Grandpa walked across the den and disappeared into his bedroom without another word, leaving Cindy alone at the table. Alone with her thoughts.
"Too old." she repeated aloud, feeling deepening sympathy for her aging grandfather. She grabbed her bare plate with both hands and stood up, watching the morning light glimmer on the silver fork.
"I wonder.... " she began walking to the sink. She dropped the plate in, along with the fork. She rested her hand on the rusting faucet and turned it. A shaky stream of water poured out and splattered on the pile of dishes at the bottom of the sink.
"Maybe Grandfather would suffice for letting me fulfill his quest." She watched the water glimmer as it fell down. The more she watched, forgetting about the dishes and thinking about the mermaids, she thought she could see them dancing inside the stream.
She picked up one of the dishes and squirted a blob of pink dish soap onto it. As she spread the soap thin across the plate, a thought that alarmed her arose; Was it just that her grandfather was crazy?
She hated that the thought seemed probable to her, but did she really believe that there were mermaids?
But it seems to matter so much to him! she argued with herself, vigorously scrubbing the dish with an old, brown sponge. She continued to scrub until the bubbles were nice and frothy, and then held it under the unsteady stream of water.
"Cindy?" the voice of her mother broke into her thoughts. "Y-yes?" Cindy called back, looking up from the plate.
Her mother's high heels clunked as she walked across the den. Cindy's mother popped her head through the window above the sink. "I wanted to ask you what you thought about fishing today." When Cindy didn't respond, but only stared blankly back, her mother said, "With your Dad? And Grandfather?"
Cindy turned the water off and set the plate on the counter to dry. "That sounds fun, Mom." she said, only partially thinking about fishing.
She walked around the kitchen and into the den, where her mother stood. "So is that a 'yes?'" she asked. Cindy nodded, forcing herself to smile.
"Okay, well go upstairs and get ready." her mother ordered. Obediently, Cindy started towards the stairs. It was a short set of stairs, with no more than five of them, but Cindy still wished she didn't have to go up them to get dressed.
YOU ARE READING
The Seaman's Quest
פרוזהThe Seaman's Quest for generations has been to see a mermaid, and to have a witness, or have proof that these creatuers exist. And that, is the Seaman's Quest. Twelve year-old Cindy Bay's grandfather has been a man of the sea for seventy years...
