Sister Sophia Mermaid & the Drifter

for Joanna—

Ahhh, so the tea cup has caught your fancy, eh? Well, I can’t be sure, but I think this is one of the cups and saucers from the original Old Mermaids Tea Shell. You look confused. You’ve never heard me talk about it before, have you? This is the first piece I’ve found from the Old Mermaids Tea Shell, so I guess it’s time to tell the tale.

The Old Mermaids built the Tea Shell on the edge of the Old Mermaid Sanctuary where they had made their homes since the Old Sea dried up and they washed up on the shoes of the New Desert like moon beautiful pieces of driftwood. It was a small place, the Old Mermaids Tea Shell, much like their art and writing studio. It was big enough to hold an Old Mermaid or two, three or four small round tables with a couple of chairs each, and shelf after shelf of teapots, teacups, and bottles of tea. Sister Sophia Mermaid wanted a place where fellow travelers of the New Desert could sit down for a spell, relax, and sip a bit of tea.

Now those of you who are familiar with the Old Mermaids know that Sister Sophia Mermaid was not the most likely Old Mermaid to decide to go into the hospitality business. She could be rather contrary. This may have been because she knew a great deal about a great many things. She took seriously the gnostic meaning of her name: Wisdom. And since she knew so much, she wanted to share her knowledge. She didn’t want to preach. She didn’t think she had all the answers. She just wanted to tell people what she knew, if they were interested, and argue—or discuss the issue with them—if they were wrong about something.

Sister Sophia Mermaid learned best when she was involved in a dialogue. What better way to start a conversation than by having a place where people could come to do just that? Sissy Maggie Mermaid painted sycamore trees in each corner of the Old Mermaids Tea Shell. Sister Sophia Mermaid also gave her a list of quotes, and Sissy Maggie stenciled on the walls. Some of them were Old Mermaid quotes. Others were little bits of wisdom Sister Sophia Mermaid had picked up over the years. “Never try to stop a wave.” “Shallow water is for shallow people; deep water is for those who can swim.” “A watched pot eventually boils.” “The sun shines.” “This is not the end of the world, it just feels like it.” “At the beginning there was be.”

Now understand this: The Old Mermaids used the word “tea” loosely. The Old Neighbor was the first to point this out to them. When they first opened the Old Mermaids Tea Shell, the Old Neighbor and the Old Neighbor’s Husband were their first customers, only they didn’t call them customers. They weren’t buying anything. Sister Sophia Mermaid said, “We don’t call visitors to our home ‘customers.’ This is part of our home, and travelers, friends, and neighbors can drift in and out.”

“Then they shall be called drifters!” Sister Ruby Rosarita Mermaid said.

Sister Ruby Rosarita Mermaid and Sissy Maggie Mermaid were partners in this adventure of Sister Sophia Mermaid’s. All the Old Mermaids supported Sister Sophia Mermaid’s desire to open the Old Mermaids Tea Shell, but Sister Ruby Rosarita Mermaid offered to make desserts and soup for the drifters who came upon the Old Mermaids Tea Shell. Sister Sophia Mermaid thought that would be a grand thing. And Sissy Maggie Mermaid was an exceptionally hospital Old Mermaid, and Sister Sophia Mermaid thought she would be a great asset to the Old Mermaids Tea Shell.

Anyway, I told you that the Old Neighbor and the Old Neighbor’s Husband were the first drifters to the Old Mermaids Tea Shell. As always, the Old Neighbor had to see for herself what was happening in her part of the world. Sister Sophia Mermaid was glad she came. She knew the Old Neighbor would get the word out, and soon the Old Mermaids Tea Shell would be overflowing with drifters.

Sissy Maggie Mermaid and Sister Ruby Rosarita Mermaid had not finished writing out the menus—they kept drawing pictures next to each listing of a particular tea, so it was taking some time to complete it. Sister Sophia Mermaid stood by the table and listed out loud the variety of teas for the Old Neighbor and the Old Neighbor’s Husband.

“But Sister Sophia Mermaid,” the Old Neighbor said when she had finished. “You haven’t listed teas at all. I’m not sure what they are. Perhaps you could call them tisanes. Maybe infusions. But none of them are teas. Teas are from the camellia sinensis plant.”

“Old Neighbor, we can certainly make you tea from the camellia sinensis plant,” Sister Sophia Mermaid said. “We have leaves gathered for us by the cloud wanderers themselves. But you are wrong to say that tea only comes from that plant. The language changes, and now tea can be a variety of drinks. Why not try the Essence of Coyote Laughter Tea? Or A Sip of Rattlesnake Moxie Tea. I bet you would enjoy Crackle of Thunder Tea.”

