Near + Far Read Free Page B

question.
    "Gives you time to think."
    "Think about what?"
    "I was born not too far from here." He stared at the twitch and pluck in the sun-splattered water.
    "Yeah?"
    He turned to look at me. His eyes were chocolate and beer and cinnamon. "My mother said my dad was one of them."
    I frowned. "One of what?"
    "A mermaid."
    I had to laugh. "She was pulling your leg. Mermaids can't fuck humans."
    "Before he went into the water, idiot."
    "Huh," I said. "And when he came out?"
    "She said he never came out."
    "So you think he's still there? Man, all those rich folks, once they learned that the water stank and glared, they gave up that life. If he didn't come out, he's dead."
    I was watching the trash close to us when I saw what had sparked this thought. The mermaids were back. They moved along the net's edge. It shuddered as they tugged at it.
    "What are they doing?" I asked.
    "Picking at it," Niko said. "I've been watching. They pick bits off. What for, I don't know."
    "We didn't see them around the Lump. Why now?"
    Niko shrugged. "Maybe all that trash is too toxic for them. Maybe that's why we didn't see any fish near it either. Here it's smaller. Tolerable."
    Jorge Felipe slid onto his heels on the deck.
    "We need to drive them off," he said, frowning at our payload.
    "No," Niko protested. "There's just a few. They're picking off the loose stuff that makes extra drag, anyhow. Might even speed us up."
    Jorge Felipe gave him a calculating look. The look he'd given the tourist. But all he said was, "All right. That changes, let me know."
    He walked away. We stood there, listening to the singing of the mermaids.
    I thought about reaching out to take Niko's hand, but what would it have accomplished? And what if he pulled away? Eventually I went back in to check our course.

    By evening, the mermaids were so thick that I could see our own Lump shrinking, dissolving like a tablet in water.
    Jorge Felipe came out with his gun.
    "No!" Niko said.
    Jorge Felipe smiled. "If you don't want me to shoot them, Niko, then they're taking it off your share. You agree it's mine, and I won't touch a scale."
    "All right."
    "That's not fair," I objected. "He worked as hard as us pulling it in."
    Jorge Felipe aimed the gun at the water.
    "It's okay," Niko told me.
    I thought to myself that I'd split my share with him. I wouldn't have enough for the Choice, but I'd be halfway. And Niko would owe me. That wouldn't be a bad thing.
    I knew what Choice I'd make. Niko liked boys. I liked Niko. A simple equation. That's what the Choice is supposed to let you do. Pick the sex you want, when you want it. Not have it forced on you when you're not ready.
    The Mary Magdalena sees everything that goes on within range of her deck cameras. It shouldn't have surprised me when I went back into the cabin and she said, "You like Niko, don't you?"
    "Shut up," I said. I watched the display. The mermaids wavered on it like fleshy shadows.
    "I don't trust Jorge Felipe."
    "Neither do I. I still want you to shut up."
    "Lolo," she said. "Will you ever forgive me for what happened?"
    I reached over and switched her voice off.

    Still, it surprised me when Jorge Felipe made his move. I'd switched on auto-pilot, decided to nap in the hammock. I woke up to find him fumbling through my clothes.
    "What you pick up, huh? What did you grab and stick away?" he hissed. His breath stank of old coffee and cigarettes and the tang of metal.
    "I didn't find anything," I said, pushing him away.
    "It's true what they say, eh? No cock, no cunt." His fingers rummaged.
    I tried to shout but his other hand was over my mouth.
    "We all want this money, eh?" he said. "But I need it. You can keep on being all freaky, mooning after Niko. And he can keep on his own loser path. Me, I'm getting out of here. But I figure you, you don't want to be messed with. Your share, or I'm fucking you up worse than you are already."
    If I hadn't turned off her voice, the Mary Magdalena would have warned me. But she