When We Believed in Mermaids: A Novel

Mari drives to Sapphire House to stay for the night. As she makes herself tea, she thinks about her mother. She has hated her mother for a long time, but now she remembers a softer side of her mother. It was the day of the earthquake. Mari’s mother had taken her to have an abortion, and then they stopped to have ice cream. As Mari’s mother attempted to console her, the earthquake struck. Mari was hit with debris on her head, causing a split in the skin above her eyebrow. They made their way out onto the street. A woman approached and told them Mari would need sutures, but it would be a long time before help could reach them. Concerned about their father and Kit, Mari’s mother went in search of a phone, but she couldn’t get through to the house or restaurant. Eventually, paramedics came and sutured Mari’s brow. Then they got a ride to Eden but found the buildings had slid off the cliff. Kit was there, alive and safe, but their father had been inside the house when it fell.