Saved by a Mermaid

By jayne gesner

Imagine as a young girl you have a magical experience. It’s so captivating and unbelievable you can’t tell anyone so you live with the secret every day. Eventually grown up she goes away to college in the exotic Caribbean. Here she mingles her love of being in the ocean with her new life on land. Her secret is still safe and here she gets to find the whimsy and fantasy again. She finds her heart’s desire and love of her life. She gets pulled into unusual exciting island adventures. Pirates, deception and fantasy all intertwine. You’ll be hooked after the first chapter and the wonder and suspense just continues to build. Don’t miss out on the new Romance/Fantasy /Thriller of the new decade.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse
• Release date: Oct 27, 2020
• ISBN: 9781665504461

jayne gesner

The author spent many years living in the US Virgin Islands. After years of living the fascinating and adventurous life she returned to New England. She now enjoys her life with her children and grandchildren.

Book preview

Chapter One

37470.png

T HE SCHOOL BELL rang for the last time that year I was very excited. I was done with third grade and now I had a whole summer before I’d have to come back. I didn’t love school it was just something I had to endure. Yea another year over was a good thing. I collected all my stuff and shoved it in my school bag.

I was out the door to walk home. It wasn’t much of a walk for me I lived on the other side of the school yard fence. We had put a gate in once I started school that way no one had to come out to walk me around the yard. I was an only child, so I was pretty used to being alone and doing most stuff for myself. I came in the screen door which lead into our porch. The back door was open where my mother was on the phone as usual. She nodded as I passed her on the way to my room. My Mother was not the perfect mother type. The house was in disarray as it was time to head to the beach for the summer. Each summer as soon as school was out, we headed to out cottage. Summers in Massachusetts are short so we had until Labor Day and then it would get cold. We packed mostly clothes and the things we’d need for the beach. Our cottage had furniture, but we needed towels, sheets, the grill and beach chairs.

In my room I checked all the stuff I had put on the bed to take. My room was a good size and I had two twin beds. Usually it was just me, but should company come they were in my room since we only had two bedrooms. I seemed to have a constant stream of cousins crashing with me. While it was just me in our house my mom had family galore and they always seemed to be dropping in.

I looked again and was sure I had everything I needed. We were right on the beach, so it was lots of bathing suits and a few shorts and tops. Plus, my Dad was home all week so if I forgot anything, he could bring it. I mean I was only seven how much could I be expected to remember. I was still nagged daily if I brushed my teeth!

My mom was off the phone and yelled for me to help her bring the chairs and beach towels from the cellar. We carried out what seemed like endless amounts of junk and loaded it into her car. The trunk was full and now we were filling the back seat. I was sent to get some bags from her bedroom, and we continued to jam them into the car.

By the time we finished it was time for me to have dinner. My mother went in to put my TV dinner in the oven. I went back to my room to be sure I had all the dolls and toys I wanted to bring. I always brought my favorites but my special ones I left home. If I brought them, they would be full of sand. Even though they where in a house sand ended up everywhere. Plus being the youngest one there my cousins loved to torment me by dragging my stuff in the ocean.

My mom yelled my dinner was ready. There it was my TV dinner on the TV table near the couch in front of the TV. The TV was my best friend most of the time. My dad always worked late, so I never got to have dinner with him. I guess my Mother waited for him although I never did see them eat. While I ate my mother always sat on the phone with a martini and a cigarette. Things were different when I was a kid only because it was the 80’s. I didn’t realize until I was an adult that even for the 80’s my life was a little odd. A dad who always worked and a mom who I never saw. My dad’s parents lived next door and our yards connected. Except for the summer when we were away, I usually spent all my time with them. They were great fun. They played games with me we always had a huge puzzle going and we ate our meals together at a table. I missed them a lot during the summer especially since I really spent to much time alone at the beach.

Well my dinner was over although I never ate the vegetables. Lucky my mother didn’t care or even look. I just slide the aluminum tray back in the box and threw it away. I took a bath and got ready for bed. It would be a busy day tomorrow as we would head to the beach house. I’d say we left early but early in this house was 10:00. It was hard to sleep as I was excited to go. It was so different than my life at home I did look forward to it.

Morning finally arrived and I was up early and dressed to go. With the car loaded it was just waiting for my Mom to put on her face. The morning ritual of makeup. She would sit at a little table with a huge mirror and apply what seemed like a layer of paint. I don’t think I actually ever did see my mother’s natural color. Maybe it was the style then but she had to make herself this odd tan color. It went all the way down into her clothes when she took anything off the collar was always the color of her makeup. Seemed weird to me since it took forever to do.

Finally, we were in the car and on our way to the beach. It always seemed like such a long drive when in reality it was half an hour. I knew the road by heart so I could tell when we were almost there. Once we crossed the little bridge, we were in the sand dunes. Passing all the public parking lots we headed all the way out to the point. It was the end of the land and ocean as far as you could see. We rounded the curve to our tiny street.

On one side there was a rock jetty that jutted out into the Atlantic Ocean. At the end of the point was a little store named Andy’s it had everything and an ice cream window and there were the three tiny cottages. The cottages were in a clump on a tiny inlet beach. The jetty protected it from the huge crashing waves. It only got rough in really bad weather. Across the street was just a salty marsh full of tall razor-sharp grass and a very spongy bottom. Not a place you wanted to be in.

