Dani's Luck: A short story about a Mermaid and a Leprechaun for St Patrick's Day. #WriterReading. Prompt: Shell, Coin, Classic cars, Beach, Emerald, Love, Loss.
Happy St Patrick’s day to all my Friends here and across the pond and in the rest of the world.
Dani’s Luck: A short story about a Mermaid and a Leprechaun for St Patrick’s Day.
Prompt: Shell, Coin, Classic cars, Beach, Emerald, Love, Loss.
#writerreading video on Youtube - https://youtu.be/5cpWr4q7lkk
May the road rise to meet you,
May the wind be always at your back,
May the sun shine warm upon your face,
The rains fall soft upon your fields and,
Until we meet again,
May God hold you in the palm of His hand.
Little bit of luck and love on this greenest and luckiest day of the year, Mama Magie
Running down the beach again, always running from something. This time it is pain, not noticing the bulge of brown fabric laying on the sand, she fell over it. For a moment she just laid there and cried, not noticing as the lump moved. The ocean wouldn’t mind her tears or care if she swam out to sea and never trod on land again. She fingered the shell pendant around her neck for a moment.
“Are you okay?”
She looked up into the most beautiful emerald green eyes she had ever seen set in a fringe of strawberry blond. “I... I’m...”
But the dam burst below her blue tourmaline irises and she sobbed out, “My brother died, he left me alone.”
The stranger wrapped her in his arms and held her gently, soothing her as she sobbed. She had not cried that hard since her parents died when she was eight. She lamented how he had been driving long haul up the coast to Alaska and was cut off by a drunk driver going up the interstate the wrong way. Rather than hit a family in a minivan, Don chose the concrete pillar. He was the best person she knew and now he was gone. Finally, the tide of her words receded and she was mortified that she had carried on so to a complete stranger.
His voice was so gentle, “I am so sorry you lost him like that. He sounds like he was an amazing person.”
“He was. I am so sorry, you can let go now. I’m not normally like this. I’m sorry I tripped on you. This is a No Camping Beach, I wasn’t expecting anyone to be laying on it this early in the morning. I didn’t mean to fall on top of you, I was just running cause that is what I do when I am stress out or upset, I run. I ran a 10K a week for three months after our grandmother died.” It all came out so fast, words as swift as her feet.
He laughed, it was a deep gentle sound. His accent was very thick. “Slow down, I can’t understand half of what you’re saying.”
“You sound Irish. Are you from Ireland? Or Scotland or somewhere where they still have the accent because it’s a pretty accent. I’ve never been there but I want to go, I want to go all over but I have only been a few places. I...” She stopped when he put a finger to her lips.
“Shush, I’m Liam, and yes, I am Irish.” He was amazed at how soft her lips felt under his fingertip. Her blue-green eyes with flecks of gold and sapphire went perfectly with her coppery hair that glinted with strands of honey and cranberry. The sprinkle of cinnamon freckles across her cheeks and nose made her adorable. “What’s your name?”
“Danielle-Ann...” she whispered breathlessly, before the tide of words came back in. “Danielle-Ann Adams but everyone calls me Dani, because who wants to say Dan-ielle-Ann every single time. I mean really, eleven letters is a mouthful. I don’t know what my parents were thinking when they decided to name me after both my grandparents but it took me forever to learn to write my full ne...” His finger silenced her again.
“Can a sleepy man get some tea or coffee before you use every word in the English language on him? And I’ll buy you a hot chocolate, you don’t need caffeine,” Liam demanded grumpily but her scowl made him chuckle.
She glared at him, no coffee the nerve of him! The she realized she was still sitting on his lap and he was still wrapped in a sleeping bag. The beaches were a popular place to sleep for free and often got visited by traveling young people out into the world, discovering it and themselves. She had always envied them but she couldn’t travel except by boat, the curse of her kind and she couldn’t afford the tickets. However, Don’s life insurance would take her anywhere she wanted to go. She blinked back tears as she thought she would give back every cent to have her brother again.
As if reading her thoughts, Liam hugged her again, and offered, “Can I buy you breakfast, sweetheart?”
