Heart of the Sea

Isla buttoned up her pretty pink coat and followed Quinn up the road into town. She was excited because she’d never actually gone into a human town before, but she was also a little nervous to move further from the ocean. She could still see it from town so she relaxed a little and glanced around at the houses and shops and people with interest.

“Where did you say we were going?” she asked.

“To the doctor,” Quinn replied. “We should make sure your injuries are healing okay. You know, not getting infected or anything. I cleaned them up and took care of them the best I could, but I’m no doctor.”

He led her to a little building that smelled funny, but the older man who came in to look at her seemed nice enough, at first. His name was Dr. Peters, and he wanted to start with something he called a check up and Isla frowned warily as he pulled some things out of a drawer. First he tried to stick something in her mouth and she flinched back.

“It’s just a thermometer,” the doctor said. “I want to make sure your temperature is normal, since a fever could indicate the start of an infection.”

Isla just blinked at him.

“You just need to put this under your tongue for a few seconds,” Dr. Peters insisted. Reluctantly, Isla let him put the weird thing in her mouth and tried not to squirm. It was a relief when he took it away, but then he pulled out something else. He stuck something in his ear and then reached toward her with the other end of the device. She flinched again.

“And what does that do?” she asked.

“This is a stethoscope. I use it to listen to your lungs, and your heart.”

Isla felt her eyes go wide with alarm. “My heart? Listen to it do what? You’re not going to take it out, are you?”

Dr. Peters paused and threw a bewildered look at Quinn.

“She’s…not from around here,” Quinn explained. “I guess she’s never been to the doctor before.”

He glanced at Isla, who was trying to make herself as small as possible. She was afraid the doctor might try to take her heart, though she didn’t see how he could possibly know she was a mermaid. Maybe his weird devices told him. Quinn edged closer to her and gently put a hand on her shoulder.

“It’s not going to hurt,” he told her. “It just helps him listen to your heartbeat.”

Isla slowly nodded, letting Dr. Peters reach toward her again with the stethoscope. Still a bit nervous, she grabbed Quinn’s hand without thinking. He seemed a bit startled but didn’t pull away from her. Dr. Peters put the little device on her back and told her to take a couple of deep breaths. Then he took the device away and she let out a small sigh of relief. She worried about the doctor pronouncing that she was a mermaid but instead he felt the sides of her neck and she wrinkled her nose. Then he took something and tapped it against her knee. The feeling was a bit shocking and made her leg twitch.

“Hey,” she said, disgruntled. “What was that for?”

“He’s testing your reflexes,” Quinn said.

“Testing my what?” Isla jerked her legs away when Dr. Peters tried to tap her knee again.

“If you want to see my leg flop around like that I can always just kick you,” she said, pouting. Dr. Peters sighed and Quinn squeezed her hand, since she hadn’t let go of him yet. He looked like he was trying not to smile.

“Isla, he’s not going to hurt you.”

“But it feels weird,” she complained.

“If you let the nice doctor finish his exam, we’ll be able to go. And I’ll get you a cupcake.”

“A what?”

“It’s a snack,” he explained. Isla thought for a moment and decided Quinn wouldn’t have taken her somewhere bad.

“Okay,” she said finally, shifting her legs back so Dr. Peters could continue his check up. She endured another tap on her knee, and then he wanted to look at her wounds. Quinn went red again and turned his face away as she undid the top part of her dress and slid her arms free. Dr. Peters checked the stitches and the bandages and said everything seemed to be healing okay, but he wanted to put clean bandages on. He cleaned the wounds with something that stung and made her wince, but she tried to hold still since Quinn had promised she’d be okay.

Once she had clean bandages, Isla was able to fix her dress while Dr. Peters threw away her old bandages. He glanced at her.

“You were a good patient,” he said, handing her a brightly colored bauble on a little stick.

“What’s this?” she asked, slightly forgetting how much she didn’t like the check up as she admired the little bauble.

“It’s a lollipop,” Dr. Peters said. “You eat it. It’s candy.”

“Oh,” Isla said, brightening. “I’ve heard of candy before.”

Dr. Peters adjusted his glasses and squinted at her. Quinn thanked him quickly and led Isla back outside. She tasted the lollipop as she followed Quinn to another building; this one didn’t smell weird or make her wrinkle her nose. The front of the building was painted with inviting pink and white stripes and it smelled amazing.

“What is this place?”

“The bakery,” Quinn said, amused. “It’s where we get cupcakes.”

Intrigued, Isla followed him inside. She just stood there gawking around and enjoying the sweet smell. Quinn seemed to sense that she’d be useless at actually choosing anything so he got the cupcake for her.

“Oh, it’s cute,” Isla said. She took a tentative bite and her face broke into a huge smile, which made Quinn laugh.

“What is this sweet stuff on top?” she asked.

“Frosting.”

“This was worth that doctor whacking at my knees,” Isla said, taking another big bite of the cupcake. Quinn cracked a smile and gently brushed some frosting off her nose. She polished off the cupcake as they walked, then she started to flit around as the street filled up with people buying and selling things. Quinn followed quietly behind her until she was nearly run over by a cart and he pulled her safely out of the way.

“Don’t need you injuring yourself more and having to go back to Dr. Peters,” he said. Isla turned and looked up at him with a sheepish smile.

“Thank you,” she said. She leaned up a little, looking at him closer.

“Your eyes are a lighter green in the sun,” she noted. “They’re nice.”

“Oh.” Quinn turned a little red again. “Um. I…uh. Thanks.” He cleared his throat. “So, I was wondering if you had any place in mind that you wanted to go. Or I can ask around about a place here in town you can stay.”

“Here?” Isla repeated, glancing around and then growing a little panicked. It was fun exploring and seeing some new things, but there were so many people here. Plus she was much further from the sea here and sneaking down to the water every couple of days would be more difficult. Her wounds were getting better but they’d heal slower in her human state and she couldn’t swim far until they were better.

But she’d never actually stayed in a town and she was worried that someone would somehow recognize what she was. She didn’t know if she’d be able to fend off someone who was determined to cut out her heart. Even now as she looked around she noticed a few people staring at her and Quinn, then talking quietly to each other.

“Isla?” Quinn said uncertainly when she didn't answer. She looked up at him with alarm.

“This is too…I’m…I mean no, I couldn’t stay here,” she said, her voice going a little squeaky. “It’s very nice and all but I’d much rather keep staying with you,” she blurted.