"Come on, everybody, let's go down to the lake," I said cheerfully. "But, just to be on the safe side, I wish that if anyone from outside our group should see us, particularly Jennings and Kelly, they will not regard it as unusual in any way. Would you lead the way for us, Jennings?"
"Certainly, sir," he said. Jennings walked in his gorilla-like posture toward the back of the room. I followed close behind him and I felt Kelly come closer to me. I glanced over my shoulder and saw Erica shoot a stern look at me.
Jennings led us through a couple of other rooms and eventually into the enormous kitchen. I glanced at some of the fixtures, but didn't want to slow down the pace, so I didn't dwell on any particular thing. There was a large, windowed door at the very back of the kitchen which led to the vast outside grounds of the mansion.
As Jennings opened the door and waited for everyone to pass through it, I asked him, "Just how far of a walk is it to the beach Kelly mentioned?"
"It is a few hundred yards," he said.
"Well exercise is good," I said. I waited for Jennings to close the door and go back to the head of the group to lead the way. My eyes caught sight of Erica, and I sensed she had something to say to me. "Are you still worried about her?"
"Of course I am," she answered. "A mother never stops worrying about her child."
"I hope you know that I would never let any harm come to her due to anything I've done," I said.
"I should think so," she said. "But it would be nice for you to reassure me. How exactly are you going to do that?"
I shook my head slightly. "You'll see," I answered. "I just want to say it once so that I don't mess it up."
She looked slightly aggravated at this statement. She sighed heavily and said, "I'll put my trust in you now, but..." Her voice trailed off without an end to her sentence.
I decided to bring up a likely uncomfortable topic. "I hate to ask this now, but I think it will better help me to understand. Are you a widow?"
"Am I that obvious?" she asked.
"No, I wouldn't call it that," I answered. "It's just that you could be called 'over-protective,' and there has to be a good reason for that."
"You're right," she said. "My husband was in the army and was killed in Afghanistan in 2002. Kelly wasn't even three years old then. Since then, you could say I've kept her in my sights pretty firmly. She's never been to school and she's never really had any friends of her own. Mr. Wooten was gracious enough to pay for a private tutor, so she's been home-schooled."
"Is that why she's so...precocious for her real age?" I asked.
"I don't actually think so," Erica replied. "I think that it's why she acts more like an adult, because she's always been around adults and in an environment like this where everyone has to have impeccable, deferential manners. But the tutor would never have pushed her unless she had the intelligence for it. That was just a gift of genetics, I suppose."
"Were you or your husband smart like her?" I asked.
She shook her head. "Not to her level. We had other talents. I've always been good at cooking, my husband was an athlete and a leader," she said. "The army was natural to him."
"I'm sorry to have prodded so much," I said.
She smiled slightly. "It's OK. It feels good to talk instead of keeping it inside all the time," said Erica.
"Looks like we're here," I said as I looked up to see the beach just ahead. I walked back up to the head of the group with Jennings and Kelly. Kelly looked very anxious and eager. We came to a stop. I looked at Kelly and asked, "Are you ready?"
"Yes," she said eagerly.
"OK, as specific as I can be," I said. "I wish that Kelly would become a mermaid when she touches the water of Lake Romine only, so that she can be exposed to water in other places and not change. I also wish that she will be invisible to all human eyes with the exception of the people in this group when she is in her mermaid form, so that no one will see her as a mermaid except us. I also wish that any and all animal, plant, bacteria or any other kind of living organism in the lake will not be able to harm her in any way so that she may explore the lake freely and always be safe."
I glanced quickly at Erica and saw an appreciative smile on her face. Kelly ran over to her and gave her a firm hug. "I will be back soon, Mother, in time for dinner," she assured. Then she walked over to me and gave me a quick kiss on the cheek. With that she ran into the lake at full speed and quickly disappeared under the water. We all held our collective breaths for a moment until her head emerged from the water. She smiled at us and floated up to the surface to show all of us her mermaid tail. "This is incredible!" she shouted. "See everyone soon, I cannot wait to see how you all change!" With that, she disappeared under the water again.
I looked at Erica again and saw her wipe a tear from her eye. I walked over to her and gently placed my hand on her shoulder. She bit her lip and forced a smile. "Thank you," she said quietly.
"Shall we return indoors?" Jennings asked.
"Absolutely," I said. "But let's make it easy. I wish that we were all back in the room where we just were." Before any of us could blink an eye, we were back in the same room. Everyone glanced around to regain their bearings. "Who wants to go next?" I asked.