Merbaby
Fostering a new kind of pod...
Gibberish: Flash Fiction Friday - MerMay
May 9, 2025
Scoot’s Assignment: Write a short story about the sea, including inviting shallows, a character who is a merfolk, and the sentence, “I don't think so.”
Highlighted in FFF (May 16, 2025) 🤗
Merbaby
Sirena drifted near the fishing boat, close enough to watch John going about his work. She watched as he tossed out his net and then slowly pulled it back in, sorting his catch as he went: Fish suitable for eating went into holding, anything too young, or of prime breeding age, or a member of a protected species, or inedible, or just plain too pretty to eat, was immediately released back into the sea. He never took more than he needed. She’d been observing him for a long time, and could see that he was kind and responsible, a perfect potential foster father for her little one.
She did not want to give up her daughter, but she had no choice. The brief affair with that other air-breather had sealed her fate. She’d believed that he loved the sea as she did, and that he would be her mate forever. But then she learned - too late - that to him the ocean was but a temporary playground and their whirlwind romance was only a summertime fling, just a bit of fun. In the fall, he left, never to return, but left his progeny behind, to grow up in her belly. When the baby emerged with feet instead of fins, she knew the other merfolk would never allow it to live - so she began her search for a suitable human surrogate. John looked like he might be up for the job.
Sirena waited until John once again cast out his net and then carefully approached with her precious burden. She firmly tangled her baby into the folds of the net, and then moved back, to watch and wait.
“What on earth are you doing here?” John was puzzled. Ths baby he’d pulled from his net had been underwater for who knew how long, but was hale and healthy. She giggled cheerfully as he picked her up and peered into her face. “Well, little Merbaby, let’s get you home so I can outfit you properly,” he decided, wrapping her in his sweater. He brought her home, and fed her on goat’s milk. He was a batchelor, but was a good man, and had helped care for many young ones in the village. He became her foster father, naming her “Ariel” after the mermaid in the movie, though he always referred to her affectionately as “Merbaby.”
Merbaby grew up by leaps and bounds. John taught her to read and then set her loose in the library; he figured that as long as she could read, she could teach herself anything she pleased. Merbaby read every book about sea creatures she could lay her hands on. By the time she was ten, she knew more about the ocean than anyone in the village.
Even without a tail, Merbaby could swim like a fish and could stay under for hours at a time. John was not a stupid man. He knew that there was something not quite human about his young foster daughter, but he didn’t care. When they played together in the inviting shallows, he sometimes saw a head pop out of the waves, a woman watching Merbaby splash and dive and laugh, and wondered if it might be her mother.
🧜♀️🧜♀️🧜♀️🧜♀️🧜♀️🧜♀️🧜♀️🧜♀️🧜♀️🧜♀️🧜♀️🧜♀️🧜♀️🧜♀️🧜♀️🧜♀️🧜♀️🧜♀️🧜♀️🧜♀️🧜♀️
Merbaby and John lived aboard his boat. It was a safe and quiet life, and they were happy. Until one day, when John’s boat was boarded by evil men. They were on the run, and demanded the keys, threatening to hurt Merbaby if John didn’t hand them over.
John stared at them. They were desperate men and therefore dangerous. He realized the first order of business was to get Merbaby out of harm’s way. “What this little scamp? What do I care about her?” With that he scooped her up and carelessly tossed her overboard.
Momentarily shocked, they were silent for a minute, but then all burst out laughing.
Again they insisted that he hand over the keys, and again he refused. “I don’t think so,” he muttered, as he pocketed the keys and fell backwards over the railing. John hit pretty hard and was knocked out. He began to sink. But he didn’t sink far. Merbaby swam quickly to his side, followed by Sirena.
As they surfaced, Sirena emitted a series of high pitched squacks, which were immediately followed by the raucous calls of seagulls. The seagulls harrassed the men, divebombing them and defecating on them until they were all forced to jump overboard. Sirena looked at John. “Shall I summon the sharks?” she asked, with a mischievous grin.
“No, no, that shouldn’t be necessary. I’ll call the police.” The police were overjoyed. It turned out that the men had escaped from the mainland prison, so they were more than happy to scoop the soggy felons out of the drink and leave John, Sirena, and Merbaby alone to mop the seagull droppings from the deck.
Eventually, they became a family. Sirena had finally found a mate who loved the sea as much as she did and would stay with her forever. And Merbaby lived a very happy life.
awww
Delightful!
[p.s. - thank you for the recommend!]