By Robin Lewis-Light.
“It wasn’t always like this,” I murmured to my stepson. “In earlier days it would have been impossible to come here,” I said. He looked at me, looking across at the sands and the beach.
“Even me?” he said. I looked at him.
“Even you,” I said. “And everybody who looked anything like us.”
“Why?” he said, and I was not sure how to answer.
“I think… they were afraid of us,” I said. “Now – they seem to like us.” I paused. “Well, most of them.”
“Will my family ever be able to join us?” he said, almost to himself.
“You know that your family… we haven’t seen your family in many years. I don’t know.” I paused. “Now, remember, what I told you.” He smiled at me.
“I know, never get too close,” he said. “And you have told me what happened to your parents,” he added, but he looked at the beach and the shore and the people on it with a deep desire and I resolved to keep an eye on him.
Uncle Zack came over, moving not-too-subtly between Phil and the beach.
“How are you doing there, Phil? Enjoying the view?”
Phil grinned.
“Nice to see you, Uncle Zee,” he said. “You and Auntie Dani need to keep clear of the beach!” I raised my eyebrows and decided not to say anything, as my brother Zack knew that Phil had said this and had caused him, Zee, just to get a rise.
Zack just nudged Phil, showing him that he was still the boss and twice the size of his step-nephew.
“Yes, we know,” he said. “There are a lot of humans out today,” he added. “They love us, but we do not want to frighten them too much… and it goes from deep to shallow very quickly here.” He smiled. “Or shallow to deep, if you are one of them.”
He stooped down and then rose up, moved quickly, so quickly, breaching the surface and letting his whole form be seen by the humans on the beach in what seemed like a crazy belly-flop. He then looked at the beach and we could all see the shock from the humans.
“See?” I said. “Sometimes they are surprised, sometimes afraid, sometimes angry. And Phil, you shouldn’t do that. It just worries them.” I paused. “It worries me, too.”
Dani gave me a gentle touch as she swam past.
“They enjoy it but you are right, we should go.”
Phil looked disappointed. He knew that he could not go close to the beach, that was far too dangerous. He knew that – although they were not, technically, related – he wanted to be just like his Uncle Zack.
We swam away where they could not see us but I had a sneaking suspicion that the next time we approached a shore with humans on it Phil was going to show himself and breach the surface, just to prove that he could.
Calves, eh? What can you do with them?
About the author
Robin Lewis-Light is an avid Your Local Link reader. Based in York, he loves his trips to the beach and around the country, a hobby that inspired this short story.
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