Merly

By David J. Wighton

In this book, Winnie goes up against a young devil and an old devil. PornoGuy is the young devil and I'll leave it to you to determine how he got his name. When he's not enjoying his hobby, he is working for Old Geezer who wants Maddy's friend, Piper, dead. PornoGuy is an armed, contract killer who can open any locked door in the middle of the night.

Meanwhile a young mermaid named Merly arrives in Heaven on a short diplomatic visit initiated by her father, Poseidon. He wants to give Heaven a gift and Merly is there to determine if that gift would be appreciated. Merly enters puberty in a remarkable way when she's staying with Winnie. If any of my female readers are thinking of joining the mermaid race, you might want to read the book first.

Merly's puberty night is a defining moment for her because Poseidon was waiting for this so that he could marry her off to the highest bidder. The price will be high because mermaids were near extinction in the Cosmos. When Merly asks Winnie to protect her from Poseidon, she can't because, on his planet, he is allowed to dictate who she marries. Winnie uses PornoGuy and Old Geezer to convince Poseidon otherwise. Spoiler alert: Merly has a lethal E I E I O.

• Language: English
• Publisher: David J. Wighton
• Release date: Jun 3, 2021
• ISBN: 9781005620974

David J. Wighton

David Wighton is a retired educator who enjoys writing youth novels when he's not on a basketball court coaching middle-school girls. The books in his Wilizy series peek at how people lived after the word's governments collapsed in the chaos that followed the catastrophic rise in ocean levels and the disappearance of the world's last deposits of oil. Luckily today, in the 2080s, the citizens of Alberta are safe because their It's Only Fair society uses brain-bands to zap people whenever they break a rule. That way, all children grow up knowing the difference between right and wrong. Unfortunately, they're also taught that women's ankles need to be covered so that men can't see them and turn into perverts. Plus, no-one in Alberta can have babies any more because the government manufactures them in a way that ensures that no child has an unfair advantage over any other child. All of this makes sense to Alberta's dictator, but not to Will and Izzy – two teenagers who are decidedly different from everyone else.Wighton's novels have strong teenage characters driving the plot and facing challenges that, in many respects, are no different from what teenagers face today. His novels are intended to entertain and readers will find adventure, romance, suspense, humour, a strong focus on family, plus a touch of whimsy. Wighton also writes to provoke a little thought about life in today's societies and what the future might bring. Teachers may find the series useful in the classroom and the novels are priced with that intent in mind.

Book preview

Chapter 1

I can't believe that you're thinking of sending Merly as your emissary, Poseidon's #1 wife complained.

Poseidon wasn't having any of that. It's only an exploratory trip. A brief interplanetary visit will be a good experience for her.

Will you be recognizing her as your daughter?

Of course. It's hardly a secret that I'm her father. Are you still offended that I mated with her mother? You knew that mating was one of my responsibilities.

I don't mind when you mate with other women, but you shouldn't have mated with Summer.

Why not?

Because of what she is.

Her first baby was still-born. I was just consoling her for her loss.

It's a tough job using sexual dalliances to console women, but somebody has to do it.

Sarcasm is not a virtue, Wife #1. It was hardly a mindless dalliance. You know that their population numbers are down.

Good. The less of them on the planet, the better I say.

What did they ever do to you?

Their appearance is offensive.

One hardly ever sees them. They're very private. Live and let live, I say.

Merly is too young to be your emissary.

She's 29 years old this year. She'll reach puberty within a year.

It's too dangerous.

Merrick will accompany her.

You should have let him mate with Summer.

He's Summer's brother. The genetics would have been terrible. THAT would have been offensive. He's fully trained as a bodyguard, if such a duty is ever needed. He'll watch over her.

She's very timid.

That's because of the stares that she gets when she's in public. She doesn't understand the prejudice that you and other old biddies have about mermaids.

You need to rid us of her.

Patience, woman! She's going to Heaven. It will prepare her for what comes next.

# # # # # # # #

It's the first week of July 2095 on Earth. Perhaps a short summary of events leading up to this week would be helpful.

First base had hosted a meeting of the Pittsburgh Plungers during which the team had discussed the option of relocating to Tucson. This was necessary because of all the publicity that Ruth's kidnapping had received in Pittsburgh. The city's police commission was prepared to give them a generous settlement if they relocated. The generosity was not because women's baseball was an exciting sport to watch. Watching the city being sued by a coconut-wielding lawyer was far more exciting. The police wanted the public's memory of that kidnapping trial to disappear along with Coconut Man. With only a few exceptions, the Plungers agreed to relocate to Tucson.

This first week of July was taken up by the mechanics of that move, including receiving the funding from the city and their share of the Plunger team's money from Tully, the team manager. I'll leave all of the details to your imagination. There's more pressing business to describe.

