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Silver shook away her confusion. "Gram, don't you think you ought to have told me this a long time ago?"
Gram shifted in the bedding, adjusted the sheet and light blanket around her chest. "But I did, Silver. Back then, back after the fishing derby. I told you about selkies. The whole business. Though tactfully leaving out the part about your grandmothers."
"Tactfully leaving out the part about my relatives, of course. And why did you do that?"
Once again, her grandmother's attention went directly to the bedding. Silver watched the old lady, riddled with cancer and pale from the chemotherapy, pluck at the sheet as if it would never straighten out. It didn't take much for her to walk around the bed and fix the bedding, while waiting for her grandmother to come up with an answer. Once the sheets and blankets were perfect, Silver stood at the side of the bed and waited expectantly for an answer. Her hands on hips pose was enough to get the old lady to finally come up with something.
"Well, you were a little young. I didn't want to...oh, I don't know. It all would have been a fairy tale to a seven year old, now, wouldn't it? And you'd just caught this big fish and had all that excitement and the photographers and such...I didn't think you'd get the importance of what I had to say."
"Aaargh!"
Why now? Why at this time, when things were so rocky, when there was so much at stake, did her grandmother choose now to drop this bomb on her?
"Gram, so, a long ago relative is reputed to be a seal-woman from Scottish folklore. And you believe it? Sweet mercy, Gram. I didn't think...after all the years I've known you, that you could actually believe this crap."
Gram's chin lifted as she shot her grandchild a look of indignant righteousness. "And while you may be thinking I've gone senile, I must inform you most explicitly that I have not. I am completely compus mentus, have control of my mental faculties. This is not a fairy tale, young lady, it is family history. And if you don't believe it, how else can you explain the fish thing? And the dog thing, and the bird thing, and the deer thing you've complained about? Huh? Huh?"
With her face reddening, Gram frightened Silver into action. "Whoa! Don't get your knickers in knots over this, Gram. I didn't mean anything by it. Of course you know that. I just find this revelation at this time of my life, a little...weird."
Slightly mollified, the elderly lady slid back under the bed-covers. She settled, the red in her fair, bloodless complexion gone. "Look, Silver, you've been aware of your little 'talent' all your life. You've complained about dogs following you, the cats jumping onto your lap when you were all dressed up, even how the deer always seem to anticipate you driving down the darkened roads around here. How else can you explain it?
"No, you aren't a seal, you don't have a fur skin hidden anywhere, that ended with your original ancestress. She never found her coat, never was able to get back to the sea. She had seven children with Geordie McLaren and you are her direct descendent. You've been baptized and blessed, you have no trace of faerie or other worldliness about you with this one exception. So, animals of all kinds are attracted to you. Outside of being inconvenient at times, why should you complain?"
Silver sighed. "I'm not complaining about the animal weirdness, Gram. I'm just finding it hard to believe, here in the 21st century, that this could possibly be true. I mean, science and all...." Her voice trailed off as she thought about the depth of what had been revealed.
Was she part faery, part selkie seal? Did she have an unnatural attraction to animals? Did that include--men?
Hah! No, it did not. At least, she didn't think so.
"There, there, dear. At least one of Rachael's descendents got something from her. I often wished I'd gotten something, but...no, I have no peculiar talents. Rather disappointing."
"Aw, Gram!" Silver hugged the elderly woman, not too tight. She didn't need to bring any pain to the woman who was just getting over a chemical poisoning for a little while. "You know I love you, don't you?"
The old lady hesitated just long enough, then gave a faint grin. "I know you do, honey. But now, I'm all tired out. Think about what I told you, though, Silver. It's important that you understand this gift and make some use of it."
Instead of going directly back to the Chronicle office, Silver stopped at the town library to do a little research. In a secluded section of the old building, she found an old book about Scotland and read what it had to tell her about her ancestors, the selkies.
Blah, blah, seals cursed to be animals but with the ability to change into human form, male and female, sexually attractive in a time when that wasn't necessarily something anyone dared talk about, if their pelt was found and hidden away, their partners could keep them human forever, but as soon as they located their seal skins, they escaped back into the sea, leaving behind all traces of humanity, children and husbands included, apparently without remorse.
"Well, hmm. Leave behind the drudgery of 16th century Scotland, poor as all get out, forced to wash and cook and bear children and getting what back in return? Hmm? Sex? Not hardly worth staying human, then, Not just for sex." Silver slammed the book shut just as someone stepped in front of her.
"Hey, Silver!"
She jumped.
It was only the chief of police, Rich Polaski.
"Hey, chief! Got any stories for the Chronicle?"
Chief Polaski, an affable sort who had a beer belly and ready grin, laughed, a bubbly happy sound that took Silver away from thoughts of her Scottish Grandmother the seal.
"Yes, as a matter of fact, I do. Want to come over to the cop shop and I'll show you the latest in crime-solving technology?"
"So, how does this thing work?"
Rich handed over the light, camo-covered device. Silver weighed it in her hand, looked at the screen on the outside, checked out the buttons on the side.
"It's a motion-detection camera, used by hunters and wildlife folks to capture images of the kind of animals in a particular area, try to see if it's wolves or foxes stealing livestock, that sort of thing."
Puzzled, she handed it back to him. "Chief, has something been stealing chickens in Middlebrook?"
Rich let out a huge laugh. "No, not chickens. This is confidential, now, but you know the flowers in front of the municipal building? Well, something has been killing them. We figure it's some dog running loose and digging them out and this gave us an opportunity to actually use the thing. Somebody donated it to the police about three months ago and, frankly, we didn't know if we'd ever use it. But then these flowers started dying and somebody suggested we find out why."
"And did you?"
The chief puffed out his chest. "Yes, indeedy. We found the culprit, all right."
"Did you arrest the dog?"
Rich shook his head. "Turned out it wasn't a dog. It was Hector Valez."
"Hector was digging out the plants? Hector, the guy who owns the taco place downtown?"
"Yep. Seems he would walk home after a few cervesas downtown and not quite be able to make it home before having to relieve himself. So, he was, er, doing it, in the flower bed."
Silver held back her laughter. This was news, sort of. "So, he peed in the flower bed? And you caught him with this fancy wildlife camera?"
"Yep." He grinned wider, obviously pleased with the great accomplishment.
"And you want me to put this in the Chronicle? About Hector peeing in the flowers?"
Polaski sobered. "No, you don't need to mention Hector by name. Just a little article about the new camera and how it has been used to capture criminals and wildlife and how we're on top of things at the cop shop. Something like that."
"Will do, Chief. I'll do my best. Look for it."
Well, she thought, this has been a day of revelation. What next?
copyright 2009, Irene Peterson