We passed the first cottage that was rented by people I didn’t know. The second was my Aunt and Uncles. They had three kids and needed the whole cottage. The last one was ours. We pulled into the sand beside the house. We shared this two-bedroom cottage with my other Aunt. Her husband had died a few years ago so she and my cousin had one room and my parents and I had the other bedroom. It was time to unload the car and start another summer adventure.

I loved out little cottage on the beach. It was a pleasant change from my normal lonely life. I thought it was such a cool place. I was to young to realize it was barely a house at all. The weathered wood shack sat on cinder blocks so it was about a foot above the sand. Carrying in my first bag I get hit with the heady aroma of salt air and musty old wood. Inside the floors where just bare wood and in some places, you could see the sand below. You always had to wear flip flops or slippers since you would always get splinters. The walls were just studs so you could see the outside walls. Inside the walls only went eight feet that’s where the roof started so it was open from room to room. You entered in the living area at the other end was a small kitchen against the back wall. The furniture was minimal old and very worn. Then you passed thru the doorway. The bath was straight ahead to the left was my Aunt and cousins’ room and to the right was where we slept. My parents had the bed and I had a small cot against the wall. There was no privacy since there were no ceilings it was all open. That meant being quiet all the time especially if someone was sleeping.

It took most of the day to unload the car and get everything put away. I had run down to test the water. It was just the beginning of summer so it was still pretty cold. Then it was back to unpacking. There were groceries and clothes to bring in and lots of beach stuff. That we would just leave outside against the house to pick up and take when we needed it. My Aunt arrived and it was a flurry of trips back and forth from the cars. My cousin, Jake, was four years older than I was not to mention a boy. He was nice to me until he would team up with my other cousin, Mike. Since we shared a house, he had to put up a good front.

Later in the day my Aunt arrived to move into their cottage. My aunt and Uncle had three kids. My oldest cousin, Billy, was in high school so we rarely saw him. My only female cousin, Cindy, was six years older than I was. She was all about the makeup and sitting and reading magazines. Then their youngest, Mike, was five years older than me. He and my other cousin were the two who would team up to constantly taunt me. It seemed to be their goal in life to tease me or get me in trouble.

Finally, with everything out of the cars it was time for supper. There were no men there as it was a week day we only saw the Dads on weekends. My Mom and two Aunts went on the beach and started the grill. We had a spot in the sand which was our private beach. We would bring all the chairs and sit around in a circle waiting for the food to be ready. Everyone would bring something out so we could eat outside. Tonight, was the traditional Hot Dogs and Hamburgers. We would sit outside until it was getting dark and the bugs were eating you alive.

Once inside it was my turn to take a shower, there was no tub just a rustic wood square with a shower nozzle coming out. When you took a shower the water just ran out under the house. It never occurred to me that this was gross. At least when you flushed the toilet that went somewhere else. My cousin and I had to go to bed early. Then the Moms would sit outside drinking and talking until late.

The next morning, I was up early it was my first day at the beach! It was nice to wake up with other people in the house and my Aunt made sure I had cereal before I went out. It would be hours before my Mom would be up. I just had on my shirt and shorts I didn’t think I’d be swimming. I didn’t love the water or ocean. I liked pools because I could see the bottom. The ocean seemed scary with the waves knocking you down and scary icky things sliding by your legs. I did like to get out early to see what treasures the ocean had spit out on the shore. I would do my walk and search for shells and neat looking rocks. I also love the big dried seaweed bubbles you could pop. Sometimes there was even a large horse shoe crab. If I found one of those, I would hide it. My cousins loved to torment me trying to stab me with its huge sword like nose or beak. Whatever it was.

From our cottage sticking out into the ocean was a huge rock formation. From them rocks would come strange whistling and sucking sounds as the waves and water moved in and out. The jetty on one side then the big rocks on the other. It was almost its own ocean pool. Right in the center a giant rock sprang out. It was very steep and sharp and covered with slim and there was a tiny shelf on the back side. My cousins had tried to climb it for many years but would be knocked off every time. As I walked past the big rocks, I got to what was really the end of the beach. At the end of our street and the end of the beach sat a roof. I was told years ago a hurricane took the house right out and just the roof was left sitting there. It had been rotting for years and was now off limits since it was dangerous. I reached the end and turned around. I didn’t see any shells this morning. Maybe when I got back near the cottage, I’d dig for some sand crabs.

When I got back my cousins were all out. Cindy already was lying in a beach chair reading a magazine. My other two cousins were playing some kind of ball game. One car was missing so Billy must have gone to visit someone. I sat in the sand near the water and dug for the tiny sand crabs. They looked like little bugs they were tiny and fast. I’d see them scooting off has my shovel as I pulled it out of the sand. If you were fast enough, you’d get one in the shovel. I’d collect them in a bucket. They were entertaining for a while. Scooping them up in my hand and watching them disappear. Soon enough an Aunt would appear with a plate full of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for lunch. I’d dump my bucket of crabs back into