Mermaid Time is the collection for the hours nobody asks about. No sidekick with a sign, no suitor with a bouquet, no plate to defend. Just a mermaid, a dock, a book she may or may not be reading, and a calendar that has been cleared through next week. She is not lazy. She is booked, and the booking is with herself.
Reading counts as a whole activity
Booked & Unbothered lies flat on the dock with a paperback, and the words Current Mood are carved right into the planks beside her, in case anyone wondered. Booked and Busy has the same idea on a striped towel over a rock, while a row of small crabs waits at the waterline for a turn that is not coming. Books Before Sailors goes further and moves in: a whole bookshop built onto a boat, a sign reading Lost At Sea over the door, and her tail trailing out into the water because the shop was never going to hold all of her.
Anything that floats will do
Billionaire Bait stretches out on the deck of somebody's boat in sunglasses with a bottle of champagne and no explanation. Certified Beach Hoarder perches on a weathered rowboat so full of shells there is barely room for her, and she is clearly keeping every one. Uncharted & Unbothered sits on a pile of vintage trunks reading a treasure map she is in no hurry to follow, and Whatever Floats It lies along a dock with her tail flipped up and the line carved into the plank under her arm. The plan is the boat. The destination is later.
Off duty, in every possible location
The Off Duty family covers every surface a mermaid can recline on. Off Duty Siren takes the rock with a glass and a small tray of snacks, Off Duty On The Buoy leans on a red buoy with a cocktail while a crab minds a shell on the sand, and Off Duty By The Lighthouse picked a buoy with a view of a small tropical island. Off Duty Paddleboard floats in open water with her arms across a board that is now a snack table, the paddle drifting off on its own. Officially Off Duty says it out loud from a dock with a tropical drink and a crab for company, and Not Today, Fish holds up a round sign to an entire school of fish that had questions. For the woman who wants it in writing, If Lost Return To The Ocean is just the words and a coral tail, a return policy she takes seriously.
For the woman whose weekend has no agenda
This is for the one who answers what are you doing Saturday with a look. The reader on the dock, the friend who brought a rowboat full of shells home and regrets nothing, the sister who has been off duty since Thursday and will not be taking questions. She already has a rock. This collection just puts her name on it.
Written by Mari Bennett. Thanks for reading.