(two weeks later)
It was two in the afternoon when Mike finally awoke. The gig the night before had dragged on into the night, and it was so far away that by the time they'd gotten home it had been nearly three am. They hadn't even bothered to unload the car, just parked it in the garage and collapsed into bed.
Mike yawned and stretched as he climbed out of bed. Micky, his one remaining roommate was already up, and Mike wondered if Davy was, too. He also wondered if they'd unloaded anything after last night.
A quick trip to the shower and he some clothes thrown on and he headed down stairs, ready to face the day even if he was a few hours late. He entered the living room to see something that nearly knocked him off his feet. The bandstand was set up once again. All the instruments had been returned to their rightful spots, and amplifier wires and such had been plugged in again.
Barely able to keep from fainting, Mike staggered through the living room and into the kitchen. Micky and Davy were eating lunch, sandwiches from a local deli, and looking as if nothing remarkable had happened.
Mike stammered a few times, and Micky and Davy both looked up from their food.
"Something wrong, Mike?" Davy asked. Mike just stammered a few times.
"The-the...instruments...all...n-n-neat...b-bandstand...s-set u-up," he mumbled.
"Yeah, so?" Micky asked.
"Wh-who did it?" Mike stammered. Micky grinned.
"We did."
"Thought you might like that li'l surprise, Mike," Davy piped up. "Petah 'elped us this mornin'. We decided to let you sleep and set up the instruments ourselves."
"Don't you like it, Mike?" Micky asked.
"L-love it," Mike stammered. "Just a little...surprised that's all."
Micky and Davy both giggled in unison. Just then the front door opened and the sound of feet could be heard crossing the living room.
Peter entered the kitchen to find Mike standing there and Micky and Davy eating breakfast.
"Aw, shoot, you're up already," Peter moaned. "I was hoping to see the look on your face when you saw the place. "
"No such luck, " Mike replied with a smug smile. v "Oh well, I'll just ask the others."
"Pure beauty," Davy replied before Peter could say anything more.
"Shoulda had a camera," Micky added. Mike just shot him a Look, and the rest of them burst out laughing.
"What'd you come over for, Pete?" Mike asked. "Besides to make my life miserable?"
"Oh yeah, that's right," Peter replied. "I brought some of that fish home that we caught before, remember, at the lagoon? Anyway, Nicole thought it was so good, she's determined to get some more. So this Saturday she wants us all to go out on this little picnic. She's got the day free, the kids are off from school, so we thought we'd make it an outing or something, ya know?"
"Sounds great," Micky replied.
"Yeah, but Pete," Mike added. "How are we gettin' out there?"
Peter shrugged, waving the question off with his hand as though it were a pesky fly. "Rent a boat," he replied. "They've got some good ones down at the beach."
Mike looked skeptical for a moment.
"What do you say, guys?" he asked. "C'mon, it'll be fun!"
"I'm in," Davy said.
"Me, too," Micky chimed in. All three looked at Mike.
Mike was thinking of the girl. The girl in the water. He'd seen her there. Maybe... It was far-fetched hopes, but...
"Ok, I'll come," he agreed.
Mike stood at the wheel of the boat, steering it out through the water. The sun was high in the sky, and the water was a bright, sparkling blue. Below the waves, he could see the fish swimming around underwater. He glanced at the rest of his companions, enjoying the ride as much as he was. Peter, Nicole, and Joanne stood with Micky and Davy, looking out at the water and seeing the fish and other aquatic life below.
"Wonder what'd be like to be a fish," Joanne wondered aloud.
"Wet, I suppose," Micky replied, and she laughed, hitting her adopted uncle playfully.
"No, I mean, really. It'd be fun to swim around all day. I always love to swim on the beach," she mused aloud.
"You could be a mermaid," Peter thought aloud.
"A what?"
"Mermaid," he replied. "You know, like in the stories."
"What are they?" she asked, interested.
"You don't know what a mermaid is?" Micky asked. "They've sparked the imagination of many a drunken sailor over the years."
"There not real, Joanne," Nicole replied. "Just made up. Magical, mysterious creatures like unicorns or something. But they're half fish, half girl."