Old Neighbor made a face for each tea Sister Sophia Mermaid mentioned, but Old Neighbor’s Husband said he wanted to try the Wisdom of the Desert Faery Tea blended with a touch of the Cloud Dust and Sliver of Moonlight Teas, so the Old Neighbor agreed to black tea (Cloud Wanderer Tea) with a Hint of the Old Sea Tea.

Sissy Maggie Mermaid and Sister Ruby Rosarita Mermaid brought their neighbors tea along with a small basket of You’re So Beautiful Biscuits. The three Old Mermaids watched as the couple sipped and stirred and chewed. Finally Old Neighbor leaned back, cocked an eyebrow, and said, “It was a good cup of tea, my dears. As usual, you don’t disappoint. What do we owe you?”

“Owe us?” Sister Sophia Mermaid asked.

“What kind of compensation, dears?”

The Old Mermaids stared at her. She rolled her eyes. “Sometimes I wonder about you Old Mermaids,” she said. “It’s as though you come from another country or something. We want to pay you for the tea and biscuits.”

“Oh no,” Sister Ruby Rosarita Mermaid said. “It’s on the tea shell.”

“What?”

“Isn’t that an expression?” Sister Ruby Rosarita Mermaid said. “It’s on the house? Since this is the Old Mermaids Tea Shell, then it’s on the tea shell.”

“Gratis,” Sister Sophia Mermaid explained.

“Thank you,” Old Neighbor said.

“I quite enjoyed the Wisdom of the Desert Faery Tea,” Old Neighbor’s Husband said. “I feel just a bit wiser myself right now. No desert faeries were harmed in the making of this tea, no doubt.”

“No doubt!” Sissy Maggie Mermaid said. “Causing harm would not be the Old Mermaid way.”

“We shall see you again,” the Old Neighbor said.

And so it began. One by one, neighbors and strangers drifted into the Old Mermaids Tea Shell. Sometimes Sister Sophia Mermaid talked with the visitor for a bit and then recommended a particular tea. Ofttimes she seemed to know just what they needed. Soon the tea shell was overcrowded with teatotalers. The Old Mermaids set up tables and chairs outside the Tea Shell.

It was quite a thing to witness, all these people sitting around sipping X Marks the Spot Roadrunner Tea, Sassy Saguaro Tea, Magic of Hummingbird Tea, The Great Horned Owl Hootin’ & Hollerin’ Tea, West Wind Whimsy Tea, A Spot of Prickly Pear Tea. You could see them contemplating the drink, observing their bodies and the immediate area for signs of a reaction to what they were drinking. Heads nodded and bobbed. “Yep, this does put me in mind of a hummingbird. I can definitely say that.” “I just thought I heard an owl hootin’. You?” “I never thought of the West Wind as having whimsy. But I believe I was wrong about that.”

At first, Sister Sophia Mermaid and the others went out into the desert collecting for the Old Mermaids Tea Shell. They went when the moon was brightest, or just before the sun came up, or midafternoon—you know, those betwixt and between times, the sleepy times when all manners of creatures wander through your world, this world, other worlds. And they would whisper to the Visibles and Invisibles and ask if they could have a bit of coyote song or desert faery magic or rabbit runnin’ or cloud essence for their teas. They set out clear glass jars until they got an answer. Then they emptied the jars into cloth bags Sissy Maggie Mermaid, Sister Lyra Musica Mermaid, Sister Bridget Mermaid, and Sister Faye Mermaid had decorated and sang to and laughed over. Sister Sophia Mermaid carefully labeled each bag, then dropped them into the appropriate jars when she returned to the Old Mermaids Tea Shell.

After this first batch of teas was so successful, Sister Sophia Mermaid decided to try something new. She went out into the desert in search of joy, love, peace, goodwill, laughter, and acceptance. The others went with her. They didn’t have far to go. They set the jars down next to themselves and danced joyfully, loved each other, felt at peace, extended goodwill to one another, laughed themselves silly, and accepted that they had done a good thing. They took the cloth bags back to the Tea Shell and put them into the appropriate jars and wrote new menus.

The new teas were a hit, naturally! On certain unspecified days, Sister Sophia Mermaid would put one of teas on special.