“It’s Monday, the café is closed and so are most of the shops.” She remembered no car at the end of the Dunes road and wondered why he was sleeping here. It was warmer and out of the wind and such. “Why did you sleep on the beach instead of in your car? Do you have a car? You’re going to be wearing sand in your clothes and hair for a week. Our beaches have sugar sand, the finest grain in the country. It gets into everything and in place you’d never imagine, then it rubs the spot raw. It’s like once it gets inside something it never comes...”
He kissed to her shut her up but she finished as soon as his lips left hers.
“Out,” She stared at him shocked, breathing out the last word.
“So Dani, you were saying, there is no coffee or tea to be had in the whole town?” Liam asked, his eyes shining like mischief, the deep green glittered like jewels, swirling in a mesmerizing way.
Suddenly Dani knew what he was, her grandmother had told him of such creatures. “Are you a leprechaun, Irishman?” She asked eyeing him suspiciously and leaning back in his arms. “I thought you would be shorter.”
“If I am, I am a lucky leprechaun to get trampled by the most talkative sprite I have ever met.” He answered in a cavalier tone.
Dani scrambled out of his lap, laughing, “You sir, are very charming. Lucky to be charming or I’d have smacked you for kissing me. Can I make you breakfast and offer you a shower since there isn’t a hostel in town and the B&B is closed?”
Liam stood and shook out his bag, “Thank you, my lady. But it was a kiss or a pinch and I figured a kiss would be more to your liking. It’s St. Patty’s day and you’re not wearing a stitch of green.”
She giggled abashed at his flirty nature, then lied, “I’ll have you know, my underwear is green.”
“Then you’ll have to show me to prove it,” he grinned.
Her cheeks painted themselves pink like the inside of an abalone shell. “Okay, fine. You get a pass. But only because I don’t show my underwear to strange homeless men I stumble upon at the the beach,” Dani huffed.
“Don’t you mean stumble over?” He chuckled again when she blushed so red it looked like someone had rubbed her cheeks with fresh strawberries.
Before she could think of anything to retort, he offered, “Since you’re making breakfast, can I give you a ride back to your place?”
“How can you give me a ride? I didn’t see a car, unless you plan on carrying me and I would rather you didn’t do that because I get motion sickness very easily. I hate trains for that reason, and planes too because of the turb...”
His finger stopped the unending flow of words. “Please, I need strong coffee or black tea if you expect me to follow what your saying so fast. It’s like listening to a hummingbird talk.”
They just stood there for a long moment. Her looking up at him, him looking down at her and both wondering if she was going to bite his finger. Then she smiled and her eyes glittered a little more blue.
“Fine, I am a half mile back down the Dunes Road.”
Together they walked back toward the road. The warm golden sunlight seemed to pool around them, as he walked and her couldn’t help but smile as he looked at her out the corner of his eye. He was one lucky leprechaun.
Dani gasped at his car. The rich green paint glistened in the sun as if it had just been washed by a spring shower.
“Where did that come from?!?! You have a 1935 Buick coupe. That’s a beautiful car,” dhe said admiringly, then she eyed him suspiciously. “If you have a car, why were you sleeping on the beach? Can’t you afford a room?” She suddenly wondered if the car was stolen, was he a criminal. He could see her hesitation.
Liam rubbed the back of his neck and admitted sheepishly, “It was my, uh, grandfather’s. Every Shamrock Day back home, we would camp at the beach and wait for the selkies to swim in. Burn a bonfire and laugh and sing. I was feeling homesick so I drove down from school. I go to State Tech for engineering. I’m graduating in two months. Where do you go to college?”
She look down as he held the door for her. After he got in and started driving, she revealed, “I graduated from the Art Institute. I was home schooled and had a GED at sixteen. I took several courses and graduated with an art degree in photography. I paint too, and sell my landscape photographs and paintings online. Someday I want to travel all over the world and photograph every place.”
She pointed at a drive and old truck sat in the driveway. A 1965 Chevy that had seen better days but appeared to be well taken care of. “I have my grandfather’s car too.”
“How do you expect to travel if you get motion sickness?” He asked then was surprised when she opened the door for herself and got out before he could come around. She moved as fast as she talked.
