Mermaid in my Bunk by Bernard Veale

Author:Bernard Veale
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Mermaid, singer, South Seas, fiction, love, adventure
ISBN: 9781785381454
Publisher: Andrews UK Limited 2015
Published: 2015-03-04T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 13

The journey north was long and tedious, but it did serve to initiate Edmond in the art of sailing. Just as Esmeralda had an excellent memory because of the form of schooling she’d received in a paperless society, so too did Edmond. He wasn’t as intelligent as Esmeralda, but once something was explained to him, he didn’t forget.

His use of modern English improved rapidly and although he didn’t enjoy reading, he listened carefully to the radio and picked up accent, idiom and inflexion. Where Esmeralda had a faint British accent, Edmond’s was purely American.

The weather treated us well at the start, and although we had to tack almost every inch of the way, it was a very pleasant time particularly as we had plenty of good wine to see us through. Of course I had to keep Edmond on very strict rations or else he’d have cleaned us out on the very first day. He really had a taste for strong drink.

The first intimation, of what was to come, was a wisp of smoke on the horizon of a trackless sea. As far as I could tell we were well off the trade routes used by cargo ships so I wasn’t expecting to encounter any maritime traffic although to Esmeralda and Edmond’s delight planes flew overhead quite often.

Edmond couldn’t believe that the tiny specks high in the sky actually carried humans. He believed they were birds but realized that the creature’s wings were fixed and didn’t flap. Esmeralda had read about planes and seen photographs of passenger aircraft and knew that they did carry passengers although she believed the process of flying was ‘magick’.

The smudge on the horizon eventually resolved itself into an enormous passenger cruise ship and as we had tacked backwards and forwards across the approaching ship’s course it was inevitable we should meet.

The Captain kindly invited us to come aboard as his dinner guests and was not at all put out when I told him we had no formal clothes.

“That doesn’t matter, Dr. Brand. This is a holiday cruise on the way to Tahiti and our tone’s very informal. This evening we’re having a fancy dress party so you might claim to be castaways and won’t be at all out of place.”

Of course he wasn’t expecting to see my two companions.

Esmeralda was thoroughly tanned from extended exposure to the sun and the wind, and in her best sari she looked like a stunningly beautiful Indian princess especially as she was dripping with Indian jewelry. This was the first time she had had a chance to show off her finery. The Captain was bowled over.

Edmond was bright red from his short exposure to the sun and with his exceptional size, orange red hair, wildly colored shirt and tight shorts, he was really an awesome sight.

I was entirely commonplace in a dinner suit and black bowtie.

The Captain spent most of the evening talking to me but he kept his eyes fixed on Esmeralda like every other male on board.

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