Building a raft.

The next day was Easter. You shared some chocolate eggs with each other. Then you got ready and entered the water. Today you were making the raft. You had brought some second-hand paddle boards, some wooden pallets, scavenged driftwood, and rope.

You worked with Marnie and her family to combine the materials you brought with Marnie’s raft. The work was hard, especially for you and Brandy, who were not used to doing more than swimming in the water. Treading water was less effective than having a tail. It was quickly decided that you and Brandy should work on the boat, combining parts of the raft. It also gave you a good overview of the raft while Marnie and her family worked in and under the water.

By noon, the raft was made. It was simpler than the family raft. Marnie’s original had just been pallets with old blue plastic cooking oil drums strapped underneath for buoyancy and a tarpaulin for shelter held up by a single post like a kind of bell tent. With the materials you had brought, it was now more buoyant, large enough for the three of you. Extra tarpaulin provided better shelter, held up by posts into a larger tenanted area. There was also a stepped ramp with a rope to allow Brandy to pull herself up.

There were two things now that needed to be done to complete the tradition, so the pair of you joined Marnie on the raft, leaving the wetsuits behind.

The first was sharing a meal. Marnie had caught some fish once the raft was finished. Meanwhile, you set up a Trangia cooker on the raft and begin to boil some new potatoes. You had wanted fish and chips; however, the food prep had to be done on the raft. Therefore, it was too dangerous to deep fry them. Once the potatoes were boiled, you plated them up and began to pan fry the fish for you and Brandy, while Marnie tucked into her fish raw. The family mostly kept to their own raft; this part of the tradition was meant to be private between the ‘newlyweds’. However, some of the more curious young merfolk came over, drawn by the smell of cooked fish. You agreed to give them the Trangia to use once you had plated up your food, if they left you alone.