Chapter 15 #2
“What kind of beef?”
“Petty drama, really. I have a reputation as a bully, you know.”
“I wouldn’t say bully. ”
“Why not? I would.” She steered away from an oncoming golf cart. “But I’ve mellowed over the years. I’m not the witch I once was. I mean, I’ve retained the skills, but not the will to use them.”
“What changed you?”
“Life, I guess. The longer I live, the more I witness. The more time I have to process what I’ve seen and experienced.”
“Is that your way of saying you’ve grown more compassionate with age?”
“Guess so. Margie can tell you stories.” She shook her head. “I wasn’t the easiest mother in the world. I’m lucky she still speaks to me.”
“Sounds like you took time to self-reflect and change what you didn’t like about yourself. Not everyone does that.” Some people barreled through life and never stopped to look behind them. Then, poof! They were gone and it was too late.
“You strike me as someone who has too,” Meemaw said.
“We live on an isolated island. Lots of time for self-reflection on Evermore. Tell me about your beef with Belinda,” I repeated, in an effort to get the conversation back on track.
Meemaw tapped her fingernails on the steering wheel in a rhythmic fashion. “Belinda had a thing about witches. Tried to act like we didn’t exist. I called her out on it on multiple occasions.”
“I’m sorry. I hadn’t heard that.” There were plenty of disputes between species, of course, but I wasn’t aware of one between mermaids and witches. “But you said before she came to you for a compulsion spell.”
“She did, which told me how desperate she was if she was willing to choke on her pride and ask me for a favor. Belinda didn’t start life as a mermaid, you see. She was a teenager when a witch cast the spell that changed her.”
Meemaw could’ve knocked me over with a single breath. “I’m sorry, what? Belinda wasn’t born a mermaid?”
“No. It wasn’t common knowledge. In fact, she was somewhat ashamed of it. To acknowledge that you started life as human... Well, it wasn’t information she wanted out there, which is why I’ve hesitated to tell you. The fury story you told reminded me of hers in a strange way.”
I was still trying to wrap my head around her revelation. “So Belinda wasn’t supernatural at all?” That explained her evolution fast track.
“Not for the first part of her life, no.”
“Shit. How do you know all this?” If Belinda didn’t want it to be common knowledge, Meemaw was hardly the person to tell.
“Have you ever played ‘I Never’?”
“No.”
Meemaw clucked her tongue. “Have you lived the life of a hermit, Maya? It’s a drinking game. Someone says, ‘I never kissed a frog.’ If you’ve kissed a frog, then you drink.”
Simple enough. “And Belinda overshared?”
“We were at a party. It started out crowded, then dwindled to a small group. Someone suggested the game. Belinda was drunk enough that she didn’t ignore us. When it was my turn, I said, ‘I was never human.’ It wasn’t directed at her. I had no idea.”
“But Belinda took a drink.”
Meemaw nodded. “Everybody was so drunk that I was the only one who noticed. She came by the next day and begged me not to tell. I swore that I wouldn’t, and I kept my word. Until now. ”
“Do we think there’s any chance the witch is on the island? The one who changed her?”
“Even if she was, why would she kill Belinda? Witches cast spells; it’s what we do. There would’ve been no need to silence her. Besides, Belinda asked to become a mermaid.”
“A reverse Ariel?”
“Apparently, Belinda thought she’d meet her prince under the sea. She was young, naive, and impulsive, as many of us were at that age.”
No kidding. “Did she regret her decision?” It would explain her drinking and general unhappiness.
“I suspect so, but she didn’t say. We didn’t speak much after that. She went back to ignoring us.”
I felt a pang of sympathy for the dead mermaid. I understood becoming someone you weren’t. I also understood regret all too well.
“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you sooner. I let that old, unhealed part of me cling to petty resentment for how she treated us.
” Meemaw pulled to a stop in front of my cottage.
“And I’m sorry I gave you a hard time about asking Gwen and Joan instead of me.
All that matters is that you asked when you needed it.
I know how difficult that can be for people like us. ”
“People like us?”
“Independent women. I was the head of my coven. Every day, I made decisions for everybody else. I took care of business. When I first moved here, I got annoyed with Dean every time I had to ask him to do something in the condo that I couldn’t.
Eventually I realized, it wasn’t Dean. It was me.
I resented him because I resented that I needed him at all.
My point is—don’t make life any harder than it already is.
If people can help you, let them. It’s a hard lesson, but worth it. ”
I climbed out of the golf cart. “I’ll keep it in mind.”
Meemaw held out her hand. “Here. Caring is sharing. Take two of these before bed. You look like you need them.”
I accepted the edibles and prayed for a dreamless sleep.