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she realized how cold she was. She was shivering and blue-lipped, like a kid who’s stayed in the pool too long. Thelma Foote wrapped a thick white towel around her. “Way to go, doll face, you just earned yourself a tail. You are officially a mermaid. What do you think of that?”
    â€œHow much will I get paid?” asked Delores, cocking her head to the side so she could get the water out of her ear.
    â€œYou’ll live here with the other girls.” Thelma pointed at the A-frame dormitory behind them. “You’ll flip burgers, you’ll clean the pool area, you’ll take tickets. And you’ll get to swim in the show. You’ll make fifty dollars a week plus whatever you pick up in tips. I’d say that was payment enough.”
    Delores turned her head upside down and shook her wet hair. Drops of water fell on Thelma Foote’s Keds. Delores stood up and flipped her hair backward. “I’ll talk to my parents,” she said, still affecting her new coolness.
    â€œYou do that,” said Thelma. “That is, if you can reach them while they’re traveling.”
    B ACK AT THE MOTEL, Delores took a hot bath. Bath was a fancy word for it, as the tub was so small her knees were practically touching her chin. She sat with her back to the faucet and let the hot water run over her. She’d never had good news before. It was the first time someone had ever chosen her for anything. Thelma Foote said she was photogenic, said she had earned her tail. It was odd, this feeling. Delores knew how to deal with disappointment. She was as used to that as milk in her cereal. But praise, and getting what you wished for? She wanted to cry for how happy she felt.
    She thought about her friend Ellen, and how perfect Ellen’s life had always seemed to her. In the light of what had just happened to her, Ellen’s life now seemed ordinary, nothing to envy anymore. She thought about her mom and wondered what place she would have in her new life. And she thought about Westie, and the talcumy smell of the top of his head.
    Delores got out of the tub and put on a pair of jeans and one of the slinky Halston jersey tops her mother had rescued from themagazine. She sat outside in the plastic chair in front of her room and let the sun fill her until the chill inside her was gone. Now was a good time to write to Westie. On a postcard that pictured the pink hotel with its orange tiled roof, she wrote:
    D EAR W ESTIE , T HIS is where I am staying now. Today I passed my tryouts to become a mermaid. Every day I’ll get to swim in the beautiful clear springs. It’s a dream come true. I will send you a mermaid doll so you can see what I look like. I miss you. Love, Delores
    T HEN SHE WENT into her room, closed the shades, and pulled out the bathing cap filled with silver dollars. There were sixty-nine left. After she paid the five-dollar hotel bill, she’d have sixty-four dollars to her name. Delores brushed her hair and packed her bag. Just as she was about to close the lid on Otto, he said: “Hey, kiddo, don’t forget about me.” She tucked the bus ticket into the pocket of her suitcase, pleased with the thought that she wouldn’t be needing it anytime soon.
    It was after two by the time Delores knocked on Thelma Foote’s door at the administration building.
    â€œI’ve discussed it with my parents,” she said. “They think this is a good opportunity for me, so yes, I’d be happy to be a mermaid. Can I put my stuff in the dorm now?”
    Thelma Foote’s wink was magnified a dozen times behind her thick lenses. “Child, someday I would like to meet those entertainer parents of yours,” she said. “In the meantime, let them rest assured that we will take good care of you here. So c’mon now, let’s get you fixed up.”
    Delores would never want for water again.

Three
    There was never enough water in New York City. Delores