10 The Jellyfish Incident

I heard the ocean before I saw it. Seagulls cawed left and right, even swooping over our heads. One nearly snatched my bonnet and I cried out in delight. How exciting! I'd always hated the thing anyway.

Untying the ribbon from around my neck, I also removed the horrible shoes and peeled off my stockings. I handled the whole bundle to my scandalized older brother.

"What on earth are you doing?!"

"Enjoying myself," I retorted. "Sweet Percy, watch my things for me, I'm going to go wade in the ocean!"

"Catherine!" he called out but made no move to stop me.

Perhaps he was curious about what I would do. Or he felt guilty about my wings being clipped in the near future by our mother. Whatever the reason, he let me go.

I undid the pins in my hair and let the waist-length locks fly free around my head in the ocean breeze. The salty air smelled fantastic to me after being stuck in that carriage with the ice people.

I hiked up my skirt and splashed through the edge of the waves, gasping as the cold water hit my toes. Feeling even giddier than before, I couldn't stop myself from laughing in pure delight as I jumped around.

The sand squishing through my toes, the relaxing sound of the ocean mixed with the harsh cry of the seagulls, and the cold water running over my feet up to my ankles combined was the best thing in the world in that moment. I needed this.

Several yards away, a few little boys were poking at something that looked like a plastic bag on the wet sand. They didn't have plastic here.

Feeling curious, I made my way over to them, being sure to squish my toes into the wet sand with every step.

I peered over their shoulders. "What are you guys looking a—that's a jellyfish! Don't touch it!"

They looked up at me, the wild-looking lady in the fancy pink dress with contempt. These were clearly street kids. Their smudged faces and patched up clothes gave it away.

"Don't tell me what to do."

One of them reached out to touch it and clearly hit a tentacle because he immediately began to howl.

The other boy froze before panicking. "What do I do? Help! Is there a doctor here? Help him! Somebody please!"

A man with a black bag who had been sitting at one of the outdoor tables of a restaurant near the shore came forward. "I'm a doctor, what happened?"

"He touched that thing and now look at his hand!" the boy's friend wailed. It was bright red and swollen.

"It will be alright, I just need to run it under fresh, cold water and scrape whatever he touched off," the doctor assured him.

"No!" I cried. I had read about jellyfish stings. That was exactly what you AREN'T supposed to do.

"Please, listen to me, you need to rinse the area with vinegar, then use tweezers to pluck the tentacles out but don't scrape them! Then you submerge it in hot water for twenty to forty-five minutes; cold water will release the venom faster!"

The doctor looked at me like I was insane. Ah, the state of my attire. With burning cheeks I held my ground.

"Please sir, don't make things worse for this boy. I've seen this many times before," I lied.

I had never seen a jellyfish sting. But during my marine biology phase I read all about jellyfish, including first aid if you got stung.

His eyes narrowed at me suspiciously. "Are you from a fishing town?"

A perfect excuse. "Yes! And I've seen tons of jellyfish stings. If you do what I recommended the boy will be fine in a few hours. Please, sir."

The doctor sighed. "Alright, but I don't have vinegar on me and I'll need to boil some water. Where could we find vinegar?"

"Percy!" I hollered. "We need vinegar!"

"What did you get yourself involved in?" he asked impatiently as he walked up to us.

"This boy is hurt and needs immediate medical treatment. We need vinegar as soon as possible."

My brother sighed, as if he'd expected no less of me. "They'd probably have some in a restaurant. There's one over on the pier."

They could probably boil water there too. Excellent. The doctor and the boy's friend accompanied us. I was so preoccupied with his well-being that I didn't notice the pair of smoky gray eyes watching me from the shore as I hurried away to help, still barefoot.

The restaurant owner didn't want to spare the ingredients but Percy convinced (read: bribed) him for me. Way to go, big brother.

I held the boy's arm to keep it from jerking about as the doctor rinsed his hand with vinegar, gently whispered comforting words to him as he cried about the pain of the stingers being plucked out with tweezers, and stayed with him until the hot water had done its job.

He may have been a dumb kid who didn't listen to me but he looked pitiful. How could I not feel sorry for him?

Percy was quiet throughout the whole process. When it was over and I sternly told the boys to go home and not mess with jellyfish again he handed me my things and finally spoke.

"Catherine, you are too kind. Someone will take advantage of that someday if you are not careful."

It was a compliment and an insult at the same time. As expected. I didn't act one bit like the daughter of an earl but at least I helped a kid.

I looked at him earnestly. "Please don't tell Mother about this. I think she'd faint."

He sighed. "I will keep your secret, but you need to be less reckless. What if a nobleman had seen you acting so brash? Your reputation would be ruined before you even had a chance."

I didn't worry one whit about my reputation but his concern was still a bit touching. I smiled at him.

"I can't promise I won't help someone again if it's within my ability but I can try to be a bit more discreet about it."

Not like it mattered anyway. I would be out of the realm of the crazies soon enough.

"I suppose that is a lot coming from you. Thank you."