"In The Flesh" by Melanie Sue

In the Flesh

by Melanie Sue

 

“She just loves the water,” Katie smiled, watching Dot splash in the puddle in the sugar sand.

“Yeah, we got lucky. I don’t know how we’d go vacationing with a baby that didn’t like the outside.” Brittany got up to adjust the umbrella to protect her from the sun and make sure she wasn’t sitting directly in the puddle they dug for her to splash in.

When Katie and Brittany got to the beach that morning, they set up close to the water’s edge. It wasn’t a popular beach, but an outcropping that a few of the locals went to when they wanted to escape the tourists. Still, it had the same perks as the big beach off the kayak launch. 

The sugar sand was soft and white. It shifted with the current like the sand in an hourglass. The water was crystal blue, not cloudy like the waters of the gulf. No, this was a flowing water, so clear you could see the sea grass and schools of mullet. In the deeper water, redfish and snook were prevalent, but the big draw to the area was the manatee.

Brittany chuckled.

“What’s that about?” Katie looked intrigued.

“Oh, I was just thinking about the first time Dot saw a manatee. It was March, peak season. We took her in a glass-bottom boat right out here. She cooed on about it being a mermaid. She was so excited!”

Just then, two jet skis went flying by at top speed, startling the women. Dot squealed with delight from her spot in the sand and raised her chubby little arms gleefully. It took a minute, but the wake from the passing vessels lapped in far enough to touch the baby’s feet and fill her puddle with fresh water. Brittany rushed over to check on her.

“You good, baby?”

Dot laughed. She didn’t have a normal baby giggle. Her laugh came from deep in her soul and made everyone around her light up and laugh with her.

Katie shuffled over to help reorganize the sand around the baby and make a new puddle for her to play in. When the women finished fussing and were satisfied with their heart-shaped hole full of fresh water, Katie looked over. “What do you think, Dot? Do you love it?”

Dot nodded in agreement, “Mmm hmmm!”

“What’s in your mouth? Let me see.” Brittany waved her hand in a come-hither way to the baby.

Dot turned her back to her.

“Dot, let me see, now!”

The girl moved to all fours, ready to crawl away, but kept whatever it was in her mouth. Katie grabbed her and pulled her back into her lap. “What do you have, Dot? Let me see.”

She turned her head right towards Brittany, who pried her mouth open. “OH MY GOD!”

“What? What is it?” Katie asked, the hysterics building.

Dot started crying.

“Katie, it’s a finger!” Brittany showed her and tried to hold back the vomit building in her throat.

“What the hell! What do we do? Do we call someone?”

“I don’t know. Let me think.” Brittany grabbed a sandwich bag and put the finger in it. “Okay, worst-case scenario, someone was sliced and diced and there is a body out there.”

“And best-case scenario?” Katie had an incredulous look on her face as she tried to calm the sobbing girl.

“Maybe someone had a fishing accident with a filet knife. You know how sharp those knives are.”

Katie’s jaw dropped. Dot tried sticking her tiny fist in Katie’s mouth, but Katie shook her head. “Let’s get this kid back to the cottage and get her something to eat while we figure out what to do.”

“You mean something other than finger food?” Brittany asked, trying to make light of the situation.

Katie rolled her eyes and handed Dot to her mother.

After a few hours, some food, wine, and time out of the sun, the women decided not to call the authorities. It would be their little secret. They double wrapped the finger in a grocery bag and threw it in the trash. They planned on taking the trash to the dumpster before they left for the weekend and no one would be the wiser.

It had been a peaceful beginning to the evening until Dot woke up from her nap screaming her little girl lungs out.

“Dot!” Brittany jumped up from the wicker chair and ran to the room the baby was in. “Dot, what is it?” She picked up the girl, still screaming and drenched in sweat.

“What is it?” Katie asked as she rounded the corner.

“I don’t know, but she’s soaked.”

“I’ll help you.” Katie grabbed the diaper bag while Brittany started stripping her daughter of her wet clothes.

“What the fuck! Oh my God!”

“What? What is it?” Katie ran over to the bedside.

What she saw made no sense. Brittany had removed Dot’s sleep pants. The diaper Dot had on had split at the crotch and only secured at the waist. Her legs were different. Tendrils of flesh joined her legs together as one. Her heels were together, toes out ballet style. 

Katie noticed that the little girl was having trouble breathing. “Take off her shirt!”

Brittany tore off Dot’s shirt to reveal what looked like a set of gills on either side of the baby’s ribs. Both women screamed.

“We have to get her in the water!” Katie pulled Brittany to the bathroom and filled the tub. They put the baby in the water and her breathing eased.

“What is this?” Brittany cried.

“The finger must have been diseased. It’s the only thing I can think of.”

“What am I going to do?”

Both women stared at Dot in the tub, laughing her hearty laugh and breathing freely in the water. The longer they watched, the more the baby changed before their eyes into a tiny mermaid.

“Mama! Mermay! Mermay!” Then Dot sang. The women had never seen a mermaid in the flesh.