The Mermaid's Mirror (8 page)

Lena nodded.

"So you know to swim parallel to shore until you're out of it. Don't try to fight it."

They sat quietly. Lena glanced over at Ani, who was studying the waves intently.

Doesn't everyone know how to do this?
thought Lena. She had been "reading" the waves as plainly as if they were books for as long as she could remember. It had never occurred to her that some people had to be taught how to do it.

"Perfect," murmured Ani. "Nice, mushy waves. Good for beginners."

She looked at Lena, and now her expression was stern. "Next thing, before we even get in the water, I want to remind you that this isn't a swimming pool. This is Mother Nature, and she is powerful. Respect her power. Learn to protect yourself, because this Mother has no loyalty. Once you've learned how to take care of yourself,
then
you'll be able to have fun."

Kai stood up and said, "Yeah, yeah, yeah. Just let her get in the water." He caressed Lena's cheek and said, "See you out there."

As Kai splashed into the water and lay down on his board, Ani said, "Let's watch him for a few minutes. Then we'll get in, I promise."

"Okay."

"See how he's got his back kind of arched, and he's using nice fluid motions? That's the right way to paddle. Just your arms. If you put your whole body into it, you'll wear yourself out." Ani pointed to the surfers already in the water. "That's the lineup. Don't get in their way ... like Kai is doing. If a good wave broke right now, they'd have to try to avoid him. Or worse, someone might decide to ride right over him, to teach him a lesson."

They watched the surfers for a few more minutes. A promising wave rose up, and three of the surfers began to paddle furiously, including Kai.

"See that girl?" said Ani. "She's on the inside of that wave."

Lena nodded, studying the position of the three surfers.

The girl surfer popped up first on her board, on the "inside," as Ani had said, earning the right of way. One of the other surfers cut his board back up over the wave and kicked out to wait for the next one.

Kai, however, continued riding the wave next to her, knees bent, wiry body balancing with the swell.

"Okay, do
not
do that," said Ani. "Do not drop in on someone else's ride. It's not cool."

"Why would he do that?"

"Surfers can be really competitive. Especially to girl surfers. I guarantee he wouldn't do that to a dude. He might get his skinny butt kicked. Which reminds me. As a girl, you have to be hyperaware of the mood out in the lineup. If you ever find yourself in a situation that feels unsafe, get out of the water and leave. Live to surf another day. Now. Let's practice your stance before we head out."

"Okay."

"I want you to lie down on the board, do a pushup, and land on the deck like this." Ani demonstrated, then had Lena practice a few times. After she was satisfied that Lena had mastered the landing, Ani said, "Awesome! Let's go surfing!"

The water was cold, but Lena barely noticed the temperature. It was such a relief to relax into weightlessness in the sea that she nearly wept. Lena hadn't been swimming for ages. The heartbeat of the ocean pulsed around her, as if to say "Welcome back."

"Lie down on your stomach on the board," instructed Ani. "Feet together. Good. Wow, you're doing great with balance! Just staying on the board is hard enough."

Lena smiled. The rocking motion of the swells felt as soothing to her as being rocked in a cradle.

"Okay, Lena, here comes a little wave. Arch your back and grab the rails to do a pushup."

"The rails?"

"Sorry, the rails are the sides of the board. Here it comes!"

Lena did as Ani instructed, and Ani helped push her board over the wave. "Great! That was a little one. When you get a bigger wave coming toward you, you'll have to turn turtle. That means you're going to roll over, holding on to your board, so that the wave washes over you."

They jumped a few more small waves, then Lena said, "I want to try a pop-up."

"You sure you're ready?"

"Yes!"

"Okay, on the next little broken wave, I want you to do a pushup, but this time get to your feet. Remember to put your goofy-foot forward. Here it comes."

Lena felt the swell of the wave touch the board and pass into her very soul. She pushed with her arms, then jumped to her feet. She wobbled a little, balancing, and kept her knees bent, to lower her center of gravity.

"That's great, Lena!" shouted Ani, as Lena rode the white water to the shore. "Fall away from the board."

As the board stalled out, Lena allowed her body to fall away from the board.

"You're a natural!" cried Ani. "I can't believe you stayed up the whole time! It took Kai, like, two weeks to catch a wave and stay up for the whole ride."

