Meanwhile, the multitude of plates and bowls overflowing with food, that covered our table, started to wobble dangerously. Bits of food began to rise off their plates without permission. Everyone sank slowly and carefully back to their seats and sat very still while the dishes settled down on the table.
After that, things started to get a little silly.
“Oh, YukTwo,” Ert said. “Would you mind passing the molded mush?
“Delighted,” YukTwotuktuk answered and she broke off a piece of something greenish brown from a bowl in front of her, gave it a little shove and sent it floating over to Ert. He put the whole thing in his mouth and looked heavenward.
“Perfection,” he uttered. It may have been perfection, but it didn’t fit into my color category of acceptable edibles. Old-and-doddering was the next to speak up.
“Floradora,” he said and I realized that I didn’t know who he was yet, “I believe you’re sitting right next to the fermented frangipani weed.”
“My pleasure,” Grandma Sky answered, and sent it flying. Cool, I thought, a super polite food fight. I raised the orange thing to my mouth and took a tentative lick ...and melted. Summer fruit! What a great party. That was when things started to get a little hairy.
Everyone wanted food and they all seemed to want whatever was at the other end of the table. Voices were getting louder just to make themselves heard and food was flying, or floating pretty fast, anyway. The water wasn’t still anymore, and nothing seemed to move in a straight line. Stuff would hit a current caused by some other passing bit and take a right turn, somehow ending up with the person who originally requested it.
At the same time, the dishes on the table didn’t budge. Nary a wobble. Hands reached out and delicately picked out just the right piece without disturbing a thing.
I believe what I was now watching could be best described as a combination food fight, shouting match and underwater ballet. I looked around at the rest of the Great Hall. Everybody was doing it. The noise level was rock-concert loud. There was more food flying around in the water than there was on the tables. It wasn’t clear whether the point of the party was eating food or playing with it. I nibbled on my summer fruit, trying to make it last as long as possible.
All good things must come to an end and I finally finished it. There was a dish of purple fuzzy things that looked like they might be another kind of summer fruit that were close enough for me to reach if I could get my other arm unstuck.
My arm was finally free and I was going for the purple when YukTwotuktuk caught my eye and gave me the ‘come over here I have something to say to you’ eyebrow lift. Most people who wanted to talk were swimming over to their designated listener because the room was too noisy for anything more complicated than ‘pass the gorp.’ I smiled back. I don’t know how all those people managed to move around without making enough waves to send everything flying off the table and I wasn’t about to try, so I just smiled and nodded, like I didn’t understand.
I guess YukTwo-etc. didn’t want to lose her spot, because, instead of swimming over to me, she leaned across Verona. Verona was forced to lean back. She leaned back some more. She leaned back so far that the only reason she didn’t float off her seat was because YukTwotuktuk had her tail pinned to the pillow.
“So, Miriam dear, is it true” that you’re going to visit The Kingdom of the Cats?” I felt like a celebrity confronting a gossip columnist.
“Yes,” I answered, relying on the less is better approach.
“Oh, right,” Verona piped up from floor level. “I heard all about that. Miss Queen of the Cats.” I winced. If I ever really did have to do the queen thing, my first act would be to change that stupid name. Meanwhile, I had to practice not wincing, because I could see from the sly little smile on Verona’s nearly upside down face, that Queen of the Cats was a phrase that I would be hearing a lot.
Verona was still trying to dislodge her tail.
“Do you mind,” she finally said, giving YukTwo a dirty look.” YukTwo favored her with a brief glance and turned back to me.
“How interesting,” she gushed. “Are you really a queen?”
“Oh no,” I answered, hoping to defuse Verona’s comment. It’s just that I love cats so much,” and smiled broadly.
“Cats? Nasty little carnivores. If we didn’t depend on them for power nuts, no one insea would have anything to do with them at all.”
“Really,” I said, “so you don’t like cats.”
