Our Mermaid

Story by yours truly Kat Ricker, illustrated by the talented Kate Ramunno-Finney. Also at mightykat.net

As soon as we pulled that mermaid up, I knew I was in for it. The kids started in, "Oh, can we keep it? I'll take care of it." I knew damn well I'd be the one feeding it and cleaning up after it in about two weeks. It was just a young one, so we tried giving it milk, it didn't want that, bought some of that formula for kittens, it didn't want that. They finally found some kind of fish food it would eat. I said give it a chance. It'll eat anything when it gets hungry enough.

The kids had a lot of fun with it at bathtime. They'd all jump in there, with bubbles and straws to breathe with, and flippers and toys. It kept them busy for a while, anyway. We took some pictures. They were real cute. Ma would put a shirt on it, and that mermaid would just tear it off. She didn't like anything, you know, binding her in or whatever. As long as it was little, I didn't see any harm.

Then when the kids started going to school, sure enough, it was me looking after her. And they get big. The bigger she got, the messier the tub was. This real stubborn scum that was just a pain to scrub off. And I could never get in the bathroom before work. And we sure were going through money on the shampoo and conditioners.

So, I had to let it go. I took it down to the shore near where we caught it and turned it loose. It just sat there for a moment, then it hit the water and whoo! You should've seen that thing swim.

We've got a cat now. I still end up feeding it most of the time, but at least it goes outside.