The next day was one of the loveliest Betty had ever known. She never witnessed so many amazing sights before.There was a shell-carriage that went without any seahorses. Everyone stared at them as Maple hollered at people to get off the road and watch where you're goin', buster! Funny white creatures that flustered and cackled fled as they flew past.
"Town" was a series of the wooden box grottoes, each containing a different place to purchase supplies. There was a grocer who sold fruits and vegetables. A butcher sold meat; a fishmonger sold fish and clams and oysters. There was a place to buy books, and a place to buy pretty trinkets that looked like the items her family had salvaged from sunken ships.
They spent most of their time in two shops adjoining one another. One sold long, rolls of scales Maple called “fabric.” They were so soft and colorful! She'd never seen so many kinds of scales. Another sold more wraps like the ones Maple and Eugenia wore. Maple explained that they were called “blouses” and “dresses” and “skirts.”
Betty had no idea that dressing like the humans was so hard! Maple had to show her how to button her dress and her white and black shoes. There were stretchy wraps that went around her legs called “stockings,” and things called “garters” that held them in place. She laughed at the mere idea of the bony thing Maple called a “corset” and refused to wear it. Maple finally agreed. “You're so small, you probably don't need it anyway,” she said as she helped button her new dress up the back.
By the time they met Scott for lunch, Betty felt more like a real female human. Even Maple said the result was “really gorgeous, like a paintin'.” Betty admired herself in the heavy pieces of glass humans called a mirror. She wore a soft pink dress with lots of the fluff Maple called “ruffles and lace.” The thing on her head that Maple called a “hat” was laden with a pink ribbon and the flowers Maple called “roses.” Even Maple bought herself a new dress with yellowish flowers and a new hat, this one trimmed with yellow and white flowers she called “daisies.”
They took the car across the green land to “Brant Point,” which turned out to be more like a cliff. Scott did indeed meet them at a long box surrounded by chairs and tables. It was more weathered than the boxes in town, and closer to the water. Betty could smell the same cooking clams that permeated Scott's box back at the beach.
“Wow.” Scott's eyes were wide. He took Betty's hand and kissed it. “You look incredible. It's like you're a whole different person.” He grinned at Maple. “And you look pretty cute too, Mapes.”
Maple gave him a little shove on the arm. “Aw, go on.”
“No, really. You're the most beautiful girls in all of Nantucket.” He took their arms. “Would the most beautiful women in Nantucket like to go to lunch with the most handsome man?”
“Sure!” Maple grinned. “Where is he?” Betty couldn't help her own smile at Scott's crestfallen expression. Maple finally patted his arm. “Aw, come on, Scotty. I'm so hungry, I could eat three lobster.”
“Well, thanks to losing my cargo, I don't quite have the money for that.” He smiled as he lead them to a table. “I hope clams casino and fried scallops with bacon will work just as well.”
The lunch was delicious! Betty'd never tasted anything that had been “fried” before. “Fried” turned out to mean a bit greasy and covered in crunchy nuggets. It melted on her tongue. The salad of lettuces, round red slices called “tomatoes,” and herbs was excellent, too. It was doused in a liquid Maple called “dressing.” It was tangy and greasy and very salty.
The picture show in town was even more incredible. By “picture show,” Maple meant “moving pictures.” Betty never heard of pictures that moved. They sat in a small box and watched black and white pictures on a large white fabric square. She saw huge rolling vehicles go back and forth, a woman and a man kiss, a woman in long, flowing wraps dance, and a group of men steal money from a rolling carriage. She never dreamed she'd see anything like this. The last show was so life-like, Betty found herself grabbing at Scott when the guns were seen on the screen. Scott smiled gently at her and kissed the top of her forehead.
They finished the day at the beach in front of Scott's box. The sun was going down as they brought a basket of sandwiches and fruit and the quilt with them. Maple and Betty stripped off their stockings and shoes, and Scott did likewise. They laughed as they chased each other and built a grotto made of sand, sticks, and stones.
