#edencursed

“I met MB when I was younger because my parentsthought it would be cool to take me and Sora snorkeling, and then some yearsafter that he took us on our first scuba diving excursion, which he was able todo because he works as a scuba diving instructor. We stayed with him at thetime, which is why I know he spends most of each day in the water. Even when myparents, my brother and I were off doing something else in the area, or takinga break from water-related activities or having a meal – or anything, he was in the sea, on his ownor otherwise. His neighbors in town would ask “Mister Berkley still in the water?”They still do, even though they are and always have been very well aware of the answer. I always wondered about it, but Ithink younger me just went ahead and created and accepted the reality that hewas probably some magical sea creature and never questioned it. I remember thatSora and I used to stand out on the beach around the time he would resurface inthe evenings to try and see if we could catch him mid-transformation.

“It’s weird because from the description you’d probably imaginesome salty old fisherman? But he’s only in his mid-thirties, and he was only inhis mid-twenties when I first met him when Iwas twelve. He kind of acts like a crotchety old man and grows a beard likeone, but he is, by all accounts, a fairly young man.

“Anyways, I dideventually ask him about this quiet obsession with the sea he has. I ask himevery time I give him a visit, in fact, but he gives me a different answerevery time. He’s said things like he’d rather be under the sea than on land –getting closer to the unknown horrors down there than the known horrors up here.Worryingly he said that that, of allthings, comforted him. He told me once that he just thought sharks were bettercompanions than people, which was significantlybetter than that first answer. The time after that he told me that he found out he had sea turtle in his blood,and that he never made it back to the ocean with the rest of his turtle broodwhen they hatched, so he was taken in by our family and grew up as a humanuntil he was old enough to go to the sea to look for his real family. So for fifteen years he’s been searching forthe lost underwater civilization of his brethren which has to got be around there somewhere. He found his own yarn prettyhilarious, especially when I told him me and Sora had figured that out years ago. Once he just told me he couldfind prettier shells on the ocean floor. Another time he said he’s just beentrying to grow gills for fifteen years.

“He’s a pretty funny guy. Any time he doesn’t spend in thesea he spends walking along the beach and taking care of fish in a virtualaquarium app on his phone. And although he doesn’t watch much TV, it’s embarrassingly easy to get him to watchmovies about mermaids. The Thirteenth Year is his absolute favorite. Even thoughhe rarely goes out of his way to associate with his neighbors in town theyfondly refer to him as the local merman, and they say he’s pretty helpful andwilling when asked for help.