The Mermaids

Nancy had heard about the Mermaid Society for ages. Seemed like the name was bandied about all over the place these days. She had been looking for a group that shared her interests for a long time and when the annual meeting was advertised in a pamphlet in the library, she decided to go along.

Her map said she was on the right road. That was good, she had fifteen minutes to spare. She had time to find the community hall. She wandered down the street looking at the big old Victorian houses, some clean with curtains, others scruffy with blankets or Indian throws across the windows. The tiny front gardens said who was house proud and who wasn’t. A man in a hoody swaggered by and she smiled at him, hoping he was no threat in the dark cold evening. The next building was a church so the community hall wouldn’t be far away. Mary was lit up from underneath, her shadow tall and higgledy-piggledy up the ivy that grew above her. Where do I go, Mary? Nancy asked. She looked around expecting mermaids to appear and guide her but they didn’t and she walked on. It must be around here somewhere. She stopped and asked a man in a fluorescent jacket wheeling his punctured bike along the pavement. He didn’t know, wasn’t from the area but said someone might know in the pub ahead.

She walked towards the pub but didn’t get that far. There was St Julian’s Community Hall. A man waited outside, a fuzzy blue hat pulled down on his head.

‘Hello,’ said Nancy. ‘Is this where the Mermaid Society meeting will be?’

‘Oh,’ he said. ‘You’ve come for the meeting?’

‘Yeah, is that okay? The flyer said it was open to anyone.’

‘Of course it is, of course. The only thing is, erm, I haven’t got the key.’

‘The key?’

‘To the community hall. The door is usually open. There’s usually someone there.’

‘Oh right,’

He rubbed his palms together and gulped, eyes making no contact with hers. She smiled to reassure him that it would be alright. It couldn’t be that bad.

‘Is anyone else here for the meeting?’ she asked.

‘No. Not yet. Hopefully Ian is on his way. He has a key.’

He turned and paced back and forth. Under the streetlight she could see that he only wore blue. Jacket, trousers, hat and shoes. It looked like he hadn’t shaved.

‘Oh,’ he turned towards her, ‘I have to let you know that if we don’t have five people for the meeting then it will be cancelled.’

Nancy looked around her. It didn’t look like anyone else was coming. She wondered about the safety of hanging around on a dark street, alone with a strange man, but then she saw him drop his shoulders, the weight taken off them.

‘Here comes Ian,’ he said.

A man came towards them. Either he was small or wearing a jacket too long for his body. Her blue man waved and a wave came back. As he came closer she realised he was a little short and his jacket was a too long, a German army coat.

‘No one else here?’ he asked.

‘No, except this girl here, she’s come along for the meeting, haven’t you.’

Nancy introduced herself and Ian was friendly and smiled and shook her hand. They walked to the door as the man in blue walked behind, scanning the road.

Inside, Ian set off the burglar alarm by putting in his pin number instead of the alarm code. He apologised over the screeching and pressed some more buttons until it stopped. Blue man was very concerned.

‘Do you think the police will come? Should we phone someone?’

‘I don’t think the community hall will have a direct line to the police station,’ said Ian.

‘I hope not,’ blue man walked out of the door to see if people were arriving yet.

‘So, what’s it all about?’ asked Nancy.

‘What? The Mermaid Society?’ said Ian. ‘Well, I suppose it’s a religion, or we’d like it to be. Not in the sense that Christianity is a religion, mind you. We don’t want to hurt anyone, or start any wars, we’re not religious in that way. Charlie there,’ He pointed out the door at the blue man. ‘He had the vision.’

‘Vision! What kind of vision?’

‘Er, it came to him in a dream I think. He had a vision of the future where we are all mermaids, so, he set up the Mermaid Society.’

‘How many members do you have?’

‘Oh, more than you’d think. More than will turn up today. Only a fraction of our members come to the meetings.’ He looked at his watch. ‘Well, not many people here today, but that’s because we picked a silly night, with the cup final on. Everyone’s in the pub.’

‘I heard that the society believes that man will evolve into a type of mermaid when global warming happens and the water table rises.’

‘That’s the core belief, yes. I mean, it’s that belief that makes us different from other religions.’

‘It’s something that really interests me. When I was a child I used to look along the beach for caves to hide in if there was a nuclear war. I took cans and bottles of water to one I found. But now, it seems the main threat to the human race is climate change. I’ve been so worried.’

‘Well, we believe climate change is part of God’s plan to get us back into the water. Not ashes to ashes. We came from the water, we evolved from the water, and to the water we will return.’

‘Wow,’ Nancy looked round at Charlie, who was tapping his fingers against the wall, and swaying from side to side.

How lucky he was to be the one who had this vision.

Ian had gone to get tables and chairs from a side room. Nancy went to help. They carried a table at a time and Nancy felt peaceful. This was the right place. When they came back with chairs, a dark haired woman had arrived on a pedal bike. Dressed in sea green and turquoise flowing skirt and scarves, she collapsed on the chair Nancy had barely put down.

‘Oh, it is too much, too much,’ she said.

