A Merman’s Place

Chapter 3

It’s been a few days since Marvin talked about the possibility of a career change, and even though he said it’s been on his mind for quite some time, it still felt like it came out of nowhere. I haven’t noticed any sign that he’ll want a different job. He seemed content enough and I’ve known him for a long time to see that. As for me, I’m fine at where I am and hadn’t given that conversation as much as a second thought.

That was until Kirk called us early before our shift to come over to the market. We didn’t think it was odd that he wanted us early. There were times he just need some help with paperwork or extra tidying up before the place opened. So, Marvin and I arrived an hour before opening and went to Kirk’s office.

As soon as we entered, we noticed that he wasn’t alone. There was a man seated in one of the guest chairs while Kirk was seated at his desk. They were in the middle of a conversation until our entrance broke it. Both looked up towards the door and I got a good look at the man. He was young, about late 20’s I assume. His blond hair was slicked back with not a hair out of place and cleanly shaven. His skin was tanned from spending a lot of time in the sun. And while he may be sitting down, I could tell he has a toned body. Overall, he looked like the type of man that women will fall for if he so much as look at them.

“Boys, thank you for coming in early,” said Kirk.

“No big deal, Kirk,” said Marvin. “Anything you needed help with? You didn’t say much on the phone.”

“Actually, I just wanted you two to meet Frankie.” He faced the man named Frankie and then gestured towards the each of us. “Frankie, this is my son Lucas and my other son Marvin. Boys, this is Frankie Miller. He is the son of a friend of mine.”

Frankie stood up from the chair and shook our hands. “It’s a pleasure to meet you both. Kirk has been saying a lot about you two.”

“All good I assume,” said Marvin with a smirk.

Frankie chuckled. “Definitely. Although, my interest has been more focused on Lucas.”

That shocked me more than I’d want to admit. “Why is that?” I asked.

Before he could answer, Kirk got up from his desk and walked towards us. “You see Lucas, Frankie has heard about you through his father and he recently contacted me to know more.”

This was certainly getting strange. Why would this man be interested in me?

This time, Frankie spoke up, “Listen, I have a profession where I have a team that works with me. And from what I’ve been hearing about you, I’d be very glad to add you to my team.”

“What sort of profession is this?”

“We’re professional divers. More specifically, treasure divers.”

My breath got stuck in my throat and looked at Marvin. I knew the look on his face. He knew about this. That’s why he brought up that conversation the other day. That was more for me than it was for him.

“From what I’ve learned about you is that you love the water. Kirk has been telling me that you go diving all the time. I like to have people that love the water as much as I do. And with mermaid blood in your veins you are able to hold your breath much longer than the average human. Plus, I’ve heard that you’ve encountered a piece of treasure yourself once,” he said.

I looked unsure about this. The fact that this came out of nowhere and it’s now placed on my lap. I don’t know what to do. Don’t know what to say.

He must have known my thoughts because he said, “Tell you what? My team and I are having an expedition in the coast of Greece, one of our hotspots. You could come along with us for the week and see if it’s up your alley. It’s quite the adventure I can promise you that.”

Before I could answer, Marvin spoke up, “I think you should take it, dude, it’s a great opportunity.”

Kirk placed his hand on my shoulder. “He’s right, Luke. I know deep down you want more than this and be out in the water more than you are now. Frankie travels to many places in the world and you’ll be able to see them, too. You could try it, and if you don’t want it, there will still be a place for you here.”

It did sound like an amazing experience; something that I doubt would come again. Marvin and Kirk really wanted me to take the offer.

“Okay, count me in,” I said.

“Splendid, I’ll send over the details of our trip in a few days. We will depart in a week. It was nice meeting you, Lucas,” he said and shook my hand before leaving the office.

I stood there for a minute until Marvin said, “Dude, I know this will change your life.”

I had the feeling that it will.

I was in my room with bags and luggages on the floor. Today was the day. The trip of a life time that could become a regular thing. Frankie sent over the details of the trip as he said. He went out of his way to purchase a plane ticket for me. We’ll be traveling in coach, departure time at 12:00 pm. That’ll be a near 12 hour flight. I never traveled by plane, and my first time will be the longest ride.

After checking that I got everything packed for the seven day trip abroad, I carried the luggages out to place in the boot of the car. Putting in all the bags but one, I closed the trunk. Marvin came out of the house ready to take me to the airport.

“Luke, are you sure you got everything? Can’t have you forget something at the last minute like a toothbrush or extra pair of underwear,” he smirked.

“Not funny. And yes, I got everything.”

I got into the passenger seat. When Marvin got into the driver side, he noticed the bag I carried on my lap.

“Was the trunk too full to fit one more bag, dude?”

I shook my head. “I couldn’t put it with the rest. Might get damaged back there.”

“Damaged? What’s in it?” he asked.

“It’s my mother’s shell,” I said.

“You’re actually taking that with you?”

“Yeah, I couldn’t leave it behind. It’s too important.”

He shrugged. “If you say so.” He started the car and made our way to the airport.

