Wall arena. I just wish I had my family back.”
The sea lions nudged one another and began to pull their massive bodies toward the sea. They disappeared into the cold water for an evening swim, leaving the voyagers to sit on the beach — waiting and wishing for the unbelievable to happen.
Chapter Thirty-two:
The Merfolk’s Song
Boom had never slept in such a way before. There were no images to haunt him, no worries to torment him. Never had sleep felt so deep and undisturbed, like being sucked into a void without light, without sound, without turmoil of any kind. Yet the void felt warm and buoyant, as though he were floating on clouds. When he breathed, his body inflated with the sensation of relief. And when he exhaled, he felt completely peaceful.
Then a single sound came to the void, cool and refreshing, like a long drink of water. And it enveloped him a
nd protected him as he floated in oblivion.
Was this death?
“Boom, wake up.” It sounded like Mertyle’s voice. “Boom, everyone else is already awake.”
He rolled over, reaching for his pillow, but he grabbed a handful of sand instead. Sand? He stretched out his legs, but rather than hitting the end of his bed, they pressed against something that barked and nipped. It sounded like a sea lion. Boom opened his eyes. The sun had risen and he was lying on a beach with Mertyle leaning over him.
Mertyle!
Her long brown hair tickled his face. He could see her eyes and her skin. The fuzz was gone! And she was talking. Mertyle was back, and that could mean only one thing.
Boom scrambled to his feet. The sudden rush of blood made him dizzy and Mertyle grabbed his arm. He looked down at his feet, where a trail of green slime led from his coat to the water’s edge. Mertyle smiled. “They came in the night,” she explained.
“They?”
“The merfolk. I saw them. Everyone else was asleep.” She giggled with excitement. “Oh, Boom, they were fabulous. One of them touched me and I felt better.” She held up her arms. “I’m all better.” She did appear to be all better, back to her skinny, skin-covered, knobby-kneed self. Not a single tuft of fuzz to be seen.
“You . . . you saw them?”
“Yes.” She got real close. “There were three. Two of them sat right by your feet.” Boom felt an eerie sensation and shivered. “It was so dark I couldn’t see their faces, but their scales glowed and the air shimmered all around them.” She took a deep breath, like she was about to tell the best part. “I’m fairly certain that the third one was the mother, because the baby stayed next to her. I was burning up under all the fuzz, and when the mother touched me I suddenly felt cool. Minty cool.”
Boom was overwhelming happy and overwhelmingly disappointed at the same time. “Why didn’t you wake me up?” he asked.
“She didn’t want me to.”
“She spoke to you? I thought they didn’t have tongues?”
“She didn’t speak but somehow I just knew that I wasn’t supposed to say anything. I can’t explain it any better than that. I just knew that no one else was supposed to see her.” Boom struggled to understand. He tried to put the fact that Mertyle was cured above the fact that he hadn’t gotten to meet the baby’s family or to say good-bye. But he couldn’t help feeling left out. Mertyle smiled. “Boom, don’t feel bad. She sang a song just for you, while you were sleeping. Didn’t you hear it?”
A song, just for Boom. Yes, he remembered it. He could feel the aftereffects, even as he stood there, soothing every inch of his body like vapor rub. Minty cool.
“And the baby put this in your hair.” She reached forward and plucked out a green crystal, the baby’s tear. Mertyle suddenly frowned. “The baby followed her mother to the water and swam away. She looked so happy. She’s better off with them, don’t you think?”
Boom looked around. No baby flopped at the water’s edge, no baby growled or spat. The most amazing discovery of the twenty-first century had gone. “Yes, she’s better off.”
“She’s lucky to have her mother back.” Mertyle sighed, then wrapped her arms around her brother. “But I’m lucky too. I have you and I have Dad. Thank you, Boom. Thank you for saving me.”
Boom wasn’t much of a hugger, but he squeezed back because he was so happy to have a fuzz-free sister who wasn’t going to die. And he squeezed back because it helped him hide how sad he felt that it . . . that she was gone.
“Boom, glad to see you’re finally awake,” Captain Igor hollered from the deck of the ship. “There be a good wind a-coming. We’d better get a move on. Go and fetch your father.” Halvor and Mr. Jorgenson waved from the rail.
