Summary

The narrator of The Merman is waiting at a bar for her brother, Daniel, and sees a merman below the pier. They make eye contact, and the narrator decides to go see him. Although the owner of the bar, a friend of Daniel’s, tries to stop her, she tells him to “take it easy” and that she will be right back (124).

The narrator tells the reader that the merman is “quite pale” and he appears to have “too much swagger for a merman” (124). Once she reaches him, the merman motions for her to join him. Stepping into the water, she sees his muscular body and the merman tells the narrator that she can touch him. The merman asks the narrator to tell him about herself, asking “how is everything going?” (125). The narrator confesses that her mom is not doing well and that...