by Jane Keehn
She could see a small black and blue tattooed line leading down t-shirt neckline and had to stop herself from imagining exploring it, running her fingers along Kendra’s naked shoulder blades, she caught her breath before she re-hooked the catch and swung the scrimshaw tooth between Kendra’s breasts.
Kendra bent to collect her crutches.
Emily enjoyed this small time of exploration – of meeting and learning about a woman for the first time.
Well, let’s just see where this leads, she thought - she was enjoying the ride.
Emily – Kendra - Chapter 14
Laughing clowns with wide open mouths rotated sideways, waiting for prize winning ping pong balls to be fed into them by the punters.
The pier’s red and white striped tent beckoned them with multi-coloured light bulbs - “Wonders of The Deep”.
Emily held back the flap of curtain as Kendra inched her way inside. A dark corridor led into the dimly-lit interior filled with glass display cabinets and dangling canvases full of oddities. Emily waited for her eyes to adjust to the darkness but Kendra could immediately see in bright detail, her pupils opening wide in the subdued light as though she was underwater.
The roped off glass cabinet displays came into focus - gold and silver coins from lost wrecks; barnacle-encrusted anchors from long-lost ships; a ship’s figurehead in the form of a horse; another in the flowing shape of an Edwardian-dressed woman.
Enlarged photos were hung from the walls showing the limestone and plaster carvings from the foreclosed Aquarium, of mythical legends like Poseidon and Triton, that had long ago been vandalised and abandoned along the foreshore.
Imitation sand sculptures of sea dragons and giant squids, King Neptune and his family of mermaids stood around the outskirts of the tent.
Hidden to one side, entombed in a protective glass coffin, like Snow White, was a skeleton the size of a child. Half fish tail, half human torso, the half-mummified creature had a strange shrunken-head.
Emily rushed to the cabinet and pressed her hands against the glass.
- This is the famous Fee Jee Mermaid. Real horror house stuff.
She laughed quietly and circled the glass case.
Kendra had never seen anything like it before. A shock ran through her stomach when she realised that it bore a resemblance to her own water form, her Giluri.
Was it the remains of a lost tribe member? Or a joke mocking her existence?
Kendra suddenly felt an unexpected, angry tear come to her eye and her breath quicken. Emily looked over when she heard an odd gasp escape Kendra’s lips.
- What’s wrong?
Kendra breathed in against the sadness and confusion building in her chest and shook her head slowly, then smiled to hide her emotions.
Emily went to her and placed a hand on her shoulder.
- You’re not crying are you?
Kendra blinked and turned from Emily’s gaze.
- No, I don’t think so.
- I know it’s disturbing-looking, but it’s just a clever fake. A hoax.
Emily crouched down to look up into Kendra’s face.
- How do you know?
- How do I know? Well, just like I know there are no little green men from outerspace. This concoction has been on display in Circus Side Shows forever.
Someone grabbed some parts and sewed them together, so they could charge money for people to see it.
Kendra circled the glass cabinet, carefully looking at the creature with her night vision.
- Sewn together? But it looks so real.
- The torso of a monkey and the tail of, I don’t know, a big barramundi, or something. There’s a few of these around the world.
- It’s not the only one?
Kendra fought her tears as her mind couldn’t help but think of what became of her Mothers.
- No. We once borrowed one for an exhibition at the Maritime Centre. There’s several of these all around the world.
Kendra looked more closely into the cabinet
- How many?
- I don’t remember, exactly. More than ten.
- Are they all fakes?
Emily raised her eyebrows, surprised at Kendra’s earnest query.
- Well…I’m pretty sure.
Emily shuffled closer to Kendra and rested her hand on her shoulder.
- The only mermaid I’m interested in is wooden - the Mandalay’s figurehead – the one that saved my Grandmother.
Kendra felt the warmth of Emily’s hand through her shirt and wanted her to hold it there for a while longer.
- Yes, I know. I saw your film. You told the school children about it.
- Yes, I did.
Emily left her hand resting where it was and focused her gaze on Kendra’s worried look, but Kendra couldn’t stop looking at the grotesque exhibit.
- Come on, let’s get out of here.
Emily took the opportunity to take Kendra’s arm through hers and lead her from the tent’s darkness into the music and light outside.
They passed models of sea dragons, photographs of giant squid and paintings of killer whales. Popular music pounded from the Ferris Wheel as Emily led Kendra towards the “Pirate Ghost Ship” ride.
- Let’s go see something really scary!
Small boats “floated” around the ride on a pool of dull water, secured underneath by a track.
Kendra looked warily into the stream of water.
- I’m not sure.
- Come on - it’ll be fun. My shout and I’ll take full responsibility for your safety; I won’t let you be attacked by Pirates!
Emily let out her incredible laugh. Kendra had heard it at the karaoke bar - the sound of shells tinkling against one another in the breaking waves.
Emily paid the attendant, grabbed their tickets and joined a small queue to board the miniature pirate ships on their submerged track. Kendra frantically clutched for Emily’s hand for balance while Emily lay the crutches inside the boat.
- Don’t let me fall in!
