Note: all characters depicted in sexual situations are over 18 years of age.
Connor leaned back on his beach towel and stared up at the clouds. He always liked to sit on the beach to think, and this was the first chance he'd had since they moved into Grandpa's old place. After several months, the weather was finally warm enough, maybe not for everyone but certainly for him after moving from a colder climate. His father, Gerald, had forbidden him to go to any of the beaches near town after they moved in, but Connor was rebellious. It wasn't like he was still a little kid, now in his late teens and legally an adult, he was eager to take more charge of his life and resented the restriction on one of his favorite activities. Dad had been acting weird ever since the move, keeping Connor from the beach, not going for drives or walks along the shore as a family, all the stuff they used to do in their previous home. Besides he seemed to be nervous about something, but wouldn't talk about it. Connor had slipped away while Gerald was busy with the family business and his mother Susan was at work. He was so lost in thought that it took a while before he realized that someone was watching him.
First it was the singing that got Connor's attention. He sat up and looked around, trying to find the source of the high, wordless tune. There was no one else nearby on the beach and it took him a moment to spot the woman in the water. There she was, several yards out, bobbing in the gentle Atlantic surf. Connor squinted at her, trying to make out her features with his slightly nearsighted vision. At first thought she looked kind of plain, almost homely, but he was having more trouble than usual focusing clearly on her. It was as if she shimmered with each passing wave. The young man got up off his beach towel and moved to the water's edge for a closer look. She was still singing without words, the song was almost hypnotizing. Connor stared at her. He couldn't be quite sure, but she appeared to be topless. He couldn't see any straps over her shoulders and the upper slopes of her smallish breasts were bare, but she floated just a bit too deep in the water to tell for certain. He kept staring. The trough of a passing wave gave him a momentary glimpse of the upper curve of a dark areole, causing a thrill to run down his spine. She was topless! She noticed him watching, smiled and waved, beckoning him into the water, not even pausing in her song. He stepped into the water, fighting the waves that somehow seemed to be stronger than their gentle size indicated. He didn't notice his father's battered old station wagon skidding to a stop at the edge of the road behind him. He didn't even hear Gerald shout his name.
Gerald leapt from the car and ran into the water without pausing to remove his shoes. He shoved the woman away from his son, breaking their deep kiss. She splashed backwards into the water with a shriek, her silvery tail briefly flipping up into the air. Grabbing his son by the arm, Gerald quickly dragged him out of the gentle waves and up the beach.
"Did she touch you?" He demanded angrily.
"Dad, it was just a kiss." Connor replied.
"No, did she touch you with her hands, or anything, anywhere?" He grabbed his son's head, forcing the teen to look him in the eyes. "Tell me!"
"Just my stomach. I think she said something about my abs being so tight, then she kissed me... no, wait, she didn't talk, she kept singing even while we kissed. How can she do that?"
"Then she didn't put her hand into your trunks?"
"No, damn it. You pushed her away too soon."
"Thank God." Gerald's relief was apparent in his face. "Grab your stuff and get in the car."
"Dad, what's going on? You've been acting really weird since we moved into Grandpa's old place, is something wrong?"
"It's the beach. You'll notice that every guy around your age stays away from the beach and the ocean. Especially this little cove."
"I thought they just didn't like to swim or surf. They don't talk about it and they change the subject every time I mention it."
"No, it's something more sinister than that. You might not believe it, but that woman in the water is actually a mermaid. She seduces young men, tries to get them when they're in their late teens."
"She's a mermaid? Yeah, right..." Connor rolled his eyes at Gerald.
"Yeah, didn't you see her tail when I pushed her away?"
"Dad, that's ridiculous. There's no such thing as mermaids."
"I realize that it's hard to believe, but here's some proof. You touched her, smell your hands."
"Huh?"
"Go on, smell your hands where you touched her." Gerald urged.
"Yuck. What is that?" Connor jerked his hands away from his face as soon as he detected the odor. "It smells like dead fish. Worse."
"That's what the mermaid does to you. If you had gone all the way with her, your whole body would smell like that, especially your, uh..." Gerald indicated Connor's trunks as he fumbled for words.
"My unit?" Connor suggested.
"Yeah, your unit. Stupid word for it, who thought of that anyway?" Gerald asked rhetorically. "Never mind that now. Look, that smell stays with you. It doesn't wear off for about five years or more."
"Jeeze, five years? Yuck, that's terrible." Connor stuck his hands out the car window into the breeze, then suddenly swiveled his head back to look at his father. "Wait a minute, how do you know about that smell?"
"Because it happened to me." Gerald sighed. "I was nineteen and just moved back in with Grandpa after leaving Grandma's place. It took five years for the smell to go away completely, even washing daily with disinfectants. That whole time, no woman will come near you because of that odor, I think it's also some kind of pheromone. It's a good thing it was mostly gone when I met your mother or you might not be here. It would certainly turn off that girl you're going steady with. What's her name?"
"Dad, her name's Becca. We're just friends, okay? Oh man, no Becca... er, I mean no girls. That's even worse than the smell. What can I do about this?" Connor waved his hands, still outside in the breeze.
"We'll get some disinfectant on you right away and maybe some strong mouthwash to clean off your mouth. I think it could be caused by some kind of fungus or something organic."
"Dad, I think you've got some explaining to do. You've been acting weird the last few weeks, since we moved here. Is it because of this, uh, mermaid?"
"This is a switch, you're finally asking me to explain myself." Gerald grinned. "Okay, here goes. When Grandma and Grandpa divorced, I moved with Grandma to Philadelphia. I was pretty young, so I didn't know about the mermaid until I graduated high school and stayed with Grandpa for a couple years, learning the tackle business so I could take over someday. That first summer I went to the beach and the mermaid lured me in with her song. As long as she's singing, you can't think of anything else but her. But when it's over you realize what happened and also get that smell. Afterward I was so disgusted with myself that I couldn't even look at a girl for weeks. I started putting pine cleanser in my bath water every day. It made my skin raw, but took away most of the smell. Later on I found cleansers that weren't as harsh but it was still nearly five years before it faded enough that I could barely smell it."
"That would make you about 23, that's around the time you met Mom." Connor calculated.
"Yeah, we met at the community college in Southport where you're going in the fall. She was taking psychology and I was taking business courses. Fortunately, our first date was at a sushi bar, so I sort of blended in. What was left of the smell wasn't as noticeable."
"A mermaid, no shit? Why a mermaid and why does she want guys my age?"
"I don't really know, the locals don't talk much about her, even to me and I was born here. Even grandpa didn't mention her. All I know is that there's been a mermaid in these waters for a very long time, since the first settlers came here. I don't know if it's the same mermaid or if there's a family of them, or what. But there's only been one sighted at a time. I think she goes after teenage guys because they're more susceptible to her song at that age, they've got a lot of energy and guys your age are usually too horny to think straight. What's so funny?"
"I was just wondering how you're going to tell Mom."