“Don’t do it, Miriam,” a little voice whispered in my ear. I flashed on Jiminy Cricket and then remembered the seahorses, who probably knew what they were talking about. The only time I ever think of a really good comeback, is when I can’t use it and I had at least a dozen ready for this lady. So I sat there grinning idiotically waiting for someone to rescue me.
It turned out to be Grandpa Sky.
“Miriam,” he said. “I would like you to meet Agatha. She’s an old friend and a member of our governing council.” I leaned forward to see around, forcing YukTwotuktuk to pull back. Verona finally got to sit up.
When the rearranging of body parts was done, I saw that there was a sea sprite sitting on YukOnetuk’s pillow.
“Hey, where’s the other Tuk?
“He’s a little uncomfortable with crowds,” Grandpa said. “He left right after we began eating.”
“You should have seen his face,” Verona added. “He looked like a swarm of barracudas was after him.”
“Of course, I insisted that he come,” YukTwo-etc. said, “but he wouldn’t stay. Large meals tend to be difficult for YukOnetuk.” I knew how he felt. I wouldn’t have minded joining him wherever he was.
“Hey, Miriam. Nice to meet you,” Agatha said and looked like she meant it.
“You, too,” I answered.
“That’s an amazingly wonderful crown and bib you’re wearing. Did Verona make it?”
“She most certainly did,” said the ancient Sky on my other side. “We haven’t been introduced yet. I’m Widdershins, Verona’s art teacher. Verona’s my best student. I’m sure she’ll choose the tactile arts.”
“Indeed?” said Ert. “The child shows too much promise as an historian. Her enthusiasm for ancient cultures is so evident that I can’t imagine why she would want to do anything else.”
“I’ve read some of her poetry. It is so the essence of who she is. Verona will be a poet,” YukTwo-etc. announced.
“There are some people I have to see,” Verona said...and she was gone. I was confused and I guess it showed, because Grandpa Sky decided to enlighten me.
“Every Sky chooses an avocation during their thirteenth year,” he said. “Verona’s time is now.”
Verona got to pick whatever she wanted to do and this bothered her? I had zero choices. I was marked and sold down the river by my own cat. My family pretended that I didn’t have to do it, but I knew better. My future was signed, sealed and delivered. No nice, normal life for me. I was the sacrificial lamb for Tefnut’s retirement plans. I was the crown princess of cats, doomed to become Queen of the Cats.
CHAPTER 24
INADEQUATE AND CONSPICIOUS
You’re never to big to be tucked in. That’s my new motto. Last night when Grandma Sky noticed that I was falling asleep at the table, she took me home, tucked me in and kissed me goodnight. She didn’t say the L word, but I felt it. When I woke up in the morning, I still felt kissed and tucked.
I was in my own sleeping room in between Verona’s room above and Grandma and Grandpa Sky’s room below. It was a not-too-big, not-too-small room with a heavy privacy curtain on the single wall door and no floor doors to accidentally fall through while I was dreaming. Deliciously soft and sinkable pillows, piled three deep covered the floor from wall to wall. This was not a room, it was a nest. I couldn’t wait to show Stanley.
The sleeping rooms I saw yesterday all had polished coral table tops glued to floor-pillows like supersized beanbag-lap desks. Mine sat in the corner with my cr
own and necklace on top. No seahorses. I guess they all had families to go home to. Then I remembered. All I had to do was whisper their names and I would have friends to share my happiness with.
Before I could even think their names, a hand reached around the door-curtain and pulled it aside. The hand was attached to a sour-faced Verona.
“Miriam, Aunt Floradora sent me to wake you up. It’s late.”
Bummer. There goes my good mood. This sister thing is going to take a lot of work.
“Hi, Verona,” I said, determined to wring a smile out of her. I sat up and stretched giving my bathing suit top a tug to make it more comfortable.
“You look really stupid with that thing on you’re chest.”
“I know, but I have this problem,” I started to say, determined to be nice.
“You have a problem all right. Everyone here thinks you’re a snob. It’s like you don’t want anybody to forget that you’re better than the rest of us. But all you really look like is a truly dumb drylander.”