We arrived after nearly two hours of driving at Miami International Airport where Frankie said we’ll depart from. My first impression at an airport, in short, very crowded and huge. It made me feel nervous. Because it was an international airport, it was like I was seeing the whole world. It made me feel so small. I grew up basically in one place, and to me that was the world. I would imagine a fish would feel this way. Born and grew in a fish tank, and one day released into the ocean. They would be petrified like I am now.

Sensing my nerves, Marvin put a hand on my shoulder. “Dude, it’s okay. We’ll arrive at your plane together,” he said while squeezing my shoulder, “What gate are we arriving at?”

I took out my plane ticket from my pocket and looked at all the information it had. Name of flight, time of departure, seat number, and gate number.

“Gate J2” I answered.

“Okay, there’s a map over there, so let’s take a look at where we are.” We walked to the airport directory. The background of the map was black, and the center of it showed the different areas in different colors. According to the map, we were in the red area labeled “South Terminal” in the first level. Where my departure gate was located was also in the red area where we are, but on the second level.

“Seems we’re in the right area, just need to go up the stairs to the second level,” said Marvin. Now knowing where to go, we headed with my luggage to the second level. Once there, we made our way down the large building as we ended up in front of gate H, so gate J should be right to the side of it. The walk there I felt wasn’t easy. With my load of suitcases in hand while dodging people every second just made the trip slow.  

We neared the gate and I heard my name being called. From the crowd, out came Frankie calling my name.

“Good to see you have arrived on time. Me and the rest of the group were waiting for you,” said Frankie. He greeted Marvin when he saw him next to me.

“Well, we better hurry on to check-in”, Frankie looked to Marvin, “And don’t worry, we’ll take real good care of Lucas. He’ll have a great time I can guarantee.”

Marvin looked pleased. “That’s what I like to hear. He needs a bit of adventure.” He went and hugged me tightly. “I’ll see you in a week, and you better have lots of stories and pictures.”

I returned the hug. I was really going to miss him. He was all but blood my brother and basically stayed together since we were teens.

I smiled. “Don’t worry, I’m going to make it seem like you were there the whole time.”

After we let go, we said our goodbyes and I followed Frankie to meet with the rest of the group joining the trip. There was Kenneth, Alice, Max, Oliver, and Tia. Tia and Kenneth are the only merpeople on the team. And then there’s me, the human of merpeople descendent.

At the check-in, we handed over our luggage and made our way to the security check point. There we had to place anything we carried, especially metal, in plastic containers to go through the x-ray machine. One by one we went through the metal detector. When I got through, I heard the people in charge of the x-ray say that there was something strange inside a bag. Curiously, I looked over to see one of them handling a familiar bag. I panicked when they were being none too gentle with it and rushed over.

“Please be careful with that bag, I keep something fragile in there!” I said loudly.

The man handling my bag looked up at me in surprise. “Sir, is this your bag?” he asked.

I nodded. “Yes.”

“Well, there’s a suspicious item in here that we have to look over.”

“It’s only my shell that I keep in a box. Like I said, it’s fragile,” I warned, but I don’t think he was listening to me as he just got the box out of the bag. He opened the lid and looked inside. He made ‘hm’ sound and reached in to take the shell out. My heart was really racing now when he took it out. I was the only one who ever held it since I got it and a complete stranger now has it with no knowledge on how important it is to me.

Finally, when he was done inspecting it, he place it back into the box and back inside the bag. He handed it over me.

“Looks like everything is fine here. Have a good flight, sir,” he said and got back to work. I clutched the bag tightly against my chest and caught up with the group.

We all sat down in the waiting area, and Max was the one who spoke up, “So, what was the deal with the bag at security?”

I looked at him for a moment before saying, “Just something that I have that I rather not let other people handle.”

He looked confused but let the matter drop.

It was fifteen minutes later that we began to board. I handed my ticket to the lady at the door, and walked into a hallway that’ll take me inside the plane. I haven’t thought about it until now, but I was going into plane that’ll takeoff in the sky. I’m not a fan of heights. In just a few minutes, I was going to leave the ground and be stuck in a flying tube for hours. I sure hope I don’t get a window seat.

My ticket said that my seat was numbered 18C. I found it on the left side of the plane, and lucky for me, it was not a window seat. Some middle aged woman and who I assume is her husband took the window and center seat. After giving a friendly greeting to the couple, I made myself comfortable in my seat.

Soon, the door closed and was ready for takeoff. I buckled up as soon as I felt that the plane was moving. When it got on the landing strip, the plane started speeding up. My heart was hammering and my hands were tightly grasping on the arm rests. My knuckles began turning white when I felt us tilt upwards into the sky. I wasn’t until we leveled out that I let out a breath I didn’t know I was holding.

The man next to me said, “Not a fan of flying, huh?”

“More like it’s my first time flying,” I responded.

He chuckled. “It was the same for me. But, I eventually got over it after flying a few times.”

Well, I was going to have more than a few and I would still not like it.