Maple went back to the house briefly to get something to drink. Betty finally leaned against Scott, tired but very happy. He smiled down at her. “Had a nice day, Betty?” She nodded, sighing. “I'm glad. You know...there's something familiar about you. I swear I've seen you before. You look like someone...someone who saved my life, once....but she had longer hair, and the most beautiful voice I ever heard. It was like a nightingale's.” Betty groaned inwardly. If only she could tell him! “I didn't really see much of her. I wish I had. I'd hope she was as pretty as you. You're such a sweet girl. I wish I knew...where you came from....who you are...”
They were just about to kiss when they heard footsteps running down to the quilt. “Hi there, you crazy kids!” Maple sat on Scott's other side as they broke apart, blushing. She handed them jars of brown liquid. “Here. Eugenia's own iced tea, steeped all day and made with the finest lemons Scott brought home himself from Florida.” She sipped her tea. “You know, Scotty's got a great story about that trip to Florida. He told me about it the last time he was in town.”
Betty's eyes lit up. She'd heard of the southern side of the Atlantic, but she'd never been there. Scott grinned as he took the jar. “Yeah, that was an interesting job. We were hauling citrus fruit from Sarasota to Boston, and we ran into these smugglers who thought we had real jewels, not jewel-colored fruit. So we painted a box of strawberries to look like rubies...”
Maple and Betty weren't the only ones who were avidly listening to Scott's tale. Had any of them happened to gaze out at the cove at that moment, they would have noticed a diminutive white body covered in a fish-scale wrap watching them with a great deal of interest.
“Hmm,” Ruth murmured to herself, “so this is the human Princess Betty gave up her tail and her voice for. I can't say I blame her. He is quite a looker. I'll bet his soul is amazing, if his stories are anything to go by. Why should a silly mermaid get such a prize? I would make a far better soul mate for this entrancing creature.”
The next two weeks were the most enjoyable Betty had ever spent. She chased Maple around the beach in the morning, then explored the town with Scott. They went for a boat ride on a small ship Scott borrowed from a friend, and Scott taught her how to fish with something he called a rod and reel. Maple took her to the town library, which was filled with books in every size, shape, and description. Betty spent hours there, reading every book she could get her hands on. They went to the picture show again, this time to see a romance about two families who kept a pair of lovers apart. They went to lunch at a little box Maple called a “soda fountain.” It was really a long marble counter with iron chairs, where they ordered something called “ice cream.” Betty's vanilla was smooth and creamy and delicious. She'd never tasted anything like it.
Her favorite part of the day was after dinner, when it was just her, Scott, and Maple. Scott would play music on the long driftwood rectangle in the parlor, which he called a piano. He even showed her how to play some simple songs. She'd dance with Maple, and then alone. Maple would take over the piano, and she'd dance with Scott. When she swung around the living room with him, she forgot her sore feet and that she was living on borrowed time. All she thought about was him and how happy she was.
There was only one thing that truly put a damper on her wonderful two weeks. She really missed her family. She missed hearing their singing, their laughter, and her grandmother's stories. She wished she could talk to them just one more time and tell them about the wonderful things she'd seen! If only they could be a part of her new home, or Scott and Maple could be a part of theirs!
Meanwhile, Ruth Getty was making her own plans. She'd gone to listen to Hilary Booth perform in concert about a week after Betty went to the surface. Unlike most of the audience, she wasn't surprised to hear a familiar voice come from Hilary's throat. The concert was a sell-out. Every merman and woman wanted to hear this amazing voice that Hilary had previously kept hidden.
Ruth met Hilary in the back of the theater after the show, much to the latter's dismay. “Why, Hilary Booth,” Ruth purred, “I didn't know you had such a magnificent singing voice. You have real talent. Why didn't you tell me during that one show you graciously allowed me to take over?”
