Chapter 1 The Mine

An excerpt from The Violet Series Book 1: The Water Nymph’s Tale.

There was always water in the mine. Frank pondered why this was. He scratched his head and then put his helmet back on. He sometimes thought he saw the water move in ways water didn’t normally move. But, he figured it was just the booze ruining his head. It always went straight to his head as he slowly wasted his life away in the small town on the Martian colony.

He wasn’t even sure why he kept working in the mine. His brother was willing to give him a job in an office in the next town. Sure, Frank thought, sure I’ll be clean all the time instead of covered in filth and watching water swirl and move uphill.

Frank lifted his pickaxe and resumed chipping. He wondered when this monotonous life of his would change and perhaps either get better or get more interesting. Today, as many other days, he was alone in this part of the mine. He liked to be alone. The other miners bothered him and he wasn’t quite sure why that was. Still he chipped away at the rock and hoped he wouldn’t cause a cave in.

He was pretty busy. He felt numb and didn’t seem to care anymore. He just kept raising the pickaxe and dropped it with a slow motion that was nearly hypnotic. Before long he had stopped thinking and just moved the pickaxe up and down and chipped the rock searching for more ore. He didn’t notice the water moving towards him in droplets. Before long the droplets became puddles of water. Still Frank hadn’t seen it. He was too busy feeling numb and chipping away for more ore that he didn’t even see the water move upward in the middle of the cave. Not even on the walls— out in the open. Soon there were shapes forming.

Frank lowered the axe and then he wiped his brow. He sighed loudly, which echoed in the cave. He thought he heard some giggling. He furrowed his brows. He was alone in this part of the mine. He thought it must be the booze again. Then he thought he should perhaps stop drinking. He shook his head and was about to resume his chipping when he heard a female voice near him.

“Excuse me, sir, but what is your name?”

Frank dropped the pickaxe and turned towards the voice. To his astonishment, he saw several women in the cave with him. They were all curvy with blue skin and red hair. They each wore micro-mini skirts with very short sleeved short tops on. Their clothes were red. “What? I must be seeing and hearing things. It must be all the booze I had last night.”

“Booze? What’s that?” asked one of the women.

“Oh, booze is the stuff that I drink every day after I’m done workin’ in the mine. The booze just goes to my head so fast that before I know it, I have to come back here in the morning and work some more.”

The women giggled. “Well, we can assure you that it’s not the booze that’s making you see us. We are here in this cave with you and we’ve been here for awhile.”

“What? I’m here alone in this part of the mine. I like to work alone.”

“Oh, well, surely you can’t work all the time, can you?”

“Well, no, I guess not. How did you ladies get in here anyway?”

“We just swirled our way in and came up to meet you.”

“To meet me? What about the other workers?”

“Oh, I don’t know about them, but Melanie was the one who wanted to meet you and find out your name, but she’s a little shy.”

“Oh, pleased to meet you ma’am. My name is Frank. I’m sorry, I’m so filthy, but I’ve been working in the mine all day and I won’t be able to clean up until after I leave here.”

“That’s okay. Perhaps we can chat later.”

“Sure.” The horn blew. “That’s my signal that my shift is over for the day. If you ladies will excuse me, I’ll be going home now.” He tipped his helmet to the ladies and picked up the axe. He carried it over his shoulder and out of the mine. The women melted down to the cave floor. All that was left of them were puddles of water. Soon the water moved in different directions. One streak followed Frank and soaked into his left pant leg. He then left the axe with the other tools just outside of the mine and collected his pay.

Later, he was in his hotel room. He didn’t bother getting a place of his own because he wasn’t sure whether he wanted to stay or move on to another place. Frank threw his dirty clothes on the floor and jumped into the shower. As he scrubbed the dirt and grime off of his body, the soaked pant leg moved a little. Not much, but enough that the water moved out of the fabric and onto the floor. Soon the water had gathered into a puddle first and then formed into Melanie. She could hear the water running in the shower and she smiled. She thought she’d wait until he came out of the bathroom to greet him.

It was some time before he did finally step out of the shower. He carefully dried himself off with a towel and then wrapped it around himself. He stepped out of the bathroom to see Melanie standing in the middle of the room as she had appeared earlier.

“Uhh…”

“Hi, Frank! Are you in a better state to spend some time with me?”

“Uhh, let me get dressed first.” He walked over to the dresser and grabbed some clean pants, shirt, underwear and socks. He walked back into the bathroom. He closed the door and took off the towel. Then he quickly got dressed. Afterwards, he looked into the mirror. His face was rather pallid and he thought he wanted a drink, but wasn’t sure. He grabbed a comb and combed his hair. He sighed and then turned to open the door. Out he walked back into the bedroom where she was still waiting for him.

“Well, howdy. You’re Melanie, right?”

“Yes.”

“Oh. How did you get into my room?”

“Oh, that was easy, I just soaked into your pant leg and you took me here.”

His eyes grew wide. “My pant leg? Well, I don’t understand.” He dropped down to the bed. “I must be losing my mind. Women don’t appear out of nowhere and attach themselves to men’s pant legs. That just doesn’t make any sense.” He fell to his back on the bed and remained motionless. He covered his eyes with his hands.

She walked closer to him and leaned over him. “I’m not human like you are, Frank.”

He moved his hands away from his eyes and placed them at his sides. “What do you mean by that?”

“I’m a water nymph. Let me show you how I travel.” With that she melted to the floor and became a puddle. A few minutes later the water rose back up and formed back into Melanie. “Do you see now? I know you saw us moving back in the mine, but you kept shaking your head. No one else noticed besides you.”

He didn’t speak for some time. “So, why do you want to see me? I’m just an alcoholic with no real future.”

“You’re different. You don’t know how many times I’ve heard the other water nymphs complain that men never pay any attention to them. But you paid attention to me. Only I was too afraid to say anything to you until the others came with me.”

He sat up on his bed. “Wow. I can’t say I ever saw anything like you when I was drunk. I still don’t understand why you’d pick me. I don’t know what I have to offer a water nymph.”

“You can offer yourself. I wouldn’t ask for anything else.”

“Okay, whatever you want, Melanie. I have to say you are the most beautiful creature I have ever seen.”

“You’re so sweet.” She sat down on the bed next to him and they continued to chat far into the night.