Page 23 of Waves
“A what?”
“Like you don’t know,” she said, rolling her eyes yet again.
I actually didn’t, but I doubted she’d believe that either. “Yeah, but what do you know?”
Mary went silent at first. She decided to humor me while she refilled her cup from the samovar. “Selkies are incredibly enchanting and beautiful creatures, only they’re half-human and half-seal. If you steal a selkie’s coat, they have to fall in love with you or some shit, and then they’ll live with you on land.”
Now my eyebrows arched as much as hers. “Who told you all that?”
“My Nona,” Mary said with a shrug.
“Interesting. I wonder if there’s more to that.”
“Ezra, you’re a marine biologist.” Mary openly laughed. “You’re the first person I’d expect to know that selkies are just a fairy tale. You’re about as likely to come across a mermaid or a siren.”
“Right, I just, you know...” I stumbled over my words and struggled to form a reasonable explanation. “I like any and all manner of ocean stuff, even if it’s fiction or lore. You know that.”
Our food arrived shortly after, but I could barely focus on lunch. Mary not so subtly texted in her lap, and I had a burning suspicion she intended to plan an intervention of sorts for me. I flew out of the restaurant as fast as I could, and like the perfectly rational person I was, I headed straight to the library.
I spent the rest of the day researching with terrifying voracity as if studying mythical water creatures suddenly became my job instead of documented marine mammals. Hours flew by while I poured over pages and pages of information in long untouched texts, photocopying and highlighting whatever I found relevant. Perhaps the most frustrating part of researching folktales was the sheer amount of conflicting data even after taking advantage of the free internet at the library. One story claimed selkies might only come ashore in spring, another said only every seven years. One source described the selkies as fallen angels, while another insisted their form a curse for the condemned, and a third claimed them to be lost souls of the drowned. After our time together, I couldn’t imagine Kai as any of those.
Mary corresponded with me the whole time, probably convinced I was having some sort of mental breakdown or something. Maybe I was.
Mar, what exactly did your Nona say about the selkies falling in love? I typed while looking over a fascinating excerpt.
I dunno it was like two decades ago, she replied with a shrugging emoji.
Please try to think.
She told me this story about some dude meeting a selkie. He steals her coat so he can marry her, and she lives on land with him until one day she finds it again and abandons him for the ocean. It was like a retro empowerment story for women or something.
Did she ever say anything about male selkies? I asked next. Finding anything at all about the males has been more difficult than I anticipated.
No.
You think maybe you could ask her for me? All I found was a snippet about selkie men coming to barren women and giving them children. Oh, and a woman can summon her selkie husband by crying seven tears into the ocean.
How many tears would a slighted gay man need to shed?
I snorted and set my phone down, but her response still elicited a smile. Mary would never take this seriously. As for me, I wouldn’t waste another second doubting myself. I didn’t care how long it took; I would track down that seal-man.
I closed my eyes against the sun’s rays and basked in the warm glow of an afternoon. The seasons were changing again, but I didn’t need a calendar to tell me summer would soon be here. I knew from the gradual change in the temperature, the longer days, and the shorter nights. And, of course, the tourists.
The quiet roar of the humans clamoring on the beaches in the distance got drowned out by the waves lapping against the rocky shore. This time of year, it was best for me to steer clear of the bay, so I spent most of my time on the surrounding islands. Rocky coastlines were not as ideal for napping, but I had never been picky.
“Kai?”
I perked my head and opened my eyes despite the glare of the sun. A very familiar boat idled in the distance with an even more familiar passenger aboard. Even my animal brain recognized Ezra, so I flopped onto my belly and pulled myself to the water’s edge. I never would have gone closer for anyone else, but he called that name he gave me as if searching for me. Which made me wonder: why was Ezra trying to find me?
Ezra became visibly excited when I swam closer, leaning over the boat’s rail to look at me with a huge grin. “Kai, is that really you?”
Only my eyes remained above the water, and I blew bubbles with my nose at such a silly question. I supposed I really was me. Are you really you, Ezra?
“I, uh, I just... I wanted to talk to you...”
Go ahead, I’m listening. I tilted my head and gave him my undivided attention.
“I wanted... I wanted to tell you something, Kai, and... and... what am I doing? What am I even doing right now? I’m talking to myself. Ezra, you have officially lost it.” His face fell before he collapsed back onto the deck and held his head in his hands, rubbing his scalp while Ishmael nudged his arm with his snout.