work it down here, you aren’t going to get much up there.” Marly sighs and folds her arms. “Truthfully, there’s something beautiful about this. I love the illusion. Let me show you the outside area.”
Marly gently touches my arm to direct me through an in-door tunnel composed of transparent Plexiglas walls. At her touch, a bubble of memory expands in slow motion, offering a dizzying world of sound and color, a night that changed everything. As girls, when she wanted to convince me of something she always made physical contact—firm fingers finding the soft skin of my wrists, an arm encircling my waist in a collaborative huddle. “ Trust me ,” whispered in a hush.
Subtly, I pull my hand back before memory can yawn open and pull me too deeply in. Live, silvery fish swim in artistic clusters over our heads, under our feet, and on either side of us separated only by these thin walls of plastic, an ocean womb. Then the tunnel spits us out into the bright February day, onto a fake seaside. The sound of waves hitting the shore is uncanny. If not for the chill in the air and the sight of pirate clad waiters, I could easily believe that we are at a real beach.
“Here, sit,” Marly points to a chaise lounge. “I’ll be right back.” A dark-haired young pirate comes to take my order—lemonade.
Marly reappears and makes her way to me at the same time that a petite strawberry-blonde with enormous dimples and wearing an aquamarine bikini and sarong comes bounding up. She looks like she ’s going to bounce right into Marly’s arms, but stops short, and Marly draws herself up taller, her body suddenly stiff.
“ I’m so glad you came back,” the woman says to Marly. “It’s been a total clam bake without you.”
Marly smiles. “Grace, this is Sabrina, mermaid and barkeep. Sabrina, this is my best friend from childhood, Grace.”
To her credit, Sabrina makes only the briefest blink, as though adjusting her contacts, then puts out her hand. But I swear the thought running through her mind is something like: Woah, what happened there? “Nice to meet you.”
I fear I ’ll embarrass Marly if I explain why I don’t shake hands, so I take Sabrina’s hand in mine with a deep breath. My hand pulses and then I have a vivid feeling of irritation in my bladder. The quick way Sabrina drops my hand has nothing to do with disgust at my ruined thumbs, I can tell; I think she felt something pass between us. I exhale with such force that she stares at me. I don’t need to tell her she has a bladder infection; I can tell by the way she stands with legs crossed, that she already knows. I’m stunned into dumb silence for a minute and throw Marly a heavy glance, hoping she’ll see that I’ve felt something again. And this time, it’s almost like a diagnostic; no visuals, just a sure-fire feeling that this woman needs an antibiotic.
Marly raises an eyebrow, signal received, but plays it cool.
“There’s been so much dirt since you were gone.” Sabrina’s hands fly out like flowers unfurling. “Fern almost got arrested for going to a customer’s hotel room, but they couldn’t prove anything.” Marly’s eyebrows lift delicately, as if she is only feigning surprise. “Leila and Jane came out publicly as a couple, and Hank—” she turns to me and adds, “that’s the owner. He’s trying to get them to do a pseudo-lesbian number in the tank, and I think they’re filing a sexual harassment suit against him.”
Marly shakes her head. “I was gone a week!”
“ Oh, and…” Sabrina looks at me as though unsure if she should say the next thing. “Your ex was by. He had one hell of an attitude.” Sabrina raises an eyebrow and shrugs.
Marly sighs, compresses her lips and nods slightly. “Sorry about that.”
A ship ’s horn vibrates the air around us, making me jump. Sabrina says, “Sorry chicas, I’m on!” and dashes away with a lithe energy I envy.
“ As you can see, there are no secrets in this