Serpent Tale

Women swim in the ocean with pilot whales, dolphins and manatees. Some sea creatures cure infertility. It’s their song, it penetrates, and mends. My mother taught me this. Whale song transformed my mother’s legs into a coiled fish tail. Nine months later I was born. Now I too am a woman, I go swimming, return home pregnant and riding on the back of a bearded serpent. I like his smile. Mother isn’t pleased. One hand on her breast, her eyes beseeching, she will not listen to any talk of romance, or marriage. I say, she should be more open-minded.