There was enough space, and water, between each ship to ruin Kendra’s life tonight, if she stumbled in.
They clambered into their seats and pulled down the safety bar. Their miniature ship jolted and splashed along through a tunnel into a dark, watery corridor.
An imitation spider’s web brushed against Kendra’s cheek and she jumped in her seat.
Emily laughed at Kendra’s whooping gasp.
- There might be ghost sharks, too!
- Stop it!
Kendra laughed in spite of her uneasiness.
Emily placed her hand on Kendra’s leg and leaned into her ear to whisper.
- I think I’ve guessed your secret.
She leaned into the carriage and stared at Kendra’s perfect skin as she brushed a small filament of web from Kendra’s hair.
Kendra swallowed hard feeling Emily’s hand on her knee, her body buzzed with warmth and her mind raced.
- What do you mean?
- You’re secretly scared of spiders.
Under Emily’s glare Kendra felt exposed; she didn’t want her to look too closely. She grabbed Emily’s wrist strongly and removed it from her knee.
Emily was confused at Kendra’s reaction.
- I’m sorry.
- Watch out!
Kendra quickly whispered into Emily’s ear.
- You have no idea what’s up ahead!
Emily suddenly bobbed down under an old wooden pirate hanging from the ceiling, dangling his cutlass close to the tops of their heads.
Sound effects creaked from small speakers in the ceiling.
- Walk the plank! Walk the plank!
They were forced to lean in towards one another to avoid the hanging palm trees overhead and their shoulders touched lightly.
Emily chanced a small move, wiggling herself slightly forward on her seat, under the pretext of avoiding the mannequin pirate.
She was intrigued by the glowing quality of Kendra’s opal-esque eyes and longed
for Kendra’s gaze but Kendra felt as though Emily would be able to see right inside her if their eyes contacted. She looked away at a treasure chest half-buried in a sandy beach scene.
A huge treasure map blocked their path, only sliding open from a middle seam just before their boat crashed into it.
They couldn’t help but laugh at one another.
Something suddenly dropped from above and splashed into the water in front of them. They both jumped in their wooden seat - a cannon ball, shot from a rival ship, sunk below as their boat circled the sandy beach scenario in the middle of the ride.
One last joke, as an automated, huge wooden shark fin aimed itself at their ship, only to turn and disappear into the water pool at the last minute.
- Ahoy! Me Hearties!
Pirate mannequins locked swords to the side of them.
The boat bobbed about awkwardly on its submerged track and came to a stop in the flashing lights of the entrance once again.
The ride ended but Emily did not want their meeting to end.
She released the safety bar, hoisted herself up onto the platform and held out her hand to help Kendra disembark. As they jumped for the bottom step to exit the Ghost Pirate ride, a vendor shoved a souvenir cardboard pirate party hat into their hands and Emily laughed as she placed it on her messy hair.
Kendra smiled at the absurd image.
- So, you said you had something else you could show me?
- My place? We can walk from here. If you let me take those for you.
Emily delicately unhooked Kendra’s crutches from her arms and swung them over her shoulder.
- Take my arm instead.
Emily – Kendra - Chapter 15
Emily led Kendra through the Fair, past the street corner of the Maritime Centre and along the coastline pathway around Meg’s Cove.
Emily enjoyed the slow walk.
- I'm not far from here. Do you have someone at home you have to get back to?
- No, I don’t. No wife, no kids, if that’s what you mean.
Kendra’s cool arm curled through Emily’s as she kept balance.
- Do you?
Emily laughed a little louder than she had wanted. She wasn't expecting the wife and kids reference.
- No. Just me and Leo.
They passed the limestone wall along the promenade, stumbling over the rocks and sugar-like sand with her weakened legs.
Kendra slid her hand around Emily’s and leant against her side until she felt Emily’s arm take some of her weight.
- Do you need your sticks back?
- No I’m okay, if you don’t mind me holding you for a while longer?
The fine hairs on Emily’s arms felt nice rubbing against her own smooth, hairless limbs.
- I don’t mind. We’re nearly there.
That’s Meg’s cottage at the end of the lane.
Leo bounded from behind the fence and ran to greet them.
- Have you always lived here?
Kendra turned around to prevent Leo snuffling too close.
He growled a little quizzical bark at her.
- Leo! Stop that. He’s just hungry.
Emily slapped the dog lightly on his rump to hurry him inside the fence.
- It’s my grandmother’s old home. When my parents died I moved in with her. I’ve been here about twelve years now.
Kendra looked back over the water as Emily opened the door; the sea flickered with lights from the Esplanade’s Fun Fair as a lighthouse beam scanned the water.
Emily fumbled with her house keys; she suddenly felt self-conscious about the aged crumbling fishing buoys and nets hanging on the house’s facade.
- Did your parents fish for a living?
Emily glanced back at Kendra.
- Yes, for a time.
- What are their names? My grandmother might have known them.
Kendra rested her crutches against the front of the house as Emily made her way onto the front veranda, facing the ocean. She grabbed the railing.
- I don’t think so; they pretty much kept to themselves.
