Purple Scales By Allison Sayde

Once upon a time there was a mermaid named Kelly. Kelly lived in the warm waters of the Caribbean in a little town called Shellville. There were many mermaids in Shellville and after school every day, all of them would swim up onto the rocks and laugh and gossip and talk about the cute human boys that windsurfed. cuteeee So cute

You see, all of the mermaids in Kelly’s town had purple scales; bright, shiny, sparkling, purple scales and they all hung out together. Kelly was an outsider. Her tail was green. “ GREEN SCALES, GREEN SCALES, HERE COMES GREEN SCALES!” The other mermaids would laugh. This made Kelly really sad." If only I could have one purple scale, then I’d fit in,” she sighed. “But no one would ever share one with me.” GREEN SCALES! HAHAHA

So Kelly swam home that night, crying, and slammed her bedroom door shut. “KNOCK, KNOCK,” sounded the door. “Come in,” said Kelly. “Hey girl,” smiled Kelly’s mischievous merbrother, Finn, “ What’s wrong?” “It’s my scales!” Cried Kelly. “ I need to find a way to get a purple one!” Finn shook his head.“ This has been going on for far too long, Kelly. We’re taking care of this tonight. I have a plan.”

Kelly was watching time slowly tick by on her shellphone, when she got a text from Finn, “meet me out back.” Kelly quietly swam out her bedroom window and followed Finn into the night.

Ten minutes later, they arrived at a very gloomy looking cave. “Wh…what is this place?!” Whispered Kelly nervously to Finn. “It’s the cave of the Witch of the Sea,” Finn whispered back. “Lets go.” Upon entering the cave, Finn and Kelly were greeted by the Witch of the Sea. “What brings you here tonight, Finn?” She asked eerily. “Kelly needs a purple tail full of purple scales,” he replied. And with that, Finn handed the Witch of the Sea 600 scallops and she got right to work.

She carefully placed a purple scale on Kelly’s tail, then cast a magic spell. Right before Kelly’s eyes the scales began replicating like crazy. Before she knew it, she had the purple tail she’d always dreamt of! “You must tell no one of this,” warned the Witch of the Sea. Handing Kelly a shiny shark tooth necklace as a bribe, she shook her head in agreeance and swam home with Finn.

Kelly and Finn swam silently through the waters. It was 11:35 PM- curfew was 10:00. Shellville was packed with merpolice. They knew if they weren’t careful, they could get caught and sent to Coral Prison. Shhhhh…

All of a sudden, Finn heard a scream from behind him! It was Kelly! She was tied up in a seaweed tree! “Help me!” She cried. HELP ME!!

BUSTED. Merpolice came rushing from everywhere and Kelly and Finn were surrounded. “Put your tails where I can see them!” Screamed one merpoliceman. Kelly and Finn just looked at each other. No where to swim! It was off to the Coral Prison, thought Kelly as the merpolice tailcuffed her and Finn. As the merpolice swam them to their car, Kelly looked up at Finn with tears in her eyes. “Don’t worry Kel, I have a plan.” Finn whispered. I have a plan.

Upon arriving to Coral Prison, Kelly and Finn were lined up against a wall along with other juvenile merkids. “HEY IT’S GARY!” Finn shouted, “I was wondering why you hadn’t been in algebra!” A merpoliceman whipped around. “You spoke out of line, you’ve broken the rules. I’m afraid it’s off to the chain gang for you and your sister.”

Kelly looked up at Finn with dissapointment as the merpolice chained their tails to the long chain gang line that swam around the prison on a daily. The chain was long and rusty and really hurt Kelly’s tail. After swimming around the prison for an hour or so, the chain gang came across an area where no merpolice were. Thinking on his tail, Finn jumped on the opportunity. “Kelly, give me your shark tooth necklace!” He whispered anxiously. “What for?” she whispered back. “I’m going to pick the lock. On the count of three, I’ll wedge it between the links and we’ll both swim in opposite directions.” It was a genius idea.

“One, two, THREE!” With a twist of the necklace Kelly and Finn swam, as hard as they could in opposing directions, breaking the chain that bound them together. “SWIM, SWIM, WE HAVE TO GET OUT!” Kelly cried. They swam this way and that way, back and forth, side to side with all of their strength, until they finally reached the prison door and high tailed it out of there.

“We did it Finn, we did it!” Kelly rejoiced. “What a rush!” Screamed Finn. With their great adventure behind them, Kelly and Finn swam home laughing and reflecting on the past two days. “At least you got that purple tail you’ve always wanted,” Finn joked. “You know Finn, this whole scale obsession was so silly. I mean, it shouldn’t matter what color your scales are, people should like you for you!” Kelly remarked. “It’s what I’ve been trying to tell you all along sis,” Finn replied. Kelly smiled and looked down at her purple tail half heartedly, “ So Finn do you think the spell is reversa-” Finn rolled his eyes, “WE’RE NOT GOING BACK.” We did it Finn, we did it! What a rush!

Steps of Mitosis explained: Interphase: replicating of the scales (Chromatids replicated, scales represent chromatids) Prophase: Kelly gets “tied up” in the seaweed ( Chromatids connected at centrospheres) Metaphase: Kelly and Finn line up against the prison wall ( they are the chromatids that are lining up along the equator. The chain that holds Kelly and Finn and the other juvenile merkids together is like spindle fibers) Anaphase: Finn uses the shark tooth and him and Kelly swim in opposite directions to separate ( just like how the spindle fibers pull apart the two sister chromatids.) Telophase: Kelly and Finn separate themselves from the chain gang and swim away ( sister chromatids are pulled apart and the spindle fibers return to microtubules.)

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