Nothing to see

“Did I ever tell you about the time I went to Atlantis?” Grandpa asked.  

Benji’s eyes bulged. “You didn’t go to Atlantis! Did you, Grandpa?” 

"Sure I did! I wasn’t much older than you, Vicky.”

“It’s Victoria, Grandfather.”

“Right, right.” He grinned.

“Grandpa!” Benji shouted. “Tell us! Tell us about Atlantis.”

“Benjamin. Grandfather did not go to Atlantis because Atlantis does not exist.” She rolled her brown eyes, enhanced eyelashes tickling her filled eyebrows. "Don't be so immature." She folded her arms formally. Benji's enthusiasm started to crack. 

“Hush, now. I’m going to tell a story, and it’s one hundred and ten percent true.”

“That’s impossible. There's no such thing as one hundred and ten percent.”

“It is and I say it is, so just hush up and listen, Vicky. Or don’t. But your brother wants to hear my story, so let me tell him.” Grandpa had found that if he used a stern voice with his grandchildren to remind them of his authority, it was possible to prevent squabbling. He settled into his seat and turned off the television that constantly played old black and white westerns on mute. The tube popped and groaned. Victoria rolled her eyes again, then dropped them on her phone screen.

“Now. When I wasn’t much older than Vicky, I was a diver. You two both knew that, but I never told you what I did down there! I wore one of those space-suit helmets back then, you know. Big copper dome with the glass to peek through, right? Just like the ones you see in the museum. It had a long tether and an air tube back up to the boat like this.”

“You’re so old!” Benji said. He giggled when he realized what he said. “Sorry.”

“Hah! Yeah, I’m old. But that sort of suit was already out of fashion by then. That’s just what they had in… well, I can’t tell you where I was diving, but let’s just say they didn’t have state of the art diving gear at that time and place.

"Anyhow, it was my job to document some stuff they thought might be down there. I suppose there was some ping on a radar or whatever they used back then, so they sent down a diver. It was up to me to explore the area and report back anything interesting that I found."

"Like treasure?"

"Yep, like treasure."

"I'm sure Grandfather doesn't mean pirate chests." Victoria didn't look up.

"Well I always hoped I'd be lucky enough to stumble upon a good pirate chest, overflowing with diamonds and rubies and lots and lots of gold doubloons! But no, not that kind of treasure. I was looking for ruins. Sunken ships, old pillars, statues, pottery maybe. You know, things like that. I'd find them, mark where they were, then they'd send a proper expedition out, you see. They had these young guys like me just scout the place out, you understand."

"That's weird," Benji said.

"It is weird," Grandpa continued. "But, they needed evidence before they got funding to send out the real divers. That's just what they did in-- oh! Almost got me there! 

"Anyhow, I was down there looking for the ruins. And here's the thing, I found them, but they weren't ruined at all. No, these old statues and pillars and such, they looked good as new! Okay, not quite good as new because of the water, but they were brushed off and no seaweed was growing on them. The sand all around was nice and neat and the rocks on the ground were in patterns, I'm sure of it.

"Between two of these pillars, I could see sort of an archway, but it was no bigger than this. And it was my job to look around, so of course I had to peek." He held his hands apart and poked his head between them.

"Now don’t let anybody tell you evolution’s not real." He sounded very serious all of a sudden. Benji nodded until his glasses loosened. Victoria paid attention in spite of herself. "It’s absolutely real and I saw it with my very own eyes. There were people in there - or, they used to be people. Can't say that they were human anymore, but I don't have a better word, so let's keep calling them people. I was just spying through this small archway, so I don't think any of them saw me.

"They had no hair and their legs were very wide and flat. Their bodies had all these little, whatcha-callits, appendages or feelers or little propellers, you know? Kind of like the fins on the underside of a lobster. Not so pretty, to tell you the truth. Their arms were wide - wide, wide. Like oars. But they had hands just like ours. And they moved so fast! It only took a few swipes with their wide arms and just a kick of their flat legs, then zoom! They were off. They were busy swimming around, working with their hands, and carrying little ones. I think they were talking to each other, but with my helmet I couldn't hear anything over the whooshing of my breathing.

"And then I saw the city. There were hundreds of tiny stone houses arranged in a huge circle. Each little house was decorated with seashells and living coral and lovely patches of seaweed, trimmed and shaped so nicely. Thousands of colorful little fish buzzed around the man-made reefs. Octopuses and eels peeked out from between rocks and dozens of sharks flew overhead. The people didn't seem the least bit disturbed by the sharks, and the feeling appeared to be mutual. Even so deep down, the sun dotted the sand and made everything ripple. I mean, what a view! Really put my own house to shame! 

"Then I noticed a smaller circle inside the big one with all the homes. That's where all the work was done. I saw traps with fish inside and big piles of mussels, clams, and oysters. There were people shucking them. I couldn't quite see from my lookout, so I couldn't tell you what they were using to do it, but the way they worked looked like they shuck them just the way we do. Some of the people were gathering up seaweed in big woven baskets. It was all planted in nice neat rows just like a farm. Little people - kids, I imagine - were dashing around, tossing rocks and seashells at each other and generally being a nuisance for the grownups trying to work.

"Then there was one more circle in the middle. It was smaller of course, but it was clearly the most important circle. All the people kept zipping back and forth from this big, big dome that took up the whole thing. It was like an enormous bell. I'm not sure what it was made of, to tell you the truth. It was somewhere between glass and stone. I know that doesn't make much sense, but that's what it looked like. The people were dashing in and out every so often, so I expect that's where they kept their air." 

"They breathed air?" Victoria asked. She hadn't noticed that the screen on her phone had gone dark. 

"Well, sure, don't you? I expect they just held their breath like whales and dolphins do. You knew that, didn't you Benji? That whales breathe air?" Benji shook his head and pushed up his glasses. "They do! Sea mammals just take a big gulp at the surface and then dive down. I suppose instead of going up to the surface all the time, these folks just breathed inside the bell.

"Well, next thing I know, the guys on the boat started pulling my tether. I certainly did my job of looking around, but when they pulled me back onto the boat and asked what I saw, I told them there was just a kelp forest. Nothing to see."

"What? Why?" 

"Well, I'm not so keen on disturbing the natural environment if I can help it. Those people were doing just fine. Didn't want to ruin what they had, you understand."

Victoria rolled her eyes again. "I knew you were just making it up."

Benji looked at his sour sister, but wasn't so ready to give in. "Why can't you tell now? That sounds like Atlantis for sure! They're always looking for it, aren't they?"

"No, no, I couldn't do that. Atlantis sank thousands and thousands of years ago, and those folks have made it work all this time. More proof that people can survive practically anything. But people sure are good at ruining things, too. And Atlantis is fragile. If troops of scientists went down and started messing around with those folks down there… Well, I don't know about you, but I just don't want to live in a world without Atlantis."

Benji frowned. "I don't know, Grandpa. Maybe Vicky's right. Fish people living in a city underwater? I don't think it works like that."

Grandpa turned the television back on and the snap and hum of the tube filled the room. Two silent cowboys on horseback threw torches over their shoulders, igniting the brush behind them. "That's just as well that you two don't believe me. The dive team wouldn't have, either, and they probably would've tried to lock me away. But I'm telling you, it's 110% true."