Mermaids don’t exist, right? That’s what Madeline assumed until she saw an unusual creature in the ocean after she’d first arrived in the quaint, New England town of Penbrook. She was thirteen years old at the time.
I created this short story that documents the history of the elusive Penbrook Mermaid who appears several times in my upcoming novel Sea Magic. It’s told from Madeline’s perspective as a teenager. Every Thursday after school, she would ride her bike to her Aunt Phoebe’s home, where a close group of her aunt’s friends would gather for their weekly “coffee klatch” meetings. It was during these gatherings that the women regaled Madeline with stories about the infamous Penbrook mermaid.
According to these ladies, the first sighting of the Penbrook Mermaid occurred in May 1706. The Benjamin Tucker was preparing to set sail when one of the sailors heard a loud splash off the quarterdeck. And that’s how the magic began!
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