bronze-skinned mermaids in the ocean

They were all waving and shouting "hello" frantically, and when I finally made it over to where they were swimming, in their clothes, they grabbed my pale hands with their small brown ones and started asking me a million questions. They were children of both Buddhist and Muslim parents, the ones that owned the line of "long-tail" boats along the seashore. They told me they lived nearby, and with one girl on one hand and another on my other hand, they took me exploring around the tidal pools, telling me all they knew. When they found out I had kids they raced off to get them, too. All 4 of us played together with them, about 16 kids aged from 8 to 12. They gave us rides on their funny rag-tag boat, picked up a sea cucumber for us to touch, and we had a wonderful time playing in the water together for nearly 2 hours. They asked us why we didn't move there near them. I started wondering why not, too! What wonderful friends they would make for Poppy & Jasper. What heart-warming children they were, I hope we will see them again someday.

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