Piper and Ruth moved into Winnie's apartment until they could settle in a new home. This was not a problem for Maddy, because Heaven was a portal away. But, she found other issues that were unsettling. That prompted her to ask Winnie to meet with her and Karita. That meeting took place in the dead of night in the Wildcat stadium.

# # # # # # # #

We never figured out why the mob was after Ruth, Maddy reminded Winnie. We don't know if anybody will be looking for her still. If so, she'll be easy to find.

How so? Winnie asked.

The police commission funded Ruth's move, Karita explained. People on that commission know that the expenses were based on a relocation from Pittsburgh to Tucson. We know that gangsters have owned some major police figures. After all, Food Sprayer was killed to keep him quiet. The guy that ordered that explosion has to be a gangster too. Care to bet if that gangster has access to the police commission files?

Reese checked their colors. They were fine.

He didn't check the people that were in charge of filing meeting minutes and moving receipts. If they find Tucson, they'll search first at the stadium where Piper will be easily identified. She'll lead them to her mother. Karita again.

Piper is blonde now.

That won't stop them. She's still a teenage girl baseball player.

Your thoughts, Maddy?

I'm still feeling that something bad will happen to Piper. Perhaps Ruth's death?

That means we have to continue to hide Piper and Ruth, but they can't move again, Winnie summarized.

She'll never be safe until we find out why they are looking for Ruth, Karita continued. We were thinking that you could set a trap for whatever mobster is trying to kill her.

Back to the Table of Contents

Chapter 2

Winnie was waiting at the space terminal when the spaceship from Poseidon docked. Guinny couldn't give her any details on who was arriving or why. All she could say was that a young girl was serving as Poseidon's emissary and her bodyguard was accompanying her. You're my emissary. You're formally Princess Guinevere for this visit. Wear some flowers. The god of the planet Poseidon is Poseidon.

Easy to remember.

He's the Greek god of oceans. The planet is heavily water based. Their visit will have something to do with the memory wipes that we did in the Cluster of Heracles. Both of them will have translator chips embedded in their bodies, so communications shouldn't be a problem.

# # # # # # # #

Winnie saw two humanoid figures exiting from the lifeboat's airlock and walked forward to great them. The bodyguard trailed behind the girl, who was small and slim. She wore a simple robe with nothing on her feet. Check that. Not simple. Winnie saw swirls of green luminescence when she walked. Her hair was red and gathered together behind her head somehow. The strands of her hair were thick like plaits. Winnie saw her look at the flowers that Winnie had braided around both of her wrists.

The male had the same body type as Galahad. Perhaps a little taller. Plenty of muscles. No shoes or sandals. He was wearing the same type of luminescent robe but in different colors.

The girl stopped in front of Winnie but the bodyguard stayed outside of hearing distance. Princess Merly from Poseidon, she said and bowed her head slightly.

Princess Guinevere from Heaven, Winnie replied and bowed her head slightly. Welcome to Heaven. Would you like a wrist corsage of flowers? Winnie didn't wait for an answer but undid the corsage on her left wrist and held it out.

I don't know how to put it on, she replied. Her voice was very soft and almost inaudible.

May I assist? Winnie asked and motioned her to hold out her hand. It's very easy to attach if you have a helper.

Merly turned her head towards her bodyguard and he came forward. He bent over so that her mouth was next to his ear. Then, he stood behind her and unfastened whatever it was that was gathering her hair. Her plaits hung down perfectly straight and ended perfectly even. The bodyguard put a wrap of some kind in her hands.

You do not have long hair, Merly observed. Where would you like this?

Winnie held out her bare wrist.

This also is very easy to attach if you have a helper.

The bodyguard spoke. Princess Guinevere, it's been a long trip for Merly and she needs to re-energize herself. Do you have an ocean nearby?

I have a fresh water lake. Would that do?

She needs salt water.

Are you allowed to pick Merly up and carry her?

Yes, I am her uncle. You may call me Merrick. She's comfortable with me holding her.

"I will hold your arm and we'll all go down to Earth. Portal: Greek Islands."

# # # # # # # #

This is the area of the Earth where the Greek gods lived.

My father has spoken of these islands many times.

Your father is ...?

Poseidon. May we swim now?

Certainly. You're not likely to be disturbed.

Will you keep my flowers dry?

Yes. Let me take them off.

Winnie watched as they walked into the surf. Both dived under an incoming wave and disappeared. She sat on the sand and watched for them to surface but they didn't. A large scaly tail did surface and slapped the water. A smaller scaly tail also appeared and slapped the water.

This I have to see. I have a fish body in my body memory cells somewhere. Let's try a dolphin.

# # # # # # # #

That dolphin was you?

Yes, I wanted to be sure what I had seen. You're a mermaid. I'm not sure what your uncle was.

