Page 2 of Mail Order Splash

“Already done.” He slipped his mask on and fell backward off the side of the boat.

We went under at the same time, sending each other hand signals. The dolphin was seriously in distress. Pulling the larger knife from my wetsuit pocket, I began cutting away at more of the netting. With a quick check of my watch, it had been another three minutes, and she wasn’t loose yet. We managed to cut one long piece, freeing her enough to rise her fully to the surface, but I knew it wouldn’t be for long and, as I thought it, she went back down. She was too weak from fighting for who knows how long. We swam under her, pushing and urging, hoping to prompt some fight in her to go up. Thankfully, it worked ever-so-slightly and she slowly rose.

“Josh, grab the other floater, I need to get it under her. She’s still very tangled.”

“I saw you going up and grabbed it.” He pushed the floater I’d developed in next to me and helped put it under her. “Let me go down and do some of the cutting. You stay here with her.”

My wrist had gotten pretty sore from cutting the netting so I let him go down, giving me a chance to check on the visible wounds. The poor girl didn’t even fight the floater. Usually, they fought it because it was unknown to them. I’d been talking to her when it dawned on me there was no longer the sound of jet skis.

Maybe they went the other direction. I hope they did.

The next thing I knew, two guys swam up next to me. The first one made me blink a few times. He had the look of a male mermaid with the deep tan, bright white teeth, and long blonde hair. Add to that a bronzed bare chest. I felt the oddest urge to peek under the water to look for his mermaid fins.

“Hey, everything okay?” the one closest asked. “What happened to the dolphin?”

“She’s tangled in netting. She can’t swim or fight anymore.” I focused on his face to resist looking under the water.

“That’s awful. What can I do to help?”

“If you’re serious you can take my knife and go down there and help cut her loose.” I pulled it from my leg pocket. “You sure you’re good with being in this deep water?”

He nodded then swam close enough to accept the knife from me. “I’m not worried about this water.”

I hoped he would dive under so I could see human legs, or not, but all he did was slowly sink as if something had pulled him down.

How did he do that? I can’t do that. I’m overreacting. Just because he looks like a mermaid doesn’t mean he is one. You’ve been living with fish too long.”

I was abruptly pulled from my thoughts by another deep voice. It was his friend, or companion, then up on my boat asking if I had another knife. I shouted back where to find one. Then, without another word, he dove in. The three men took turns surfacing while I kept the floater in position and water on her face. At least, that way she had a better chance of not drowning, but she was weak. It took another fifteen minutes with three of them to get her completely untangled.

“She’s loose.” Josh surfaced and started rubbing her back.

“Keep doing that. We need to stimulate her to see if she’ll start moving more,” I urged.

“Is she gonna be alright?” the mermaid one asked. “She has cuts on her from the netting. How did that happen?”

“Boaters throwing their unwanted stuff overboard, not considering what could happen to sea life.” I splashed more water on her face. “I appreciate the help, but I’m also curious to know what you’re doing all the way out here.”

“Our boat is back that way. We decided to ride the waves. Safer out here than in closer where everyone is on jet skis.”

“I suppose that makes sense.” I tried urging her to swim again.

“Did she get too much water in her lungs?” Josh stroked her back. “She’s weak.”

“Not sure yet. We may have to bring her in if she doesn’t start fighting us soon.” I squinted up to the sun. “I wanna get in before dusk; I don’t need her to be floating dinner.”

“You shouldn’t be in there, either.”

“Toss me some bait fish, I wanna see if she’ll eat it. I have no idea how long she was fighting to get out.”

“How did you find her?” the mermaid man asked.

“Coast Guard knows me. If boaters report something like this, we come out to help.” I tried again to get her to eat the bait fish, or at least show me an attempt. “We need to head in. I’ll float with her; I’m not sure she can stay on.”

“Can we help?” the other guy asked. “We could follow on the jet skis in case sharks come.”

“What’re your names?” I asked.

“Tom and Jerry.” Merman answered first then pointed to the other guy. “We don’t mind helping.”

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