The Prompt You Say! - 6. Prompt 124 - Meeting the Myth

It was one of those days where you just sort of wanted to relax. It was warm, overcast, and just sort of blah when it came to working outside. I had no desire to do much of anything, but Ruby wasn’t going to let me stay curled up in bed. Ruby had learned one sure way to get me out of bed. She slipped up close to me and slid her big wet nose across my lower back followed by her enormous tongue. I’d shoot out of bed like I was shot out of cannon.

“Damn it, Ruby. I know you want to go for a walk but really!”

My red Doberman just sat and looked at me. Her head cocked and you could almost swear she was laughing at me. I couldn’t stay mad at her though.

“Alright, you little beast. I’ll let you out into the yard for now. Let me go grab a shower and we will go to the beach.”

I’d said the magic word for her, beach! She walked over slapped those paws onto my shoulders and slammed me against the wall while she licked my face. That was the big fear with Ruby, drowning. She seemed to think she was lap dog when you sat down and if you dared to sit on the floor you knew you were in for a tongue bath.

Carefully I got her back to the floor and outside to do her business so I could run to the bathroom to do my own. Twenty minutes later, I emerged from the bathroom, showered, shaved and prepared to face the world, or at least the beach.

I grabbed my shorts, a tank top, and slid on a pair of sneakers. I would have loved to put on my sandals but knowing Ruby at some point I was going to have to run to keep from knocked into the water. The dog thought waves were just fun and she liked to get me as wet as she was.

I barely had to open the door with her leash in my hand when she came bounding across the lawn to the door. She immediately sat down and looked up at me so innocently. I knew she would make sure I had my morning exercise. She quickly followed me to the car and climbed in the back seat. Moments later we were on our way to the beach.

The only reason I knew she would be able to get on the beach was it wasn’t really beach season yet. March had been unseasonably warm and instead of temps barely into the sixties were dealing with temperatures that had skyrocketed to the mid eighties for the past week and half. Hence the reason for me in shorts and enjoying the unseasonable warmth; running on the beach at this time of the year was so not the normal.

We ran along the water’s edge. Ruby kept barking and running into the waves as they retreated before racing back to my side as the waves began to crash back in. It was so peaceful here now. The beach was empty but for the two of us as we ran through the early morning light. I figured by later some would be encouraged by the warm weather to start early on their tans, but I planned to be long gone by then.

Ruby ran ahead of me as we began to make our way back toward the crossover back to the car. They had built a pier here in hopes of attracting more paying customers and I found it odd to see what had once been open space now filled with this huge wooden monstrosity of a pier. Something like that just didn’t belong on what I considered “my beach.”

Suddenly Ruby took off, flying down the beach and under the pier. I heard her bark and then go silent. That got me moving. She might have been heading toward the car but this was not what I was expecting.

She wasn’t the type of dog to just stop barking so I was worried. What I found sure as hell wasn’t what I thought I’d find. There was my big protector lying on her back while a naked man bent over rubbing her belly.

“Aww, aren’t you a good girl, Ruby. Such a good girl.”

He knew her name? How could he know her name? While I pondered this I watched Ruby.

She was just lying there while he petted her. I could see the thick muscles of his back and legs as he knelt beside my dog. I’d yet to see his face but he had long dark black hair flowing down his back.

“Well, Ruby, I guess I can’t exactly call you a guard dog now can I?”

That got him to turn and look at me. I froze.

He wasn’t what I was expecting. I hadn’t noticed the tinge of coloring in his skin. Guess I was a little busy watching his muscular body but his face showed a greenish blue tint and his eyes were more of a dark gray. Before I could take in any more or say anything he ran toward the waves. Once the water slapped against his legs they seemed to shimmer. A moment later he dove beneath the waves and a tail in shades of blue and green was momentarily seen.

Ruby walked over and sat beside me, her little stub wagging behind her.

Somehow when my day began I hadn’t expected my dog to bring me face to face with a myth, and a merman at that!