A Thousand Salt Kisses (Book 1 of Salt Kiss series)

><> Chapter Fifteen <><

I smiled for the first time in days as the school bell rang. It was the second from last day of school and then a six-week summer break awaited.

As I left the classroom I chatted to a boy from my English class called Lloyd. Lloyd was really nice and quite cute looking, although he was a little on the plump side. He was off to France for a couple of weeks, he told me, with his family.

If I were to get away, I would need to spend most of my holiday working. I told Lloyd that I was starting to think about getting a job, and he suggested Pearl Boulevard.

"They're always hiring girls from sixth form," he said. "You're pretty too," he added  in what seemed like a blissfully platonic tone, "and you get decent tips over there. It's where all the rich people go."

I thought about how Dad had taken us to Pearl Boulevard on Mum's first night and felt sad. If only that bloody job hadn't come up, things would not be so bad. She would probably have a few tantrums but would be focusing on getting settled here and not rubbing this job in Dad's face.

I turned the corner and slammed straight into Jemima. She wore a tight black dress, high top trainers and smelt of freshly spritzed vanilla body spray. Her expression rapidly transformed from neutral to disgust when she realized who she had made contact with.

"I'm so sorry!" I cried, jumping backwards.

Jemima's pasty skin flushed crimson with rage, and then her gaze shifted towards Pete.

"Whatever," she said and stormed past.

"Woah!" said Lloyd. "Time of the month, maybe?"

"Oh, she's just like that with me," I sighed, not even bothering to challenge Lloyd's awful schoolboy comment. Why should I defend her, when she keeps throwing me shade like that? What did she expect me to do, hang around by myself?

"She's usually really nice, she's like my mate," said Lloyd. "I've never seen her do that before."

"Yep, just me then," I sighed, not caring anymore. I was looking forward more and more to my summer break. And, I was looking forward more than ever to this time next year, when school would be out. Forever.

*****


After school, I made my way through the hustle and bustle down to the fisher huts in search of George.

The door to Seaman's lodge was open and I poked my head in. There was George, standing in the middle of the hut. He was studying a big piece of paper that was unfolded in his hands.

He looked up and smiled. I smiled back relieved that he was here and on his own. It was perfect.
"I was wondering when you would make an appearance," he said.

"I came by yesterday," I said moving closer. The stench of fish became more and more profound as I neared George and I had to stop myself from gagging. I was now close enough to peer over his shoulder at the paper and I began to breath through my mouth.

It seemed to be a map of some kind. I studied it closer. There were grid lines and names of places but one thing was missing.

"Huh, where's the land?" I said, realizing the entire map was a light blue.

"Now, why would I need a map of the land, Miss White?"

I mulled this over. "Well, I just thought all maps generally included land..." I offered.

George laughed. "Not this one."

George was wearing a blue t-shirt, and I could see for the first time he had blue inkings on his wrinkly flesh. They reminded me of something, but I couldn't quite put my finger on it.  

I looked at some of the names on the blue seascape. I couldn't understand them, they were in a different language. One name in particular caught my eye.

"Gaird-Gai-" I began.

'Gairdín bán-dearg,' said George. "Gairdin means garden, and I think you can tell me what ban-dearg means, can't you?"

I was taken aback. "George, I'm not welsh or whatever that is!" I protested, holding up my hands and wishing everyone would stop being so flaming cryptic all the time. 

"Well, I thought you knew about sea gardens, that's all," he said looking back at the map, his eyes twinkling knowingly.

My mind flashed back to my day with Llyr above the pink sea garden. In my head I saw him hand me the ruby coloured fruit, and I felt a tingle as I remembered our time together. I looked back at George, my eyes wide. I now had no doubt that he knew of my meetings with Llyr but the mystery remained. How did he? 

Suddenly everything came colliding together, like a big bizarre jigsaw puzzle.

George knew the sea-people.

Not only did he know the sea-people but he knew Llyr by the sounds of things.

"What are you doing later?" said George.

"Oh the usual. Absolutely nothing," I replied flippantly, although inside I was drunk on a cocktail of curiosity, intrigue and nerves.

What were these mermaids like? Were they really as nice as Llyr had appeared? Did they have dangerous powers? Did they like us normal people?

"Meet me here at eight."