Now where was I?

Now where was I? Oh yes, I was born a mermaid but was raised on land, doing terre-people things. I went to school where I learned that certain letters were better than others. I often thought a C was visually more attractive than an A, but there was something about an A, or being an A, that made people happy. It was clearly much more important than the letter C, or any other letter for that matter.

A person became an A when they listened to directions and produced work just like the teacher wanted with all the words spelled one way, the numbers all lined up, and papers with no doodles in the corners. Drawing seashells or waves or family portraits was frowned on, and writing with an ocean lilt was forbidden. Well, not really forbidden, my real language was not forbidden, but clearly not understood.

So here was the early choice, be a C terre-person and appreciate the aesthetic of it all, or try harder to fit in and be an A terre-person. I split the difference and became a B. This did not make people as happy, and they often wondered why my work was unpredictable, but they did not frown. And I did not go quietly into daylight.

This pattern continued through high-school and into college. Moments of brilliance matched by periods of distraction and boredom. Dreams of the mer-land that I knew was there, while learning the ways of the terre-place I wandered in. The rocks began to call to me, just at the sea did, though in a different language....

But that is the next part of the story.