Thank you!

Since I was a child, I loved to walk along the beach to the dock and dangle my feet while smelling the sweet salty air.

If I was lucky, I could see teal and aquamarine scales glittering in the sea, just out of my reach. It wasn't until I was older that I learned what I saw was no fish.

Since I couldn't pronounce her name, I called her Maria. She blended into the ocean unless she wished to emerge. When I was around 10 or 11, she decided to make my acquaintance. At first, I thought she were just another girl. Just swimming. When I asked her to walk on the beach, she showed me her tail. The same teal and aquamarine scales I had seen many times before. Maria and I became quick friends.

I asked is mermaids could ever walk on land. Her answer was "I don't know." She wasn't supposed to interact with humans.

As the years passed, we found our own partners, though my love for her never faltered. We would always be friends, although in secret.

One day, there came a terrible storm. Boats from down the way came loose and rotors missing. When I came to check on Maria, she was on the pier. The scene that lay in front of me made me retch. Her beautiful teal and aquamarine tail was now run with crimson. Her hair chopped and matted with drying blood. The salty air smelled metallic. Yet she was holding something, as if her life depended on it. A blue orb, no bigger than a clamshell.

"My child... Take care... Will you?" She gasped when I reached her. "Of course, my dear Maria." I cried.

I held her as she slipped away. I wrapped her in seaweed and let her body rest in the depths of the sea.

The orb I carried home. My partner asked what it was. Why I left in a storm.

So I had to explain.

"How do we even raise a mermaid?" Otis exclaimed. "I am not sure." Was my defeated response.

So I went about how I always did.

I ran the tub with saltwater. I placed the orb in it. And watched it grow as we waited.

Eventually, a sweet child came from it.

"Maria! It is time to come in now." "But mommy! I want to swim some more!" "You can swim tomorrow. For now we walk along the beach back home." "Okay." The small child huffs.

"Why don't you ever swim with me, mommy?" "I am allergic to saltwater. I get a terrible rash." "Oh. Okay. Just once can you dip your toes?" "For you, my sweet, of course. But tomorrow."

I and Otis were enamored with our merchild.

We did not expect me to be one too.