“People really think that?”
“Of course,” she said, scornfully, folding her arms across her chest.
“Is that how you feel?”
“Like, what else could anybody think?”
Thus ensued the battle of the brain.
My right side speaks first: If I show Verona my wings, she’ll understand and she won’t think I’m a show-off. We can be friends.
Left side: Go ahead, show her. She’ll love it. She’ll love the fact that she has something she can use against you. She’ll tell everyone, but she’ll make it sound awful ...But, hey. Risk is my second name.
I looked Verona in the eye. Forget about being friends. I’d do anything just to wipe that smirk off her face. Score one point for the right side of my brain. I took off my shirt.
Her eyes were just about popping out of her head.
“Those are gorgeous. No way I would hide them if I had fins like that.”
“The problem,” I finally said, “is that they’re not fins.”
“Like what? They’re wings?”
“Yeah.”
Verona looked heavenward and rolled her eyes around.
“Not very functional, are they, sweetie?”
“Not underwater, but they’re fine outsea. Would you like to see?” I said, trying really, really hard to be nice.
“I most certainly would. With witnesses.”
What Verona really wanted, was to see me fail...with witnesses. I needed someone safe.
“How about Grandma or Grandpa?”
“They’re busy. How about Ert. I just finished a class with him.”
“I guess.”
Verona swam away to find Ert. I took the necklace out of my wing pocket, put my sports bra back on and swam up to the surface to wait for them. I took my time, wondering whether or not my good intentions were going to pay off.
They were waiting for me when I got there. Verona’s smirk was back. Ert looked concerned. I took a big swallow of fresh ocean air, wondering why it didn’t taste as good as I thought it should, while Ert swam over to me, waving to Verona to stay put.
“Miriam,” he said quietly. “We need to talk.” This is adult speak for ‘I talk. You listen.’ I got ready to listen.
“Miriam, you can’t get people to like you by bragging. Especially about things you can’t possibly do. Verona’s a great kid. Why don’t you just tell her the real reason you don’t want to take off your chest cover. The sooner you feel comfortable without it, the more you’ll look like everyone else and the more you’ll feel like everyone else.”
“But...”
“Don’t forget, I’ve spent most of my life studying history and culture, including outsea civilization. I tried to explain to Verona the drylander’s prohibitions about nudity and how hard it is to overcome, but I think it will make more sense to her if you tell her yourself. Besides, I would love to see those beautiful dorsal fins of yours. Go on.” He shooed me over to Verona. Ert sounded more like my school counselor than an historian and just as hard to ignore.
I shooed.
Halfway between them I stopped and took off my shirt. Ert had it right about drylanders and nudity. I felt like a flasher. I kept the bathing suit clutched to my chest and turned to Ert for approval.
“That’s great, Miriam. Now tell Verona how you feel.”
“Is it all right if I show her?”
“Of course. Go ahead.” I twisted my necklace to legs and took off.
...And it was good. Being able to fly, made up for a lot of crummy things in my life right now. I did a few swoops and looked down from my new and improved vantage point.
The double jaw-drop below me was deeply satisfying. Also, I learned something new. Wet wings still work. At least mine did. Maybe I was part duck. This led to some serious thinking about migrating the hell out of there and going home to Mommy and Daddy. I did a couple of double spirals and loop the loops to prolong the fun part, then sighed, realizing I would have to come down sometime.
I decided on the classic cannon ball landing for maximum splash, hugging my knees to my chest and twisting my necklace to tail at the last possible second. I must have caught Ert and Verona with their jaws still dropped because they were both sputtering and shaking their heads when I surfaced. Verona recovered first, sending eye-daggers in my direction, but Ert was the first to speak, probably because he still had his mouth open.
“Miriam!” How wonderful. How impossibly wonderful. I thought a drylander had to be a fairy to have wings. Is there something I don’t know. Are you really one of us? You must tell me all about it.”
Talk about disaster. Verona’s beloved mentor thought I was some kind of wonderful and Verona was not happy. She threw me another set of eye daggers and dove.
