Pearl

The Fisherman

The mermaid had been keeping an eye on this fisherman for a while, studying him as he did his work every day. Keeping a safe distance, of course, she would wait farther out from the docks for him to approach in his modest boat, and follow him to his regular fishing grounds a few miles from the marina. He would cast a net out, as well as some bait, and drive around slowly, trying to fill the net. The other boats would go out and do the same things, but their boats were much too loud and obnoxious, they used some sort of machine which would make sounds underwater, which hurt her head. She didn't understand why they needed so many fish in the first place.

He on the other hand just used the bait and his net. No fancy gadgetry. For this reason she grew curious, coming closer and closer each day to watch him. One day she was feeling particularly daring, and decided to see what exactly he was doing. Swimming up to the back of the boat, she pulled herself up along a row of steps, peaking over the rails, trying to keep her tail from swishing in the water and making too much noise. It was her first time seeing a human, let alone a male, so close, and she found the creature...odd. He held something in his hands while he sat- a large object that he kept staring at, occasionally flipping the thin slices. He would quirk a smile once in a while, making different facial expressions. What was it that kept him still for so long?

He glanced at something shiny on his wrist and stood suddenly, putting the object down onto the box which he was seated on. Her eyes widened as he stretched, the popping noises surprised her, but she was mostly mesmerized by how his muscles flexed in his legs. She, for obvious reasons, was extremely curious as to how he could stand straight, walk and use them. Why did he need those odd...stubs on the bottom of his legs? Were they like her fingers? She stretched out hers, comparing the two. No, they were probably different. Not as long, and didn't have the thin layer of webbing hers had. He had hair on them too, she only had hair on her head, the majority of her body covered in scales. Of course she could only see the bottom of his legs, after a joint, the upper half was covered in cloth.

She watched as he moved to some controls, facing away from her, as he messed with them a buzzing sound came from a large device at the very end of the boat, she noticed some rope moving. He was checking the net! The mermaid dived back into the water excitedly, ready to watch the process of him catching the fish. It seemed that some of the creatures had gotten caught at the back of the net as the boat moved forward slowly, and they didn't have the strength to swim fast enough to get out. She on the other hand, didn't have to attention span to escape. Stuck in her curiosity she somehow managed to become tangled in the net, and before she could figure out how to get out, it began to pull itself above the surface, the edges reaching hire than she could. She began to panic as she sank in with the wriggling, panicking fish.

Her webbed fingers pulled against the rope of the net furiously, her sharp nails trying to cut her way out. But she failed miserably. After a moment or two of loud banging and grunting from the human- he noticed her, flailing around among the fish. Of course he couldn't see her exactly but it was odd for such a large creature to be swimming among the smaller. It was midafternoon, so none of the predators would be out.

"What in the world?" The mermaid couldn't understand him but by how he was moving around the strung up net she knew he noticed her. She didn't know if she was relieved or scared.

She pushed her way to the edge of the net and reached out to him, startling the fisherman as she made a noise similar to that of a cry or a whine, "help me!" she pleaded.

"Whoa!" She gasped as he fell on his rear, shocked to find a woman in his net. "hold on! I'll get you out of there!" he said. Although she didn't understand him, she watched desperately as he went back to the machine, moving the levers, glancing at her every few seconds to make sure she was okay. He placed the catch down as gently as he could onto a large table where he would normally sort out the fish.