Captain Seafin's Misadventures: A 15th Century Mermaid Romance

The hum of his hummingbird heart tapped on the glass of his jar.

Doctor Kupperson choked on the smoke from his pipe, and heaved himself up from his chair to open the window in his office. The dust from the dry autumn air filled the room and he coughed as he wiped away some grey strands from his face. He rested his hand on top of the jar where the patient was still laying, not moving.

He looked out into the sea where ships were sailing back home, their sails as white as freshly-laundered sheets, mast as tall as trees, pushing forward against the waves that crashed against their hulls and splashed water onto their decks. His eyes followed one boat that was slightly farther away than others. It had a magnificent figurehead at its bow, painted bright red with two enormous gold fish on its cheeks with black dots for eyes.

Lucius Kupperson had been a doctor for many decades now and he knew all too well what they were doing. They were going back to land to bring him more patients like Captain Seafin who was in a nearby jar right now. They would be bringing these patients in need of treatment to this very same office in which he sat; The Office of Doctor Lucius Kupperson, located deep underneath the sea.

He turned around and looked back at Captain Seafin's jar where he lay peacefully. He was a good man, thought Doctor Kupperson. In fact, he was one of many who had visited during this time - good people who had swallowed their pride and placed their faith in him - Kupperson The Great! And look where it had brought them! Just look at them! Healthy as ever! Not like those patients who used to visit him when he first started his practice...he shuddered at the thought of those days. He remembered how it used to be: visits with bloated bellies accompanied by raspy voices asking for help while coughing out blood over his desk...but no more! Now they were here! Healthy as ever! They were visiting him with smiling faces and laughing eyes because they knew that they would get better after visiting him! And why wouldn't they? With such powerful medicine like he has? It's almost a miracle that some of them are still alive after all these years! But...that's just how life is sometimes. There will always be casualties along the way.

The Doctor sighed deeply before turning back around and sighing again when he realized how much time had passed since last he'd checked on Captain Seafin's condition. He walked over to Seafin's jar and picked it up from its shelf above his desk and held it close to his chest so that he could see inside without having to move too much, for fear of dropping it into his own lap or onto the floor. He gazed into Seafin's eyes, but there was nothing there looking back at him except for emptiness; only darkness behind two white holes in a pale blue face surrounded by red hair and beard in a thick plait down below their chin with other hairs poking out here and there. "My friend...my dear old friend..." he whispered softly before placing Seafin's jar back onto its shelf and walking over to close the window before heading towards his desk again where he sat down opposite from Seafin's jar once more.

He rested his elbows on top of his desk which was covered by various papers that needed sorting; bills that needed paying, letters that needed writing but never got written because either something else came up or just because he didn't feel like doing it...the usual things that tended to pile up during busy times like these when there were so many patients coming through every day; so many people who placed their trust in him...so many people who were counting on him...so many people whom he had failed...so many people who left this world prematurely because of him...he couldn't help but wonder if some day someone might come knocking at his door instead seeking revenge upon him after finding out that they didn't get better thanks to him...or worse yet: they got worse instead! That would certainly put things into perspective for everyone else! Everyone would hate him then! Everyone would regret ever having anything to do with him! Everything would crumble down around him if that ever happened! But it can't happen! It won't happen because everything has been going so well lately! So well indeed until today when one patient - just one patient - suddenly died on him after visiting him earlier today.

Doctor Kupperson knew it wasn't any fault of anyone else but himself when this happened, although no one else knew about it except for him. This patient was important, so important that Doctor Kupperson felt utterly helpless when everything happened during their appointment together in this very office. During their time together, everything went wrong from start to finish, causing the doctor to lose control of himself in a passionate