A Clutch of Mermaids

Sarah felt the stick move in her hand and, sure enough, the aileron moved down. The wing lifted and the aircraft started a turn. As soon as it started however, Karl brought the stick back to its original position and they levelled off.

"OK, the other thing the stick does is control the elevators in the tail. If we push forward," and here Sarah felt the stick move forwards and backward slightly, "it lifts the tail, which pushes our nose down and makes us descend." The stick moved forward again under her hand and, as promised, the nose of the aircraft pointed downwards and the aircraft started to go down. A few seconds later, Karl pulled up on the stick and levelled them out.

"OK, Sarah?"

The girl beamed at him in excitement and he smiled.

"Next we have the pedals. You can see them in front of you, yes?" The small woman nodded.

"They control the rudder, which makes us yaw, which is to say, turn to one side without dropping the wing. I think they're set for somebody a little taller than you, but you might still be able to reach them. Tell me if you can."

The girl fidgeted for a moment and the pilot felt the aircraft jerk slightly to one side.

"Woah!" he said. "Gently, Sarah!"

"Sorry."

"No, no, it's OK. I've got this solid, and we're in no danger. Just take it easy."

"We're going to do a slight turn to the right now. We'll start off by moving the stick a little to the right, which will cause us to bank in that direction. Feel that?"

"Yes. This is so cool, Karl!"

"To make a smooth turn, we use both the ailerons and the rudder. The tricky part is learning to coordinate them. It's kind of like riding a bicycle, though. Once you get the hang of it, you don't have to think about it." He again demonstrated.

He paused the demonstration. "How are you doing back there, Rachel?" he asked.

"Great, thanks."

"Good. Now, Sarah, you try flying it straight and level for a while. Don't worry, I'll still have my hands and feet on the controls. If things go screwy, just let go of everything and pull your feet back."

"Um, OK?"

Rachel could feel the difference. Karl's smooth mastery of the craft shifting to a more jerky, uncertain control.

"Right," the man's voice said over the intercom a minute or two later. "Let go now. My airplane."

Almost instantly, things became smoother.

"Good job, Sarah. We'll make a pilot out of you soon."

The young woman said nothing. Her bright smile did all the talking for her.

Shortly after, Karl again spoke. "OK, it's time to give Rachel a chance."

"No, I'm OK back here, thanks," she replied.

"Come on, Rachel," Sarah said. "It's fantastic!"

"I'm OK."

"Suit yourself," Karl said.

With an exasperated look at Karl, Sarah struggled out of her seat, squeezed by him and came back. The engine noise in the cabin was loud and she had left her headset behind. She went to speak, stopped and, pulling Rachels' headset off, shouted:

"GET... UP... THERE ... NOW!"

The tall girl smiled, held up her hand in polite refusal.

Sarah made a stern face and pointed imperiously. With that, her friend shrugged, undid her seat belt and made her way up to the co-pilot's spot.

"Welcome!" Karl's voice came over the intercom. "Glad you could make it."

From behind, there was a giggle from Sarah.

"Thanks."

"I think you heard me describe what the controls do," Karl said. "Would you like to try?"

"No, thank you. Really, Karl - I'm a total klutz. But, sitting here, I'm surprised that you can figure out all these dials and stuff. What do they all do?"

Karl proceeded to name them, pointing as he did. It took a while, even for the relatively simple instrument panel.

Soon after, he pointed out the window. "There it is, the large island just off to port." With that, he put the nose down and started a gradual descent.

The girls watched in amazement as the island grew larger in their windows.

Perhaps half a mile long, it was in a broad C-shape, quite high and broad in the middle. At one end of the island was a large, red-roofed structure. A score of smaller versions of it were scattered here and there under the trees across the island. With the exception of those, some paths, tennis courts and a large irregular pool by the large building, the island was a lush green, with trees everywhere. A sheltered bay held a dock with a boat of some sort next to it.

As they went lower still, the girls could see that many of the trees were flowered. There were small sailboats in the bay and people on the beaches, both inside the bay and around the outside perimeter of the island.

"It's so pretty!" Rachel breathed.

"It is that," Karl agreed.

Karl leveled off and did a low pass over the island.

"That's so they'll be sure to send the shuttle," his voice said in the earphones.

