with my hair. Would they know I was Tess and lagging on purpose?
Luckily I looked nothing like Jon. He had muddy brown hair, hazel eyes and a medium skin tone, unlike my skin that needed SPF 2000 to keep from burning. My brothers both had a mop of blonde, curly hair and our dad’s olive skin. The only trait we had in common was our eye color, blue.
“Anyone up for exploring?” Jon asked after obsessing over our setup for easily 20 minutes. Even Max was exasperated. I looked at my brothers who were clearly as interested in a break from Jon as I was. Their eyes pleaded at mine. I was momentarily tempted to sacrifice their sanity for my serenity.
“I’ll keep an eye on them while you go for a walk, Jon. Take your time. I have my cell phone,” I said, and I patted the pocket of my shorts.
“All-righty then.”
Geeze…who says all-righty?
“I’m going to head north toward the rocks. I think it divides this little beach from the main one.” Jon pointed toward a jagged rock wall far in the distance. I didn’t care what he was doing as long as it took him a long time.
“Yeah, we’ll be fine here with Tessie. Go find out what’s on the other side of the wall!” Gabe had excitement in his voice, but I knew the excitement was for being Jon-less for awhile. Jon didn’t catch on. He walked about twenty feet away and then looked back waving goodbye at us, as if he was leaving for weeks. We should be so lucky. We stood with smiles plastered on our faces talking to each other through clenched teeth.
“How long do you think he’ll be gone?” Gabe asked without changing his expression.
“Not long enough,” Max answered with an oddly stoic look for a seven year old.
I held back my laughter to defend Jon. “I know he annoys us, but …” I was stuck…but what? I asked myself. Gabe echoed my internal question.
“But what, Tess?” They both looked at me. When I didn’t speak up my brothers took turns finishing my sentence.
Max led the assault. “But not as much as he annoys Mom?”
“But he doesn’t know he’s annoying?” Gabe lowered his voice, looked around and put his hand up to his mouth as if he was going to tell a secret. “If we’re lucky, he’ll find someone else to annoy on the other side of the wall!”
“If we’re lucky, they’ll…”
I held my hand up to stop Max from another insult. We weren’t just laughing; we were howling and calling attention to ourselves. I caught my breath.
“But we need to give him a break, especially while Mom’s gone.”
They responded to my statement with sneers. Neither of my brothers bought into my act of compassion.
“Allllll-righty?” I asked, imitating Jon. We all broke down into hysterics again. “But really, we need to try not to do anything to make him annoy us any worse.” They both smiled and nodded in agreement. Then they didn’t waste any more time and cut to the water.
Now, finally, I could spend time with my friends. The only friends I had. Their lives were exciting, filled with love, adventure and danger. My friends were loyal, beautiful and smart. They were strong and fierce and courageous. They lived in caves and castles, jungles, space and the sea. I read all kinds of books, but my favorites were ones with vampires, witches and other fantasy creatures. Their adventures took me away from the boring world I lived in.
Today I lay on the blanket facing the crashing waves and pulled out Daughters of the Forgotten Sea. It seemed appropriate to read a book about mermaids while at the beach.
My mind drifted for awhile. What would it be like to be a mermaid? I closed my eyes envisioning myself in the story; saving the humans from certain death. In my life, friends and adventure only existed in the books I read and in my imagination. Pathetic.
I wanted to be Hannah, the youngest mermaid. She was beautiful with fiery, auburn hair that flowed down to her waist. Hannah was careless and heroic, things I wished I was. Instead, I was responsible and organized.
I closed my eyes again and imagined – would I have the courage Hannah had to brave the storm and the danger of being seen by the humans? I could feel the adrenaline rush. I imagined in the distance a young boy calling for help, my help.
“Help, Help!” I heard in my mind.
I’m coming!
“Hurry, hurry!” my imagination said, playing along.
“I’m hurrying,” I whispered back, fiercely.
“Tess, are you deaf? Now! Hurry!”
My eyes snapped open when my book was kicked out of my hand.
“Tess!” It was Gabe with a panicked look on his face. He pointed out to the water where Max was on his raft being pulled out further and further by the tide. My head whipped left and right to see if there was a lifeguard nearby; no guard stands. It didn’t matter; I didn’t need help. I may not be a mermaid, but I swam like one.
As I pulled my shorts off, I was passed on either side by two teenage guys who ran like high school track stars. They both entered the water in full stride and swam in Max’s direction. I didn’t stop. I ran toward the water throwing off my tank top. I should have left it on. Two-piece bathing suits weren’t made for running or lifesaving.
I hit the water and swam hard. The thinner guy ran fast and swam fast, unbelievably fast. The tide continued to tow Max further out, but the thinner guy finally reached him. Max remained on the raft holding on for his life while his rescuer swam back one-handed. The other hand gripped Max’s raft. The bigger guy treaded water halfway between them and the shore. I could have caught up to Max, but didn’t see the need to wrestle my brother away from the local show-offs. Instead, I swam back to where I could stand and waited.
The thin guy battled the current. His swim back was visibly more difficult than his swim out, but he made steady progress. In the last few yards before reaching his swimming partner, his speed picked up. Max didn’t look any more at ease even though he was halfway to shore. His hands still dug into the raft, and his eyes were glued to me.
I watched as my brother was passed from one guy to another like the baton in a relay race. The second guy was bigger, like a high school football star. He had wide shoulders and big arms. He didn’t swim as quickly, likely weighed down by his big muscles and probably even bigger ego.
When Max was close enough, he sprang off the raft toward me. I nodded at the guys as a thank you; although, I’m sure they expected a parade. Then I carried Max to shore and resisted the urge to yell at him.
“What were you thinking swimming out that far?” I said and shifted him on my hip so I could bend to pick up my discarded tank top.
“I didn’t. I was trying to swim back, but I kept movin’ away. I thought I was going to drown, Tessie. Why did it take you so long to get me?” Gifted how my little brother turned this around so quickly to make it my fault. Then I saw the tears in his eyes. His bottom lip was quivering. Guilt. How could I have taken my eyes off him?
“I’m sorry. You had a raft, so I wasn’t watching you as closely…”
“You’re