Both of them were back in humanoid form. Merly's luminescent robe was now covering her and Winnie had thought on the same clothes that she had been wearing. The uncle was still in the ocean somewhere.

He's a merman. We get our energy from the salt water. Our spaceship had a tank of salt water for me to sit in while we were coming to Heaven, but there wasn't enough room for him. He needs more time in your ocean.

I thought that mermaids were fictional beings.

We're not fictional. The men of your planet hunted my people down. Apparently, bare breasts turned them into crazies. We learned to hide. We still hide. Some humanoids on Poseidon would like us to disappear. Talking fish with breasts offends them somehow.

Why did you come to Heaven?

Poseidon is looking for a way to repay you for the surgeons you sent to our planet. He wants me to swim in Earth's oceans and report back to him on what I see.

Our oceans are in sad shape.

Is there a reason for that?

It's a long story. Our planet almost died.

Why don't we swim? My humanoid voice is very tiny because I hardly ever use it. I can understand dolphin. Communicating under the water is far easier for me. How did your planet almost die?

# # # # # # # #

While Winnie was busy in a dolphin-to-mermaid chat, Piper and Maddy were assisting at a U-13 baseball camp. Ruth was also there in her capacity as the coach of the Tucson Wildcats, a name that the team had selected, with permission, from the University of Arizona Wildcats. It made sense because they expected that the team would eventually consist mostly of graduated University of Arizona players.

Piper and Maddy were nearly twins with their blonde hair. That wouldn't stop an assassin. He would see Ruth on the field and follow her home. A blonde girl would accompany her. What he didn't know was that Maddy was the blonde next to her.

The assassin didn't know that Ruth had rented an apartment in the same building as Winnie's apartment. The building had security on it. Once they entered that building, Ruth would go to her apartment on the 3rd floor and Maddy would go to Winnie's apartment on the 4th floor.

The assassin didn't know something else. Something critical to his future life. He didn't know that Karita was following Ruth home and she was very good at staying hidden. Ruth never saw her, although Maddy reminded her not to look around. When Karita gave the all-clear, Maddy would return to the stadium and take extra practice with Piper who had stayed behind. Karita would watch the building. The extra practice might last two hours. Then, Maddy would accompany Piper home. Maureen left as well. She had adopted Piper as a protégé after the first practice. Yes, Maureen knew something strange was going on, but there was always something strange about Maddy and her family. Winnie had told her the secrecy would be temporary only and it would not affect the girls' practices.

For the weekends, the plan was to have Maddy always with Ruth when she left the building. Karita was the invisible bodyguard and, if needed, she could assume a Maddy body and double as another Piper clone. Karita would look for anybody who was showing interest in Ruth, be that inside the stadium or anywhere outside. That left Maddy and Piper free to concentrate on baseball.

# # # # # # # #

Back to the Greek islands we go. Merrick had returned to the beach and was sitting on a log in his robe when Winnie and Merly walked out of the water. Merly's robe had appeared as the water dripped off her body. They set off on a stroll down the beach. Merrick was out of earshot like any good bodyguard would be. They agreed that Merly and Merrick should explore Earth's oceans for as long as they wanted. When they were finished, they'd return to this beach. Winnie would have a drone watching the beach and would come as quickly as she could after they sat on the beach.

I'm running an operation that may delay me. Don't worry if I'm late. Have a swim.

What's an operation? Merly asked.

Bad people on Earth are trying to find a mortal woman. I'm hiding her. I hope to discover why they are hunting her.

Do they want to eat her for food? This was a reasonable conclusion for Merly, who only knew that Earth was a pre-civilized planet.

Some people on our planet kill other people for various reasons, none of them involve food. Heaven tries to stop mortals from doing that.

What do you do to them when you catch them?

That varies. In some cases, if they have a good lawyer, nothing happens to them.

On Poseidon, murder always has consequences.

What consequences?

The husband of my mother didn't prevent my mother's first baby from dying. He had to live by himself for ten years without seeing or talking to anybody else. Mermen are very social people. He might have gone mad. We don't know where he is.

How did the baby die?

The baby was premature and was stillborn.

Surely that wasn't his fault.

The men of our species have one primary duty: to protect mermaids from harm. He should have been at the birth. He wasn't.

Perhaps he was unavoidably detained?

He wouldn't say why he wasn't at the birth. Mermen know how to deliver babies. That was his job.

What job does a mermaid have?

To do whatever her merman says. Usually that boils down to having sex with him whenever he wants it. She also has to keep the nest tidy, groom him, and do anything else that will keep him happy.

So, she's sort of like a maid?

Of course. Why else would we be called mermaids?

That's very interesting. Don't let me keep the two of you from exploring our oceans.

# # # # # # # #

Winnie's blonde haired subterfuges were tested on the second Friday of July. The U13s had all departed, the coaches had disappeared, and Maddy and Ruth were coming