The Soft Songs of Sirens
By Victoria Burris
Copyright 2000

Why Morgan liked him was as big of a mystery as where she had come from.

Kevin wasn't very handsome; other girls hardly paid attention to him. But Morgan was a goddess of beauty. She could have had any man she had choosen. If her perfect body didn't attract one, her voice alone could lure one in.

She seemed to appear out of nowhere. Kevin could still remember the day they had met...

He had been strolling along the beach after surfing for the first half of the morning. He had been surfing that particular beach since he was a teenager.  It was a sport that he had never seemed to out-grow. Life as a computer programmer was not always an exciting one and from time to time, he felt himself loosing his enthusiasm. The beach was one of the few places he really felt alive.

His brown hair ruffled back in the sea wind as he stopped. He planted his surfboard into the sand and casually leaned on it, relaxing in thought. Tomorrow was Monday, and soon he would find himself back at his desk, facing the computer monitor, all day long, for the rest of the week. The idea depressed him. Quickly, he pushed the thought to the farthest reaches of his mind, and begun to focus on the ocean waves.

As he stared at the vastness of blue, he turned to his right. There, sitting on a rock, was the most beautiful woman Kevin had ever seen, sunning her slender body. Long, sunbleached hair of blond blew gently behind her as the waves burst around her in picturesque splendor. A necklace of shells graced her neck, and a deep blue bikini that looked as though it were made from homespun silk, showed off her glorious tan.

She stared off dreamily to the water as she reclined, brushing long strands of hair from her face. She turned and looked at him, almost staring into him. Her blue eyes suddenly glistened, like the sun on the waves behind her, and she smiled. Not just any smile. This one said "Hello" in all seductive terms.

She slid off the rock and glided, more than walked, over to him. Kevin looked around, expecting to find a large muscel-builder walking her way, but no one else was on the beach. His eyes opened wide as he pointed to himself and mouthed the word, "Me?!". She nodded as she stopped in front of him.

"Hello." Her voice was soft and husky.

Kevin melted.

That was all it took. The next thing he knew, they had walked up and down the beach, at least forty times, shared a lunch of hot dogs bought at the sand-side vendor's, and ended the day watching the sun set, sitting close as the sun rested just above the horizon.

During that time, she had introduced herself as Morgan. She had told him that her ex-boyfriend, as of that morning, had thrown her out of his place when she had returned from a morning of sunbathing by the pool. He had refused to let her in to pack her belongings, leaving her stranded in nothing but the bikini she wore. She had no money, and no where to go. Since her ex-boyfriend lived close to the beach, she had decided to go there to think of something she could do. She said that she had watched him surf and that she had seen him there before. Bashfully, he admitted that he went there almost every Sunday to surf.

As they talked, Kevin found it extremely hard not to feel sorry for her. Even though he thought it odd that a man could be so cruel as to leave such a lovely lady in such a situation, he accepted it all the same. He realised this could be his moment to be the "knight in shining armour". So before the sun had set, he offered to let her stay at his place until she had found a place of her own and had been able to collect her things. At first, she refused, but he finally reasoned her into agreeing.

The next day, he loaned her some of his clothes that fit her as best they could, and took her out shopping for a few outfits. She insisted on him helping her pick them out, since he was being so generous as to pay for them. So he had called in and gotten the day off work to help her shop. He had been surprised to find that she had never been in a mall before, but then again, he had tried to avoid them as much as possible, and she could have been from a rich family. She had never really said where she had come from.

He was amazed by the fact that everything she tried on looked fantastic on her. She'd prance out of the dressing room and model the outfit in front of him as she wrinkled her nose in a cute fashion and asked, "How does it look?" He began to wonder if she thought he was lying when he told her they all looked great.

By the end of the day, he had bought her a whole wardrobe, having not been able to decide which ones looked the best. After shopping, he offered to let her stay and not bother with looking for a new place. Again, she refused, but he explained with sound reason how practical it would be, since they got along so well, he had the extra room, and he'd just be calling her every day on the phone anyways. With a loud exaggerated sigh and a roll of her eyes, she agreed. Kevin felt that from that day forward, Morgan would always be with him.

He didn't mind one bit, either. Though he found his job boring and uncreative, it did pay well. He made enough to support them both, plus he had plenty in his savings, for just in case. And even though Morgan couldn't cook anything without turning it into a charred mass, or keep a clean house, she was great company.