“I didn't graciously allow you!” Hilary snapped. “You sabotaged my performance, with your little notes that said things like 'iceberg' and 'sink like a rock.' I wouldn't have talked to you after that for all the pearls in all the oysters in the entire Atlanic Ocean!”
Ruth took Hilary's hand in hers. “But you sound so wonderful here! I was wr...w....” She sighed. “Well, I should have known someone as beautiful and...seasoned....as you would have a voice to match.” One side of her lips went up in a sneer. “Although, there is something...unusual....about your singing voice.”
Hilary did not like that sneer. “What do you mean by 'unusual?'”
“It's lovely, really, but it's much too high. It's doesn't match your speaking voice at all.” The sneer widened. “It's not yours, is it?”
“Of course it is! Where do you think it came from?”
“Your sister-in-law.” Hilary opened her mouth, but Ruth waved a hand in front of it. “You'll tell me the truth, Hilary. It's not your voice, is it? You stole it from your husband's sister, Princess Elizabeth. The one who's been missing this past week.”
“I don't know anything about it!”
Ruth patted her flowing auburn locks into shape. “Oh, but I think you do. Your husband and his siblings told me all about how you cut her hair and took her beautiful voice for yourself.”
“She came to me!” Hilary protested. “I tried to stop her! I told her how painful turning a tail into legs is. Jeff tried to talk her out of it. She was in love with some human she rescued from the storm a few weeks ago. I had to have some payment for such a strong potion.”
The smaller merwoman patted Hilary's cheek. “You know, you and your spectacular voice could be useful to me now.”
Hilary shoved her hand away. “Do you really think I'd do anything for you, after you stole my career from me? You told anyone who would listen that I couldn't sing and wasn't worthy of the better roles. You know how important singing is to us merfolk.”
“It's important on land, too.” Ruth sighed. “I'm bored with these ridiculous, fawning merfolk. I want a new venue to conquer, new music to sing, new slaves with energy to take. I want to get on on land.”
“But you know we can't stay there longer than a few weeks at the most! We can't survive up there!”
“You can't.” Ruth swished her scale wrap across Hilary's face. “I can. I have the same book as you. I can make myself a potion that will give me legs...and win myself a handsome human.”
“Not you, too! It's bad enough Betty's chasing after some monster!”
Ruth smirked. “Hilary, have you seen that human Princess Elizabeth has her eye on? As all the little mermaids would say, he's quite a catch.” She inspected herself in a piece of sea-glass. “He'd be a fine addition to my collection, once I got my hands on his immortal soul.”
"No!” Hilary pulled back. “Not only am I not going to help you, but I have every intention of telling my father-in-law King McKinley what you're up to. He's been beside himself with worry this past week.”
“You do that,” purred Ruth, “and I'll tell him who gave his daughter the potion in the first place, and what happened to her voice.”
Hilary clenched her fists. “You wouldn't dare!”
“Would I?” She turned back to Hilary. “You don't seem to quite understand your position, Miss Hilary Booth. You're the one who has his daughter's voice. I'm just a simple merwoman who wants to become the greatest star anywhere.” She moved around Hilary. “You know, your husband has a very warm, pleasant voice. If I were to take it...and maybe give him some long legs to go with that torso...”
The dark-haired merwoman witch growled. “Don't you even contemplate putting your rotten little tail on my Jeffrey!”
“Then you'll do exactly what I tell you to.” She nodded above them. “I need you to use that lovely voice that isn't yours to lure your sister-in-law's fair human male away from her and into my arms.”
“But she'll die if she doesn't marry him!” Hilary groaned. “And if she dies, I have the feeling I won't be living long, either.”
Ruth tugged at one wayward lock of brown hair. “Do you think I care about some little mermaid? It's my career I'm thinking of.” She patted Hilary's chest...hard. “I'll let you consider it. Come back to me in a week.” Hilary was still sputtering when Ruth swam off.
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