She would write on the special board something like: “Two cups of Dances With Joy Tea for the price of none.” Ah, you should have been there that day. People danced inside and all around the Tea Shell. Most people agreed that the Laugh Yourself Silly Tea Day was the most fun, although Love the One You’re Always With Tea Day was a close second.

One hot summer day, a young woman drifted into the Old Mermaids Tea Shell. She was dusty and tired-looking and a stranger to the Old Mermaids.

“What is this place?” the young woman asked as she slapped her hat against her jeans. Dust rose from the hat and her pants.

“This is the Old Mermaids Tea Shell,” Sissy Maggie Mermaid said. “Welcome. You look hot and thirsty. We have some Hint of Winter Tea on special today.”

Betty, the Woman Who Weaves, and Louie, the Man Who Collects, were sitting at a nearby table.

“Yes, the Hint of Winter Tea is very refreshing,” Betty said. “I would highly recommend it.”

“My favorite is Coyote Wisdom Brew,” he said. “It’s a blend. My day doesn’t feel quite right without it.”

The young woman sat at an empty table. “I’ll take something cold,” she said. “Anything to eat?”

“We have Precious Prickly Pear soup,” Sissy Maggie Mermaid said.

“That doesn’t sound good,” the young woman said.

“There’s only the essence of prickly pear in it,” Sister Ruby Rosarita Mermaid said. “It’s a lovely vegetable soup.”

“Then why do you call it prickly pear soup?”

“Precious Prickly Pear soup,” Sister Ruby Rosarita Mermaid said. “Because the prickly pear essence gives it its oomph. And it thickens it up a bit.”

Sister Sophia Mermaid was watching all this from the preparation area, her arms folded across her chest. She recognized a fellow contrarian when she saw one. She went over to the young woman’s table, pulled out a chair, and sat with her.

“Who are you?” the girl asked.

“I am Sister Sophia Mermaid,” she said. “I am very pleased to meet you.”

“Sister?” the girl said. “Are you a religious sect?”

“No,” Sister Sophia Mermaid said. “We washed up here some time ago, when the Old Sea dried up.”

The girl looked over at Betty and Louie. “Do you know what she is talking about?”

“Oh yes,” Betty, the Woman Who Weaves, said. “The Old Mermaids are very wise, especially Sister Sophia Mermaid.

“I don’t really understand what they’re talking about half the time,” Louie, the Man Who Collects, said. “But it’s fun listening to them.”

“What do you like to be called?” Sister Sophia Mermaid asked.

“I don’t like to be called anything,” she said. “But people call me Gaby. It’s from Gabriela.”

Sissy Maggie Mermaid set down a glass of Hint of Winter Tea in front of Gaby. She picked it up and gulped the contents. She set the glass down hard when she was finished. “You forgot the tea part,” she said, “but that cold water sure tasted good.”

Sissy Maggie Mermaid shook her head. “No, it’s there. This is sun tea. We put a bag of Hint of Winter Tea in it and then set it in the sun for a few hours. It’s best when it’s brewed for at least three hours. Then you really get the taste of winter in the mountains.” Sissy Maggie Mermaid shivered as though cold. She grinned. “Isn’t it great?”

Gaby said, “That was water, pure and simple. What are you people trying to sell me?”

“We’re not selling you anything,” Sister Sophia Mermaid said. “Here’s your soup.”

Sister Ruby Rosarita Mermaid Served Gaby a steaming bowl of soup. The girl ate it quickly. Sister Sophia Mermaid wondered how long it had been since she had eaten. Sister Ruby Rosarita Mermaid kept refilling her bowl until she finally shook her head, indicating that she was full.

About then, Raul, the Man Who Cares for the Acequia, and Michael, the Man Who Finds Art, came into the Old Mermaids Tea Shell.

“We’re here for our daily fix!” Raul said.

“Good afternoon, Old Mermaids and friends,” Michael said as they sat at an empty table. “I’ll have the usual.”

“Night Stars Sizzle Tea,” Sister Ruby Rosarita Mermaid said, “coming up.”

“Um, let’s see,” Raul said, glancing at the special board and then down at the menu on the table. “I have been feeling a bit glum. It’s so hot, you know. I could use a little Laugh Yourself Silly Tea. Sissy Maggie Mermaid, come flirt with me. Michael has been so cranky today.”

Sissy Maggie Mermaid came and put her hands on Michael’s shoulders. “Wait until he gets his tea,” she said. “Then he’ll be much better. Next week I hope to get some Essence of Man in The Wash Tea. That’ll cheer you both up. I’ve seen this man wandering around at night, and he’s gorgeous!”

