“I think those are a style called Atlantis,” Jasmine whispered to us. “I saw them on the website. They’re custom and really expensive.”
This didn’t surprise me. Mrs. Drake was clearly a nothing-but-the-best-for-my-princess kind of mom.
“Delphine, would you like to demonstrate how a mermaid puts on her tail?” Sirena asked her daughter.
Delphine nodded and stepped out of her shorts, revealing her bathing suit underneath. She picked up a shiny turquoise tail that was draped over the back of the sofa and rolled it down like a sock. Then she sat down and deftly placed her feet into the openings in the monofin. With one graceful movement, she stood up again, pulling the fabric upward while she shimmied. The tail unfurled smoothly over her long legs. She gave a final tug to the waistband, removed her T-shirt to reveal a matching turquoise bikini top underneath, then perched on the arm of the sofa, smiling at us as she swished her flukes back and forth.
“Couldn’t have done it better myself,” said Sirena, as we gave Delphine a round of applause. “Now it’s your turn, ladies. Let the tailing begin!”
The porch grew quiet as we concentrated on copying Delphine. Sixteen pairs of legs were inserted into sixteen fabric mermaid flukes. Thirty seconds after I started to pull my tail up, though, I knew something was wrong. Marina was supposed to fit mermaids five foot eight and over, but no matter how hard I tugged and shimmied and yanked on it, the stupid thing wouldn’t go past my knees.
“Oh, honey,” said Zadie, looking over at me, “they sent you the wrong size!”
Cha Cha laughed her raspy laugh until her legs went weak and she collapsed on the floor. That set Jasmine and Mackenzie off, and pretty soon everyone was laughing. Everyone except me. I stood there wearing half a mermaid tail and feeling like a big idiot.
Sirena finally took pity on me. “Don’t worry,” she said, wiping her eyes, “if there’s one thing we have here at Mermaid HQ, it’s plenty of tails.” She crossed the porch and flung open an old trunk that was serving as a makeshift coffee table. “See if you can find one that fits you.”
As the rest of the group hopped around looking at themselves in the full-length mirror and snapping selfies, I tried on one tail after another. A couple of them almost worked, but nothing was quite right for my size-ten-and-a-half feet and extra-long legs.
“Any luck?” asked Sirena a few minutes later.
I shook my head.
“Delphine, surely there must be one of your old tails floating around here that would work for her.”
“I’ll go check,” said Delphine.
“And while you’re upstairs, bring down the sea serpent costume, would you?”
Delphine nodded, shimmied back out of her tail, and disappeared into the house. I steeled myself to put my foot down. I’d rather be sent home than have to be a sea serpent!
In the end, though, I didn’t have to. Delphine returned a few minutes later bearing a rueful expression and a sad, droopy brown mess riddled with so many holes it almost looked like lace draped across her shoulders. At one end lolled a sea serpent head, grinning spitefully at me.
“Moths,” Delphine reported to her mother. “They got into the old practice tail of mine, too.”
“Oh no! What a shame!” Sirena frowned, drumming her aqua-tipped fingers on the arm of her chair.
“There’s always my tail from the Jolly Roger,” Delphine suggested. “It would fit her.”
“That’s against the rules,” said her mother sharply.
I perked up at that. “Against the rules” sounded a whole lot better than “sea serpent.”
“She’s probably got the strength for it,” Delphine continued, the two of them discussing me as if I weren’t standing right there. “It said on her application that she’s on a swim team.”
Sirena thought it over. “Well, perhaps we could make an exception.” She nodded at Delphine, who withdrew inside the house again, and returned a few moments later carrying what looked like a floppy rubber tube made of glimmering aquamarine.
“A shimmertail!” cried Hayden. “No fair! Only professional mermaids are supposed to wear shimmertails!”
Sirena silenced Hayden with a stern wag of her finger. “Mermaids are never envious. And this is a special case. Truly is too tall for any of the other tails that we have on hand.”
“Truly enormous,” Hayden muttered resentfully. She said it under her breath, but I heard her just fine. My face flushed.
“Now, Hayden,” said her mother, half-heartedly scolding her.
Delphine handed over the shimmertail. I gasped and nearly dropped it.
“Thirty pounds of sculpted silicone,” she told me. I was familiar with silicone. My father actually had three prosthetic arms to choose from, and silicone was what Ken, his name for the lifelike but useless option, was made of.
I hefted the tail. It was going to be interesting trying to swim in this thing. I might as well strap a cinder block to my feet. I sat down to put it on.
“Wait,” said Delphine, “you’ll need these first.” She passed me a pair of black socks. “They’re neoprene and will keep your feet from slipping out of the heel straps.” She also handed me a spray bottle.
I squinted at it. “What’s this?”
“Hair conditioner mixed with warm water. Spray your legs with it, and the tail will go on easier.”
I wrinkled my nose but did as I was told. Putting first one foot in and then the other, I felt around for the heel straps that would secure my feet in place.
“Take your time,” said Delphine. “Pull it up inch by inch.”
The silicone tail didn’t stretch as much as the fabric tails had. It took a lot of encouragement and instruction from Delphine, and I was red-faced and sweaty by the time I was done, but I finally managed to wiggle into the gleaming tube.
Mackenzie’s eyes widened in admiration. “Wow! You look amazing, Truly.”
“Truly amazing,” quipped Zadie. “Right, Lenore?”
Lenore nodded.
Delphine turned to her mother. “See? I told you. Fits like a glove.”
More like a corset, I thought. The waistband was
