THE ENCHANTING MERMAID

 THE ENCHANTING MERMAID

The water in the gulf, of a deep blue, which, under the rays of the sun___it was a summer     afternoon___sent out emerald green reflections, that were sprays of light, was calm, motionless as a mirror. A seagull squeaked down on the still expanse of water , to soon after get up again in flight. Suddenly the mirror of blue water began to stir, rippling with increasingly thick waves. When foam appeared on the waves, a foam that looked like snow, the golden tail of a large fish emerged from the expanse of blue. The water stirred as in a tidal wave and here that the head, and the shoulders, and the arms appeared of a woman with a beautiful face.         

At that moment there were no boats or swimmers in the gulf, so no one could see….the apparition. She was a mermaid who was emerging from the water of the gulf.  And she was a particular mermaid, since she had been a woman in her past, who had become a mermaid to escape an unbearable oppression on the part of human beings. And as a mermaid, she, Marion had found relief in the depths of the sea, she had lived a peaceful life. Since, to escape the wickedness of the humans, she had sunk into the depths of the sea____and decades had passed, a lifetime had passed_____Marion had never emerged from the water. For some time, however, even if her life as a sea creature was serene and satisfying, a vague desire had taken her, a desire not only to see again the earth, but to be able to walk again on the earth, to feel the earth under ….her feet. And this, she knew well, was at all impossible for a mermaid. No, not that she was tempted to go back to be a woman, all that she wanted was to be able to walk on the earth again, and then, after her walking, to go back to her mermaid life.

It had been precisely for this reason, for the hope to being able to feel the earth ( ground___soil of   the earth) under her feet again, that Marion had decided, after so many years, to re-emerge from the depths of the sea, where not only her life had taken place quietly and serene, but where she had even become, years went by, a kind of divinity for the younger mermaids, some of whom, like   her, were women who took refuge in the depth of the sea to escape the human perfidy.

Of course Marion knew that to be able to walk on the ground you need to have the feet, and the legs that she, become a mermaid____and she had chosen to become a mermaid____ didn’t have.  But she hoped, albeit rather absurdly, that , once again on the earth, she would have found some solution , or expedient, that would allow her to walk again, at least to take a walk.                 

Marion, re-emerged, after having shaken off the water, looked around : in the vast blue and light flooded expanse of the gulf there was no one, she certainly did not mind that there had been no spectators of her re-emergence, but she needed some boat that would give her a ride ashore, to make what she had planned to do easier.  So she, lying on the surface of the water,  began to wait patiently, sooner or later some boat would pass. And while she was waiting for even a little boat, she started to sing a melodious song, that Marion would have wanted cheerful and carefree…..she would have wanted…..but it turned out, it sounded instead , because of her trembling voice, sad and anguished.

Finally, after she had waited for a long time, here that a white sail appeared on the horizon, that was approaching rather quickly, since it had a favorable wind. It was a small boat with only one boy on board, who was happy to give Marion a a ride, even though he couldn’t believe she was really a mermaid, but a woman who had disguised herself as a mermaid. Marion had had a nice insist ( had kept on insisting) that she was really a mermaid, the boy, laughing with amusement, had said: “ All right, ma’am, if you want to be a mermaid, just do it…I agree”

As soon as she got ashore, Marion went up into the taxi that the boy, who had given her a ride on his sail boat, had called for her. Even the taxi driver, like the boy on the sail boat, didn’t want to believe she was really a mermaid, but rather an extravagant woman, who was even a bit of  a joker.                 

Marion asked the taxi driver to take her to the most famous aesthetic clinic in that seaside town.

It was the Cornflower, “ the clinic that works wonders for women of all ages” . It was so famous that its fame had even reached the depths of the sea, so she too, Marion, knew of its existence.

At the clinic Cornflower, unlike what had happened with the boy on the sail boat and with the taxi driver, they immediately understood that Marion was really a mermaid.         

Unfortunately, however, when she asked to have feet, even temporarily, in order to be able to walk again on the earth_______oh, she would have agreed to be able to take only a few steps______those distinguished, very renowned cosmetic surgeons, known all over the world;  were unable to satisfy her request. If she intended to remain a mermaid, they, who were the most excellent cosmetic surgeons in the world, could not provide her with legs and feet to walk:

But they said her ( informed her) that, if she wanted to go back to being a woman, they could accommodate her. Of course, in order for her to be a woman again, they should have amputated that half of her body which was not human, but a fish body.

Oh, it can be said that Marion fled frightened, terrified from the clinic, as soon as those great luminaries of cosmetic surgeons  hinted at this possibility. She could not forget that having become a mermaid, from the woman she had been, this had saved her life.

Of course, also to leave, or escape from the renowned aesthetic clinic, Marion had to take a taxi.

When she was into the taxi, she began to fret that she wanted to be taken to the most beautiful  green area of the city. The taxi driver insisted repeating her that this was a seaside town and, since she said she was a mermaid, what better place for her than the beach? “ But I want to walk on the earth! I want to feel the ground under…me! I want to walk on the grass!” Marion kept on shouting. “ And if I can’t do it with feet, I do it with my hands! I will put my hands on the ground, as if they were feet!” She screamed. Then the taxi driver took her to a public garden where Marion started ….to walk on her hands, her mermaid body raised vertically.

The garden was crowded with children and Marion’s walk caused  quite a stir. The children were happy to be able  to see A MERMAID! A REAL MERMAID! Mermaids really exist!!  Their parents, instead were worried and suspicious of that strange being, half fish, so they called the police.