‘Are you OK?’ Nancy asked.

‘This life of feet and roads and pedalling. I cannot take it any more. I want the water, I need the ocean. The ocean must engulf us all and take us into its beautiful home. We will be the pearls in the oyster that is a world of water and waves. I cannot let myself breathe this air much longer. Charlie!’ she shouted across the room to him. ‘When will your vision come?’

Charlie flashed frightened eyes at her, and twitched.

‘He doesn’t have a time frame, you know that,’ said Ian.

Charlie wandered out of the hall onto the street.

‘He makes promises and promises,’ the woman shook her dark hair like a horses mane.

Nancy sat down at the table. She wanted to introduce herself but the woman seemed not to see her. She looked around at the walls, the faded children’s drawings and posters about child benefits stared back at her. For the first time, she felt there might be a future for the human race.

‘We will not wait for the others,’ said the woman, ‘I do not have time. Ian, you will write down my words. I must write a letter to the Prime Minister telling him of our future. I will make him understand and he will inform the people. It will be much quicker than waiting for Charlie.’

Ian got paper out and they sat round the table ready to begin.

‘Dear Gordon Brown,’ the woman said, her hands at shoulder height, fingers splayed.

‘Wait,’ said Ian.

The woman closed her fingers, her shadow making a duck’s head across the paper.

‘Whose address are we using?’

The woman’s big, dark eyes looked first at Ian, then across at Nancy.

Nancy flinched.

‘What does this mean?’ she said, her palm now flat throwing the paper into darkness.

‘I think he wants to put an address at the top of the page,’ said Nancy. ‘To show the Prime Minister who the letter is from.’

‘I do not know you,’ said the woman. ‘You are new?’

‘I’m Nancy. This is my first Mermaid meeting.’

‘Welcome. I am Simona. Listen to what I am about to say in this letter and you will learn about our Mermaid future.’

‘Thanks.’

‘Ian, put there,’ she pointed at the top of the paper, ‘Mermaid Society, at the banks of the Thames, soon to be swallowed by our Mother Ocean.’

Ian wrote it in the most swirling handwriting.

‘Your handwriting is wonderful,’ said Nancy.

‘Thank you,’ said Ian. ‘I learnt from my grandfather. His handwriting was amazing and I picked up a few things.’

‘Shhh,’ said Simona. ‘Write. Dear Gordon Brown.’

Ian wrote it.

‘I am writing to you…’ said Simona.

As she spoke, Charlie walked in.

‘You’ve started the meeting,’ he said.

‘Do not disturb my thoughts,’ said Simona.

‘But we can’t start. There are only four of us. We need five people for the meeting to be valid.’

‘Who says?’

Charlie’s eyes looked heavy with sadness and he walked away.

‘Should I go after him?’ asked Nancy.

‘It is not important,’ said Simona.

Nancy looked at Ian and he shrugged.

‘Dear Gordon Brown,’ said Simona with force and they looked back at her.

‘What shall I put?’ said Ian.

‘I am writing to you to tell you of the Mermaid Society. We have seen the future, and you must tell the people of the world, so that they may prepare.’

The letter turned out to be very long and Nancy was tired by the time they had finished. Charlie had not returned and Nancy had a nagging worry about him.

‘Will he be alright?’ she asked Ian, as Simona swished away on her bike shouting goodbyes.

‘He is certainly a sensitive soul. But we must trust that Mother Ocean cares for him and will do right by him. That’s what I believe.’

Nancy felt the positive energy of his faith and smiled a serene smile. This was a great society, and she felt honoured to have been to their annual meeting. She swapped numbers with Ian, and her mood was high all the way home. In her flat that night, she slept well for the first time in months. She would be a mermaid.

It wasn’t until a week later that the thought occurred to her that when she was a mermaid, what would happen to her cat? Would Aripip evolve too, or would land animals die out? She phoned Ian to ask, but he didn’t know. He gave her Charlie’s mobile number but the phone number he gave her said, ‘This number has not been recognised.’ She contacted Ian again. He was worried and they decided to go to his house.

She met Ian in Dulwich, still wearing his too long jacket but with a worry line across his forehead now. He took her to the house where Charlie lived with his dad. They knocked on the blue front door.

The door opened an inch at first, then wider.

‘Ian!’ exclaimed the man with white professor hair and a big smile. ‘We’ve been trying to contact you but we didn’t have your number. Do you know where Charlie is?’

His voice was confident, expecting a yes.

Nancy could feel Ian draw in breath. She turned away so not to see the father’s face.

'He said he was going down to the river. That was two days ago,' said Charlie's father. 'We've been worried sick. He said the time had come. What was he talking about Ian?'

A church was opposite. Nancy walked towards it looking for a statue, Mary, but there was only a crucifix above the door. She turned back to see Ian facing her on the other side of the road.

‘Oh Mother Ocean!’ she cried to the grey clouds above her.

It began to rain. Nancy cried tears of joy.

'The floods! They're here!' she cried.

Ian and Nancy held hands as they walked through the October rain. They would wait by the Thames for the water to rise.