Margo gets a Mom

Hi! My name is Abby and I am a shark. I live in the Atlantic Ocean and the thing about me is I’m not your typical shark. I’m not one of those mean sharks that you hear tales about, I don’t eat people, yuk , or boats, double yuk, actually I’m mostly a vegetarian,( I eat sea grass and seaweed ). But the best thing about me is, I am a foster mom.

Now if you don’t know what that is, I open my home to children in need. Sometimes children find themselves without a mom or dad or a family to take care of them. So they come and live with me until they find a permanent home. But this story isn’t just about me, it’s about a little mermaid named Margo.

Margo lived with her mom Charlotte, a beautiful mermaid with a golden tail and long red hair. One day Charlotte fell ill and though she tried really, really hard she just couldn’t make herself better. Charlotte knew that she had to do what was best for Margo, so she placed her in foster care.

The first family Margo went to live with were a family of Manatees. They were kind to Margo but they just weren’t the right fit. When they would go on outings Margo would swim much faster (she was, after all a mermaid ) and would get herself into lots of mischief.

The next home Margo went to was with Miss Octavia the Octopus and her father. Margo liked living there.It was fun watching Miss Octavia do eight different things at one time. She could make breakfast, fold wash, read her mail, comb Margo’s hair, all kinds of things all at once. It was like she was a magician. Unfortunately Miss Octavia’s father grew ill and taking care of him and Margo became too hard, so Margo was again without a home.

The third home she went to was with a foster dad named Mitch. He was a Stingray. Margo didn’t like Mitch at all. He was grumpy, and sometimes mean.She was a little frightened by him. One night when Mitch was sleeping Margo packed her bag and went in search of a new home.

Being homeless when you’re little is not a good idea. Margo was in constant danger. She could be caught in a fisherman’s net, she could find herself swimming in a bad neighborhood, she could even be swallowed up by other sea creatures. Margo needed someone to take care of her and love her.

One day while I was doing errands I saw Margo swimming by herself. What was she doing alone? Where was her family? Where was her home? Why was this precious little mermaid looking so sad?

As I swam towards her I could see she was afraid. Here I was, a shark who could gobble her up in an instant ( not that I would ). I tried to look as friendly as I could. I put on my biggest smile, swam slowly towards her, gave her my biggest wave and called out a friendly “hello.” At first Margo wanted to swim as fast as she could to get away from me, but she didn’t. Maybe it was my smile or the way I called out to her that made her turn and come back.

Margo and I spent the next few days getting to know each other. She told me what little she could remember about her mom. She knew her name was Charlotte and that she had a golden tail, Margo’s tail was mostly blue with a splash of gold. She remembered her mom’s hair the most. It was soft and silky and the color of the sunset. Margo’s hair was brown with streaks of red. She didn’t think it was at all pretty. She told me about all the foster homes she had been in, and that she wished every night on the first evening star for someone to love her.

I told her about myself. I was a school teacher, I lived alone except for the times I would have a foster child staying with me. I told her about my mom and dad and my brothers who lived far away. And I told her that I made wishes upon stars that someday I would have a child of my own.

As days turned into weeks and then into months we became a family. Here was the child I always dreamt of having and I, the mom Margo wanted and needed.There was only one thing I could do to make us a permanent family. I would adopt her, which means she would be my daughter and I would be her mom forever. And that is exactly what I did!

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