On Wednesday, a wee mermaid house was found floating in the Gulf of Mexico, about 180 miles south of Grand Isle, Louisiana. On Thursday, the US Coast Guard solved the mystery of its origin story.
Granted, the charm of the mermaid house is the mystery. Anyone can look at it, drifting pristinely along the sea, and let their imaginations run free. Picture yourself standing on its tiny dock. Napping inside, lulled by the undulating waves and cries of fishing gulls. At night, the surface of the water shimmers with iridescent sea creatures, their jeweled scales lighting the ocean as the stars light the sky.
Perhaps a beautiful merperson emerges from the depths, clasps you in their breast-stroke strengthened arms, and introduces you to the ways of love with someone who has hands, a mouth, and only fins below the waist. Though we can’t see the little shack’s interior, assume there’s a crisp sauvignon blanc on tap and no such thing as Twitter. The mermaid house is as generous as your vision allows.
Anyway, CBS affiliate WWL-TV reports that it came from Parrot Key Hotel in Key West, Florida, and got swept away from their dock during a tropical storm. There were no people onboard at the time. Riddle solved.
The suspense may be gone, but the dream persists. Float me further, tiny mermaid house.