A Mermaid's Tale
by Shay Caroline
Once a flotilla of yellow plastic ducks bobbed out of Duckburg harbor and into the ocean blue. "Poor Frances, she got brained with the champagne bottle," someone said. We all looked at her with our painted, googly-eyed faces and made sympathetic noises as best we ducks could do. "I want to be a pirate," one of us proclaimed, "But everyone thinks I'm yellow." "You ARE yellow!" we reminded her. "Not on the inside," she said, slipping on an eye patch. "I want to be a mermaid," said another, as we rose and fell on the briney waves. "But everyone points out that I haven't got a tail." "Then we will make you one," said the ducks and did ~ a fine tail made of seaweed and starfish. "Your ladyship looks so pretty today," they told her, and she blushed. "I am a dolphin," flatly stated the one we called Windchime, And everybody went quiet at her boldness. Later, amongst ourselves, we said things like: "Poor thing," And, "The world will break her heart."
Perhaps we had been, by then, at sea too long, But we began to notice, as the days and the ships passed, That she had turned grayer, less yellow; That she had grown sleeker, less silly; And that she was undeniably beautiful when she curved right up out of the water like that, for sheer joy in being herself. During the nights at sea, Windchime and I liked to read to each other ~ Tales of whales and sudden gales; Jewels and islands and lighthouses on a distant shore. One day we ducks noticed a double splash off to our left, And from that day on, Windchime swam with a handsome dolphin named Seastar. A funny flotilla were we ~ Yellow ducks, two dolphins, and the deep blue sea. Then the time came for Windchime to leave. "I love you all, my little yellow ducks," she said. "But I am a dolphin, not a duck, And I must follow Seastar to the dolphin cove, and live there forever Because that is what dolphins do!" Did you know that yellow ducks can cry? As salty as the sea around. "Arrr," she said with a smile to the pirate duck, and to each in turn she gave a kiss and encouraging word. And me? To me she said, "Farewell fair mermaid of seaweed and stars, Do you know now who you are?" "A duck?" "No such luck!" she said with a dolphin laugh. "Just be who you are!" I miss her, you know, But when I swim after the ships, From my mermaid pool, I know she was right ~ Splashing with my tail All through a million starry summer nights. Copyright Shay Caroline ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Used by permission with warm thanks :)
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