He did one more pass, then circled around and made a surprisingly gentle landing, taxiing up to the dock where a tanned young man in matching shorts and t-shirt with the Pirate's Cay logo helped them moor the Beaver. Baggage was carried to a golf cart and the four were soon heading up to the main building.

"Room 27 for the bags, Jason," Karl said as they arrived. Turning to Rachel and Sarah, he said, "Come with me."

The arrival routine was efficient. Part of it was a briefing using a large aerial photo of the island.

"We're here ," Karl said, pointing at the photo with a long ruler. "This building contains guest rooms, resort offices, the dining room, the pub and most of the other administration features for the resort. It also contains the staff quarters, staff dining room and lounge.

"In addition to the rooms in this building, there are 18 guest villas of various sizes on the island. Here  are the tennis courts, also for guest use. This  beach is for guests, this  one is the guest clothing-optional beach and this  one is reserved for the staff."

He turned from the photo and smiled at that. "Given your job, I'm not sure you two will be wanting to spend much time there, but it's there if you want it."

The girls were each fitted with a close-fitting bracelet of about the same thickness as a pencil. "This is your room key and your dining card," he said. "It also allows you to charge drinks at the staff lounge against your pay. In addition, it's also your tip pass -- a guest only has to tap his bracelet against yours for the tip to register on your account. The longer the two bracelets are held together, the higher the tip. You'll catch on quickly, I promise."

All that done, Karl took them on a tour of the large building. While not crowded at the moment, it was clear that there were quite a few people on the island.

Outside, the pool was precisely like its image on the website -- large, irregular in shape and located right by the main building.

And there were indeed mermaids, some topless and some not. They were all, Rachel and Sarah saw with just a slight bit of jealousy, truly beautiful. One black girl in particular had stunning features and perfect skin set off by a creamy white tail.

About half of the female guests seemed to have chosen to go topless as well. Looking around, it suddenly didn't seem like that big a deal to the tall girl and she found herself relaxing just a bit.

As they watched, a pair of guests, both obviously in their 60s, approached one of the mermaids. Her tail was green, perfectly complimenting her red hair. Her nipples were covered with seashells of the same color as her tail. While large, her breasts offered no competition to either Rachel or Sarah. When the man leaned over and said something, she smiled graciously, pulled herself out of the water and sat on the edge of the pool. The couple slid down to sit beside her, one on either side. The man said something to her; she nodded. Both of them put their arms around her waist.

The mermaid smiled brilliantly as another staff member took a series of photos with the old man's camera. Being careful not to splash them, the mermaid, obviously an old hand at modeling this way, flipped her tail out of the water, turned from side to side as photo after photo was taken.

"We did mention that that's a tradition here, I think," Karl said. The two new girls nodded.

"And you noticed that they asked Sandra first and that there was no hanky-panky, just a hug, right?"

Again, the two nodded.

The two guests released the mermaid, got up. The woman leaned down and tapped the girl's bracelet with her own before following her husband. The mermaid smiled and slipped back into the pool to do a couple of slow laps.

"All the guests here also wear a bracelet and they've all been briefed on expected conduct. If any of them gets weird or pushes you too hard, get their number and let us know. OK?"

"Yes."

Karl looked both of them in the eyes.

"We have two rules here. First, nobody -- nobody  -- has the right to grope you or demand any kind of sex from our mermaids. We've been doing this for years and it's generally been trouble-free. Every so often however we get a new guest who thinks rules don't apply to them -- generally to him.  Just to be clear, Pirate's Cay supports its employees. Don't take any kind of crap."

Sarah and Rachel nodded.

"Second rule. To make the...' and here he smiled, "...wholesome nature of this place perfectly clear, what you do as adults off-hours is your business, but there is no off-duty fraternization between the staff and the guests. No picnics on the beach, no walks on the paths, no private dinners -- none. Got it?"

He saw the puzzlement in their eyes. "OK," he said. "A couple of reasons for that. First, we really do want to maintain a fairly wholesome business reputation. And getting a reputation for being a source of always-willing young ladies, if you get my drift, wouldn't sit well with the government. Secondly, we've found it's bad for staff morale. Some here will be jealous already, seeing you as being paid a lot of money to just sit around dressed in Sweet Fanny Adams. Having close relationships with the guests would make it worse."