At least I didn’t have to watch her hang around and pout.
CHAPTER 25
OUT OF THE FRYING PAN
“I used to be a pretty ordinary person,” I said to Ert after she left. “I don’t know what I am now. I’m pretty sure I’m not a fairy. I think I’m still basically a drylander, only different. Really, really different. Weird, isn’t it.”
Ert fussed over me the rest of the day. He wanted to know everything. We had a picnic lunch onsea from my bag. I introduced him to macaroni and cheese. He loved it. But he wanted to know how it was made and when I explained to him about milk and cows, he was totally grossed out.
I told Ert as much as I could about my parents and Tefnut. I told him about the dragonfly fairies. He never seemed to run out of questions. But he was very nice and I felt comfortable talking to him. No wonder Verona liked this guy.
He even helped me solve my wing problem. At Ert’s suggestion, I took a mirror and a roll of Chameleon-brand waterproof duct tape out of my bag. I pulled my wings back under my shoulder blades and Ert taped them down. The mirrors were so I could supervise. After a couple of minutes, the tape matched my skin color so closely it was invisible. Ert said that the tape was true invisible, like magic-invisible and he couldn’t even find the edges. I don’t think you can buy Chameleon-brand at the mall.
Ert was right about one thing. I spent the rest of the day with my arms crossed over my chest.
I was still uncomfortable about anyone seeing me without a shirt after Ert left, so I headed back to the privacy of my sleeping rooms. Grandma Sky was waiting for me. Her eyebrows went up at the sight of my shirtless self, but she didn’t say anything about it. Grandma Sky had other things on her mind.
“Where have you been all day? I’ve looked everywhere.”
“Uh, with Verona and Ert.” She smiled. “Oh, with Verona.”
“Well, actually, only a little while with Verona. Mostly with Ert.”
“Miriam, today is your first whole day at Casalot. Don’t you think you should have spent it with your family? We had plans.”
“I’m sorry. I didn’t know.” Just to make sure I did know, she started ticking them off on her fingers.
“There was a
meeting of the General Council this morning. You were expected. Many of the members had prepared speeches of welcome. I even sent Verona to get you.”
“But–”
“You were expected at a luncheon in your honor given by the Tucks.”
“Nobody told me.”
“You make it your business to know, young lady.”
Who took away the Grandma who tucked me in last night?
“Agatha brought a group of sea sprites who wanted to meet you and Mele’ said that the seahorses were looking for you. It is a great honor to be befriended by them and I can’t see anything you’ve done to earn it.”
Dinner was a disaster. Everyone was mad at me. Again. Even Grandpa Sky. Nobody threw food at me and I didn’t have the nerve to ask. I couldn’t wait to get back to my sleeping room and get something to eat out of my bag. This time, it was Verona who was lurking around outside my room. She looked a lot like Grandma. Uh-oh. This must be payback time for this morning, just in case not telling Grandma where I was all day wasn’t enough. I geared back up for nice and pretended not to notice the water around her beginning to boil.
“Verona. Hi. I had a good time with Ert today. He’s really nice.” It didn’t work. She went directly to the topic at hand. Me.
“What makes you so special, that you deserve all that stuff,” Verona said. “You shouldn’t have it. It just makes you think you’re better than everyone else, which you certainly are not.”
I don’t know which straw that was, but it was definitely the last one. Any residual sympathy I might have had drained away. So she was stressed out about the Choosing thing. So what. That was no excuse. Being nice to this Sky was never going to work. My whole body shook with anger. I was hungry and I was pissed.
“Do you actually think I asked for any of this? Do you think it’s so great having everyone think you’re a freak of nature? Anyway, I’m tired of being nice to you. I’m nice to you, and all you are is mean, no matter how hard I try. Don’t think I don’t know that you’re trying to sabotage me with Grandma and Grandpa Sky. You’re just a nasty person, and I’ve had enough.” I wasn’t shouting, but I was close.