“Sissy Maggie Mermaid,” Sister Sophia Mermaid said, “that wasn’t a man, it was a mountain lion.”

“Oh, but what a mountain lion,” she said, winking at Raul.

Everyone laughed. Except Gaby. Sissy Maggie Mermaid brought the men their tea, and they sipped their brews quietly.

Then Michael said, “Yes, I can feel the cool yet sizzling light of the night stars. A piquant brew.”

Raul started laughing. When Gaby looked at him, he pointed to the cup. “You should try it,” he said. “Laugh Yourself Silly Tea. It never fails.”

Gaby got up and went to the men’s table and looked into their cups.

“I don’t see anything but water,” she said. She looked into Betty and Louie’s almost empty tea cups. “Nothing but water there, too. Are you people all nuts?”

“Why don’t you give her some Wisdom of Desert Faery tea?” Betty suggested.

“I don’t want any Desert Faery Wiseass tea,” Gaby said. “There ain’t no such things as desert faeries. I don’t even think there’s any such thing as wisdom.” She walked around the Tea Shell, reading the sayings on the wall. “Come on, what does this mean, ‘a good bean is hard to find, everything else is easy?’ Nothing else is easy! Have you all been out in the world? It’s ugly. There are bad things happening. No amount of Pretend Life is Great tea is going to change that.”

Sister Sophia Mermaid said, “No one is pretending anything. Come, try some more tea. Maybe there will be something to your taste.”

Gaby looked around the Tea Shell and Sister Sophia Mermaid thought that she might break something, but just then Grand Mother Yemaya Mermaid and Sister Star Stupendous Mermaid came into the Tea Shell. Grand Mother Yemaya Mermaid smiled as she looked around. “Ahhh, old friends and new friends! Isn’t it a great thing?” They went over and greeted Michael and Raul, then Louie and Betty. Gaby went back and sat at her table.

Grand Mother Yemaya Mermaid said to her, “Hello, little gypsy. Welcome to the Old Mermaid Sanctuary.”

“Sanctuary?”

“Yes,” Sister Star Stupendous Mermaid said. “Every wanderer can use some sanctuary now and again. You are welcome to it.”

“The young woman believes we are all hiding from the reality of the world here,” Betty, the Woman Who Weaves, said.

Grand Mother Yemaya Mermaid nodded. “Yes, sometimes it is difficult to believe that this is a part of the world.” She smiled. “But it is. We are going out to collect some essence of saguaro flowers. Ahhh, the wisdom of the saguaro. The stories they tell! The flowers know everything.”

“And the trees know even more,” Sister Star Stupendous Mermaid said, “so we’ll stop by the Old Mesquite, too. Ta!”

The two Old Mermaids waved. Grand Mother Yemaya Mermaid winked at Gaby, then they left.

“What a breath of fresh air!” Betty said.

“Always,” Louie agreed.

“That’s a great idea for a tea,” Sister Sophia Mermaid said, “Grand Mother Yemaya Mermaid’s Breath of Fresh Air Tea.”

Gaby shook her head. “I still think you’re all nuts. You can’t just sit here and do nothing while terrible things are going on outside.”

“I remember when we first left the Old Sea,” Sister Sophia Mermaid said. “We were all so sad. We felt like there was nothing we could do. We were lost, and we felt homeless. We missed the Old Sea. One day I happened to see a bobcat in the wash. She just stepped down into the sand and stared at me. Then she started walking away. She stopped and looked back at me as if to say, ‘This way to the promised land.’ Isn’t that what we’re all looking for?”

“Either that or the promised sea,” Sister Ruby Rosarita Mermaid said.

“I followed the bobcat, staying at a bit of distance,” Sister Sophia Mermaid said. “I kept waiting for things to change or be different, or for something to happen. But nothing did. We just walked the wash, both of us looking side to side now and again. It was the same old wash. But after a while, I started wondering what she saw. What was the wash like to her? I squatted down a bit, I tried to feel the ground through my shoes, I breathed the desert air deeply. I did this for a while. I wondered if the bobcat was imagining herself as me. Maybe, maybe not. But I began seeing the wash differently. I saw a cool spot under the palo verde, a great place to lounge out of the sun. And right there in that clear area, I could bask in the the sun when it was cool. A rabbit hole. I could wait near and snatch me up a rabbit. I saw the wash as a bobcat saw the wash. And it was a different world. And the same. After a while, the bobcat went on her way, and I returned to the Old Mermaid Sanctuary and helped build our house.”

