Gone by the Board by August Li

Author:August Li [Li, August]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: gay romance
ISBN: 978-1-63533-497-5
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press
Published: 2017-05-24T00:00:00+00:00

Eight

BRUME’S RELATIONSHIPS with humans had always ended when he got them to safety. He had always disappeared back into the sea after that, so the idea of spending extended time with a human was both scary and thrilling. He’d asked for a night in between because he had things he needed to do before he could even attempt to blend into human society.

First, clothing. Brume didn’t understand it, but humans always covered their bodies, even when it was warm enough to go naked, which, in this part of the world, it almost always was. They’d actually rather sweat and suffer than expose their skin. He couldn’t walk among them nude, so he went into the park where Nathan lived and found some garments hanging on a rope tied between two trees. He selected a pair of shorts, a pink T-shirt with a fish design on the front, a button-down shirt—white with teal stripes—and some dark denim trousers. Since Brume was not a thief, he left three large pearls and a bull conch shell on a plastic bench near the clothesline. Then he took the garments and hid them between some rocks where he could find them the following night.

He’d never thought about how others would interpret his appearance. Until now, Brume’s physical body had merely been a vessel to guide lost humans in a way formless seawater couldn’t. It had been a tool. But now he experienced the strange unease of wondering whether Nathan would approve of the way he looked. Would Brume’s outward trappings be sufficiently pleasing to earn him time to talk to the man?

Since they were going for ice cream, Brume chose to dress in the shorts and fish-printed T-shirt. He’d watched the humans on this beach for many years, and he felt confident his attire was appropriate. He also knew humans liked adornment: jewelry. They put it on when they wanted to make themselves pleasing to others, so Brume wore a necklace of tiny, iridescent shells. Mizzle had woven it for him one night while they sat in a secluded cove, watching the moonlight on the sea, watching a pod of dolphins gambol in the distance. Since then, he’d kept it hidden in a small cave, and he hadn’t had an occasion to return for it until now. It made him feel like he had part of her with him, to give him courage. It also gave him confidence that he might be deemed worthwhile for owning it. Humans interpreted things that way.

As he stood to the right of the pier, watching groups of adolescents and families with toddling children in hand enter the ice cream parlor, he knew his clothing would blend in. He should’ve arranged for shoes, though. Luckily, someone had left a pair of flip-flops near the base of a dune, and they fit Brume perfectly. He was ready to go, and he combed his fingers through his long hair as he waited for Nathan to appear.

Music from the ice cream shop spilled out onto the beach, and the voices of people staying in the hotels along the shore carried.

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