"We understand, Karl," Rachel said softly.

From time to time as they watched, one of the mermaids would slip into the water from their perch under some palm trees. She'd make a turn or two around the pool before diving under the water near the building.

They generally spent quite a while underwater before surfacing. Sometimes they dove again, sometimes they simply returned to where they had been on the other side of the pool.

"That's where the bar is?" Rachel guessed.

"Yup. 'Blackbeard's Cove', we call it. It's next on our tour. Follow me."

The bar proved surprisingly large but was as dim as the website made it out to be. The window behind the bar was the size of a king-size bed. It was almost empty when they entered -- just the bartender and two couples.

"Let's sit down," Karl suggested. "Normally, this place is for guests only, but you should see what it looks like from inside."

The two declined an offer of a coffee and simply sat there admiring the décor. Dark wood and faux portholes were matched with numerous prints of sailing ships. The furniture was solid, comfortable.

Rachel's eyes were caught by movement behind the bar. A mermaid slowly swum into sight, her tail driving her forward and her arms beside her body. She came to the window and hovered before it, waving. Karl waved back. Her hair trailing behind her, she did an underwater somersault before gliding out of view.

"Oh!" Rachel said. "That's really pretty."

"We try to get a mermaid or two by there every few minutes."

"I can see why," Sarah said.

"Staff dinner starts at 5:30. Right now, you should find Kami -- she's in Building B, off to the right -- and get fitted for your tails."

The two girls nodded.

Turning to Sarah, Karl asked, "Are you still good for the topless costume?"

"You bet!"

"OK, I'll have it entered into the pay sheet."

He turned to Rachel. "Change your mind?"

"Not yet. Thinking on it."

"OK. I've got you two on tomorrow from 10:00 AM to 8:00 PM. You get two half-hour meal breaks and there need to be at least two mermaids in the pool area at all times, so you can figure it out with the others."

"Thanks, Karl," Rachel said.

As they exited the building, the two saw one of the younger male guests with a bare-breasted mermaid lying in his arms. The girl had obviously agreed, for her arm was around his neck and she was smiling broadly. Another young man was taking their photo. A moment later, the first leaned over the edge of the pool and simply let her roll down his forearms into the water. The motion of her breasts as she was rolling was amazing. The mermaid gave a shrill squeal, surfacing a moment later laughing. The man held his bracelet next to hers for more than a mere tap.

"Darn good racket," Sarah mused.

The two took a moment to change, each settling on what seemed to be a common garb around the Resort, a bikini and a waist-wrap sarong.

Arriving at an out-of-the-way building with a large B painted on the doorpost, they stopped. With one last look at each other, Sarah knocked on the door.

The grey-haired woman from the interview opened it.

"Um, It's Kami, right?"

"That's me! And you're Rachel and Sarah, looking for your fins, so come on in!"

Leading them through a cluttered workspace and onto a patio behind the building, she sat down on a chair, gesturing to the two younger women to join her. The patio was comfortable, shaded with palm trees and featuring a small private pool.

"Why don't we start with you, Rachel?"

She rose, went back into the workroom, returning a minute later with a scruffy cardboard box. The girls watched as she opened it, first taking out a very ordinary, rather battered shoe-sizing device of the sort found on the floor of any shoe store.

"On you get, girlie," she commanded, recording Rachel's foot measurements on a small tablet.

A tape measure followed.

"You're either going to have to hold up the hem of that sarong or else take it off, hon. It's in the way."

Rachel shrugged. She flipped the skirt off, revealing a tiny bikini bottom.

"Sweet legs," the older woman said softly. "Take care of that skin, hon, it's amazing."

For the next two minutes, Rachel simply stood still while Kami's deft fingers measured her ankles, her calves, her knees and so forth. The process was repeated for Sarah.

"OK, you two," I think we're in luck. I don't think I'm going to have to make anything special for you. You're both close enough what we have on the shelves, I think. Wait a sec."

She reappeared shortly after with a pair of what she referred to as 'mono fins' in one hand and lengths of brightly-coloured fabric over the other arm.

The mono fins were both red-orange in colour and shaped like a fish's tail fin. Each had a pair of low rubbery boots mounted on one side.

