“I don’t even know what we’re doing here,” said Miriam lying back on the soft couch that made her feel as if she was floating on water. Her father had been meticulous with the design of the house, and he had been insistent on the “floating” couch.
“Those are your father’s last wishes,” said her mother.
“Dad wanted his ashes scattered in the sea, but we don’t have his ashes thanks to the Navy. They just chucked his body into the water.”
“Miriam!” Joanne said admonishing her daughter. “He was given a proper burial at sea. Besides, his message didn’t say anything about ashes.” Joanne looked down at the letter written in her husband’s neat handwriting. “It just says we should stay here for a week in the first month after his passing. He was probably concerned about the garden.”
“It’s as if he knew something bad was going to happen, if you ask me.”
“Don’t be silly. You know how eccentric Paul was, and how much this place meant to him. He was just being thorough with his wishes, as always.”
“He called it the family’s summer home," Miriam said in a low voice, "but all he did was work.”
Miriam looked at the large living room window, which consisted of curved glass reinforced into the rock wall. Through the transparent window, she could see the hazy aquamarine depths of a coral garden inhabited by a variety of marine creatures like starfishes, seahorses, rainbow coloured fishes, and conch shells. Not to mention the diversity of aquatic plants that made it a thriving ecosystem sustained by tidal waters.
The house was nestled on the rocky shore of the bay, where water from the open sea channeled through slabs of bedrock and into the sheltered marine environment beside the home.
“Dad wasn’t the sentimental type, mom," said Miriam. "Always busy with his classified work. Even on his days off, his mind was elsewhere, thinking only about his science. He knew the value of using time wisely- he even taught me how to schedule my playtime- why in the world would he want us to waste our time in this place full of melancholic memories?”
Joanne began to unpack her bags. They would stay for a week and then leave, never to return. She would put the house up for sale. It was simply impossible to maintain this place by herself, especially now with Miriam in college. Surely there were other eccentrics out there with deep pockets and a penchant for the sea.
“Help me with this luggage,” Joanne told her daughter.
Miriam picked up a suitcase and carried it towards the bedroom.
“We packed so much stuff!” she complained.
As she passed the glass wall, Miriam saw the colourful coral garden outside. Her father loved drinking his coffee in the morning while staring at it. What did he see? Miriam thought the fishes were cute and everything, but her father saw something else. She suspected that it probably had to do with that research of his. He was extremely secretive about it and would never discuss it even with his own wife and daughter. He had taken the job five years ago, after those uniformed men had come to see him. She often wondered, what would the Navy want with a cyberneticist like him?
Mother and daughter settled in and soon began the domestic ballet of house living. Joanne puttered about the kitchen. Miriam squirreled herself away in the house's maintenance station, checking up the energy grid and life support systems as her father had taught her. Her mother didn’t have the patience and knowledge to make sense of all the metrics and commands that kept the house ecosystem functioning. With a proclivity for math and engineering, Miriam wasn’t too intimidated and enjoyed the challenge. Plus it was the only time she could approach her father. In a way, it's true what they say, the apple doesn't fall far from the tree.
She looked through the port window and saw the new set of panels along the western retainer wall. Her father had put them up just before shipping off on his mission. As instructed on his letter, she accessed the control interface on the tablet and pressed a button that had been labeled ‘EchoModulator’.
Immediately, blue LED lights began to glow softly on the panels, forming a line that disappeared into the submarine depths.
He had installed this system shortly before his death but never got a chance to tell her what it was designed to do.
There were conflicting emotions in her. She had never been particularly close to her father, who was more interested in work than being a father. But she respected him and understood that he was part of something important and special. She always felt that at some point, he would open up like a clam shell, and the pearl of his love would be there waiting for her. But he was distant and his love further still.
“Do you really think we need to stay a whole week?” Miriam asked her mother.
“Those were his instructions.”
“It’s just so bizarre and uncharacteristic of him,” said Miriam, “I know he was secretive about his work, but this is ridiculous.”
“That’s your father for you.”
They busied themselves with odds and ends, taking inventory and preparing the house for sale.
Surprisingly, the days passed swiftly by. They went to the beach and visited the nearby town where they bought groceries and wine.
On the fourth night, Miriam fell asleep on a cushion beside the glass window, curled up with a book beneath the azure glow of the LED lights.
She dreamed she was a sea creature, not a mermaid, but something far stranger. Swimming and gliding through a magical underwater realm full of colourful life. She was at home in this place. This was where she belonged.
The elation of the dreamworld turned to puzzlement when she heard a sound. Slowly, she woke up and heard an unmistakable thump.
Opening her eyes, she looked up and quickly retreated from the window.
There was large creature swimming in the water. It repeatedly bumped its nose on the glass.
“Mom!” Miriam called out. “Come down here!”
She heard footsteps above, then her mother came down running and stopped with a squeal at the foot of the stairs.
“Oh my- Is that a dolphin?” she said.
“It gave me a scare,” said Miriam. “I was asleep by the window when I heard a thumping sound and then saw it banging on the glass.”
“Look at it! It's so big. Why is it swimming around like that? It appears excited about something.”
They walked towards the glass and watched the magnificent creature floating among the coral beds. Picking up speed then blowing bubble rings as it swam past the two women.
“Oh my god!” said Joanne laughing, “what is it doing?”
The dolphin disappeared off to the side.
“Where did he go?”
They could hear more thumping sounds around them.
The lights in the coral garden flickered.
“Did that creature do that?” Joanne said beginning to get concerned.
“I don’t know. Look, it’s coming back!”
The dolphin floated gently in front of mother and daughter, then turning his head towards the panels outside, he emitted a series of high-pitched chirps and whistles.
There was a loud sound of audio interference throughout the house.
“Hellooo…” said a childlike voice, “It’s me… Paul.”
As the car drove away, Miriam looked back at the house receding in the rear-view mirror. She was silent, and so was her mother.
Finally, Joanne spoke.
“I’ll call Roger and tell him we’re no longer interested in selling the house.”
Miriam nodded. “It will always be our summer home.”
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