I sat on deck, watching for dolphins, but Maria soon tired of this and went inside the cabin.
I heard her turn the television on. It sounded like a programme about whales going on land to die. This was not something I wanted to see or hear, so I closed the cabin door quietly and remained outside. I sat on the deck and watched the stars and the water.
The only sounds were the waves sweeping through the anchorage, and the generators on the island. There were no humans outside the buildings. Like us, they planned to wake before the sun had risen, or they were on Little Rat with Vanessa.
I watched a large shark cruise through the anchorage, perhaps looking for sea lions or fish. He turned his head and I saw it was a hammerhead, perhaps the largest I had yet seen. His presence would explain why the dolphins had not come to swim with us yet.
I decided to tell Maria about him, once her whale-death programme was finished.
I stretched out on the deck again. I wanted to be in the water swimming, but even Vanessa’s arbitrary orders were to be obeyed. Instead, I watched for rocks burning up in the dark sky high above my head. I had counted six before Maria slammed the cabin door open.
“Sister, the humans know of us. They have heard us sing, they have found bodies of our kind and they are studying them!”
I had never seen her so pale. She would not joke about such a serious matter. I rolled to my feet. “How do you know this? Have you heard humans discussing us? I have not heard any voices bar yours.”
She gestured frantically with her hand. “The humans have broadcast a programme detailing the results of their research. Come and see!”
I followed her doubtfully into the cabin. Maria pointed at the television screen. “Look. They have even filmed us swimming!”
I looked, but the figures in the water were not clear. I checked the channel, and found it to be something called Animal Planet, which purported to show programmes on animal behaviour, as opposed to fictional entertainment. I settled down to watch Maria’s alarming programme, hoping that whale carcasses would not be shown.
When I saw what the humans considered evidence of mermaids, I couldn’t stop laughing. The mermaids they showed had tails like a dugong, webbed fingers and no hair. Also, they were ugly and completely blue. “Those aren’t people of the ocean’s gift. Those are humans wearing cosmetics and clothing.”
Maria was still worried. “Perhaps the humans had to do this to demonstrate what they thought we looked like, based on their evidence. Still, they know we are here. Look, the body they found was in South Africa!”
I raised my eyebrows. “The body the humans claim to have found was a few years ago in South Africa. Have you heard of any deaths among our kind in the last ten years? They would have sent Vanessa with Nafula to take care of a lost body. Vanessa has not visited Africa in many years. If the humans have a body they have investigated, it is not one of ours.”
The programme ended with humans venturing out in a small vessel to search for mermaids, by using a recording of mermaid voices to call them. I watched this carefully.
“If they had a real recording of our kind, they and their vessel would have been destroyed by our people. This is evidence that the humans know nothing of us. Come, I will show you on Vanessa’s machine in the house.” I crossed the deck and leaped lightly onto the jetty. I led the way back to Vanessa’s blue house. There was no light in the house, so I switched it on. I pressed the button on the little computer machine and the screen glowed in a semblance of life.
A little apprehensive, as I had only seen Vanessa do this and not used the machine myself, I used the device she called a mouse to connect to the internet. I carefully typed out, “mermaid” in the search box that appeared when I clicked the blue letter “e”.
I laughed again when I read on the screen a question asking if I had been “fooled” by the Animal Planet “program”.
I pointed it out to Maria. “You see? This is entertainment, as is all you see on that television screen. Here, would you like to know if humans consider mermaids to be real?”
I carefully typed in, “Are mermaids real” and was rewarded with a statement from a human government department. “Look. This human agency says that no aquatic humanoids have ever been found.”
Maria looked thoughtfully at the screen. She read more slowly than I did. “I think that human government department has one of our kind working in it. Our Pacific sisters must have a powerful singer as skilled as Vanessa, who passes for human.”
I considered this. “Perhaps. Or maybe humans are just not observant, and those who are do not survive long enough to make their observations widely known.”
We both heard the sound of a small motor approaching.
“She is returning. Quick, we must return to the vessel and maintain our watch.”
We hurried along the jetty and sat on the deck. We waved as she went past. She acknowledged us with a nod, but the human she permitted to drive her small boat did not see us.
Maria chose to report on what she had seen. “We have learned nothing but that humans are gullible and sometimes stupid.”
Out of respect for my sister, I did not voice my thoughts, but I reflected that Maria had more in common with humans than she acknowledged.