Page 14 of Beauty and the Beach

“No one knows. Don’t say anything. I want to surprise them.”

“What’s her name?”

“Ana,” Makoa said, with one last look over board.

“Is she hot?”

“Oh yeah. She looks like that chick from the new Solo movie, only with long blond hair and...” Makoa glanced over the side of the boat, a little guiltily. "But she's also smart and funny and sweet."

“Than what’s she doing with a kook like you?” Hani laughed and dodged the swipe that Makoa sent his way.

“See,” Amelia said, pointing at the screen as they walked into the room. “If it sits on its side it looks like a unicorn.”

Makoa didn’t see it. Unicorns had larger horns. But Amelia seemed so proud of herself for knowing this, he didn’t want to rain on her parade. “What’s that have to do with mermaids?”

“Because it’s a case of mistaken identity. When Christopher Columbus was in Haiti, he saw a manatee and thought it was a mermaid.”

“Christopher Columbus was a douche bag,” Kai pointed out.

“Yes,” Amelia agreed. “But he still looked down in the water and said I discovered a mermaid. Only it doesn’t have big boobs and flowing blond hair.”

“A manatee is pretty ugly,” Hani said.

“Mermaids aren’t ugly,” Makoa said, trying to keep his temper in check. He wondered how his friends would treat Ana. Would they treat her like a freak? He didn’t want to believe his friends would be anything but nice, but here they were laughing at mermaids and comparing them to sea cows.

“Okay, it says here,” Joely said looking at her phone. “That Captain John Smith said they were pretty and had green hair.”

“He was another ass clown,” Kai said.

“I bet mermaids are just like us,” Makoa said. “Or maybe they were human once and made a contract with the devil or someone so they could be half fish and spend their days swimming in the ocean.”

“Why would they do that?” Holt asked, pulling Joely back to rest in his arms.

“Why wouldn’t you? You don’t have to work. You can eat all the fish you want. You can swim anywhere. Just ride the waves all day, brah. Not a care in the world.”

“Unless there was a tsunami,” Kai pointed out.

“Or a shark.” Hani made chomping noises.

To be honest, sharks did worry him. Makoa liked to think that Ana could outswim a shark. The hammerheads wouldn’t bother her unless she got in their way, but tiger or Galapagos sharks were aggressive. He wished there was a way to contact her and see if she was all right. Maybe he’d look around the yacht and see if there was an underwater phone he could borrow. Dude wouldn't mind. Then he could text her like Hani and Kai were texting their girls during the movie all night.

“Why all the interest in mermaids all of a sudden?” Holt asked.

Leave it to Holt to get right to the point. He couldn’t give away Ana’s secret. Makoa shrugged and tried to remember the old family story he heard. “My Uncle saw one once.”

“Uncle Uffe?” Hani asked. “Was he drunk?”

“No, it wasn’t Uffe. It was Uncle Oka. He had a full boat and was taking some tourists out of Kona for an eight-hour tour. They were going after blue marlin. Well, they had caught a couple of ulua and were getting a little restless. So, Uncle Oka puts in his special lure. He made it himself out of a wooden dowel and some chrome he stole... ah acquired from the scrap yard. Then, they go trolling. After about a half hour of them tourists complaining, the rod nearly breaks off. They start reeling it in and up jumps this creature. Uncle Oka said he thought it was a woman at first, thought he hooked a diver. But then he saw her tail. Half woman, half fish.”

“No way.”

“He was drunk.”

“Were the other eight people on the boat drunk?” Makoa said. “They saw it too.”

“Did they take a picture?” Amelia asked.

“Nah, this was long before cell phone cameras. Those dudes were out to fish, not take pictures.”

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