Sand Waif

So many days I spent on the beach in front of my little cabin, my eyes searching the sea for her.

I knew what I had seen, the beautiful naked creature on the beach was not of land. My simple gift had caused her eyes to light in pleasure, her smile was a sight for an old man like me to behold.

Yes, just a foolish and lonely old man, but smitten nonetheless. How could I not be, she knew no shame, she had squatted down before me as I poked and prodded for a trinket in the sand. It wasn't to expose herself, she was simply curious as to what I had found.

When she noticed, realized my eyes fell on her she had apologized and closed her legs slightly, but there was no sense of modesty at all.

The sand had given up a fine Golden chain with a small jade pendent, her eyes had sparkled, I knew she wanted it.

So I simply reacted to the impulse, handed it to her. She had stepped forward, pressed to me. The touch was a flash of fire I had long before forgotten, her kiss was salty, sweet with joy.

Then she turned, ran into the sea, and was gone.

I had used my computer to search for "mermaids". I used every variation I could think of, nothing really fit until I spotted one word I didn't know.

Selkie.

I read page after page of folklore, I read the words of Walter Dennison, who wrote Orkney tales of the Selkie males and their stepping from the sea when women wept, to take them, bring them joy.

Yes, often even an invasion into the sanctity of marriage, just spirits of the sea, no thought to the ways of land bound mankind.

Folklore. Nothing but fantasy, yet I had seen her. She had hugged me, pressed her naked flesh against me, kissed me. There was a magic in that kiss.

I remained an old man, yet I was somehow awakened.

"I will come to here, to see you again." she had said, the worlds escaping her lips with an odd ring, almost like an echo.

Then she had grabbed the wrap, cast it around herself and dashed into the surf.

My first thought was that she had given her life, some kind of pain deep down inside that I did not see?

I ran into the surf, thrashing this way and that, trying to save her to no avail. Then as I sat in shock on the beach, I had seen the imprints from her toes as she had dug into the wet sand to run.

Those were not the marks a human foot would leave, I had seen many of those in the damp sand as I searched the beach.

These were webbed.

So now I walked the beach each day, sometimes even during storms, my eyes casting fruitlessly at the crests of waves. I hoped against hope that she would return. Sometimes I would see a dark spot floating in the surf, my heart would leap. Then I would hear the bark of a Seal, and I would go back to my endless search.

Several years went by, and I felt my body failing me. Each day it was harder and harder to arise, handle my daily chores, then make the short trek to the sand. I had to tred with care in the dry and softer sand above the surf line to keep my balance.

I often took my metal detector, using that to kill the time. I found a trinket now and then, a coin, once a ring with a black stone set in Gold.

Usually my treasure for the day was simply the castoffs of man, I always kept them and disposed of them back at my cabin.

The days grew cold, then warm, then cold again. I made my daily walks, sometimes on warmer days I saw other people. I would watch them closely for some sign, I saw nothing out of the ordinary.

There was one moment of shock, I saw a female figure lying on the beach far away, basking in the sunlight. I saw the long dark hair and excited, I hurried her way, saying a hello as I approached. The woman grabbed her bikini top, pulled it over her bare breasts and scowled at me.

It was not her, I beat a hasty retreat.

One day I got a heavy sound from my metal detecter, it was deep. I reached for my shovel, began the task of digging up the item. About a foot down, I used my probe, felt the tip touch something firm. I flipped it loose, pulled it free.

It was a beautiful Gold chain, a small feminine pendent of Jade hung from it. It was the same trinket I had given to the naked young lady years before. I stood holding it, realizing my first thought must have been correct.

There was no other reason for the gift I handed her to be back in the sand unless it was pulled from her lifeless body by the sea.

For some reason, she had ran, cast her life into the sea. I walked to the edge of the surf, where the last traces of each wave slid up to dampen the sand.

And I, a foolish old man, could not see the signs, could not save her.

A tear formed in my eye, dropped into the sea.

"Hello." The voice was right at my side, it startled me.

I turned, it was her, naked, natural, unashamed. I just stared, I had no voice. Her long dark hair seemed alight, it flowed outward in curls. Her breasts, so perfect for her trim body were as I remembered. The flow of her hips, so slender yet muscular, the untrimmed tuft of dark pubic hair did not hide the pinkness that lay underneath.

I almost could not breathe.

"You found it, I thought you would." Her smile was dazzling.

"I have looked for you for so long." was all I could manage. Then I handed her the necklace, she slipped it on. Again, the flash of Gold against milk chocolate flesh.

"We know no thought of time." she said.

"We waited for you to prove yourself."

I was confused, I didn't understand.

"Prove myself?"

"Yes, I came and buried your gift for you to find again. You cast a tear for me into my world, you called for me."

She held up something, a wrap of some kind. I looked at it closely, it had spots, it looked like...

A Sealskin? A baby Sealskin? I glanced down at her feet, yes, they were webbed.

"Remove your garments, take this. You may join us." Again that smile, that wonderful echo in her voice.

"Please?"

My hands tripped the buttons on my shirt, I cast it to the sand. I struggled with my shoes, my trousers, hesitating at my boxer shorts.

She stood there holding the warp, watching me. Her eyes glanced downward, expecting. I pulled my boxer shorts down and off, realizing as I did that I was erect. It had been a very long time since I was erect.

"Take the wrap." She held it out to me. I reached and touched it, felt something flash over me. I pulled it tight around me, feeling slightly dizzy at the sudden sensation.

"I don't know your name."

"Name? I have no..name?" She turned and ran towards the sea. I didn't hesitate, I ran with her, keeping up easily. I leaped into the breakers, my body bit into the water and I flowed under and through the waves, effortlessly.

Once I stopped and looked back at the shore. The body of an old man, naked, lay on the beach.

That was the moment I knew.

She had given me a gift in return.

We swam together, sliding our bodies against each other in play, in joy. I was young again, strong and free.

Sometimes on a warm midsummer's eve I come ashore, I hide my wrap amongst the rocks. I enter the old cabin, now used by others but often vacant. There is a computer there, I use it to tell my story.

There are many of us, we are all one. We graze on sea and sky, we join in love.

Sometimes one of us chooses. Sometimes we just give the gift of love. The choice of what you receive is always yours.

So come to me when you are in need. Come and weep, cast seven tears into my sea. I or one of my fellows will bring you joy, and perhaps..just perhaps?

If you prove yourself?

A gift of life.