“How was the zoo?”
“Packed but fun. Malcolm really enjoyed seeing the aquarium this time.”
As soon as I said that, he lifted his head off my shoulder.
“I saw two mermaids, mommy,” he told her.
“You did?”
He nodded yes and then Avery asked him what the mermaids looked like.
“Pretty,” he said.
“All mermaids are pretty. What color was their hair?”
“White.”
“Both had blond hair then.”
Another nod from Malcolm, and then Avery asked him what color the mermaids’ tails were.
“Only one mermaid had a tail, mommy. It was blue.”
Avery frowned. “Only one had a tail?”
“Uh-huh.”
“Then the one that didn’t have a tail isn’t a mermaid.”
“Yes, she is.”
“No, Malcolm—she’s not. A mermaid has to have a tail.”
“Stevie’s goes away.”
Avery looked at me and shrugged. “Stevie? Who is he talking about?”
“There were two mermaids at the aquarium today and one of them was named Stevie,” I explained.
“How do you know that?”
“Because Malcolm and I met her.”
“I’m confused. If both mermaids were inside the tank at the aquarium then how did you meet the one named Stevie?”
“She wasn’t swimming in the water like the other one. She was walking around inside the aquarium and interacting with others.”
“A mermaid with no tail. How confusing to a child.”
“Not to mine,” I said, glancing at Malcolm. “He understood that she was still a mermaid—with or without a tail.”
Avery rolled her eyes and sighed. “Whatever, Zac.”
It was right then that I witnessed the shift in her mood, and it had happened over something so small and irrelevant. It seemed that she was always looking for something to argue about and this time, she was arguing with a four-year-old about mermaids.
“I’m gonna go change Malcolm’s clothes and mine,” I said, and started walking off with him still in my arms.
“Aren’t you two gonna eat with me? I’ve worked hard on this meal.”