By the time Cameron reached the
hut, an ivory ship had entered the
bay. The fishing boy squinted as it
slipped back to its mooring. The boy
knew its inhabitants. He waded into
the water and set down his pole into
a small wooden boat.
Back in the hut, Cameron sliced the
goat cheese and sprinkled the fleshy
insides of a tomato with salt and
olive oil. It was the same thing he
had eaten for dinner the day before,
and the day before that. But this
afternoon he ate more from ritual
than hunger. He uncorked the bottle
of red wine and poured it into
a squat tumbler. He emptied the
tumbler and poured another.
Only after the second glass did
the velvet breeze finally soothe
him asleep.
And he dreamed.
Swimming down, he descended
beyond an underwater cliff into deep
recesses. Daylight dimmed into a
marine-blue fog. No longer needing
to breathe, he was surrounded by
underwater creatures. Schools of
fish engulfed him. Dolphins danced in
and out of sight. They grinned,
chattered and enticed him to swim
even farther, leading him toward a
distant light, where one figure
eclipsed that glow.
A mermaid.
A flicker of recognition.
Aluna.
But he couldn’t reach her, no matter
how hard he tried. She turned away
from him and toward the glow
before swimming away. He gasped
for breath, and the sudden pressure
collapsed his lungs. Gulping for air,
he began to drown.
He awoke drenched in sweat. His
heart pounded. He opened his eyes.
And there she was again. Aluna
gazed at him from the doorway.
But this was no dream. Backlit by
the sun, a halo framed her, yet he
could still make out the green of
those eyes.
He sat up. She walked into the hut
and sat down by his side. He felt an
instant pang in his gut. But instead
of offering the kiss he craved, she
collapsed and buried her face into
his chest. Her hair smelled of
gardenia. He hugged her and she
began to cry.
nestled deeper into him. Then she
sighed as her eyes reopened.
“What is it?” he asked.
Still cradled in his arms, she spoke in
a hush.
She didn’t answer. Tears laced
against his bare chest. The insides of
his stomach began to twist. This
woman, so filled with life yesterday,
now felt so fragile, like she might
break apart in his arms and her
petals fall to the ground.
She pulled back from his grasp. Her
eyes that just yesterday had so
unflinchingly locked on him now
avoided his own.
It took every ounce of strength to
not pull her close for a kiss. But he
waited, submitting. He brushed her
cheek with the back of his hand to
wipe away the tears. He caressed her
face and stroked the ridge of her
ear, and then around to the nape of
her neck where his fingers combed
through her auburn hair.
The two sat there in silence, in
almost every way still strangers to
one another except for yesterday’s
inexplicable, primal connection.
Aluna placed her hands upon
Cameron’s shoulders and pressed him
back d