Every plate on this beach has an audience. Get Your Own rounds up the Mermaid Dayz designs where lunch is on the rock and somebody else has noticed: a gull circling, a crab reaching, a lobster with his claws already out. She has noticed too. She is just eating faster.
The gull always lands first
Pastries Over People sits in the surf with a pastry in hand, a tray of more beside her and a seagull perched close enough to be a problem. Carbs Over Coral holds hers straight up while two gulls dive for it, and Bribing The Locals takes the other approach, one treat held out to a single gull in exchange for peace. Cabernet & Crackers pairs a glass of red with a plate of crackers and a bird who has opinions about both, and Bring The Wine says it plainly, If You're Going To Yell, Bring Wine, to a seagull mid-yell. Olive The Drama and its dockside twin are the moment the gull actually wins, flying off with an olive on a pick while she holds the martini and reconsiders the bowl.
Claws near the plate
Bring The Entrée holds a plate with one bite left on it over a crab looking up, under the words I Assume There's More. Siren Room Service reaches into a picnic basket full of fruit and bottles with a crab stationed beside it, and Sharing Is Optional has a blonde in sunglasses with a cocktail while a crab holds up a sign reading Share The Space, which she has read and declined. Carbs Over Claws is the one with a person in it: a fisherman hauls lobster traps on the dock above while she reaches up out of the water for the basket that matters. Last Cupcake Standing is two friends in the water and one cupcake floating between them, both hands already moving.
Sharing, in theory
Sharing Is Hard stretches along the edge of a dock with a whole tray of snacks and bottles and no intention of getting up. Sharing Is Overrated puts three mermaids around one plate, one of them laughing behind her hand, and Sharing Wasn't Mentioned raises a champagne flute with the bottle right beside her, so the terms were clear. High Tide Society floats a tray of fruit and drinks under a striped umbrella, and Off Duty Paddleboard lays the whole picnic out on a board with the paddle floating off somewhere unimportant.
For the one who orders for the table
She orders for the table and means herself. She has pulled a basket six inches closer without looking up, she has held a pastry above her head on principle, and she has a friend who does the exact same thing and denies it. Pick the plate that looks like hers. The gull got one olive, once, and has been coming back every afternoon since on the strength of it.
Written by Mari Bennett. Thanks for reading.