Page 27 of Changing Tides

“How about we eat and then discuss boat rides?” she suggests.

Leia climbs up onto the cushioned bench by the table and settles with her knees underneath her.

“Are there sharks in the water?” she asks as she removes the brown paper from a chicken salad sandwich and takes a huge bite.

“Not this close to the pier,” I answer.

“What about mermaids?”

I bend down and whisper, “I’ve seen a couple, but it’s a secret, and we aren’t supposed to talk about it.”

Her eyes go wide. “Really? I want to be a mermaid when I grow up.”

I raise my eyebrows. “I thought you wanted to be a fairy princess?”

Her head tilts to the side. “Who told you?” she asks.

“Nana did. When I was building the fairy house in the garden at your cottage.”

“You built it?” she asks.

“I helped.”

“Well, I can be a princessanda mermaid.”

“Both?”

She shrugs. “Yep, just like Ariel,” she says around a mouthful of sandwich.

“A fairy princess mermaid?”

“Sure. That way, I can live under the sea or fly in the air and marry a prince and rule the kingdom.”

I nod as I open a bag of barbeque chips onto a paper towel and take a bite. “Good plan.”

“I know,” she says as she steals a potato chip off my napkin.

“Hey,” I say as I tickle her side.

She starts giggling, and Nana tells us both to behave and eat our lunch.

“Yes, ma’am,” we say in unison.

Avie

Ispent the afternoon observing a feeding demonstration at the turtle hospital, which hosted a group of children from the local middle school. I wanted to introduce myself to the other employees and get a lay of the land ahead of my first day on the job.

The staff is wonderful. Very welcoming and knowledgeable.

After the presentation, Glenna—an older, soft-spoken woman with a kind smile, who has been at the rehab center for over a decade—gave me a tour of the hospital and introduced me to the current patients. One of whom is Otis, an estimated sixty-year-old green sea turtle, who was caught in a fishing net and suffered from a mangled flipper, which the doctor had to amputate. He’s now being rehabbed, and once he learns to swim again, he will hopefully be able to be returned to the ocean.

I text Sabel once I am back in my car, and she replies that she and Leia went down to the marina to have a late lunch with Sebby, but he was on an unplanned charter, so they decided to stick around and enjoy the weather by the water. I tell her that I’ll come to them, and I head that way.

The salty tang of the sea fills the air, and the late-day sun warms my cheeks as I make my way up the creaking steps that lead to the wooden docks.

The wharf is a whirl of activity this evening. Folks are standing in line at the Boathouse Restaurant, waiting for seats. The hum of a band organ floats up from the slowly spinning carousel, and announcements for chartered boat parties blast over the speakers.

In the distance, I catch the peal of giggles, mingling with the squawking of seagulls and the low purr of boat engines.

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