Lena smiled. "That was fun!"

"It's the best. You're going to be really good at it, I can tell. Must be hereditary."

Lena cocked her head at Ani.

"Wasn't your dad a really good surfer? You know, back when he used to surf?"

"Um ... I really don't know."

"My dad says they all used to surf Magic's together."

"They did?"

"Yeah. And Magic's doesn't treat fools kindly, so you know he must've been good."

The mention of her father cast a shadow over Lena's joy. What would he do if he knew she was out here?

"Ani?"

"Yes?"

"I really shouldn't stay much longer. And ... I'm getting tired."

"Thanks for telling me. Some people don't know when to come in. They stay out so long they get hypothermic. Let's head for the beach. Can you get to shore on your own? I just want to catch a couple of waves. Then we'll call it a day."

"Sure." Lena climbed out of the rolling surf and dried herself off with a towel. She sat down to watch Ani and Kai surf. They were laughing and yelling insults at each other.

"Way to drain out, Midget!" called Ani.

"Don't call me Midget, Gidget!" yelled Kai.

I want to surf with Dad,
thought Lena, with a pang.
I want
him
to tell me I'm a natural. Maybe someday.

When Ani and Kai had had enough, they headed for the beach.

The three of them peeled off their wetsuits and poured jugs of fresh water over them, to clean the sand and salt off.

Kai put his arms around Lena before she had a chance to slip back into her shorts and T-shirt. He ran his hands over her back and shoulders, causing her bare skin to tingle. "You looked great out there," he said.

"Thanks. It was awesome. I can't wait to be good at it."

He pressed her closer to him, and kissed her. "Trust, Leen. You were meant to surf."

Lena sent a text to Pem: Surfing rulez!

After a moment, a message came back from Pem: Yayyyyy! Woo-hoo!!!

Lena: Ani is a super great teacher.

Pem: I wish I could have gone w/ u but wait til u hear what happened!

Lena: ??

Pem: U will never believe it.

Lena: Do I rly hafta guess?

Pem: Hee! I will tell u when u get here.

Lena: OMG ur evil!

Pem: See u soon. Xoxo

Lena made an impatient sound.

Ani glanced over at her. "Everything okay?"

"Yeah." Lena closed her cell phone. "Pem has some news, but she won't tell me until I get to her house. Thanks for dropping me off there." Lena had asked Ani to take her to Pem's house so she could change clothes and dry her hair before she went home.

"No problem. Do you want to get together next Friday for another lesson?"

"Yes! I already can't wait!"

Ani smiled. "It won't be long before you're surfing on your own. You've got a really good grasp of the basics already. Although I don't mean you should surf
alone.
You should always take someone with you." She cocked her thumb at Kai in the back seat, who was listening to his iPod. "Like Pig-Dog there. He's ready to get in the water anytime."

"Pig-Dog?"

"Kai keeps trying to get me to call him Kaiborg or Flea or Skeleton or something like that. He's dying for a cool surf name." She flipped on her left blinker, then turned down Pem's street. "So of course I torture him with bad nicknames." She pulled up in front of Pem's house and put the Jeep in park. "Okay, Lena, see you next Friday. Same time?"

"Yes, that would be great. Thank you sooo much, Ani. Please let me pay you?"

Ani shook her head. "No, I already told you. I'm not doing this for the money. I love surfing, so it feels like a rite of passage, you know? Sharing the surf-love. Helping a new surfer learn the ropes. Or the rails, I should say. Someday
you'll
help someone and pass on the good karma."

"I will," said Lena. She climbed out of the Jeep, and Kai leaped out of the back seat.

"Call me later," he said, enfolding Lena in his arms again. He was deep in the middle of a goodbye kiss when Ani honked, making them both jump.

Lena laughed. "Bye."

Ani drove away, Kai waving from the front seat.

Lena knocked, and Pem threw open the door.

"I am a surfer now," said Lena.

Pem squealed and hugged her. "I know! I can't wait to surf with you. Come on in. Mama Mia's fixing dinner. You can stay, right?" One of Pem's moms was named Mia, so Pem had grown up calling her Mama Mia. Her other mom was just "Mom."

"Sure," said Lena. "Can I take a shower first, though? I'm all salty."

