In the warm waters of a faraway land lived a well-meaning manatee.
For those of you who do not know what a manatee is, let me tell you. Manatees are big swimmers, devout vegans, and firm believers in the family unit. They love a spot of warm water, and when they are not busy eating, resting, or taking care of their family, they love a good nose around other animals’ business.
Manatees are very well behaved and have a good disposition, and are, in general, quite happy with their lot. But, as always, there is an event to rock the proverbial boat.
So, it happened that, one warm, balmy day, when our main character manatee, called Mindy was gently floating around, she found herself under attack with tiny little shells. They did not hurt her proper but they were annoying nevertheless.
Mindy shyly peered from under the surface of the water to see that the creature throwing the shells at her was a stunning-looking mermaid with long, fire-red flowing hair, a shiny yellow fish tail, and the most beautiful, blue eyes. The entire being of the mermaid seemed to catch the sun and reflect it all around her, so much so, that Mindy felt blinded by the shiny mermaid and made a gesture to go under, and about her business.
Unhappy with the reaction, the mermaid swiftly went into the water and, in no time, she was right next to a very surprised Mindy. The mermaid waved excitedly and swam around the large manatee, almost three times her size.
Soon, Mindy had to concede defeat and swam to the surface to see what the pestering mermaid wanted.
‘Hello …’, she said in a very distrusting tone.
The mermaid looked as if she had never entered the water. She was sparkling and gorgeous.
‘Heeyyyy! You are a manatee, riiiight???’, and without waiting for an answer, the mermaid went on. ‘Do you know we are related? We are both from the Sirenia clan.’
‘Oh!?!…’, Mindy did not know, and looking at the mermaid, she hardly thought it possible there was any type of relation between them.
Mindy was about two meters and a bit long, and was aaaa … significant weight. The mermaid was well put together, too, but compared to Mindy, she was tiny.
Mindy was starting to feel uncomfortable and desperately wanted to leave.
‘What do you want?’, she sounded gruff, although it was difficult for her to make her usually squeaky, manatee voice sound tough.
The mermaid put on a seductive smile.
‘Oh, nothing! I just wanted to meet my long-lost cousins! I wanted to see how you are! There is a story that we, the mermaids, as you see us now, have been, in a very distant past, more similar to you. We changed, though, over the years, we put in the effort, and bettered ourselves, becoming what you see today!’
And the mermaid gave an unexpected, gracious twirl in the air, letting out sparkles of light reflected from her scaly tail, almost blinding poor Mindy with her spectacle.
A beautiful song could be heard in the distance, and the mermaid left in a hurry, waving back to the speechless Mindy.
‘Gotta dash!’, she sang on a breath.
When the mermaid was gone, Mindy found that her world felt darker, devoid of warmth and color.
While swimming in the shallow waters, Mindy started to ruminate on the things the mermaid had said. Was it possible that manatees could become mermaids? They were indeed related, she had looked it up. They were all a part of the same family, the Sirenia family.
So, this meant that, if Mindy worked really hard, she too could become like the mermaid. With the image of the sparkling mermaid imprinted on her mind’s eye, Mindy decided to do whatever she had to do to bring out in herself all the things that were similar to the mermaid.
First things first. Mindy was too big, so she stopped eating.
Second, Mindy had no fish-scales, so she scoured the shops at the bottom of the sea, until she found a tattoo parlor where a big, shifty crab promised he could draw on her skin such realistic scales that nobody would tell the difference.
Mindy agreed, and, in no time, half of her body was covered in bright, colorful, inky patches.
‘It just needs to heal!’ The crab said and quickly went away!
Mindy was not feeling very well, and because she was not nourishing her body, the wounds on her skin did not heal, but started to grow into strange bubbles.
Mindy’s mother found her almost unconscious on the seabed.
Young manatees spend a long time with their mothers, learning from them where to find food, where the warm water is, so their bond is very strong.
‘What did you do, you stupid child?’, Mindy’s mother whispered while lovingly taking care of her.
Shortly, Mindy was back to swimming and, in secret, trying to devise other ways to turn herself into a spectacular mermaid.
Mindy had read the research that said you can be whatever you want to be, you can accomplish whatever you set your mind to, if you are disciplined and you work hard enough, nothing can stop you from achieving your goals! It was written so!
Not eating was not an option, so Mindy started to swim for hours on end to build strength and lose weight. In a few short weeks, Mindy discovered that although she hadn’t lost any weight, she enjoyed swimming even more and had become significantly faster. She felt that brought her closer to the mermaid, and it pleased her.
On one of her long swimming trips, Mindy stumbled on a dark, deep, corner of water. Manatees don’t like cold water, so Mindy was about to turn back, when she heard a strange singing muffled by the water. Carefully, she explored a bit more.
Because manatees mostly glide when swimming, Mindy was able to get close to a scary scene without being noticed.
A mermaid, a different one than the one she had met previously, was surrounded by a school of menacing fish. Fish with sharp teeth that shone like boat propellers in the dark water.
The mermaid was cooked! Without thinking too much about it, Mindy moved in, spinning and making lots of waves, confusing the fish with her massive body. She signaled to the mermaid, and they both swam away. They swam as fast as they could, and they only stopped when they were in Mindy’s very quiet neighborhood.
‘Are you ok?’, Mindy asked the unbelievably beautiful mermaid. She had very curly, fluffy hair, and she was the most delicate creature Mindy had ever seen.
‘I am, thank you so much for saving me! You are a hero!’ Mindy could sense in her words that she really meant it.
‘Oh no, anyone would have done that!’, Mindy really did not think it was much, it was just normal to help someone in need.
‘I am so grateful you were passing by! You must be a very brave manatee. I know your kind don’t venture that far out.’
Mindy did not want to tell her that she was training, hoping to become a mermaid. The role of brave manatee suited her just fine.
The next day, the mermaid brought her parents to thank Mindy, and her mother was so proud of her little girl, although part of her was worried that something bad might have happened.
Mindy found that she was very happy and comfortable in her skin of skilled manatee, and happily signed up to support younger manatees to learn how to be great swimmers and fighters too.
Sometimes, while admiring the scars on her skin (the tattooist crab had been a liar, they had never healed into beautiful scales, but just turned into little black marks on her body), Mindy thought about how, in her quest to become more like the mermaid, she had actually become a better manatee, and that was what it was all about. Becoming a better version of yourself, not similar to somebody else.
Mindy was grateful for the experience, and for the lesson, and you know what? It turns out mermaids make great friends, as Mindy was happy to learn.
Lovely.