Lydia made the best time she was able with her reduced stride. You walk beside her, gently holding her elbow in your hand, letting her determine your speed. She tries her best but you feel a tugging in your chest that wants to propel you forward faster. You fear that you will be late. Just like yesterday, you feel a rising panic that you will somehow ruin both of your lives because you just can not go fast enough.
Lydia wiggles as best she can. Her hips are swinging back and forth on each step to gain the maximum distance on her stride. She leans forward far enough to be on her tip-toes. Nearly falling out of her sandals, she is almost skipping on her toes to go faster. You fear you are unconsciously pushing her too hard. You can hear her huffing with the exertion.
"Am, I going too fast?" you say in a whisper. You fear that you are and she will want you slow down. You wish you could just run, headless of everything. Run on ahead and find that man who owns the lamp and fix everything right this minute. But you would never forgive yourself if something happened to Lydia while you were gone. It is the indecisiveness that gnaws at your mind.
She surprises you by skipping ahead pulling free from your grasp. "The sun must have dried my shirt. I don't feel the changes anymore."
"You can walk?"
"Not well. But remember how powerful my tail was last night? My legs feel strong; even if they won't spread very far." She laughs as she springs off. Bounding on the balls of her feet she hopped quickly without moving her knees apart. It was a delicate balancing act and she only stopped when she almost keels over.
You laugh at her silly display and her joy. She had to flail her arms to dodge a garbage can. Her shiny-red hands sparkle in the sun light as she waves them about. You can see her large breasts bounding about pulling her sweater up exposing her brightly coloured stomach. You catch up and wrap your arms around her protectively.
"Alright!" you yell, "I guess you can make it. Now take it easy."
She beams at you. Slapping your arm playfully she teases you about your protective nature. But she allows you to once again take her arm as you both skip a block together.
******************
The swap-meet was in its last hour. The largest and most opulent stalls were closing down. The big ticket items were being readied for shipping. And everywhere there was and air of people getting ready to leave. The crowd was thin and you can weave your way through it easily.
You make your way to where you expect the man Lydia's father described, to be. It was somewhere in the back of the hall. You were looking for the most gaudy of lamps. But it was difficult to be sure which among the people it could be. To your untrained eyes, every lamp looked the same and every shop keeper wore the same beard. Lydia trailed behind, wiggling as best she could while trying to not look out of place.
You were beginning to fear that they guy must have left already. You would never find the right lamp. It was a long shot to begin with and you were stupid to get your hopes up. You were almost ready to give up when Lydia pinched your side.
She pointed with her head at a stall you had just passed. You had not looked closely enough at the man on the first pass and had eliminated him in your mind as the possible target. You could not see why Lydia had chosen to stop you. Had she seen the lamp?
You lean in close to hear her whisper into your ear. "That guy looks like he wants to get rid of something," she says. "Like he is going to wait until the very end to get it off his hands."
You take a longer look at the man. He was large and round with a neatly clipped beard and terrible comb-over. He was scanning the crowd looking for someone or anyone. Attentive as he was to the crowd he kept turning his head to check on something behind the table. It was as if he had something he feared would go missing if did not constantly watch it. And that he was looking for the correct person to take it from him, even though he did not know whom it would be.
Like a man looking for contact to slip illicit material, you think. You nod at Lydia, smiling so she knows you understand. When you look back at the man he has noticed you noticing him. You make your way closer to his table as he pretends that he was not looking at you out of the corner of his eye.
"Hey," you say with a friendly smile.
He greets you with a disapproving look honed by adults for assertive teens. "Hello," he says with a quiet voice.
"I'm looking for something special," you say. "I wonder if you might have anything out of the ordinary?"
He considers you with quiet unease. "I don't know about that. Most of what I have are normal antiques."
"Well, I want something special." You really do not want to come right out and ask for a magical lamp. How were you supposed to ask someone for something that any normal person would laugh at you about? "Do you have anything that looks like it might have a magical back-story to it? My girlfriend loves fantasy stories and she wants me to find her some kind of magical item today." You wink in such a way that he will know that you are kidding.
He looks over at Lydia who smiles brightly. Her white hair was eye-catching and made her look like a kooky young girl who would just love to hear how a lovely hand-mirror could grant wishes. He turns back to face you. In a low voice, "She's pretty. How much were you willing to spend on her, son?"
You speak through a clenched-tooth smile. "Not a whole lot, sir. I doubt you have any real magic items back there. If you did I'm sure they would be out of my price range. Right?"
"Not if they were slightly cursed," he said in a very firm voice. There was the hint of a sigh behind his words. For a moment you almost thought you could see fear in his eyes; like he had seen things that he never thought possible.
"I believe you," you say and try to put the same look into your eyes. Maybe he would get your hint.
He pulls a large cardboard box from below the table and lets you look through the many assorted items. Tin pots and wooden bowls clattered about as you searched. You pull a few items out searching for it. You almost fear that you have made a mistake when your hand touches a warm brassy object at the bottom. You draw it out amid the clattering of a junk box to find a lamp.
It was tarnished and missing the little top showing an empty inside. It had the long neck and the curling handle that you remember. If you did not know better you would have thought it Aladin's Lamp, so often shown in many stories. You turn it over looking for the faint lettering. The words appear smudged and tarnished but you just make out 'Tra----ma--on Gen-e'. It seemed very old but you could swear that this was the one lamp you had held yesterday.
"Aladin's lamp? This would make her giggle for hours. How much?"
He looks you over. "Five bucks, but only if you are willing to risk the curse."
"Be careful what you wish for? I think I've heard that one before," you say loudly so Lydia could hear. You wink at the man letting him know to play along with your lie.
"I've used that lamp before and it can bring you much joy but also terrible pain." He looked to Lydia and sold the magical nature to her. If Lydia had been the girl you lied to make her it would have worked.
"I'll take it," you say and slip the man a twenty.
He sighs as if a great weight had just been taken from him. He gives you a look of almost sorrow as you link arms with Lydia and go to leave. He thinks he is giving you something terrible, but you know you may have found your salvation. Just before you get out of earshot you hear him calling. Turning you see him toss a small metal bit which you catch easily.
"It won't work without the top!" he yells. "It only works once. So be careful!"
As you make your way back to the school to get your car, Lydia clutches the lamp tightly. The top dug into your leg from your pocket. You would go to your house and talk about what to do. This might be the last time she was a mermaid and you wanted to make it special. Try as you might you wonder about how the lamp got into that man's possession. There must be a story about that.