Orcas Island, Gate of the Strait of Georgia

August 2K1

It was a propitious accident.  The morning mist obscured the sea so I changed my daybreak sojourn and rather than amble through the wetted woods set out to mosey on the cobbled beach.  The tide was far out exposing vast expanses of  perfectly formed pebbles mostly black, but some of ochre, alabaster, jade green and blood red.  Some too were speckled.  Though I have never seen, so I've been told, the starfish populated North Sea floor of glacier rubble is such as this.

It is typical in this area that one should seek semi-precious agate as one does amber on the Danish coast.  Perhaps this is to brighten ones disposition in this land of gray and green where one is seldom bothered by pesky sunshine.  I, too, had acquired this past time as the concentration required to find these nuggets within the carpet of stones relieved me of my thoughts of macro economics, theosophical riddles and other nagging burdens of my lot in life, especially the knowledge that my fellow humans were awaiting my comment so that life could progress meaningfully.  Let them wait!

Distracted from my quest by what I mistook as the playful yelps of a seal, I ventured down the sloping beach to get a view of this mammalian cousin in the wild.  With primordial fear I glimpsed the jet black sea wing cutting the mist seemingly leaving speed trails.  I surmise the seal was crying in distress as its life was surely nearly over.

Looking at my boots reflecting on the purposefulness of this most natural occurrence I spotted three articles that aroused my artistic sensibilities.  Why two seashells and a piece of seaweed did so, I'm not sure; suffice, I gathered them and brought them back to my cabin study for investigation and to sketch them into my notebooks for posterity.

The first article (and article they turned out to be) was a small shell of a species unknown to me and not identifiable  within my travel library.  A limpet to be sure but so exquisitely and perfectly formed I marveled at its fashioning.  Upon this tiny shell (11mmX9mm) was growing an acorn barnacle such that it appeared as a forward horn and two tiny "wings" of kelp to the rear and flanking the barnacle.  So much that this item appeared that of the helm of some nautical Mercury.  The underside revealed a ring of a soft resilient material not unlike a miniature inner-tube which I mistakenly presumed was part of the animal that had inhabited this shell.  When I prodded it with my forefinger an immediate suction attachment occurred.

The second shell was as unique as the first.  Nearly as thin as a needle and approximately 32mm in length it was spiraled in a brilliant vermilion and silverish nautilus twist.  It appeared at first glance that the sea had carved a hole in the shell at the foot so that it looked as a gauntlet.  Curiously, this shell had impaled a piece of seaweed about three inches long.  I amazed how the seaweed had tangled itself into a nearly perfect rope.

But it was the third item that truly startled the psyche.  Seemingly a piece of kelp that had folded.  I carefully unfolded the kelp to discover it was about 25cm long about 2 cm wide with an elliptical hole in the center.  I laughed, "a little poncho", I said aloud.  I grabbed my magnifying lens and looked closely, indeed it was a poncho for it had been carefully hemmed and stitched.  

I jumped to my feet.  I had absconded with the ensemble of a diminutive sentient sea creature.  What a discovery, proof of merpeoples!  My thoughts raced haphazardly, the implications were enormous...what if?  Obviously, the little person had left its garb in the tide to stay wet much as a human child leaves its clothing on the beach to stay dry when enjoying a swim.  The heavy thick mist probably kept it from excessive dehydration during its venture.

I quickly gathered its gear and ran full bore to the beach carefully returning the items to as close the location of their original dispersal.  It was then I noticed the cairns of colored pebbles about 3" high and about 8' apart under the shallow.  This was a highway for these folks to the upper world.  Indeed amazing.  I hid myself behind a drift wood tree of great diameter.  Was I too late to capture sight of this creature as it returned to its world.  Could I communicate with it?  I thought of Robinson Crusoe and Friday.

There it was!  At first I was so shocked I could not analyze what I saw.  From first impression it appeared to be a mermaid as in a fairy tale.  Since it was barely 6" long  I chuckled at the rumors of interspecies marriage.  But, it appeared as beautiful and womanly as any statue or image.  A golden skinned creature with smooth not scaly breast, greenish scaled tail, bright yellow "hair", and sea green eyes.  On its belly it was holding with fingered fins a small shell with three ripe black berries which it was carrying back to the sea.  

It was then that I realized my anthropomorphic view was totally wrong.   I was seeing what I wished to see.  The merperson was of an invertebrate species, the beautiful breasts and other "human" characteristics were on its back. Though, this didn't make it any less sentient or attractive as it slithered.  It made some sense, as I mused, lancelets are the oldest of genus, perhaps occupying this planet for a billion years. Certainly, over that much time they could or might evolve a sentient form.  Though not snakes, they are often mistaken for them...could it have been a lancelet in the garden...a mermaid temptress?

So enrapt was I by these cosmic contemplations I did not notice the sea fog obscure all view of the creature.  I leapt to my feet and ran to the sea edge but all was gone.  The tide had come in sufficiently to obliviate even the cairns.

I now sit on the driftwood log writing this memoir.  It is with deepest despair that I consider my discovery will be thought merely the fancy or dementia, to be laughed at in sympathy, of one "lost" in the woods, such as the Sasquatch and other legends of these North Woods.