Marion was arrested for disturbing the public peace. The arrest of….a mermaid aroused a stir, not only in the seaside town; crowded with tourists, but in the whole country. Of course a lot of people, indeed the mostly of them, absolutely did not want to believe that she, Marion, was really a mermaid. But come on, let’s not joke, mermaids don’t exist! Televisions and newspapers also kept an almost skeptical tone. They talked about Marion not as a mermaid, but rather as a pretty       boastful lady, who was making fun of everyone, by claimed to be a mermaid.

And not only that, the boastful lady had also scared the children in the public garden! Nobody cared of listening to the children, who had been anything but scared of Marion. Instead they were absolutely delighted to be able to see a mermaid strolling in the garden! They had enjoyed so much…and, oh, how much theym would have liked to speak with the mermaid lady, who knows what she would(not) have told them… And they had so many things to ask to a mermaid! They, the    children, had also protested when the policemen had taken Marion away.

From the clinic Cornflower the prestigious director, with a look , and a tone too, of a true gentleman, had assured : that..uh…but yes, that lady, Marion, was really a mermaid, who had turned to their clinic for, let’s say …for a consultation, to solve a problem______the distinguished, elegant director had been careful not to talk about what Marion had asked ( about the request made by Marion) But even he, the director, who was a world renowned cosmetic surgeon , had not been taken seriously, that is, he too had not been believed. All people seemed to think that the eminent director of the clinic Cornflower had made that statement____oh, they , in the great clinic had received even a Mermaid!_____to advertise his clinic, to attract even more patients, i.e customers.

Marion, locked in prison, with her hands clinging to the bars of the window of her cell, desperately cried out all her pain for the injustice that once again the humans inflicted on her, and she also regretted for having wanted to return  on the earth, among humans, after that a long time ago she had realized their perfidy and she had fled to take refuge in the depths of the sea.  Certainly she hadn’t come back for humans. It was out of a great desire to still be able to feel the earth  under…oh, if she couldn’t feel it under her feet, which she didn’t have…..( she could feel it) under her hands.

While Marion screamed and cried, clinging with her hands to the bars of her cell, the ambassadors of some countries, first the French ambassador, intervened to protest with the government of that country____Italy___which dared to keep a mermaid locked up in prison. Ah, freedom didn’t exist in a country like that ! It was thanks the protests of the embassies of the other countries that Marion was released, albeit regretting and not without having recommended, or advised, to disappear from circulation as soon as possible. She could go where she wanted, it was enough that she no longer showed upm in that wonderful city, indeed even in all that country. A priest, a judge, and the mayor of that marvelous seaside town advised her, if one can say so, since Marion was rather threatened. Oh, there were no problems, Marion could not wait to go again in her world, down there in the depths of the sea. Meanwhile she was also promising herself that she would never come back on earth again, at least as so long as it___EARTH__was inhabited  by the mankind. However she wished, before she left the earth, to be able to take a walk again, oh, only a few steps on the earth, using her hands as if they were her feet. Ah, how those three very important men, those three imperturbable and inflexible controllers ____oh, of a very democratic society, there could be no doubt that theirs was such, democratic, yes….even if  someone dared at least to think, if not to say, that their democracy was indeed A REGIME___( how they three) had risen at this request from her….Their faces had become really terrifying, they suddenly looked like ogres, very bad ogres, but also vampires, ready to attack her biting her neck by the sharp daggers into which their teeth must had turned____it was as if Marion saw those terrible teeth of the three important men, their teeth were like those of the sharks_____and they had said her, in a tone which did not allow any replies, that, if she dared to perform again as she had done in the public gardens_____where she had scared the children to death! Gruuff!  Ah, she had to think what she had caused to those innocent creatures, who ( which) their democratic and supportive society had to protect!_____if she dared to perform again like she had done in the public gardens, then she would have been locked up in a secret prison and there would have been no fancy ambassadors from of one of those countries …..those countries , fancy they too!_____and here the three majesties ____of a very democratic society_____had reiterated . with indignation, even with fury: THOSE COUNTRIES, FANCY THEY TOO!, while they looked each other with a glance of importance, of a great self confidence, of understandment  _____( those countries) which pretend to give lessons to US! on human rights! Lessons to US! who are the country that welcomes more immigrants of all other countries, TO US! who are the country that gives shelter to the greatest number of refugees ! these ambassadors of my boots____these dandies of ambassadors who pretend to teach US about human rights!____ there would be no fanciful ambassador from any fanciful country who would have taken steps to get her released.

In short those three men, real authorities, said to her ( Marion) that if she tried to take a walk on her hands again, there would be ( would have been) no ambassadors of any country who could know of her arrest and then no one would have come ( would come) to bother , asking for her release.

Since she could not reach the beach walking on her hands, as she would have liked to do, Marion took a taxi to be taken to the beach. The taxi driver, who was another than the one who had taken her to the aesthetic clinic, he too, could not believe that she was really a mermaid, even if he seemed very amused for (by) the circumstance that a woman, who had to be at a least a little weird, insisted so much on wanting to be believed a mermaid. Come on, as everyone knows, mermaids don’t exist.

Marion reached a desert corner of the beach. She sat, as a mermaid can sit, on the sand, which was still warm, although it was already night. A light, fresh wind blew on her face, crept into her long hair, mermaid hair. When she lifted her face, she was flooded by a rain of tiny grains of light. Through that rain of light, which she felt tapping on her face, on her hair, on her skin, she saw the

Stars, far away, yet very bright , up there in the sky.  From the earth, just raising your eyes to the sky and you can see the stars, Marion seemed to remember only then.