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Mermaid’s Blood: Part 1

by Susan Dickinson

The old woman lived in a makeshift hut set deep in the brambly scrub woods that grow at the tip of the Hull Peninsula. This hut was so tiny and dull that if you didn’t know it was there, you might pass right by and never see it. But we kids knew it was there, and we also knew there was a narrow footpath that meandered through the thornbushes directly to her door. From the outside, it was a dismal-looking place; but on the inside, the old woman’s hut was a marvel. I believe I was one of the privileged few ever to see it.


But that was so long ago, I hadn’t thought of it in many years, not until last week, when I happened upon an article in our local newspaper. It reported the strange bequest of an old woman named Rose Standish, recently deceased. A flash of recognition hit me as I read her name, and all the mystery of that distant summer came flooding back.


When I was twelve, I used to ride my bike, along with my best friend Billy, out to the old woman’s hut to sell her sea glass. She paid twenty-five cents a cup. That was worth at least five chocolate bars back then, so I considered myself very well paid. But it took a lot of nerve to walk up that scratchy footpath and knock on her door. We were convinced she had magical powers.


She seemed ancient even then. When she walked, she leaned on a stick that was carved with two snakes intertwined. I actually believed that if she struck the ground with the stick and said some magic words, the snakes would come alive and sink their hideous fangs into anyone who tried to harm her. She always wore the same beige wool coat buttoned to her chin, rain or shine, winter or summer. Off-season, she’d wander up and down Nantasket Beach, stooping over now and then to pluck at some bit of flotsam carried in by the tide. She was always alone.


I lived at the base of the peninsula, high on a bluff overlooking Rocky Beach, and Billy lived just two doors down. Unlike the sandy beaches in town, Rocky Beach was a mother lode of sea glass, those pretty bits of glass that come from discarded bottles that have been dashed and scoured by churning ocean waves. It takes many decades in the surf to transform a shard of plain bottle glass into sea glass, nicely rounded and frosted all over. To us, sea glass seemed like pirate booty washing up on the beach. Indeed, dozens of pirate ships and privateers were known to have plied the treacherous waters just off our coast. But even on Rocky Beach it could take weeks of near daily searching to find enough sea glass to fill one cup. Each time Billy and I filled a cup, we’d bicycle out to the old woman’s hut and knock on her door. She’d open it just a crack and peer out with her good eye.


“Sea glass for sale,” we’d announce.


Without a word, she’d turn and grab her measuring cup, which she’d hold out the door while I poured in sea glass from our leather pouch. She’d then pull the full cup close to her face and eye it all around. If it measured up, as ours always did, she’d reach out her other hand and drop a shiny quarter on the ground, shutting the door without uttering a word. We’d scoop up the money and make straight for the candy store.


That’s how our sea glass deals were always concluded, except on one remarkable occasion when I went to the hut alone.


___


Adapted from Mermaid’s Blood: Part 1, by Susan Dickinson, ©️️ by Cricket Media, Inc. Reproduced with permission.

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Questions
“I actually believed that if she struck the ground with the stick and said some magic words, the snakes would come alive and sink their hideous fangs into anyone who tried to harm her. ”

What impact does this excerpt have on the text?


It provides the climax of the story when the old woman answers her door with the cane.


It introduces the falling action of the boys selling their sea glass to the old woman.


It builds tension between the old woman and the boys selling her sea glass.


It describes the setting of the old woman’s house in the brambly scrub woods.

Answer 1

It builds tension between the old woman and the boys selling their sea glass.

Explanation: The narrator’s imagined magic about the snakes creates a sense of fear and suspense, showing how the children viewed the old woman as potentially dangerous or powerful.