Standing in front of the two girls, she demonstrated how to wear them.

"To get out of them, you just push down with one foot and pull the other out. Then you do the same thing for the other foot."

She offered Rachel and Sarah a selection of 'tails', tubular elastic fabric sheaths to slide over the legs and convert them to a mermaid tail. The bottom end of all of them were coloured to match the mono fins, with colors changing rapidly above that.

"You pull these on like pantyhose and you can simply push them down over your feet when you want to get out."

Rachel decided on a bright red one and Sarah took one which had amber and dark brown stripes. Both had printed patterns like fish scales.

Leading the two to sit beside the shallow end of the pool, she helped the two into their tails, which ended just above the waist, then helped them into the mono fins.

It was an odd sensation, they both thought. For the crawl, the fastest swimming stroke, their coaches had stressed the need for independent leg action. With this on, it was impossible. There was only one possible way to swim, the dolphin stroke, bending knees and waist, using a lot of core muscles. They'd done that for butterfly stroke races, of course, but it felt much different.

"Happy with those?" Kami asked.

The girls beamed. The costumes were fun, sexy and cute.

"Did either of you do any mermaiding as girls?" Kami asked. "There's a lot of youngsters out in the real world who really enjoy it."

The two shook their heads.

"Too bad. Anyway, those are your costumes, ladies. The tail can be machine washed, but hang it to dry, OK? I look forward to seeing you at the pool."

"Um..." Rachel said.

"Yes?"

"I think there's a bra or top?

"Oh! I'm so sorry!" Kami said. "I forgot."

Her manner became thoroughly professional. "What's your bra size back home, hon?"

Rachel blushed. She was proud of her bosom, but still embarrassed by it at times. "Erm, 36F," she said softly.

"OK, let's see what I can find. Back in a minute."

Sarah chuckled as the older woman left the room. "There are boys out there who are going to swear off shellfish if you wear that bra, Rache!"

"Oh, shut up. I just don't..."

The smaller woman patted her on the hand. "Sorry, hon. I didn't mean to tease. But honestly, roomie, speaking as somebody who's seen them a bunch of times, you've got no reason to hide them, especially in a place like this. There's millions of girls who'd kill for a rack like that."

Rachel's reply was cut off as Kami returned, a handful of shells and strings dangling from her hand.

"Here we go," she said. She took a quick look at Sarah before asking Rachel, "They're sort of like bras, dear; they need to be properly fitted. Would you like Sarah to wait outside?"

"No," Rachel said. "We're roommates. She's seen me before."

"Fine. So, slip off that bikini top and let's see how these fit, please."

Rachel paused, then reached back and pulled first one tie, then the other. She took off the bra and tossed it aside.

"OK, good news and bad news, Rachel. The bad news is that these," she said, holding up a costume top," don't offer a lot of support. The good news is that you won't get those red marks from the strings because they're not holding up anything but the shells." Her finger reached out and ran along the marks left by Rachel's bikini ties.

"No support?" Rachel asked.

"The shells are mainly there to cover your nipples, dear."

She handed one top to Rachel, with red shells to match her tail. Holding it up in her hands, it was little more than two shallow plastic scallop shells fastened together with ties. She held them up over her breasts, but the shells were just a little bit too small for the job. The edges of her soft brown areolae were clearly visible around the shell edges.

"Put them on anyway, dear," Kami directed. "I have a 3D printer here; I'll make you a larger pair later. Let's just see what these look like for now."

Kami had been right; there wasn't much support. On the other hand, the young woman thought, it wasn't like she was going to be doing much walking around in them; it would be mainly swimming or lying down.

"Hot!" Sara remarked, smiling.

The shells felt odd. Accustomed to the soft fabric of brassieres and bikini tops, the shells were hard, unyielding against her soft flesh. She turned back and forth to look at herself at a mirror on the patio wall.

"Do me a favour," Kami said. "Bounce a little."

"What?"

"Bounce. On your toes. I want to see if this is going to be a problem. The shells aren't for support; they're just for modesty. If this is going to be an issue for you, let's find out now."

Blushing, the young woman did so. Her breasts wobbled up and down as she did, Kami watched her dispassionately.

"Rachel," she asked, "have you ever gone topless, like at a beach?"