"Yeah, yeah."

"But first I want to hear your big news!"

"Come to my room," said Pem. From the glow on her face, Lena knew it had to be about Max. Once they were inside, Pem burst out, "Guess who called me?"

"Hmm, let me see," said Lena. "The president?"

"Stop!" said Pem, pushing her shoulder. "You know it was Max."

"I'm stunned."

"I was so nervous I could hardly breathe! We talked for, like, half an hour."

"Really? What did you talk about?"

"Oh, you know. We were just talking. Nothing special. About school, and music, and surfing. He said we should hang out sometime."

"Hang out? He actually said 'hang out'? He's in college! Shouldn't he be a little smoother with the ladies by now?"

Pem cracked up. "Probably. But I like that he's not smooth. He even said that college is totally intense, and he kind of misses high school."

Lena reached for a comb, trying not to feel annoyed that they were talking about Max, as usual. She had wanted to tell Pem all about her first time surfing, but clearly Pem's conversation with Max was far more thrilling to her than anything else. "So ... are you going out with him?" She worked the comb through her salt- sticky hair.

"I don't know. It was just a phone call."

"Today it's a phone call, tomorrow you're cruising around in that muscle car of his."

Pem giggled. "Can you just see my moms' faces when he drives up in that thing, all loud and kicking out blue exhaust?" Pem made engine-revving sounds. "'Uh, yeah, see you later, Mrs. Er ... Pem's mom and Mrs. Pem's other mom. I'll have your daughter home early.'" She imitated the sound of tires peeling out.

"Yes," continued Lena, imitating Max. "I'm here to take out your fifteen-year-old daughter in my luuuuv machine."

"I think having two moms is going to make it even harder to date than having the usual parent-combo," said Pem. She fiddled with the braided anklet on her leg. She and Lena had made yarn anklets a couple of years ago. Pem's was three different colors of pink, in keeping with her penchant for all things Jeannie- esque.

Lena didn't answer for a minute, just combed her hair, then she said, "Maybe. They don't want you to date until you're sixteen, I know, but that's pretty standard."

Pem frowned. "I don't want to wait that long, though! I won't be sixteen for four more months. You're lucky."

"I am?"

"That your parents let you start going out with Kai."

"Well, that was different. Kai was already
there.
They knew him. In fact, they didn't even know we were together until my mom saw us kissing on the beach one day, and the cat was out of the bag. Now they're always trying to make us hang out with them in the family room, instead of in my room."

"Still," said Pem. "How can I make my moms let me go out with Max?" She blushed. "If he asks, of course."

"Pem. He's going to ask. He's just too lame to come right out and do it."

"He's not lame!" Pem gave Lena a playful punch on the shoulder. "He's reticent."

"Reticent?" Lena laughed. "Vocabulary much?"

"Dude, you know I can't even help it. With a mom who teaches English, I'm doomed."

"Or fated."

"Preordained."

"Destined."

They giggled.

"I smell garlic," said Pem. "Let's see what Mama Mia is making for dinner."

"Okay, but first I need to get the salt water off me," said Lena, heading for the bathroom. "Do you have an extra towel?"

"They're in the cupboard," called Pem through the door. "You can wash off the sand, Leen, but you can't wash off that smile. You'd better cheer down before you see your parents."

***

The next day Max was waiting for Pem after school.

Lena saw him leaning against his car in his trademark Hawaiian shirt, glancing around casually, as if to say, "I just happened to end up parked here in front of my old high school. No reason."

But Lena knew instantly he was here for Pem, and turned to tell her.

Pem, of course, had already seen him, since she had super-strength Max Radar. Her face was alight. "Oh, my God," she whispered.

"I know!" Lena whispered back.

Just then Henry, Max's brother, walked up to the car.

"Oh," said Pem. "Maybe he's just here to take Henry home."

"No way," said Lena. "He's here for you."

They kept walking, and sure enough, when Max saw them, he smiled and waved.

Pem waved back.

"Hi," he called.

Pem and Lena approached the car.

"Need a ride?" called Max. "I was just here to pick up Henry"—
Right,
thought Lena—"but I'd be happy to take you and your friend home." He nodded at Lena.

"Sure," said Pem, affecting the same casual air.