Chapter 2

T

he only thing I wore seemed to be a red and white checkered tartan kilt and the bulbous bottle around my neck! It swam in front of my eyes in the water. The round vessel had a leather carrying strap and an already greenish copper-bottle top. About one liter might fit in it. I unscrewed. It was full! Thank God! My mouth nipped. My body tipped. Cognac! Year 3053, it had to be. So I was also a connoisseur! Who was I? A pirate? My clothes didn’t indicate this. What I was looking for out here? It didn’t seem to be the Scottish sea. Rather, warm Caribbean water underneath me... Horror of horrors! Underneath me? Only now did I think about that. Indeed, how deep was the water here? I plunged my head. The typical plunge underwater sound resounded in my ears. My eyes looked. Then everything went black. As I awoke, I was under water. "How is that possible?" I asked myself. "Am I dead?" But I breathed air! My hand reached up. Obviously I lay in an air bubble on the sandy floor of the ocean. The sand was still wet! A brown crab crawled to the border of the bulb. I looked around. Turtles and several creatures with human bodies and long, shimmering fins swam around my bubble like in a colorful underwater zoo! MERMAIDS! Their scales shimmered like mother-of-pearl. One of them had blood orange hair, and even came very close to the bubble, put both hands on her temples and peeked through like through a story window. Her face was colorful and beautiful like coral, but also soft and gentle like soap. It came slowly through the bubble. With water streaks running down her cheeks she blinked at me cheekily. Her eyes were like blue water! How beautiful she was! I raised my hand in salutation. Frightened, she receded into the water. But a bit later her face came again through the bubble. Slowly, I moved my face closer to hers. Still closer. Her eyes just looked to the left and right-as if she could not see a thing, or her vision was blurred. But then, something exceptional happened: She wilfully let me kiss her on the cheek! Salty skin. But how soft and comfortable! Their fin was vibrating. Fast as the wind she was gone again...