Tommy and the Little Mermaid

Something for the kids

There was a tall tale that was once told in my town, about the boy and the little mermaid. His name was Tom Boy, as that was what his father gave him the name, and known to all of us as Tom or Young Boy to those who was his elder. Tom liked to fished, when he was not at school or at work with his father in the river searching for gold nuggets.

Or when he was not sleeping. For a growing boy, he needed some hours of sleep daily.

He was always with his fishing rod; a long stick with a long string but no hook. That was the reason, Tom never caught any fishes. He did however caught a Mermaid; a young one named Tammy but we would called her the Little Mermaid.

It all began that day.

When Tom does his fishing on the rock, he could not keep quiet. He likes to sing the lullabies to attract the fishes They do come to see him as they knew he had no hook on his line. But not that day, none of the fishes came. They were no fishes in the river. It was cleared like the water in the bath tub.

Nothing deterred Tom from his fishing; he sat there and sang his heart out.

Then he felt a tug on the line. He had finally caught a fish.

"Oh mind!" Tom shouted out. "I got a fish."

"Oh no, you did not." Tom looked at the half girl and half fish figure who had held jumped out of the river. It was a mermaid; he had read of them before. She had in her hands his fishing line. IT

"I am here to tell you that you are causing us an issue with the fishes not coming to the school. We had low attendance since you began singing to them." The little mermaid held onto his line. "When you fished, you are supposed to keep quiet. Not sing those lullabies. The young fishes were supposed to learned that at the school."

Then Tom stood up and faced the little mermaid.

"I was not fishing them. I was singing to them, as I liked to sing to them. More than that, they don't get caught and eaten by the others." Tom told the mermaid. "I was protecting them."

"And you don't eat fishes?" Little Mermaid squinted her eyes to looked at the boy. If Tom was had told a lie, he would had been fearful of her. When the mermaid squint her eyes, she looked like a barracuda on the prowl.

"Uh uh I disliked fishes. I also disliked chicken and all meat. I am an organic eater like my Mum." Tom glared at the little Mermaid. "Are you a meat eater, Mermaid?"

"Of course not. I am a mermaid. We eat only the seaweeds and the plankton." The mermaid replied. Then she smiled.

"If you don't eat us, then thank you. My name is Tammy." The little mermaid reached with her hand out to hand over the line. "You could had given them bread as they liked that. A loose ended string was not much to bite on."

From that day, Tom and Tammy kept each company at the river. Tom would bring on the loafs of bread to feed the fishes while Tammy would whispered to him the deposits of gold nuggets in the river. They were good friends till the day they realized that the river was just one more place in the whole world to visit. Soon I heard the two of them had travelled the seven oceans and five continents.

Now that's what friends are for; best of pals for life. My best pal writes to me weekly from wherever he was as I was still in the town. I always replied; I missed you, Tom. Love Macy