"Liz stares above her, for there is nothing else to do at the bottom of the ocean.
On the second night Liz is underwater, two mermaids, a redhead and a blonde, swim by. They stop to look at Liz.
"Are you a mermaid?" the redhead asks Liz.
Liz cannot speak, because her larynx reflexively closed when she began to drown. She blinks her eyes twice.
"I don't think she is." the blond mermaid says, "See, it's a stupid thing who cannot even talk"
"And she has very small breasts," the redhead adds, laughing.
"I think it's a slug," the blonde says.
"Oh, don't say that," the redhead replies. "I think you've hurt its feelings. Look, it's crying."
"I don't care if it is. It's terribly dull. Let's go," the blonde says.
And the two mermaids swim happily away."
Elsewhere: Garbrielle Zevin.