Siren

.

The man wasn't a particularly sensitive or romantic man. He'd been a fisherman for many years, and it showed. His face was windswept, his cheeks rosy, his expression dull, his breath reeking of nicotine, his thin hair combed back. He'd recently turned fifty-ninth and retired. He kept hiring himself out to fish to keep himself occupied. One day, he returned home from fishing and began to cry.

"What?" asked his wife, who was known for her foul tongue.

The man didn't react. He went out onto the balcony and continued shedding tears. He did so loudly enough that the neighbor living below became interested and came over, supposedly to borrow money.

"What happened to yours?" she asked.

The woman shrugged.

"I know. He's crying. "

"Such a man?" the neighbor asked in surprise.

"So, if you're a man, you can't cry? He clearly has a reason. And what about you?

" "I came to borrow some sugar."

"It's in the shop. I don't have any loans.

" "Maybe they stole something from him?

" "What would they have?

" "I don't know, a boat?

" "What boat? It's been in the scrapyard for a while.

" "So he doesn't fish anymore? Maybe he's depressed?"

"What depression, you read too many newspapers." My husband never worried about anything in his life, always took things easy." "

You see, the Kryska River came on Matyska. He lived a quiet life, but in his old age, he went crazy."

The woman walked the neighbor to the door. "

He went crazy right away, you better watch your drinking, he was having another row in the stairwell yesterday."

The man calmed down after a few hours. He returned to his room, opened a new pack of Albatross, and smoked.

"Tell me, finally? Has something happened?"

The fisherman's dry, wrinkled face remained expressionless as he uttered his first words of the afternoon.

"I'm in love..."

The woman began to laugh. A screeching cackle rose above the building, so loud that its echo traveled upwards and reached the sea. A flock of seagulls took flight at the strange, unfamiliar sound.

"An old lunatic, a true lunatic. He fell in love. He left in the morning, normal, and came back in love."

The man ignored his wife's mockery. He stared absently out the window.

"I can't live without her…"

"He can't live without her, Jesus of Nazareth, what's going to happen now? Tell me you and your friends got drunk. You think I don't know you go to the port to whore? What, did she please you like that? How much did you pay her? You old geezer, you scoundrel, I'll beat the living daylights out of you." "

I love her," the man repeated, and started crying again.

The woman stopped laughing. She had never seen her husband in such a state. She decided to call her daughter.

"Listen, your father's not doing well," she said into the receiver so he wouldn't hear her.

"What? What happened? A heart attack? Some kind of accident?

" "I don't know. He's crying. "

"He's crying?"

"But he... never, he never cried. Maybe I'll drop by, huh?"

"Go to the pharmacy."

"But what am I supposed to say, what's wrong with him?"

"Take something to calm you down, some herbs or something." "

I'll be right back."

The man didn't want herbs. He patted his daughter's head and kissed her forehead tenderly.

"If only you knew how much I love her.

" "But who? Can't you tell me?" "

She asked me.

" "From us, from the town?"

The man shook his head.

"Tell me, father, a visitor?"

"I don't know.

" "You don't know if a visitor?" "

I don't know. She...

" "Well...

" "I caught her." "

Did you catch her?" Mother and daughter asked the same question simultaneously. "

We were fishing for flounder... suddenly the net thrashed, I thought it was something big, I pulled her into the boat..."

"What?"

"I don't know."

"A girl?"

"It was ten kilometers from the shore. It couldn't have been a girl. She looked like…

" "The Virgin Mary?"

"Like a mermaid. She had scales on the bottom."

The woman exchanged knowing smiles with her daughter. "

She looked at me as if she wanted to say something. A sound came from her mouth, fluttering like a bird…

" "Was everyone drunk?" the woman had no doubt. "

I couldn't take my eyes off her. She touched my cheek, then kissed me…"

"Oh, man, man, go to the doctor tomorrow, you have no shame, such stupidity." "

She had such big, blue eyes, I can still see them now and hear that voice… as if she were calling me…"

"Lie down, lie down, you'll sober up…"

The man waved his hand and went out onto the balcony. After a moment, his loud sobbing could be heard again.

"We have to call an ambulance. This is no joke."

When the doctor arrived fifteen minutes later, the woman pointed to the balcony. The doctor returned a moment later, sitting in the chair, and sighed.

"Is this some kind of joke? Do you know you can go to jail for calling an ambulance falsely?"

The woman ran out onto the balcony. A moment later, her daughter did the same. They both returned, pale and terrified. They spoke one after the other. The doctor calmed them down. "

Wait a minute, what happened, one by one. What siren, who fell in love, and what's the point?"

When the woman explained what had happened, the doctor stood up, shook her hand, and said,

"In that case, my condolences."

The woman looked at her daughter. She practically lunged at the doctor, who was heading for the exit.

"What does that mean? What do you mean by condolences..."

"Ma'am. I've been a doctor for thirty years. If I offer you my condolences, it means I'm offering you my goodbyes."

"But..." the daughter tried to say something. "

There are no buts. Unfortunately. There are no jokes about mermaids.

" "Are you kidding us?" the woman was close to tears.

"I wouldn't dare..."

"Are you saying he won't come back?"

"Now you're kidding. They don't let anyone come back. "

The doctor glanced toward the sea.

"Are you saying mermaids really exist?

" "Do they?

" The doctor's laughter could be heard throughout the entire building.

"He's a lunatic," the woman said.

Before evening, the two of them set off to search. They walked many kilometers of beach, stopping at all sorts of suspicious establishments on the way back. They were exhausted. They decided to call the police.

The constable sipped from his Chinese soup.

"He'll be fine. He'll be back."

"Sir, my husband never went out at night."

The constable shrugged. The women were clearly starting to annoy him. He put down his spoon and glared at them menacingly.

"I'm very sorry, but I can't do anything because the statutory time limit for starting to locate the missing person hasn't yet passed.

" "But this is an exceptional case," the daughter shouted. "

Yes, we make exceptions when it comes to a small child; in this case, we're dealing with an adult man, aren't we?" The policeman reached for a spoon. "

My husband caught a siren..." The woman paused, fearing she would be ridiculed. The policeman began coughing violently. When he finally managed to catch his breath, he said,

"Well. In cases like this, the police are helpless.

" "Helpless? So you too..."

"What do you mean, me too? "

"Do you also believe in sirens?"

"Do I?" The policeman mused. "I'm very sorry, but I can't answer that question. I'm on duty, and faith is my private matter. It's like asking you if you believe in God?"

The women left the station completely resigned. As they entered the apartment, they heard strange noises. They crept to the bedroom door. The woman slowly opened it. Now everything was clear. Two legs and a large fish tail protruded from under the covers.