Sirene (Wattys 2014 Entrant)

Chapter 4

 “REALLY, Oceana, this is too much.”

Oceana rolled her eyes. What was she doing in this office again?

“Telling wild, fanciful stories is one thing, but claiming to be a character in them is a completely different matter. If there is one thing I will not tolerate, it is little girls spreading lies! You ought to be ashamed of yourself! Claiming to be half mermaid, really child, you ought to know better.”

“But I was not lying, ma’am,” Oceana argued. “The children asked me to give them the story of my parents and tell them where I was from. I did just that.”

“Oceana, you will not play these games with me.”

“This is not a game. I don’t have any other past than the one I told them.”

“Making up such…”

“Whatever put it into your head that I made it up?”

“Do NOT interrupt me young lady. You are behaving in a very wicked manner. Don’t you know that lying is a sin?”

“Allow me to repeat myself, Miss Morgan, in case you didn’t hear me the first time I WAS NOT LYING!”

“Oceana, how dare you raise your voice at me!” Miss Morgan’s voice turned cold. “You lack discipline in your life, and I am afraid it is left up to me to teach it to you. You have told untrue stories, you have openly disrespected your elders and you must be punished.”

“Please don’t tell me I’m going to go without supper again.”

“Silence, I’m talking now. You will take off your apron and stand in the middle of the dining room upon a chair.”

Oceana squirmed. She had heard of this form of punishment. Every child in the orphan asylum hated it. To stand in front of all the orphans in public shame; what could be worse?

“Go at once at do as I have said. While you stand there I hope you will think about what your lying tongue and disrespectful behavior has cost you.”

Oceana rolled her eyes again and lifting her head in defiance, walked off towards the dining room. Feeling quite the martyr, she informed Miss Grey that she was being punished by Miss Morgan and taking off her starched apron and stood on a chair in the middle of the dining hall. A hush came over the dining room as everyone noticed Oceana standing on the chair, her head held high. Whispers began going round as to what Oceana was being punished for.

“It is because she has been making those wild claims about herself,” Shirley said. “You know, claiming to be half a mermaid and all.”

“And it is because she has been disrespectful to all the elders,” Christine added. “I heard Miss Grey telling Miss Morgan how Oceana is constantly talking back and putting up airs in the class.”

“Oceana never puts on airs,” Beth defended. “She has just been brought up differently.”

“Try she hasn’t been brought up at all,” Shirley replied. “No one knows who brought her up and since she refuses to tell the truth about herself there is no way of finding out.”

“Maybe she is telling the truth,” Cassandra timidly stated.

“Cassandra, don’t be a fool. Mermaids don’t exist, they are made up creatures. If Oceana had really been telling the truth do you think Miss Morgan would make a public example of her? Look at her, standing there with her head held high; you would never think she was being punished. She is a proud, stubborn girl who puts on airs. You all had better be careful, if you behave the way she does, it will be you standing up there.”

“I already told you she does not put on airs,” Beth, usually so quiet, was very upset at all the slander being thrown at Oceana. “Oceana is the kindest girl ever. She even managed to get Cassandra to settle down into the orphanage. No one else was able to do that.”

“She boasts and makes wild claims,” Shirley shot back.

“She does not!”

“Girls, no fighting back there,” Miss Grey called, “Eat your supper silently and then file out. Oceana, you will stay up there for an hour. I hope you will learn to behave better after this. After all, you don’t want to be put up here every day do you?”

Oceana only rolled her eyes and gave an impatient sigh. Two by two the girls filed out of the dining hall. Some looked at Oceana with sympathy; others smirked at how she had gotten herself into so much trouble.

“The little mermaid standing on a stool for the whole world to see,” Shirley said in a loud whisper.

“Half-mermaid.” Oceana snapped at her.

Soon the hall was empty, save Oceana on the chair. She shifted her weight from one foot to another and gave a bored sigh.

“Well, since I am made to stand here for an hour,” she spoke to herself, “then I might as well make the best of it.”

***

The clear voice drifted through the rooms of the orphanage. The children, who had only just left the dining hall, froze and listened. Miss Grey and Miss Ringers exchanged puzzled glances. Who was singing? And in what language? It certainly wasn’t English.

“Miss Grey, I believe the sound is coming from dining hall,” Miss Ringers whispered. Without another word the two women turned back towards the doors of the dining room; the rest of the girls followed them. They retraced their steps and opening the doors saw Oceana, still standing on the chair, her hands clasped behind her back, head held high, singing. No one understood the words she sang, but her voice was so clear and so pure that everyone paused and listened. It was the most captivating voice, sounding almost too grown for a child of nine, while at the same while having an innocence in it that only a child can posses. Oceana finished one song and jumped straight into the next one. She might have sung forever, but just as she was reaching the end of her second song Miss Morgan appeared on the scene.

“What in heaven’s name? Miss Grey, Miss Ringers, what is the matter?” Miss Morgan had some trouble getting through the crowd of children.

“Oh, uh, well,” Miss Ringers snapped back to reality and turned to face Miss Morgan. “It is Oceana, she was…that is to say, I don’t think she understood…what I mean is we don’t think she quite…”

“We don't think she quite got the point of the lesson we were trying to teach her,” Miss Grey finished the sentence.

“Indeed.” Miss Morgan walked up to where Oceana was just launching into her third song. “Oceana, what is the meaning of this?”

“Of what, ma’am?”

“What are you doing?”

“Singing.”

“Singing? Don’t you understand anything about a punishment?”

“I am sorry Miss Morgan, I’ve never been punished before and I am not quite sure how to go about it.”

“You are to stand here and contemplate your bad behavior, not sings song in some strange language. It sounded positively unnatural.”

“There was nothing unnatural about it, ma’am, it was only Gaelic.”

“Gaelic?”

“You know, the language of the Scots. And there is nothing wrong with the songs. They were only about the beautiful Scottish hills and the free spirit of the Scottish people.”

“Honestly, Oceana, you mean to tell me that you can sing in Gaelic?”

“Not only sing, ma’am, I speak it quite well, only with a French accent.”

“With a what?”

“A French accent, Callum always told me that my Gaelic is flavored with a French accent and Chandler always said that my French was poisoned with a Scottish accent. And my English has always been a mix of the two.”

“Callum and Chandler?”

“You know, the two men who found me in a boat…”

“Oceana, I cannot believe we have come back to this. You will not spread this story anymore. Do you understand?  I forbid you should ever speak of mermaids and you being half mermaid and about those two men. Is  that clear?”

“Yes ma’am.”

“Good, now you will remain you time on this chair, and you will stand here in silence and think about what your behavior has cost you. No more singing!”

“Yes ma’am.”

“And the rest of you,” Miss Morgan turned around, “get back to your classes.”

Miss Grey and Miss Ringers hurriedly led the children back out the doors and to the sewing lesson.