"And they spark the imagination of lonely sailors," Micky said again.
"'Ow would you know?" Davy pointed out. "You've nevah been a sailor."
Micky chuckled. "I know," he replied. "But who said you had to be a sailor?"
"True," Peter replied, chuckling just enough for Nicole to swat him on the arm.
Mike turned his ears away from the conversation and stared out to the water again. Talk about girls had reminded him of them girl he'd seen before. She couldn't have been his imagination, he'd talked to her. And even if she had been his imagination, that didn't explain how he'd gotten back to the boat after swimming so far out.
He sighed aloud. There was no use worrying, he told himself. He would probably never see her again.
"Somethin' wrong, Uncle Mike?" Thomas asked, and Mike turned, jolted out of his thoughts. He'd almost forgotten that the boy had been standing next to him.
"Nah," he replied, dismissing it with a shake of his head. "Just thinkin'."
Thomas nodded and turned back to the water. "It's nice out here," he commented. Mike nodded.
"Peaceful, too," he added.
Thomas nodded, and turned his gaze back to the ocean.
A short while later, they reached the lagoon. Peter, Nicole, Davy, and Micky dived into the water, while Mike prepared his hook to catch a few fish.
Thomas stood nearby and watched. Mike looked down at him. "You wanna fish, too, Thomas?" he asked. Thomas nodded.
"Is it fun?" he asked. "I've never fished before."
"It is if you catch somethin'," Mike replied sensibly. "Otherwise it's a lot of waitin'. Good time to get a nap."
Thomas chuckled and watched as Mike showed him how to bait the hook and cast it out into the water. Within a short time the two of them had both caught some fish.
By this time the swimmers had exited the water, and Mike began to show Thomas how to clean the fish and cook them. Lured in by the smells, the others came back to the beach to eat. After the food, they all decided to go back to the boat and enjoy the ocean. Peter wanted to see if it was possible to catch some fish from the boat in the middle of the ocean. So, a half-hour later, with the uneaten fish loaded on to the boat with the rest of them, Mike took the wheel again and steered them out to the ocean.
They'd been going for about fifteen minutes when Mike stopped the boat and let down the anchor, letting them float in the water so that they could try for some fish.
Thomas was eager to show his sister how to fish, and Joanne was just as eager to learn as he had been. Micky and Davy joined in the fun, grabbing some spare poles from below deck.
Mike, showing Thomas the better way to swing the line out into the water without letting go of the pole, had almost forgotten about the girl. Almost.
This time it was Joanne that spotted the girl in the ocean.
"Hey Mom, look," she called, pointing toward the middle of the ocean. "It's a person."
"A person?" Nicole frowned and picked up the binoculars. She pointed them out in the direction Joanne was pointing. "I don't see anything," she frowned. Then she stopped. "Hey, wait, I do," she realized. "Mike, start the boat," she called to her brother.
Mike looked up from what he was doing. "What? Why?" he asked in alarm.
"Just do it," she ordered, and he didn't argue. "Pull the lines in."
Davy and Micky barely had time to pull their lines in before Mike started the boat and started off.
"Where am I headin'?" he asked his sister. She handed him the binoculars and pointed in the direction of the girl he'd seen.
"Over there," she replied. "Joanne said she saw someone."
"Saw someone...?"
"Yeah, and I saw her, too. Over there, in the middle of the ocean," Nicole replied.
It didn't take long for Mike to find the girl, and sped towards her in the boat. Lowering the binoculars for a moment, he glanced at his sister, seeing the worry on her face. But when he lifted them again, the boat came to a screeching halt.
"What's the matter?" she asked.
"She's gone," Mike replied.
"Gone?" he heard Peter say. "But...that's not possible. There isn't another boat around for miles. Where could she have gone?"
"Well, she's not here," Micky pointed out.
"Maybe you imagined 'er," Davy thought aloud.
"Not possible," Nicole said.
"I saw her, Uncle Davy, she was real," Joanne pointed out.
"Three people imaginin' the same girl?" Mike wondered aloud. "I don't think that's possible."
"Well, either way, she's gone now," Micky pointed out, and with that depressing thought in mind they headed back home.
