Happy Valentine’s Week from the Waterworld Mermaids!!!
Here in our lovely mermaid lagoon, we are all abuzz with the holiday of love. And because we’re in such a happy mood, we wanted to share some stories and memories from mermaid-pasts. Best of all, we’re celebrating all week long! We hope you enjoy!
Ever notice how love can inspire music and music often has a hand in love? Whether the feelings are between significant others or family members, today’s stories mix these two beautiful things – love and music….
Songs in the Key of Love
Denny S. Bryce
He had a voice like smooth raw silk—deep and rich and soft and strong. When he sang, with his lips next to my ear, his breath was warm and cool, and always made me smile.
He loved to sing. He would burst into song anywhere, any time. When we sat in the car at the gas pump, or as we shopped for groceries, or walked across the football field after he’d coached a game.
It took a few months, but eventually, I joined in and sang the words I knew to whatever song he was singing. But my voice never sounded as good as his. So I mostly sat back and let him sing to me. He liked it best that way.
He wasn’t showing off. No, but sometimes talking didn’t do what he wanted it to do. His words weren’t as good as the lyrics on the radio. It was easier to say what he wanted to say with a song.
So he’d serenade me.
After a while, I stopped noticing when he sang, or that he wasn’t singing as much anymore.
Then one night we were in the car driving back from, or driving off to, somewhere, and a Stevie Wonder song came on the radio. It was from a 1976 album, Songs in the Key of Life, one of my favorites from back in the day.
He pulled over to the side of the road, and started singing…
“As”.
If you’re not familiar, here are some of the lyrics…
You know what I say is true
That I’ll be loving you always
(Until the rainbow burns the stars out in the sky)
Always
(Until the ocean covers every mountain high)
Always
(Until the dolphin flies and parrots live at sea)
Always
(Until we dream of life and life becomes a dream)
Did you know that true love asks for nothing
No no her acceptance is the way we pay
Did you know that life has given love a guarantee
To last through forever and another day
Well, let’s just say, I started listening again…and heard every word when he sang.
Happy Valentine’s Day!
Song from the Heart
Masha Levinson
This thing I hold in my arms is more like a loaf of bread than a baby. And not one of those pretty loaves either. He’s all beat up looking. Black and blue. As if he’d been in a fight and is now sleeping off a horrid hangover. Except unlike most drunks, this one isn’t staying quiet. He’s screaming as if belting out a tune for the cheap seats at Lincoln Center. And it’s 2:30 in the morning. And I’m tired. And cranky. And I want to go to sleep. And he won’t cooperate. The spindles from the creaky rocking chair are digging into my back. My arm, the one his lumpy head is resting on, has long ago fallen asleep. Why won’t this kid sleep?
It’s half an hour later when his eyelids begin to flutter up and down. Small veins weave around his translucent skin. His fragility amazes me. Twenty minutes later, he’s finally asleep. I exhale. As if holding the rarest of gems, I will my body off the chair, cringing when the hinges squeal. I hold my breath. He doesn’t stir. Step by step, I make it to the crib. The side is up. I can’t reach in there. I look around the semi-lit room and see the stepstool. I hold him in my arms and with one foot drag it toward his crib. His eyes flutter open. My breath hitches. He closes them. I place the stool in front of the bed and gingerly climb on it. The crib is still too high for me.
Each time, before I lower him into the crib, no matter how tired, I lean over and kiss his satiny forehead. Tonight is no different. He sighs. I smile. I lean over and place him, as carefully as if he was the most fragile loaf of bread, onto the sheets. I hold my breath and wait. Sometimes he wakes and sometimes he doesn’t. He continues sleeping. I exhale and creep out of the room. I crawl into my bed. My body begins to drift off as the last thought flutters through my mind. I wonder if he’ll ever know what I did for him.
Fourteen years later I’m sitting in front of the school, waiting to pick him up from a homecoming dance. It’s Saturday night. Request night on the love station. I’m tapping my finger on the steering wheel. The music filters off and then I hear it. “Our last dedication is to Masha from her brother and for everything she did for him.”
I stop tapping. And breathing. The intro to the song begins to fill the car. A moment later the words come across my old radio loud and clear. I am no longer left to wonder.
The song he chose is Hero.
We hoped you enjoyed our stories today. Come back tomorrow for more sweet stories that are sure to make you feel all gooey (in a good way)!