Larceny

Today was the best day she'd spent on land so far.

Last night, she'd found this place - an miniature ocean on land! She'd snuck inside just as the tiny suns had all gone out inside the building, leaving only the ones that were illuminating all of the seascapes. At first, she'd been too bemused to do anything but wander through. There one was section devoted all to jellyfish that made her laugh with their dreamy conversation and another full of sharks that she'd quickly scurried past while they eyed her with silent menace. Sharks rarely spoke much. Just stared.

Then she'd found one that was all warm water and fish and coral reefs that almost reminded her of home. Best of all? It was filled with any number of different kinds of fish, from tiny little ones that darted around to fat, slow ones that lurked towards the bottom. *Ah, I'm so relieved,* she'd said with a hungry gulp. *I thought I was going to die from hunger.*

She'd made her way up to where the barrier stopped and the water began and had hidden the warm layers away somewhere safe so she could get them again - it was too cold to be without them when she wasn't in the warm water. And then she'd dove into the water, legs becoming fins almost instantly, and ate until she could barely swim. Then she'd found a nice little hidey spot behind the coral and fallen asleep almost immediately.

Today, she'd done much the same. She'd stayed hidden while the humans were thickly crowded around them, faces pressed up against the edge. That sent the tiny little fish whizzing around in fear and she'd been able to grab some and eat them without needing to move. A pushy little octopus had nearly started a fight over what it declares was its hiding place, but a growled reminder of who was higher on the food chain and a snap of her teeth sent it fleeing away in a cloud of ink.

Now the humans had thinned out a lot and she figured it was safe to come out of her hiding spot and have a more substantial dinner. Oooh! There was a bluefish! What a delicacy!

***

Outside the tank, a little girl points, tugging on her mother's sleeve with her other hand. "Look Ma!" she says, delighted. "A mermaid!"

"Oh, that's right," the mother coos, relieved, even as she checks the museum's schedule. "You get to see the mermaid princess after all!" Except - isn't the mermaid show in a different exhibit? And the last showing supposed to have ended almost an hour ago. But does it really matter? Her daughter got to see a mermaid and would stop fussing.

Except - "Oh ma!" her daughter sniffles, big tears welling in her eyes. "The mermaid just slurped up that fish!"

"There's no way," the mother soothes, indulgently. "The mermaid princess is friends with the fish. She'd never eat them!" She waves at the mermaid to show her daughter that it's okay. The so-called mermaid waves back, swimming close to the glass to give them a smile. She has to shake her head. Such breath support to stay under this long. She bets the girl is a professional diver when she's not in a mermaid costume. "See? Look how pretty she is. Aren't you glad to have seen the mermaid princess?"

The little girl shakes her head. She knows what she saw and the mermaid had definitely eaten the blue fish. "I wanna go home!"

***

Once again, the tiny suns went out in the building and all the humans went home. She knew she couldn't stay in here forever - humans seemed to get mad about a lot of things and she would get mad if someone came through and ate all her fish she'd been saving - but what could one more night here hurt? And it felt good to be able to get some time in just swimming around and stretching her fins.

She'd figure out what to do...later. After another good meal and some time in nice, warm water. Ahhh. She'd missed this.

[For the troublemakers, please!]