43. Sunken Treasure
The fisherman pointed the oars straight down in the water, and dragged the small boat to a halt in the pleasantly calm
ocean waters. “We’re here,” he said assuredly.
“We are? How can you tell?” asked the quizzical Rosella. She turned her head this way and that, and all she could see
was water. It all looked the same to her.
“I’m sure. The chest should be right below the boat. It’s my job to know this ocean, lass,” he said with a wink to the
puzzled princess. She let out a sigh, and took his word for it. Peering over the edge of the boat to get an idea of where
she was headed, Rosella unconsciously curled each of her legs back slipping off her heels, one, two, clunk, clunk they
went as they dropped to the floor of the boat.
“Can’t swim in those,” she chuckled, cheeks turning red as she prepared to slip over the edge into the water.
“No, of course not,” the fisherman laughed back at the pretty young girl, “but there is one thing. I’ve noticed a giant
squid that swims these parts of the ocean. If you see him, don’t panic. As long as you stay still, he won’t bother you.
The mention of the squid sent a chill down Rosella’s spine, but she’d come too far to chicken out now. Thanking him
quietly, the timid young princess slipped one leg and then the other over the edge of the boat, careful not to snag her
delicate hosiery, and then cut beneath the surface like a slender dagger.
After sinking a few feet, Rosella got the courage to open her eyes. Despite the salty seawater, the view was relatively
clear through the clean blue waters. Tamir’s ocean was no less magically beautiful than the land. Small schools of fish
cut patterns in the water as though they were flying. Everything seemed like it was flying beneath the surface. Rosella
immediately took notice of how her long blonde hair stood about like a beautiful sea plant, and perhaps more to the
embarrassment of her flush air puffed cheeks, was that her long skirt also floated about with a mind of it’s own, offering
the residents of the ocean an unhindered view of her long shapely legs, and undergarments! That was something she
would just have to grin and bear, or at least bear for the moment, as her little cheeks could be air pockets for only so
long. Forgetting modesty for just the moment, Rosella swam down further toward the ocean floor, and excitedly
released a few air bubbles as her big blue eyes caught sight of a rust chest sitting in the sand at the bottom. She found
it!
Sinking down till the tips her stocking clad toes touched the sandy bottom, Rosella reached her hands out and touched
the chest with long slender fingers. She curled them around the edges and tried to open the lid, only to find it a bit
harder than she imagined. The chest was old, even before it was dropped here, and the days or weeks it had spent
down here at the bottom of the ocean didn’t seem to make things any easier on the princess. As if to add to her woes,
she thought she saw something out of the corner of her eye, swimming past in the distance. Was it the giant squid? It
was at that point that she also felt her head get a little light. She had been holding her breath for a very long time, and
the air was getting a little thin in her persistent little cheeks. Looking down at the chest, her vision began to get a little
blurry. Her lungs began to feel the fire. And as if to scare the last bit of air out of the poor girl, she looked around her,
and caught sight of some fleeting tentacles. The squid was about! Rosella’s heart begged her mind to make a
decision. The chest was right here at her fingertips. Just a little more tugging, and she would have the contents inside.
But what about her desperate need for a breath of air? And what of the giant squid? She could hear the fisherman’s
words in her head, but he wasn’t the one about to be lunch! What should Rosella do?
Swim up for air before she drowns!!!
Keep at the chest, one more tug!