“Where’s Dad?” Boom asked. Mertyle pointed to the top of Whale Fin Hill, where Mr. Broom stood, staring out at the sea.
“He was the first one to wake up and see me all better,” she explained. “He told me he wasn’t going to hide anymore. Isn’t that great?”
“Yah. Really great.” Boom reached down to grab his slime-covered coat, and when he lifted it, a conch shell fell to the sand.
“The mark of the merfolk,” Mertyle whispered. She picked up the shell, but neither of them needed the magnifying glass to see the etching on the shell’s pink lip. It wasn’t a map of Whale Fin Island — it was a map, though. Mertyle smiled. “I think it’s a gift. They’ve left you a gift.”
They had indeed.
“I bet this will take us someplace great,” Boom said. For where else would a merfolk’s map take a person, but someplace beyond one’s wildest dreams? He tucked the shell under his arm.
Boom and Mertyle joined their father at the top of Whale Fin Hill. “We should come back here as soon as we can,” he told his children. “I’d like to bring my paints and canvas. I’ve never seen a sea quite like this one. It will be a magnificent painting.”
“That’s great, Dad,” Boom said as the salty wind blew by, fanning Mertyle’s and Mr. Broom’s long hair.
“Halvor is right. I need to get back to work.” Mr. Broom took Mertyle’s and Boom’s hands. “I need to get back to this family.”
They could have said a lot of mushy things at that moment, but that was not the Broom way. Sometimes it is best not to dwell on the past, lingering over mistakes and tragedies. Sometimes it is best to simply move forward, one big foot at a time, with paintbrush and magnifying glass in hand.
I just wish I had my family back. That’s the last thing Boom had said to the baby.
Sometimes it’s our wildest dreams that come true, and sometimes wishes are granted. A feeling that Boom had long forgotten cascaded from the tip of his head to the tip of his kicking foot — pure, undiluted joy.
The morning sun warmed the Broom family as they made their way down Whale Fin Hill. Mertyle paused to examine some rock fungus while Boom stopped to pick a rock out of his shoe. “Why, Boom, that shoe has a hole,” Mr. Broom noted. “We need to get you a new pair of shoes.”
“A new pair of shoes?” Boom asked.
“Certainly. That’s the first thing we’ll buy when I sell my next painting. Do you have any idea what kind of shoes you’d like?”
Boom’s face almost split, he grinned so hard. “Oh, I have an idea.”
Out on the horizon, four blue-green tails smacked the water and a song filled the air. The song danced its way to the island, wrapped itself around the ship, curled up and down the mast, and caressed every breathing soul. This time, not a touch of sadness could be heard in the song.
Not a single drop.
FAIRWEATHER NEWS
Tuesday, March 17
LOCAL FAMILY ARRESTED FOR COUNTERFEITING
Police arrested the Mump family of 1 Prosperity Street when boxes of counterfeit twenty-dollar bills were discovered in the Mumps’ garage. Police began to investigate when the fake bills appeared at local Fairweather businesses on Monday.
Witnesses say that a van delivered the bills to Prosperity Street early Monday morning and that Mr. Mump claimed they belonged to him.
A SWAT team arrived at the scene when Mr. Mump barricaded himself in the garage and started throwing cream-filled cupcakes at anyone who tried to enter. The entire gang, including Mr. and Mrs. Mump, their son, Hurley, and their daughter, Daisy, were taken to Fairweather police station to be questioned.
Hurley Mump, no stranger to this newspaper, had accused his neighbor of stealing an alleged merbaby. According to his sister, Daisy, it was only a Molly Mermaid Faraway Girl Doll.
“This is all Boom Broom’s fault,” Hurley Mump screamed as police escorted him to the squad car.
“Boom Broom had nothing to do with this,” said Victor Emmanuel Wingingham, a local boy known as “Winger,” who, his mother pointed out, has perfect school attendance.
The Brooms could not be reached for comment. A sign on their door read: GONE FISHING.
Suzanne Selfors, To Cat
ch a Mermaid
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