“I can sail, but other ways of travelling... I haven’t figured out it all out. They have pills and patches that go behind the ear or under the arm but those just make me sleepy, and the wrist bands make my skin itch like crazy. I’m allergic to copper, well most metals really, can’t let it touch my skin or I rash. It is a weird freaking allergy to have. I have to make sure I have a layer of fabric between my skin and any fastener or I get a red spot and that’s why I only wear sports bras, no fasteners and they are way more comfortable than regular bras... Omigosh, I did not mean to talk about my bras again, just ignore that I said that part and pretend I said something else like do you want waffles or pancakes?”
Liam chortled at her embarrassment, “I think whatever you cook will be fine. I’ll just shower and I promise I didn’t understand anything you said about your undergarments because you talk so fast.”
Dani groaned and pointed to a door, “Just go, while I die of mortification and cook breakfast.”
Admiring how the whole of the house was decorated with shells from the beach, Liam wondered how he could get her to the fair isles. Then he noticed something sitting on her dresser. He picked up the coin and rubbed it’s familiar crest. Suddenly, he knew what she was. His heart pounded painfully for a moment, then he chuckled quietly as he went into the little bathroom decorated with lighthouses and mermaids.
Liam stepped out of the shower to the smell of bacon, eggs, and potato pancakes. Dressing quickly, he couldn’t wait to eat and listen to his beautiful companion. He had found something far better than gold at the end of the rainbow this morning. On the counter, was enough food for five people.
“Wow, you didn’t have to make all this?”
“Do you want Twinings Irish breakfast tea or coffee?” She smiled holding up a familiar green box.
“Tea please, Dani.” He heaped piles of food on his plate, because sleeping on the beach always left him ravenous and not just for food.
Dani tipped her head at his tone, knowing he was about to kiss her again. She held out her wrist, a green ribbon was tied around it. “I’m wearing green now.”
“That’s too bad because I was looking forward to kissing you again, or maybe you’d prefer a little pinch,” he flirted and she blushed.
“So tell me about where you’re from.” She asked as she nibbled her shrimp and avocado omelet.
He talked about Ireland and how he missed it and all its beauty while they ate and she listened intently.
“That sounds like such a lovely place to grow up. How could you ever leave?” She sounded enchanted.
“I left for school, and to find something I lost. And life is just too short to not live it.” Liam sipped his tea, “Don’t you think? I think that we are all looking for a piece of something we lost.”
“Maybe” Taking his plate, she turned away to place the dishes in the sink. Thinking about what he said, made her realize life was so unexpected, it could be short or long. One never knew. She was tired of being careful all the time. Of never straying too far from the sea. Of fearing the tales of nets hidden in every wave. She needed to stop hiding behind her bubbly façade and really enjoy her life without worry, if only for a day.
Grinning she turned back to Liam, he was looking at her like a starving man looks at cake. Dani very slowly pulled the long strand of green until it was no longer tied around her wrist, his eye narrowed watching the silk flutter to the floor.
“Opps, it fell off.”
“So it did.”
Late that afternoon, she waved as he drove off into the the mixture of sun and showers that came every day at this time. A rainbow seemed to bow down and touch the road a head of him. He drove into it and was gone. She blinked several times trying to dispel the optical illusion. Then shrugged it away, shutting the door as the rain came in earnest. She had his address and hickies on her entire body to prove he enjoyed her company. He accepted the shell necklace she offered.
Her hand reached up to rub the one on back of her neck, the raised mark felt almost like a four leaf clover. When she lifted her hair, she used a handmirror to look in the wall mirror. She was shocked to see a dark green and perfectly formed four leaf clover. It looked like a tattoo.
There was the sound on her coin dropping off her dresser. Hurrying into the bedroom, Dani watched the gold coin spinning on the floor and rolling to her feet. With a trembling hand, she picked it up. She had found it as a young mermaid at a place where a rainbow touched the edge of the sea and the shore. It was engraved with some sort of crest on one side and a weird language on the other that she had never found a translation for.
Rubbing her thumb over the script, the letters turned to English, and Dani giggled. Liam was a leprechaun and he knew she was a mermaid.
“When rainbows grace the misty skies,
And the road is lonely, don’t sigh,
Press this to your lips,
and give it a kiss,
and Love will come by nigh’.”
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