Request: Ariel's Day with the Humans

Ariel was eager to get to this ship before the end of the way. She flipped her fin. Her best friend, Flounder close behind. “Ariel, do we really need to go to this place?” he asked.

“Of course!” she said, “Who knows what treasures are inside?”

“But Ariel-”

“Oh Flounder! Don’t be such a guppy!”

Ariel knew that Flounder had every right to scared. There had been reports of humans capturing fish in that area. They could both get caught and never be heard from again. But going to that ship was worth it. And then there it was. The beauty of it was incredible! Ariel took a moment to stare at in in admiration. “Isn’t it wonderful?” she asked.

“Great! Now let’s get out of here!” Flounder said swimming away.

As if Ariel didn’t hear him, she swam forward towards the ship. “Ariel! Look out!”

Ariel turned to face him swimming backwards. “Look out for what?”

That’s when she felt herself run into something behind her. And it wasn’t the ship. She turned to see a net and when she turned back around to swim away, there was a net as well. She was stuck and being pulled up towards the surface. “Ariel!” Flounder said swimming toward her.

Ariel reached her hand out but hit the surface before Flounder reached her. And above her she could see two fishermen pulling the net up. “What is that?” the first one asked.

The second one squinted his eyes and then widened them exclaiming, “It’s a lady!”

Ariel was scared and yet fascinated. Two real live humans! And they were talking about her! She had so many questions to ask! Perhaps she could ask these humans! “Where are her legs?” the first one asked.

The second one squinted again widening once more to let the first one know he had a response. “I don’t know but there’s a giant fish there!”

“I see it!” the first one responded.

They had stopped pulling her up. She sat hovering over the water but close enough to the humans so they could examine her and determine whether it was safe to pull her aboard. “It’s eating her legs!” the second human responded, “Oh the poor miss!”

“We have to help her!”

Ariel smiled a bit. They thought her tail was a fish eating her legs. She thought it was funny. They pulled her up on board and took the net off her. She just sat there and smiled at them in awe. There was no one else on board besides these two at the moment. “Do you think we could cook the fish off her? Ya know, like boiling meat off bones?” the first one asked.

“I don’t see why not? Then we’ll save the lady AND have lunch!”

Ariel didn’t hear of that. She was too busy looking around the ship and observing all the things on it. “Come on lady, we’ll help you out!” the second one said.

The humans both lifted her up and carried her into a room with a big cooking pot. Although Ariel didn’t really know what it was. A little boy was sitting by it reading a book. He looked up to see the two sailors and the mermaid. His eyes widened. “Christopher! Get out of here! We need the room!” the first one said.

“Is that what I think it is Papa?” Christopher asked as he was shoved out of the room.

“Yes, it’s a lady!” the first one said scooting him out the door, “Now go play on the deck!”

The little boy looked down at his book and then looked back up. “But Papa! I think it’s a-”

The first sailor slammed the door before the boy could finish his sentence.

“What is that?” Ariel asked pointing to the pot.

“She can speak!” the first one said, “She doesn’t seem too hurt by the current situation.”

The humans sit her down on a chair and walked over towards the pot so Ariel couldn’t hear them. “Let’s keep it that way,” the second one whispered, “Keep it as relaxing as possible. It seems she’s completely oblivious that a giant fish has got ahold of her legs. Poor thing must have lost her mind at sea.”

“It’s a bath tub my dear!” the second one said spinning on his heel, “We’re just going to warm you up. You must be cold after swimming around in that water!”

“Oh! And what’s that?” Ariel said pointing to the fire underneath.

“Oh that’s a fire!” the second said speaking like she was a child, “It will make the bath warm for you!”

Ariel was thrilled that these humans were so friendly to her. She didn’t see why her father had such a big problem with them. And they were willing to answer her questions. “Do all humans have that thing over your eye?” Ariel asked.

She was pointing to the eye patch on the first one’s right eye. “Not all,” the first one said. He seemed a bit annoyed that she was asking so many questions.

“How did you get it?”

“In an accident,” he said.

And hour went by before the water was boiling and Ariel asked many questions. She learned so many things. Like what a fire was and how it burned. What eye patches were. And so MANY things! “Alright! Time for your bath!” the second one said approaching her.

The first one seemed really annoyed by her constantly asking questions at this point. “What’s a bath?” Ariel asked.

“You’ll see,” the second one said starting to carry her.

“Do you always carry people around like this?”

“ENOUGH!”

The first human said and he took Ariel from the second human’s arms, kicking the door open and going to the side of the boat, throwing Ariel into the water. Ariel stopped and looked up. She was sad that the first human didn’t like her but she did learn a lot of things today and for that, she was happy. She swam back home.

Back on the deck, the second human ran after the first one, meeting him at the side of the ship. “What did you do that for?” he asked.

“She was asking too many questions! I couldn’t stand it!” the first one said.

Christopher approached his Papa. “Papa! I think you caught a mermaid!” he said.

“A what?”

Christopher held up his book and his Papa took it from him, reading the words and taking note of the picture. “A mermaid!” he said.

“Good job!” the second human said.

And the first human fainted…