“Seriously;” I asked, “you can turn me into a mermaid?”
“I have a way to, yes.” Starla propped herself up to the rim of the tub, flipped her tail out of it, grabbed a towel and dabbed it on her tail. “Watch this.” Starla said before taking a deep breath.
Soon, her tail developed a crevice extending from the slit just below her hips down to the tip of her tail. As the crevice deepened, the muscle structure of her tail began to resemble human legs pressed together. The curved bend of her tail stiffened into an angled bend, completing the “pressed together legs” look. As the split was finishing, the scales shrank away revealing Starla’s bare skin. By now, the fins had shrunk away; the ribs of which were thickening into her toes. The webbing vanished and Starla’s legs were fully formed.
“Neat, huh?” Starla asked.
“Does it hurt when you do that?” I asked.
“No, but it is an intense sensation.” Starla answered as she stood and put on her bathrobe. “Now, if you’re interested in having your own tail, follow me.”
Starla led me to her bedroom and opened her jewelry box. Inside were plenty of pearl jewelry, as well as an oyster that looked like it was made completely out of pearl.
I remembered seeing it in Starla’s mom’s room in my youth, and wanting to see if anything was inside, but try as I might, I couldn’t open it. Starla caught me and scolded me saying it was her mom’s and I shouldn’t touch it. When I asked what it was, all she could say was: “My mom tried to give it to my dad, but he didn’t want it, so he left.”
Starla placed her hand on the top of the oyster. I saw a gentle flash and the shell opened up revealing a beautiful pearl. It was the size of a small marble and, though it had the sheen of pearl, it was colored gold.
Starla spoke. “Our mermaid powers make us second to none when it comes to pearl cultivation. Call it cheating if you will, I call it using your talents. Anyway, if we wish, we can cultivate special pearls with mystic properties. This one will transform a human into a mermaid permanently. It took her years to cultivate it. When it was ready, she offered it to my dad when she told him she was a mermaid.”
“Didn’t you say there are no such things as mermen?” I asked.
“Yes, that was the last straw for him; he found the very offer a grievous insult to him. Mom stayed on land and continued the business for my sake… and yours. She returned to the mermaids’ world when she retired, not moving to Arizona like she told you. When she did, she left this with me. All she said about it was: “Just in case Lillian is different.”
Starla handed the oyster to me and said, “One thing I should tell you, Lillian; mermaids are bi-sexual by nature, being all female as we are. So if you go through with this, there’s a good chance you’ll start to find women as attractive as men, perhaps even more so.”
I looked at the pearl, then at Starla. “Do you find me attractive?”
Starla blushed. “I… well… honestly, I’d be blind not to.”
I looked back at the pearl, “What do I do with it?”
“Just submerge your legs in water, then swallow it. You’ll then transform into a mermaid. You could do it in the tub, or out in the ocean if you'd prefer.”