Kendra couldn’t think of how to stall the conversation further, so she spun around while still holding the bar and faced Emily.
- Acacia and Bobbi.
- So your Mother and Father worked together, like a family business?
Kendra paused, rephrasing in her mind the continued conversation.
- My Mothers...Acacia and Roberta – or Bobbi for short.
Emily was speechless and intrigued.
Kendra continued the tale. One that she hadn’t told to anyone.
- It wasn’t really the “done” thing twenty-so years ago - two Mothers - so we stayed out of town and kept to ourselves.
Emily grabbed the railing and swung to look at Kendra directly.
- Two mothers. Wow. Yeah, I can imagine that would have been very unique in Mandalay back then. You must really miss them.
Kendra stood staring out at the sea.
- We didn’t have enough time together before the black water…the explosion.
Emily leaned forward.
- At least I had my grandmother to take care of me. She only died five years ago. How have you managed by yourself all these years?
The ocean lapped over the top of the skeletal remains of the Mandalay wreck resting under Meg’s Cove.
Kendra faced Emily.
- I do okay. I live simply. I make my things and sell them at the night markets when I need to.
Leo was scratching at the door.
- Shouldn’t you feed him before we look at your computer?
Emily was reluctant to start the research. She was enjoying talking with Kendra.
The waves pounded their usual rhythm only just managing to keep up with her heart.
- Come inside. I won’t be long.
She called to Leo and led him to the back of the house to be fed. Kendra used the chairs to support her way over to Emily’s desk.
- I’ve got a file on artefacts that may be similar to your family pendant but they don’t really look old enough.
Emily called out after giving Leo his biscuits then she bounded back into the room, pulling over a chair for Kendra to sit on.
She popped open her laptop. While waiting for the computer to warm up, Kendra reached behind her neck and undid the clasp of the pendant. She rested it on the desk.
Emily bent over the keyboard and logged into the Museum’s database using her work password.
- Here’s some objects from the Mandalay wreck.
Kendra watched the photos scroll slowly – ivory chess pieces, mother-of-pearl buttons. Scrimshaw of carved cowrie shells and walrus tusks.
Emily clicked the computer a few more times and more images flashed on the screen.
- See how nothing looks like your family heirloom. The carvings are more representational – not like the lines and dots.
May I?
She took the scrimshaw from Kendra's fingers, feeling the sharp grooves of the carvings.
A sound echoed from the sky above the ocean.
Kendra’s ears heard it before Leo heard it and minutes before Emily heard it - faint thunder rumbled beyond the horizon.
- I’m going to have to go home soon.
Emily sat on the desk.
- Why don’t you stay here for the night? It feels like it’s going to rain.
- No, I’ll be alright.
- You could sleep on the lounge, Leo won’t mind sharing.
Emily smiled but she really didn’t want Kendra to leave so soon.
Louder rumblings tumbled from the sky.
Kendra rose from the chair.
- I should get going. If I hurry I’ll be home before the storm hits.
- How far away do you live? I could give you a lift.
- Don’t worry about me, I’ll make it okay.
Kendra looked out beyond the balcony, eyeing the dark gathering clouds. If she made a dash for the beach road, she could slip into the water and swim back to
the shack, unseen.
She went to the front door and grabbed for her crutches leaning against the wall.
Emily rushed to grab them.
- I’ll get them for you, if you really do have to go.
She helped Kendra out onto the veranda and placed the crutches over Kendra’s arms, letting her fingers lightly trace the circular tattoo at Kendra’s wrist.
- Your tattoos are almost like the scrimshaw. Don’t you want to stay and … You don’t have to go.
Emily wrapped her fingers around Kendra’s wrist and leant forward to for a parting kiss.
Kendra backed away slightly, not knowing what to expect.
She’d seen her Mothers kissing before, but Emily had caught her off guard.
Emily’s soft lips curved around Kendra’s and pushed their way lightly onto her teeth. A rush of warmth ran through her.
This was different from breathing oxygen into Emily’s lungs in the safety cave. Her Mothers had never told her about this feeling.
- What are you doing?
Kendra looked quizzically at Emily, took a breath and pushed her mouth back against Emily’s to experience the feeling again.
She let Emily run her tongue over her lips, parting them slightly so that their lips could close around one another’s. The shot of heat that spread through her, made her gasp and she removed her mouth and took a step back, leaning on her crutches for support.
- What the Hell was that?
She stepped back from Emily.
Emily smiled with the pleasure her kiss but then Kendra backed away smashing one of her crutches onto the veranda decking.
- What do you think you’re doing?
Emily stopped smiling as Kendra pointed a crutch at her chest.
- I couldn’t help myself. I just wanted to kiss you.
Kendra backed away one more step.
- Kiss me? But you don’t even know me...and I don’t know you.
Kendra’s eyes searched Emily’s face for her reaction.
Emily’s grey eyes. Their large black pupils reminded her of a wolf.
She felt confused but knew exactly what she needed to do - she needed to get home and be by herself. Her aloneness was simple and safe. And uncomplicated.
- I’m not like you.
Her hand dropped back to grip of her crutch.
