Netsuke Saviors
Gertin Snider left St. Peter with some training under his belt. He'd studied all about Netsuke carvings dating back to the 16th century and decided if he couldn't ever own one he'd go to them, even if behind glass, and stand guard in the Asian wing of the Minneapolis Institute of Arts. He was equally excited about the possibility of wearing a navy sports jacket with attached photo id.
It was Ms. Michele Montague who interviewed him for the job. After handing Gertin a foldout map of the institute she asked, "Tell me what you know about the art institute, Mr. Snider," peering out under florescent lighting on a Thursday in October.
"I know about the little world behind glass on the second floor," he said as he fiddled and folded his glossy handout into a tubular kaleidoscope. Holding it up to his eye he located her lips stuck smiling and noticed her shadowed yet sparse mustache. Montague's smile-turned-scowl made for interesting tension in Gertin's neck. The longer he peered through his tube, the more fascinated he became with her downy ivory skin. Right above her nose, in between her thin eyebrows were two deep-set perpendicular lines he followed to the third horizon rooted right below her hairline. It was there that her story began to waver and unfold.
Once a beggar woman began rubbing shoulders with a scholar and the scholar's pride tossed the beggar a fish. The beggar took the fish home and put it in a pail of water with shrimp brine. Two nights later the fish turned into a content mermaid with flowers in her hair and a tea bowl for her hat. The scholar asked the beggar on day three if she had prepared the fish for her family and if it relieved the pains in their stomachs. The beggar said yes and that evening upon arriving home, she noticed the mermaid had mutated into a human. The gills on her neck were now pouches filled with gold coins. Her scales of rainbow hues had transformed into a flat covering of fur protecting her from prey. The once soft and wavering smile that mirrored off her eyes became tucked and taught. She'd lost her ability to glide through the water with ease or enjoyment and instead she became not just leery of the sea but resentful as well. She covered her body with a navy sports jacket with an attached photo id and felt scholarly and in charge of the other beggars and mermaids behind glass.
Gertin saw in that horizon no there there and quickly lowered the kaleidoscope from his eye running from the interview. He raced to the second floor, passed the tea huts and headed straight for the glass. Without hesitation he bounced up against the glass and as it shattered in slow motion he saw the little world gather together and flee toward the third horizon. Off they were, the hare carrying the moon trailing behind but never losing hope.