“Is that story supposed to mean something to me?” Gaby asked.

“You want a different world, drifter,” Sister Sophia Mermaid said, “and it’s already different.”

Sister Sophia Mermaid looked into the young woman’s eyes. She had never seen anyone who appeared quite as sad as Miss Gabriela did. Sister Sophia Mermaid pushed away from the table and got up. “I think I have just the tea you need.” She went to the preparation area, took a bag from a jar and dropped it into a pot of hot water Sister Ruby Rosarita Mermaid held out to her. She put the pot and a cup on a tea tray. It may have been this particular teacup, although I can’t be sure. Sissy Maggie Mermaid added a small plate of You Are So Beautiful Biscuits, and Sister Sophia Mermaid carried the tray over to the table. She first set the cookies on the table off to the side. Then she put the empty cup and full pot in front of Gaby. Sissy Maggie Mermaid took away the tray.
Sister Sophia Mermaid tipped the pot and poured the tea into the cup.

“Let it sit for a few moments,” Sister Sophia Mermaid said. “That really brings out the flavor. You know, you’re right, Gabriela. There are many things going on in the world that are ugly and cruel and horrible. None of us here denies that. We each do what we can to bring beauty into the world. Go ahead, you can drink it now. We each do what we can to see beauty before us, behind us, beside us, above and below us, all around us. That is the Navaho prayer, that is the prayer of many people around the world.”

Gaby lifted the cup and sipped the hot liquid.

“We have all felt homeless at one time or another,” Sister Sophia Mermaid said. “As Grand Mother Yemaya Mermaid said, we could all use some sanctuary now and again.”

Tears began falling down Gaby’s cheeks.

“I am tired of wandering,” Gaby said. “Tired of seeing it all. Why do I see it and others don’t”

“But that’s who you are,” Sister Sophia Mermaid said. “That’s what you do.”

Gaby nodded. The tears began flowing in earnest. The air in the tea shell changed, so that the other drifters looked at each other, wondering if it was going to rain. Was it time for the monsoons?

“You are seeing everything from tired eyes,” Sister Sophia Mermaid said. “You need to see things through old eyes, through Old Mermaid eyes for a while. Then you’ll figure out a way to articulate what you’ve seen and what you know.”

Gaby nodded. Her tears fell into the teacup, and she drank them. When the pot was empty, Gaby’s tears stopped.

“What kind of tea was that?” Gaby asked.

“What did it taste like?”

“Like the ocean,” she said.

“That was Old Mermaids Tears Tea,” Sister Sophia Mermaid said.

“Ooh,” the other teatotalers said, nodding.

“You are very lucky,” Michael said. “Old Mermaid Tears Tea is quite precious.”

Gaby blinked and looked around the Old Mermaids Tea Shell. She smiled. “This is a wild place. I think I’d like to stay for a while. I could use the sanctuary. And the tea.”

Sister Sophia Mermaid said, “You are welcome.”

Gabriela stayed at the Old Mermaid Sanctuary for a time. She helped out at the Old Mermaids Tea Shell, and she became quite a connoisseur of tea and could explain the differences between each better than some of the Old Mermaids. Sister Sophia Mermaid especially enjoyed the vigorous discussions she and Gabriela continued to have throughout her stay. She encouraged Gabriela to write about her experiences, draw them, or teach people about what she knew.

When Gabriela was ready, she put back on her wandering shoes, as she said, and she prepared to leave the Old Mermaids. Sister Sophia Mermaid gave her several bags of tea from the Old Mermaids Tea Shell before she left.

“And you know how to make your own now,” Sister Sophia Mermaid said.

“My own tears or my own teas?” Gabriela asked.

“Both,” Sister Sophia Mermaid said. “Maybe one day we’ll see Old Mermaids Tea Shells all over the world, and we’ll know you were there.”

“I’ll write you and let you know,” she said.

The Old Mermaids covered Gabriela with kisses and hugs and gifts of all kinds and watched as she drifted away. She stopped once and looked back at them. “This is a wild place!” she called. Then she kept walking.

The Old Mermaids wandered back to the Old Mermaids Tea Shell and had a pot of Gabriela’s favorite blend of Old Mermaids Tears Tea, Wisdom of Desert Faery Tea, and Bobcat Wandering Tea. They cried a little, laughed a bit more, and told lots of stories about Gabriela and how she had drifted into their lives.

Blessed sea & blessed tea!